SLAY BELLES Blu-ray Review (Epic Pictures)

USA/2018
Directed By: Spooky Dan Walker
Written By: Jessica Luhrssen, Spooky Dan Walker
Starring: Barry Bostwick, Kristina Klebe, Susan Slaughter
Color/77 Minutes/Not Rated
Region Free
Release Date: December 4, 2018

The Film
On Christmas Eve a trio of girls who dress in sexy getups and do a bit of urban exploration for their Youtube channel decide it's the perfect time to visit Santa Land, an abandoned Christmas theme park in the California desert. Upon arriving they find they're not alone and are being hunted by some sort of beast that just so happens to the the Christmas Devil Krampus.

SLAY BELLES has a leading trio of beautiful ladies that are fun to watch romp around old decaying properties which give it a good start right out of the gate. It also features a good looking Krampus monster and a cool twist with the monster bringing in bloody body parts that eventually turn into little chomping hairball monsters that remind me of a cheap version of Critters and a much better version of The Langoliers. Unfortunately these little ankle biters come and go in the blink of an eye and I thought they could have been a very cool and integral part of the movie that up the carnage.

Barry Bostwick stars as a drunk, biker Santa who lives in Santa Land and has been in a decades long battle with Krampus and seems to have had a fun time making this movie and it shows. He's entertaining and likable in the role of jolly Saint Nick and there's a fun twist with his wife that makes for a memorable moment during the climax of the film. SLAY BELLES doesn't feature the cookie baking, hot cocoa making Mrs. Claus we all know and love but unfortunately many of these entertaining moments are cobbled together and come across like ideas that weren't fully hashed out. So we're left with fleeting moments of interesting and entertaining ideas that come and go and had me feeling robbed of what could have been.

 But for all of that there's one thing that SLAY BELLES just does wrong (besides the obnoxious dubstep soundtrack) and that is setting a Christmas movie in the California desert. The idea of setting a Christmas horror movie in Santa Land sounds better on paper than it translates to reality. Even with all of the holiday themed hats and set dressing that this derelict park offered up it simply never felt like Christmas to me. It felt like an imposter and in a movie based around the biggest good and evil that Christmas has to offer it really hurt the impact of it all. SLAY BELLES isn't the best Christmas horror movie in recent years but it is far from the worse.

The Audio & Video
SLAY BELLES hits Blu-ray from the Dread Central Presents line from Epic Pictures just in time for the holiday season and it looks very good. The 16x9 anamorphic widescreen transfer has a strong color palette that makes the colorful costumes worn by the girls and the tacky decorations and Christmas lights pop. Skin tones look wonderful with a healthy flesh tone and no waxiness. Detail level is high among surfaces and textures. The audio comes through crisp and clear with no background noise or distortion. The mix between dialogue and music is nicely done as well.

The Extras
Extras include:
-Audio Commentary with writer and director
-The Making Of SLAY BELLES
-"Cookies and Conversations" Featurette
-Hannah Minx Tours The Set
-Hannah Minx Makeup Tutorial
-SpookyDan short film "Bad Ass Russian In Istanbul"
-SLAY BELLES Trailer

The Bottom Line
I liked a lot of the elements in SLAY BELLES but it never elevated itself above an average affair that too easily and quickly brushed over its best scenes and ideas.

SLAY BELLES is available HERE

MRS. CLAUS - DVD Review (Wild Eye Releasing)

USA/2017
Directed By: Troy Escamilla
Written by: Troy Escamilla
Starring: Helene Udy, Brinke Stevens, Kaylee Williams
Color/87 Minutes/Not Rated
Region Free
Release Date: November 13, 2018

The Film
A prank at a sorority Christmas party leads to murder. 10 years later the sorority is having holiday party again but as guests begin turning up dead the college students try to survive the night as history seems to be repeating itself.

MRS. CLAUS is another in a long line of Christmas themed slasher films that borrows (you could easily argue that it just plain rips off) the David Hess directed To All A Goodnight except it tones down the sex and nudity quite a bit but it does maintain a healthy kill count and some well done practical special effects. The blood and gore is the reason to check out MRS. CLAUS as it makes the rough acting and recycled story tolerable.

MRS. CLAUS is a pretty straight forward affair with a killer donning a creepy old lady mask and some North Pole garb and does provide some decent albeit cheap entertainment if you're willing to overlook things like bad dialogue, overblown lighting, and a really dime store approach to set dressing. It's far from great but wouldn't be a bad find for fans looking for deeper Christmas horror cuts.

The Audio & Video
Wild Eye Releasing brings MRS. CLAUS to home video with a fairly standard and innocuous DVD release. There's not much in the way of eye catching photography or especially powerful or moving music for the DVD to work with but everything is decent as far as the audio and video are concerned.

The Extras
An audio commentary with the director is the lone extra besides a selection of trailers.

The Bottom Line
We've seen almost this exact same story in a better Christmas slasher before and it isn't an amazing production by any means but it was passably entertaining thanks to some well done practical effects. If you're a slasher die hard or someone looking for Christmas horror that's off the beaten path it may be worth taking a look.

MRS. CLAUS is available HERE

ALL THE CREATURES WERE STIRRING (DVD Review) - RLJE Films

US/2018
Directed By: Rebekah McKendry, David Ian McKendry
Written By: Rebekah McKendry, David Ian McKendry
Starring: Constance Wu, Jocelin Donahue, Jonathan Kite
Color/80 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1
Release Date: December 4, 2018

The Film
A couple who would otherwise be spending Christmas Eve alone get together to see an offbeat holiday stage play. Each different act of the play turns into a chapter of this anthology for us to watch. Everything from the holiday office party from hell, a demon that you literally can't get away from, and some stalker action too You would think that getting to see actual short films would be more interesting than seeing what our main couple would be seeing on that tiny theater stage but after viewing ALL THE CREATURES WERE STIRRING I'm just not so sure of that. Maybe the absolutely minimalist version of these stories would have been better. Ok, probably not, but what we're given isn't anything special either.

The best part of ALL THE CREATURES WERE STIRRING is easily the ensemble cast who almost all turn in solid to great performances. The directorial team of Rebekah and David Ian McKendry show some skill behind the camera but even with solid performances and well made shorts nothing saves this movie from being a dreadfully boring 80 minutes that is void of any real Christmas spirit or feeling. Nothing about ALL THE CREATURES WERE STIRRING feels like a Christmas movie, horror or not. The stories are barely linked to the holiday and even the set dressings that may have at least put lipstick on the pig were barely Christmasy.

Sadly that's all there is to say. A good cast and competent direction didn't have a chance at saving this lifeless horror anthology.


The Audio & Video
RLJE Films delivers ALL THE CREATURES WERE STIRRING on DVD with a sharp looking 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. Black levels are deep and the colors are vibrant and true to life. For a standard definition release this is a nice looking DVD. The audio is clear and mixed nicely so that the dialogue and music compliment each other. There's no distortions to the audio.

The Extras
A feature length commentary track from the filmmakers is included.

The Bottom Line
There's so many Christmas horror movies that are worth watching that you really don't need to bother with this one at all. Skip it.

ALL THE CREATURES WERE STIRRING is available HERE

ANTHROPOPHAGOUS - Severin Films Blu-ray Review

Italy/1980
Directed By: Joe D'Amato
Written By: George Eastman, Joe D'Amato
Starring: Tisa Farrow, Saverio Vallone, Serena Grandi
Color/90 Minutes/Not Rated
Region Free
Release Date: September 25, 2018


The Film
ANTHROPOPHAGUS is an infamous horror film from Italian director Joe D'Amato who is responsible for some of the sleaziest and most shocking horror films to come out of Italy. The story centers around a group of vacationers who find themselves trapped on a small Italian island that has been seemingly abandoned and all of the buildings left empty. They qiuckly discover that a disfigured monster of a man has been terrorizing the island and surrounding waters and eating his victims to stay alive.

Joe D'Amato and George Eastman (Luigi Montefiori) co-wrote this pretty straight forward horror film that works because the gore sequences are linked together by an atmosphere of uneasy dread and seclusion for the group trying to find a way off the island without becoming the grim reaper's lunch. Pacing was a bit of an issue for me on my first viewing of the movie but as the years have gone by and I've subsequently seen the film several times that issue has really gone by the wayside for me. I have no issue with the pacing and think there's plenty of action throughout the movie, giving us enough to wrap around the two huge hitting gore scenes that will always pop up in discussion of the film. The acting is on par for Italian horror of this era but the inclusion of a young Serena Grandi playing a blind girl, surviving in the shadows of this island until she's found by the main group adds an interesting dynamic to the group and she also proves a capable counterpart to Tisa Farrow and Saverio Vallone.

ANTHROPOPHAGUS is a pretty straight forward horror film that relies on its signature kills and gore for a reaction and it works as nearly forty years after its release the gore moments are still shocking and very well done and George Eastman is still a horrifying sight. It may not be a work of art but it is one of the most notable Video Nasties and for good reason.

The Audio & Video
Severin Films delivers ANTHROPOPHAGUS on to Blu-ray for its US high definition debut with a new 2K scan from the original 16mm negative. Previously available on DVD in the US and on Blu-ray from 88 Films in the UK, Severin's new release outshines them all. The picture is sharper than any previous release with a rich and natural color palette. Detail is strong and beautifully displays the gruesome special effects, monster makeup and finer textures around the abandoned island.

The film is presented in either English or Italian in a 2.0 DTS HD Master Audio mix, each with optional English subtitles and closed captioning. The audio quality is quite clear and free of any distortions or background noise. It may not be the most dynamic mix but it's properly mixed and sounds as it should.

The Extras
-"Don't Fear The Man-Eater" - An interview with George Eastman
-"The Man Who Killed  The Anthropophagous" - An interview with star Saverio Vallone
-"Cannibal Frenzy" - An interview with special effects artist Pietro Tenoglio
-"Brother and Sister In Editing" - Interview with Bruno Micheli
-"Inside Zora's Mouth" - Interview with actress Zora Kerova
-Trailer Selection

The Bottom Line
Thanks to Severin Films ANTHROPOPHAGUS finally has a release good enough to match its reputation of a gory classic of the Video Nasty era.

ANTHROPOPHAGUS is available HERE

MANDY - Blu-ray Review (RLJE Films)

USA/2018
Directed By: Panos Cosmatos
Written By: Panos Cosmatos, Aaron Stewart-Ahn
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache
Color/121 Minutes/Not Rated
Region A
Release Date: October 30, 2018

The Film
Panos Cosmatos stormed on to the scene in 2010 with his film Beyond The Black Rainbow which focused on high style and visuals as more important pieces than traditional storytelling and while it wasn't a total grand slam it certainly made an impression. Now eight years later Cosmatos has finally made his second feature film- MANDY. This horror film starring Nic Cage as a logger hellbent on revenge for the murder of his wife features many of the same visual styles, color schemes and overall atmosphere that BTBR does.

MANDY is a much simpler story although it is presented in two vicious halves with the first being a bit of a slow build toward the ultimate climax that will set Nicolas Cage into his frenzied fury of revenge where he will wield everything from shotguns to the most ridiculous handcrafted battle axe you've ever seen. The first act is wonderfully crafted and deliberately paced. You immediately connect about this husband and wife and Andrea Riseborough who plays the titular character is simply someone you care about with a warm and heartfelt performance. The tension and violence builds until the ultimate act of hate is committed and in incredibly vicious fashion. And then the second half kicks in right where the first left off and the pedal is pushed fully to the floor and Nic Cage goes into full fucking Nic Cage mode and becomes an absolute madman of the screen from the moment he gives us a signature Nic Cage freak out and loses any and all attachment to reality and becomes a husband hellbent on revenge.

What ensues is an acid bath of color, sound, blood and guts, and vivid and extreme imagery. MANDY pushes the senses to their limits and is a visceral affair from start to finish. You will experience harsh angles, extreme violence, and the Cheddar Goblin. You will remember MANDY whether you hate it or love it. I love it.

The Audio & Video
Boy oh boy does the Blu-ray from RLJE do MANDY justice. This film is visually striking to put it plainly and this Blu-ray that features a 2.40:1 aspect ratio simply does it justice. The floods of color with mainly hues of red are popping and the detail is exceptional. Black levels are deep and show no signs of blocking or compression. The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix is powerful and attacks the audience in the same way Nic Cage attacks his enemies. It's vicious. It's also crystal clear and free of distortions and background noise.

The Extras
Extra features include a behind-the-scenes featurette and a selection of deleted and extended scenes.

The Bottom Line
MANDY's Blu-ray treatment is worthy of the modern classic that it has already become. Highly recommended and damn near essential viewing.

MANDY is available HERE

October Horror Challenge 2018 Days 30 and 31

Let's wrap this bad boy up shall we?

The last 2 days were pretty strong with three out of the five viewings being new to me so let's start with THE BONEYARD from 1991. This movie is just plain fun. A detective, a psychic and the night crew of a morgue get locked in with three mummified corpses that aren't actually the children they appear to be but demons that can mutate their victims into hideous and monstrous versions of themselves... including the poodle. This is just a blast. Phyllis Diller as the spunky old receptionist at the morgue is a delight and it's just a shame we don't get a bit more giant monster poodle mayhem. Seriously, this thing is bloody, wild, and fun.

Then came THE UNNAMABLE which adapts the H.P. Lovecraft story of the same name into a campy monster movie that I've always enjoyed. The devilmangoatbeast monster is horrifying and makes me uncomfortable every time I see it. It gets a bit dry in the middle but it's a spooky little slice of Lovecraft that always satisfies.

And we wrap things up with day 31, Halloween. I had no plans for the big day sadly. Growing up sucks. My depression was kept to a minimum knowing I would have a chance to see the Suspiria remake later that night though. I managed to get through the lame day with an early viewing of SEVEN WOMEN FOR SATAN who's artwork screams "The French movie banned in France!". This is a dreamy, surreal vision into a wealthy man who dreams of torturing and killing beautiful women and acts on his fantasy when a couple with car troubles seek refuge in his castle and ask to see the castle's dungeon and torture devices. Dreams and reality intertwine in this one that has a few really memorable sequences and is overall pretty decent Euro horror.

Then it was time for the day's main event, Luca Guadagnino's SUSPIRIA. In short, I liked it. Quite a bit actually, but this film deserves another viewing so I can sort out some questionable feelings I have about it. It certainly sets itself apart from the original Argento classic while keeping the original spirit in tact. This is not a ripoff or sad impostor of the original but doesn't forget why it exists. I recommend checking it out if you get the chance.

And what better way to end the challenge than following up the remake of Suspiria with the original? My favorite film of all time. Enough said.

Today's Rundown
The Boneyard - 7.5/10
The Unnamable - 7/10
Seven Women For Satan - 6/10
Suspiria '18 - 8/10
Suspiria - 10/10

October Horror Challenge 2018 Day 29

TERROR ON TOUR is a rock & roll horror movie featuring a band called The Clowns who were played by a band called The Names from Illinois and weren't awful. The band's gimmick of painting themselves up like 4th rate Kiss wannabes and committing fake murder on stage has led to real murders being committed at their concerts. Well I sort of like this movie. Or what I could see of it. I don't think there's a single scene that is lit properly (or at all) so many of the killings, sex scenes and anything interesting is unintentionally left to the shadows. Director Don Edmonds previously made two Ilsa movies (She Wolf and Harem Keeper) so I know he knows how to make an exploitation film but maybe he forgot to call the lighting department on this one. It's a bit bland and repetitive obviously having little money to work with but it's still worth a look. It's just a shame that there's really no way this is ever going to look good because of the abysmal lighting.

PANIC aka Bakterion features the age old tale of a scientist doing something they probably shouldn't (messing around with highly dangerous bacteria and gerbils in this case) and transforming into a monster because of it (a deformed, goopy, mess of a man in this case). The puss and boil covered man runs amok on his town attacking residents and spreading disease all while eating the flesh of his victims. It's a bit slow, but it's a classic example of a monster on the loose romp but with a bit more slime to it. Italian schlock fans take note.

Today's Rundown
Terror On Tour 4.5/10
Panic 6/10