October Horror Challenge 2015 - Day 16

A trio of first time viewings for the day and none of them were anything special unfortunately. Leading off was Demonoid, a movie that's best scene was the opening one as an old Satanic cult chops off the left hand of its victim and offers it up to Satan. Flash forward a few hundred years to present day and the hand is unearthed in a mine and begins to possess various people who flip between acting like assholes on a killing spree and trying to chop their left hand off to relieve them of the possession. It was passable as it is but had it run any longer (and it has a longer cut) it would have started to become a chore.

The best movie of the day was Frightmare aka The Horror Star, the story of a legendary horror actor who was full of himself and has recently passed away when a group of fans steal his corpse and party with it until he seeks and gets his revenge. This one was better but the main star desperately wants to be Christopher Lee and can't pull it off. He isn't bad in his own right and would have been better had he toned down the impression of Lee. An appearance from Jeffrey Combs never hurts and this one really isn't too bad at all.

Last up was my first giallo of the month, of which there will be several more. In The Folds Of The Flesh is a title I'd been curious about for several years and finally took the chance to watch my DVD. The mix of incest, murder, Nazi death camps, pet vultures, psychosis, more incest, psychadelic camera work and trippy editing along with a touch of shitty 1920s slapstick comedy sounding music from time to time only begin to sum up what you see on the screen. And what you see on the screen is the best part of the film because the story is a mishmash of bullshit and forced ideas that simply don't add up. This is a film that tries to force the idea that 1+1=3 on you. Not a good film but it's not a total waste of time as I said the visuals of it carry it to at least be engaging.

Today's Rundown
Demonoid - 5/10
Frightmare - 6/10
In The Folds Of The Flesh - 4/10

October Horror Challenge 2015 - Day 15

The Den caught me off guard, I was expecting annoying internet culture references and a rather boring plot line. Instead I got a pretty decent horror film based around the potential dark side of the internet and interacting with the wrong people on it. The movie moves fast as it clocks in at under 80 minutes and gets quite violent and bloody towards the end. It doesn't take the predictable path which probably would have worked had they gone that way but either way this is a solid low budget horror movie.

Brainiac is hailed as "the weirdest horror movie ever" on its DVD cover and while it is strange it is nowhere near the weirdest ever. It is a fun little monster movie about a man who was burned at the stake coming back to life 300 years later to take vengeance on the bloodline of those that put him to death. He has returned as a strange looking demon with a pulsating face, a forked tongue to suck his victims brains which he later dines on and rubbery hands that look like uncircumcised penises. It's straight forward in its delivery and outcome but is an entertaining Mexican horror film nonetheless.

Next up was a creature feature from the shores of Ireland that I've been putting off for a couple of years for no real reason, Grabbers. A small island town is threatened by a family of tentacle monsters with razor sharp teeth and a thirst for blood. Things only get worse as dozens of eggs hatch and the giant daddy monster prepares to attack during a heavy rainstorm. These sea creatures can only survive when they're skin is wet so the storm is a perfect catalyst for their attack on land. The best defense? Get drunk and poison your blood so they won't want it, and nobody can drink like the Irish, right?! This is a funny monster movie with genuinely likable characters that suffers from being too light on the monster action.

Demon Queen was next, a late 80s shot-on-video vampire movie with no real plot as Lucinda the vampire roams around shitty neighborhoods filled with dopey looking drug pushers and eats hearts and slashes throats. There's not much going on in this 58 minute shitfest that feels like it was 2 hours easily. The effects and nudity help this one a bit but there's no real reason to ever seek it out.

The best movie of the day was also the last - Madhouse starring Vincent Price with Peter Cushing and Robert Quarry in supporting roles. Price is on point (as he always is) as a horror movie icon who is damaged when he finds his lover murdered. A decade goes by before his writer (Cushing, who makes the most of his limited screen time) gets him back in the saddle to make a new movie but with sinister intentions. Excellent performances, interesting and bizarre characters and great writing make this one a real treat.

Today's Rundown
The Den - 6/10
Brainiac - 6/10
Grabbers - 6/10
Demon Queen - 3/10
Madhouse - 8/10

October Horror Challenge 2015 - Day 14

I started the day with an old favorite - Troll . The ultimate in so-bad-it's-good and a perfect movie to get drunk with and watch for the 100th time.

The next two films went back to first time viewings and first was the 1981 horror thriller Eyes Of A Stranger from director Ken Wiederhorn. Originally intended to be a bit more of a straight forward slasher the film makers realized the huge popularity of slashers and added more violence and bloodshed with effects from Tom Savini. The movie features a young Jennifer Jason Leigh in her first major film role as a deaf and vulnerable girl living with her older sister who is obsessed with proving that her neighbor is responsible for a series of chilling phone calls and rapes and murders. A bit slow going and predictable the film does have several tense and creepy moments and is on the seedier side of things.

Oddly enough the next movie also dealt with obscene phone calls and a murderous stalker in John Carpenter's Someone's Watching Me. Made just prior to Halloween, this is a made for TV movie that sadly feels like a made for TV movie. It is too slow and could have used a slight trimming but the need to fill out a block on TV forced some padding in the runtime. You can see a raw and less confident version of some of the style that Carpenter used in Halloween on display here. It felt almost like a warm up or test run at some things that he succeeded with in his breakout film. This one isn't bad as it is competently directed and acted but it's simply too boring at times to be anything essential.

Today's Rundown
Troll 2 - 10/10
Eyes Of A Stranger - 5/10
Someone's Watching Me - 5/10

October Horror Challenge 2015 - Day 13

What fabric do you prefer your vampires be made out of? Cashmere? Wool? A nice cotton-poly blend? Well The Velvet Vampire is none of those... no, this early 70s horror film features a centuries old vamp beauty who invites a young couple to her desert home for a getaway. She tries to seduce the man lustfully time and time again, nearly getting her way with him as she has no time for his girlfriend, until it's time for her to die. This one is okay... it has a dream like atmosphere and a rather trippy ending in how ridiculous it is. A sun hat can protect a vampire from the burning desert sun but a little trinket cross will hurt it? Sure, why not? An interesting flick either way. 

If there's one thing you can't argue it's that Guillermo Del Toro creates visually stunning films. He isn't a perfect filmmaker and doesn't always have the budget to create a perfect version of what he wants but he always makes it beautiful. Crimson Peak is another stunning film and it has three really damn good performances from our leads. The film is quite different from than the ad campaign would lead you to believe and I think it is for the best. A haunted house CGI fest didn't exactly look like it was going to be amazing but the tragic gothic romance wrapped inside of a horror film that was delivered was solid. I don't love it but I did like it.

Sometimes a movie only succeeds because of a great performance from its lead. Michael Caine really carries The Hand. He plays a comic book writer/artist who loses his hand in an accident and begins to lose his grasp on his life and relationships while the severed hand goes on a murderous rampage. Oliver Stone directs this movie that doesn't come off as campy at all and somehow pulls it all together for a decent little dramatic horror film.

Today's Rundown

The Velvet Vampire - 5/10

Crimson Peak - 6.5/10

The Hand - 6/10

October Horror Challenge 2015 - Day 12

A pair of movies today and it started out with Time Walker, a 1982 mummy run amok movie set on a college campus run by James Karen who is probably most notable to horror fans from his fantastic work in Return of the Living Dead. This movie is perfect for only paying 50% attention to. If you have a paper to write, dinner to cook or clothes to fold, this is perfect for those situations otherwise it would be dreadfully dull and slow. Getting some work done helps move things along and lets you accomplish something. That's not a good sign to the movie but doing that made it not as bad as I know it would be.

Lady Frankenstein is a female approach to the Frankenstein mythology that borders on sleazy. Rosalba Neri stars as the surgeon daughter to Dr. Frankenstein and after his death she brings his work to a whole new level and with even more questionable tactics. A worthy entry into the history of Frankenstein films with a monster that has a distinct look, even if its a bit cheap. The set pieces are nice, performances are decent and Neri isn't the only pretty lady on board. Frankenstein fans will want to check this one out.

Today's Rundown
Time Walker - 4.5/10
Lady Frankenstein - 5.5/10

October Horror Challenge 2015 - Days 9-11

The weekend got a bit busy and tiring which caused me to fall behind, my apologies. Let's get right into day 9. 

Tremors 5: Bloodlines takes the giant worm horror comedy films to South Africa where the beloved gunslinger Burt is contracted to take down some of the most vicious Graboids ever seen, and the first outside of North America. The movie fits perfectly in tone with the rest of the series. It's silly, campy and worries more about the viewer having fun than creating anything groundbreaking. The effects were better than I expected and even Jamie Kennedy wasn't bad. 

Then came a movie I've been dying to see for what feels like years and years - Call Girl Of Cthulhu. This was a production local to me in Baltimore which made it even more near and dear to my heart aside from the Lovecraft inspiration. This one did not disappoint despite its low budget. Plenty of cool practical special effects, a fun story line that gave us a good bit of action and boobies and simple but effective costumes and set design. If you're looking for a comedic take on classic HP Lovecraft mythology you definitely need to check this one out. 

And with the good must come the bad. We go from the a great independent horror comedy to a dreadful one. Pro Wrestlers Vs. Zombies is fucking awful. This would be Roddy Piper's final film role and it's sad he had to go out on such a low note. Piper does give it his all and he does smash a zombie in the head with a coconut so the movie isn't a total loss I guess. Unfortunately the rest of the movie is just plain terrible. While my buddy and I had fun ripping on it I would have been utterly miserable had I been watching it alone and I can't guarantee I wouldn't have turned it off. There's no reason anyone should ever think about casting Shane Douglas in their movie let alone actually doing it and then making him the star. The only thing I really wanted out of this movie was for the wrestlers to do wrestling moves on zombies to kill them. It may have happened once. I didn't see a single piledriver, DDT, Stone Cold Stunner or RKO with an exploding zombie head as the result and that's fucking stupid. 

The final movie of day 9 was Amnesiac which plays out as sort of a cross between The Stepford Wives and Misery with a twist or two tossed in. It stars Kate Beckinsale and Wes Bentley and they both give good performances but the movie itself is very familiar and has a "been there, done that" feel to it throughout. Nothing special to see here. 

The lone movie for day 10 was Wes Craven's Deadly Friend. Previously I had only seen the famous basketball scene so this was all very new to me and I found myself enjoying this R-rated horror take on Short Circuit - Johnny 5 alive! Give an award to Kristy Swanson for believably acting like a robot. Give more awards for this movie not being a total disaster of stupidity and actually being a decent movie filled with a few fun and messy kills. The ending doesn't make a damn bit of sense though and I can't decide if I like the film just a little bit more because of it.

The reason I was only able to fit in one film on day 10 was because I had plans to go to a haunted house attraction with a friend and some other folks. The haunt is called Jason's Woods. Long story short I was forced in to seeing a live performance by the band First Jason, who is fronted by Ari Lehman who if you couldn't figure it out, was the first actor to play Jason Voorhees and he's been milking that 5 seconds of screen time ever since. His band is fucking awful but it used to be funny to put on as a joke as his songs referencing the Friday the 13th franchise (including many many things he had nothing to do with) and other generic horror themes were filled with his weak, wanna be power metal vocals, and his shitty keytar riffs. Yes, he plays a keytar. And it is shaped like a giant machete. It's fucking embarrassing. It was funny to play one of his songs or watch the music video for "Victim", their "hit single". It's all terrible but in a way that makes you laugh instead of groan. Being forced to sit through a live performance at this haunted house in bumfuck Pennsylvania with the stench of port-o-pots in the air? Groan inducing doesn't begin to cover it. First Jason was legitimately the worst sounding thing I've ever heard. Having to see this asshole, who I have a genuine disdain for on a personal level due to his antics and poor business reputation) in person while he wails into a microphone about Jason's Bride or his mother doing "stuff" on the projector across the field, I was disgusted. I was angry. And I considered trying to bull rush a police officer head on in hopes of getting shot. And the set went on and on and fucking on. 45 minutes of this bullshit while he thanked the audience and told them they were great despite the fact that there was nobody within 50 fucking feet of the stage. I asked God to strike me with a lightning bolt while sitting on a picnic table but he didn't oblige. There was no escaping my own personal hell at that moment and what was once a funny joke between my friends and I is now an experience I have to live with and a memory I will not be able to forget anytime soon. 

Day 11 came and I was at least able to carry on with living, First Jason hadn't beaten me down totally. The first of two movies on the day was From Beyond The Grave, a 1974 anthology film produced by Amicus and co-starring Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasance. The film features four stories about cursed items from an antique shop ran by Cushing. There's some nifty set pieces and designs, good performances throughout, it's an overall rock solid production. It's also pretty tame and at times predictable. The film is definitely worth a look but it isn't among the best anthology horror films.

And finally there is Grotesque starring Linda Blair who plays the daughter of a famed hollywood makeup artist. The family is having a get together at their mountain home but a gang of punkers plan on crashing it in hopes of finding the stacks of cash or drugs that they think has to be hidden at the home. They attack and kill most of the family until they come face to face with a real life monster and the few that escape with their lives have to escape the law and revenge from a relative. The movie is rather boring and feels like it was made in 10 minute sections. Most of the cast is drifting through it with no real interest in dedicating themselves to their performance and are more interested in getting their paycheck and getting out of there. The makeup effects are also quite shoddy. 

Today's Rundown

Tremors 5 - 6/10

Call Girl Of Cthulhu - 8/10

Pro Wrestlers vs Zombies - 1.5/10

Amnesiac - 4.5/10

Deadly Friend - 7/10

From Beyond The Grave - 6.5/10

Grotesque - 4/10

DESOLATE (DVD Review) - Wild Eye Releasing

USA/2013
Directed By: Rob Grant
Starring: Jez Bonham, Justin Sproule, Teagan Vincze
Color/77 Minutes/Not Rated
Region FREE
Release Date: January 20, 2015

The Film
A man suspects his best friend is the reason his relationship with his girlfriend failed but must fight for survival with them after a mysterious event has rocked their city and just making it through the night won't be easy.

DESOLATE is an example of filmmaking at its rawest. With no script and no crew, this film was shot during free time over the course of three years and it turned out to be a pretty good little film. The cast is solid and what writing there is manages to pull out enough emotion from the audience to really make us feel the turmoil the characters are going through.

Simply made using what was available to them, director Rob Grant really comes through with a film far more successful than films with a fill cast and crew, a polished script and lots of special effects. More isn't always more.

The Audio & Video
Wild Eye Releasing gives DESOLATE the home video release it is deserving of. The A/V quality is representative of the low end camera and gear it was made with so don't expect a beautiful HD presentation. The disc is technically sound however with a clean picture and a well done audio mix job.

The Extras
-Audio commentary with the director
-"Making of" video series
-Behind the scenes featurette

The Bottom Line
It doesn't always take a big production with lots of money and fancy equipment to make a tense, emotional and scary film and DESOLATE is proof of that.

DESOLATE is available HERE