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[ackblom12]

That's added to my watch list then. It isn't to say he always handled having a female lead well. The female lead in Demons was even more useless and damsel like than most typical horror films, and her reward for surviving the film thanks to her hunky romantic interest is turning into a demon and getting shot during the credits.  There were a lot of unfortunate things about that character was handled.

[ackblom12]

Alright, I've watched a ridiculous number of films over the last 2 or 3 weeks and I think I'm going to try and get my motivation for this thread up yet again. This time I'm going to start off with...

Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things (1973):

This one's a classic, though I'm not entirely sure that it's a particularly well known one. An acting troupe are brought to an island with a history of curses and demons, by their asshole director Alan. While there, he gets the gang to dig up a dead body and perform a ritual to raise the dead as a gag. After mocking Orville, the ceremonial body, for a large chunk of the film, the inevitable happens and everyone dies. It's humor regularly falls a bit flat, but the atmosphere is incredible and the entire time you're just waiting for Orville to chew Alan's face off for being a total shit heel. Well worth your time, if only to see Alan (who seems to be the 70's version of a hipster) get his come uppance.

[ackblom12]

Sweet Home (1989):

This was released at the same time as the video game of the same name. The game is known for being the spiritual predecessor to Resident Evil/Alone in the Dark and they're both pretty great in their own right. The film follows a film crew wanting to explore the abandoned mansion of a famous painter to see if they can find his last fresco. In the process, they accidentally unleash the evil spirit of his wife, who haunts the home. Once the actual curse gets started, the film loses all of the friendly charm it had built up and turns nasty real quick. It has some fantastic special FX for the time and the design of the spirit is damned impressive. Well worth a watch. The following video is the most impressive death in the movie by far.

If you want to watch the whole thing, here's Part 1.

[ackblom12]

Cronos (1993):

This movie is mainly being added here because despite it being part of of the Criterion Collection and being a del Toro film, I seem to have a hard time finding people who have actually seen it. The story begins with the tale of the Alchemist. In the 16th century he discovered the secret to immortality and built the Cronos device. 400 years later, the Alchemist dies and his estate is sold off. An antiques shop owner unknowingly comes into possession of the Cronos device and he discovers the terrible cost which youth and immortality comes. Being del Toro, it should come as no surprise that this is a great watch. It has his very clear ability to put his incredible imagination on screen with beautiful cinematography and a damn good tale of Vampirism. It manages to pull off his signature bitter sweet fairy tale story, but with a little more more hamminess (almost entirely from Ron Pearlman) than his following films. It's well worth the watch and a hell of a debut.

This here is the intro to the film, and the Tale of the Alchemist.

[ackblom12]

The Blood on Satan's Claw (1970):

This film is considered part of a tiny genre of film called 'Folk Horror', a genre shared by two other fantasic films, The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General. These films are all about the amazing atmosphere and they are some of the best horror (some would argue best movies) ever made because of it.

In the case of Blood, it's about a village in 17th century England where a farm hand plows up a strange looking body. the body disappears before he can get anyone else to confirm his finding and shortly after, people start going mad, a satanic cult starts up and people start getting sacrificed. It's a bit of a slow burn, but it's well worth the effort.


The video has some artifacting. The file I made it from has a few spots with this kind of damage.

[ackblom12]

Witchfinder General (1968):

This film stars Vincent Price in a not all that historically accurate portrayal of historical figure Matthew Hopkins, a rather nasty piece of work from the 17th century who is estimated to have been responsible for about 40% of all witch executions in England's history during his short and rather violent 1 year career. The film is a fantastic piece of work and made all the more chilling and atmospheric due to Price not using his usual wit, dark humor and charm, and instead playing the role completely straight. I highly recommend checking it out.

[BeoPuppy]

Those Vincent Price movies were on endless repeat when I was, like, young, and stuff. And he did some awesome stuff. I really like him in the E.A.Poe adaptations. Mask of the Red Death is just ... awesome.

[ackblom12]

My favorite of the Poe adaptations was The Raven. So much wonderful cheese.

[BeoPuppy]

That was soooo over the top. So good. Someone was having so much fun.

[ackblom12]

I would also like to mention that Witchfinder General has directly influenced an absurd amount of Black and Doom Metal.

[ackblom12]

I've been finding and going into a lot of newer horror films blind these last few days, and it's come to some pretty mixed results as I'm sure you can imagine. There have been some piss terrible ones and there are some that I can't quite figure out if I like or not. But, I've also found some that have surprised the hell out of me.

Cell Count (2012):

This one is very different from most of the horror I've shared here. This one is more of a slow burn, more akin to David Cronenberg than anything else. It's a sci-fi horror tale about a world that's been plagued by a rampant disease that's never named, but sounds an awful lot like Cancer or possibly AIDS. You can likely think of it however you like, all you need to know is that it's a guaranteed death sentence and there seems to be no treatment available for it. A Dr. however seems to have found a cure and is looking for human test subjects. The patients are quarantined, but have pretty free reign to explore as they wish and they discover some rather horrendous things about the research and the cure they've been given.

I can't quite decide if I think is merely ok or actually pretty decent. It's got several moments of pretty bad acting, mediocre line delivery and a kind of meh ending, but the actual premise and the echos of Cronenberg (though nowhere near as good) that I think it's noteworthy. It also manages to keep itself in check with the gore, using it only when it will accentuate the horror (or in one case, where it's just plain hilarious) of the events rather than going for plain ol' gore horror. I would say it's worth checking out if you are up for a bit of a slow burn.

Edit: baaaaah, apparently studios pay attention to uploads for movies that are fairly recent. May find another host if it gets taken down.

[ackblom12]

Inside (2007):

So apparently France has been having a bit of a new wave horror thing going on and I'm just finding out about it. Inside is about the night Sarah, a young widowed pregnant woman, is terrified by a mysterious and crazed woman who wants to take her unborn child. It's pretty big on the gore and terribly painful looking things happening to everyone that dares enter the house, but it's so much more than that, assuming you can stomach it. The directors, Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury, have one other film called Livid which is what I'll be sharing next.

Youtube is being all 'Oh noooooo, you might have stolen this a bloo bloo bloo', so Vimeo it is. No one checks Vimeo apparently. Also the film is in French and I use external Subtitles, so I opted for one of the best non dialogue scenes possible. I could subtitle, but I'm not willing to put that much effort in for you schmucks.

https://vimeo.com/67255151

[ackblom12]

Livid (2012):

Oh man this movie. It's by the same pair of directors that did Inside, but it's quite different. Rather than putting so much focus on the gore and physical horrors of Inside, they instead decided on a more fantastical take here. A young lower class woman who is training to be a in home nurse, hears rumors about a treasure hidden in the mansion of an ancient catatonic woman. Her friends convince her to help them break in and see if they can find it so that they van get themselves out of their miserable place in society. Once they're inside, strange and terrible things start happening. The movie is just plain wonderful, even the bizarre and not really making a whole lot of sense ending. It's artsy, creepy, fantastical and I loved it so much. I highly recommend it.

https://vimeo.com/67255152

[TheEvilDog]

Currently watching the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.
I've loved this film ever since I was a kid and suffering from an extremely bad case of the flu. The film is loosley based on the short story "The Fog Horn" by Ray Bradbury, about a lighthouse and its keepers and having to rebuild the lighthouse after its been destroyed by a large creature (turns out the fog horn sounds similar to the creature). What makes the film unique is that its one of the first films that helped influence and kick start the creature features of the 50s.

What's the film about? Well the US military test a nuclear device in the Arctic circle, which in turn defrosts and revives a large predatory prehistoric reptile. The Beast makes its way down the East Coast where it attacks, where else, but New York. Though the army manages to severely injures the beast easily enough, there is the added danger of the creature's blood carrying a virulent germ that could prove apocalyptic if any more of the beast's blood is spilled.

Ultimately, the film is incredibly important to the monster movie genre, touching upon the growing concerns and fears that people were having about nuclear weapons, indeed The Beast was the first such film where a nuclear device woke a creature and it attacked a city. This in turn would help influence the production of THEM! and the following year's film, the most recognised nuclear monster, Godzilla.

[ackblom12]

Yesssss, someone else has posted yet again! I'm especially fond of the fact that it's one of the old 50's monster flicks, since it's not a genre I'm especially well versed in. But, now I must post about...

Madhouse (1974):

Oh my god this movie is fun and it's actually the first time I've seen this film. Yet another Vincent Price film (also Peter Cushing), in this one he is an actor who plays the character of Dr. Death. At the premier of the 5th installment in the franchise, his fiance is murdered. The movie moves forward 12 years where we learn he was suspected (even by himself) but acquitted of her death and was put into a mental hospital for several years to deal with his depression and fear of the persona of Dr. Death. When he gets out, his life long friend and the writer who created Dr. Death (played by Peter Cushing) convinces him to star in a TV series for Dr. Death. People start dying and we get to see Price do a wonderfully fun descent into madness as he is afraid that he himself is merging with the Dr. Death persona and committing these horrendous acts. It's so incredibly fun and ends on what is possibly the best dialogue possible.

[ackblom12]

Alright, this time I've actually got a pretty bad movie to show rather than really good schlock and dark humor.

Book of Shadows: The Blair Witch Project 2 (2000):

This movie is the very definition of a cynical attempt at making money off of an established fanbase. The movie is suppose to be base in the 'real world' where the original Blair Witch was released. The town the movie was filmed in is now a big tourist attraction and as anyone in a major tourist city knows, everyone fucking hates tourists. It follows a tour group that ends up having a group black out one night while camping (an ddrinking heavily) in the woods where the movie was filmed. Their stuff is trashed and they head back to the tour guide's 'house' so everyone can recoup and shit starts happening. It actually ends up with a pretty fun ending, but it's only because the rest of the movie is so dumb that the ending feels like it's punching wayyyyyy higher than it really should be.

Now, this isn't to say the movie isn't fun to watch. It is fun as long as your expectations are low and it has some fun ideas, but it's not bad enough to be great.

[ackblom12]

Sinister (2012):

So far, I'm really liking Ethan Hawke's horror career. Insidious wasn't really anything more than OK, but The Purge is looking good and Sinister was just a hair away from being an amazing film. That hair difference makes a big difference though.

So Hawke plays a 'True Crime' author who is investigating murders that occurred in the house his family just moved into. While unpacking, he finds an 8mm projector and multiple films. He watches them and they're recordings of the murders of entire familys by an unknown person. As per usual, strange things start happening and it's discovered that these murders are caused by a long forgotten blood god named Bughuul. It has fantastic atmosphere, the horror anthology feel of the home movies is fucking amazing and overall the movie does incredibly well at what it's trying to do... until the ending. The ending is okay at best and they pulled a ridiculously cheap jump scare to top it off. The movie is still great, but it was just so very close to being amazing. It's well worth your time.

[ackblom12]

Rabid (1977):

David Cronenberg! Yaaaaaay! As anyone who pays attention to his work knows, a good chunk of the first half of Cronenberg's film career was exploring society's fears of infection as well as sex. This was his second feature length film and it's a pretty damn good, as well as being a good continuation of exploring these themes.

A young woman played by Marilyn Chambers (you might recognize the name from the porn industry) who is in a terrible motorcycle accident. The crash occurs near a plastic surgery center where an emergency surgery is done to keep her alive. The great thing about the scene where the surgeon is explaining the procedure, he is basically explaining that they'll be using stem cells. But anyways, the surgery is a success and she wakes up a month later, but some of the skin grafts that were done have becomes something very different, and she now requires human blood to survive. The people she feeds off of usually survive with no problem, but become infected with a disease that resembles rabies and pass the infection along vie bodily fluids such as saliva.

That's right, Cronenberg successfully managed to make a film that is simultaneously a horror film about Contagions, Science Gone Wrong, Vampires and Zombies!

While it's certainly not the best film Cronenberg has made, it's still a good schlocky movie (like so many of his other films) and I recommend it to seeing how his interpretations of these fears continued to evolve.

[ackblom12]

I've been going back and forth between Dario Argento and David Cronenberg, so there may be a glut of them in the coming days.

The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (1970):

Dario Argento's debut film is not really what I'd call horror, it's more of a crime thriller, but it's a good movie and you can definitely see the early roots of his horror career. He was already quite adept at building up the suspense to palpable levels and having a totally batshit ending. I mean, the explanation at the end of the film as to what had occurred was really a lot funnier than it should have been. It's entirely possible that it's due more to the quality of subtitles that are available for the movie, but I couldn't help but laugh. Wonderful watch all around though.

The story is about an American author who has been in Italy for a couple of years trying to break through a bad case of writer's block. He witnesses an attempted murder and gets sucked into the investigation. He becomes obsessed with figuring out what happened and the attempts on his life, and the life of his loved ones, only steel his resolve to catch the murderer. The ending is wonderfully ridiculous.

[ackblom12]

House on Haunted Hill (1959):

So this is probably one of Vincent Price's most famous films and it's for good reason. The atmosphere is wonderful and the interaction between all of the characters is just great, particularly between Frederick (Price) and his wife Annabelle (Carol Ohmart). Frederick and Annabelle have a party at the house on Haunted Hill, offering $10k to each guest if they stay the full night and survive. Of course the house has a nasty history and frightening things begin to happen. Now, the plot is similar to the book (I highly recommend the book by the way) in that most of the events are being created by the gracious host, Frederick. It differs quite a bit near the end, but that's fine. It works out to be a great watch and even the old dated special FX feel right when you realize what's going on.

But oh man, the first scene with Frederick and Annabelle. You see two terrible and bitter people speaking and you can feel the disdain they have for one another. The tension between them is so thick, you couldn't cut that shit with a power saw. It is an absolutely amazing scene. Just, oh man just watch it.

And now for a slightly sillier scene with a bad mannequin.

As I said before, the obvious mannequin like nature when she's leaving that room is just perfect once you know what's goin on and I like to think it was quite on purpose.

[TheEvilDog]

Rabid was the first David Cronenberg film I saw. And while I'm not a fan of his work, Rabid is one of those films I can enjoy watching late at night. Just the right side of disturbing without being sickening.

[ackblom12]

You might might enjoy his son's film, Antiviral. He apparently shares his fathers fascination with infection, but he takes it in a completely different direction. Instead of working off of our fears of infection and sex, he equates sharing of infection as a form of intimacy and explores our obsession with celebrity culture through it.

[ackblom12]

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989):

Talk about a niche of a niche. Tetsuo is a low budget Surrealist Cyberpunk Horror film by Director Shinya Tsukamoto. It's kind of like if David Lynch and David Cronenberg took a lot of acid and had a love child. There's very little dialogue in the movie and in fact, not a single character is ever actually named. The story follows a businessman and his wife who accidentally run over and kill a character referred to as 'The Metal Fetashist'. Shortly afterwards, the businessman begins to start sprouting metal from his skin and begins a horrible transformation. Tsukamoto utilizes some interesting camera work and almost overpowering music for the atmosphere of his film and I think it turns out wonderfully. It's also kind of impossible to talk about this film without mentioning the scene where a woman is fucked to death with a Drill Penis. Or the dream where the businessman is anally raped by a woman with a prehensile drill penis. There's... there's a lot of phallic and sexual symbolism in this movie.

It also features what I consider to be one of the most frightening on-foot chase scenes ever filmed.

It has two sequels called Tetsuo: The Body Hammer and Tetsuo: The Bullet Man which I'll be getting to at a later date. They're not direct sequels, but simply share similar narrative themes and visual aesthetics.

[ackblom12]

House (1977):

Directed by Nobuhiko Ôbayashi, this is a very very strange film. It's a pretty basic japanese Vengeful Ghost story that is just so incredibly bizarre, goofy and fun that it's practically impossible to be scared by it. It's creative, ridiculous, experimental and just... I mean what else am I supposed to say about a movie that has characters with names like Gorgeous (she's pretty), Kung-Fu (she knows kung-fu) and Melody (Yes, she's good with music) and scenes where someone is attacked by feather pillows and mattresses, eaten by a piano, or sexually assaulted by a floating head. The Special FX are ridiculous and cartoonish, the acting is wonderfully ridiculous and there's just a lot to love here. If nothing else, you just really need to experience this movie.

[ackblom12]

Antiviral (2009):

David Cronenberg's son, Brandon Cronenberg directs this entry. Much like his father, Brandon has a fascination with the concept of infections. The direction he takes this is equally disturbing, but very very different though. Rather than going into our fears of infection and sexuality, he instead decides to look at the sharing of contagions as a form of intimacy (almost sexual in nature) and uses it to examine our relationship with celebrity culture, up to and including whether or not celebrities are people. It focuses a lot on body horror, but rather than the gore and metamorphosis that BH tends to lean towards, it instead focuses on the disgust and dread that the society itself invokes in the viewer when you see someone purposefully inject themselves with Herpes, or the flu, or even life threatening illnesses in order to add some kind of meaning to their lives through the shared intimacy of infection these people they idolize, who are seen as something more (and less) than human, have had. It's beautifully shot and kind of follows the narrative styles of a Noir film. I highly recommend it.

[TheEvilDog]

I'd hate to be a boar, but the next films I'll be talking about will be more than a little hammy.

Alright, sorry about the puns, but I'm going to be talking about pig films; in particular Razorback (1984) and Chaw (2009). Chaw will get its own post in a few moments.

Razorback is an odd beast (and I'm not talking about the pig being the size of a van). Directed by Russell Mulcahy (who directed Highlander and Highlander 2) and based upon Peter Brennan's 1982 novel, Razorback was made during the world's brief love affair with Australian cinema in the 1980s. The film begins with a young boy living with his grandfather in the Australian Outback, where one night, the Razorback attacks the grandfather's house and kills the boy (considering that the Azaria Chamberlain was still fresh in peoples' minds at the time, this sets up the grandfather as an ignored and distrusted figure for the first half of the film). The film cuts to two years later when an American photojournalist is investigating claims that Outback animals are being used for canned pet food. She's promptly discovered by two local nutcases, who are behind the con and left to die in the Outback.

Which finally brings us to the hero of the film, the journalist's husband, who comes to Australia and find his wife. The film leads to a dramatic climax in the cannery against the nutcases and the razorback.

Considering that Mulcahy was at the time a premier music video director, the film often feels disjointed and a little out of place at times. The film itself can be enjoyable (particularly if you play "Spot Who Was in a Mad Max film" and take a shot). Its not a film to take too seriously though, so watch it and decide for yourself.

[TheEvilDog]

Next up is Chaw (apparently pronounced "Chow" in Chungcheong). A South Korean horror film, Chaw can best be summed up as Jaws...on a mountain...in South Korea...with a giant boar instead of a shark....
Seriously, that's the film.

Well, not quite.

Rather than relying on the usual body horror we associated with Korean horror, Chaw is actually a mix of black comedy, horror, adventure and at times more than willing to take the piss out the monster film genre. Its also one of those films you need to watch at least twice to make sense of it unfortunately.

A town that's been crime free for several years suddenly starts developing a problem with dead bodies popping up, all seemingly killed by a large boar. Naturally, this is a problem with the obligatory town festival just around the corner. The heroes are a trio of men, two police officers and the grandfather of one of the victims (I'm sensing a pattern here...) who are trying to investigate what has been happening and having to deal with several of the eccentric locals (I mean like Hot Fuzz eccentricity...without the murdering of course...). For one of the officers, a young man, this is especially difficult with a heavily pregnant wife and a mother who is possibly suffering from dementia and prone to acts of comedic violence.

Throw in a biologist and a hunter planning on where to put the boar's head and a false sense of security after killing a large boar and you have Chaw. And a pig-baby dream sequence (like I said, the film is somewhat random at times).

I will be the first to admit that Chaw can be a difficult film to understand at times and it leaves you wondering what the film really wanted to do with itself, hence the need to watch it again to try and get some semblance of sanity.

As strange as Chaw might be at times, like many things, it deserves a chance and for people to make their own decisions about it.

[ackblom12]

Wild Boars are frightening enough without turning them into house sized monstrosities damn it.

Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979):

So when Dawn of the Dead was released in Europe it was called Zombi. It did very well and so Italian director Lucio Fulci decided to rename a script he had finished a couple of years earlier to ride on it's coat tails in a bit of a cynical cash grab. Zombie 2 (aka Zombie flesh Eaters, aka Zombie) was released and made it's money back quite quickly, though it ended up tarnishing it's long term reputation, which is really unfortunate due to the fact this is actually a rather good zombie film that sets itself apart quite well from Romero's setting.

An empty boat shows up at a New York pier, and when a pair of policemen show up to investigate, one is killed by the lone and now undead passenger. A journalist who happens to be the daughter of the owner of the boat, wants to find out what happened to her father. A detective decides to help her whether she wants it or not and they venture off to Matul Island, where they find a Western Dr. trying his hardest to cure what seems to be a zombie plague that is beginning to grow out of control. I'm guessing you know what happens from here.

So, the most obvious thing that differentiates this film from popular zombie media of the time is that it's in a tropical setting and  the zombie plague is due to a voodoo curse. This does a good job of pulling more from the pre-Romero era of zombie films and managed to influence future zombie films quite a bit in it's own way. Really low budget, lots of gore and some makeup work that manages to be both amateurish and fantastic at the same time. It's also got a bit exploitation film in it and I think it's worth a watch. The catch being, of course, that it ends up with a finale that involves a few white folk killing a horde of dark skinned zombies.

Edit: Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention one of the more famous scenes! At one point a zombie attacks a woman underwater. Well, she gets away so it tries to eat a goddamn shark.

[ackblom12]

Feast (2005):

So the story begins in a bar that is clearly in the middle of nowhere, with a lot of sad sorry people are just looking to drink their boring lives away, when suddenly The Hero shows up with a severed monster's head. The monsters terrorize the bar patrons and the movie manages to use, and not so subtle razzberries at, an impressive number of horror tropes in it's Celebrity Roast like take on the horror genre. What's really impressive is it manages to not overstay it's welcome. Characters don't have names, they have titles such as 'Hero', 'Heroine', 'Bozo', 'Boss Man' and Jason Mewes (the only named character, played by himself of course) along with a list of traits that include Life Expentancy and Occupation (such as kicking ass) and it manages to not out stay it's welcome. It's funny, gory and it's just a smashing good time. Also Henry Rollins is in the movie and a monster gets it's dick cut off.

There are two sequels which are not as good, but both worth a watch if you are into the right kind of terrible movie. 2 is the weakest of them, but combined they're good bit of surrealist fun. I warn you though that the sequels can seem like just a long string of childish rape jokes at times. I may cover them both later.

[TheEvilDog]

Another two-fer, this time with a distinctly reptilian feel to them.

First up, 2004's Dinocroc

Dumbass scientists (is there any other kind in these films?) decide it'd be a great idea to create a hybrid creature from a crocodile and a dinosaur. Said hybrid escapes and chomps on a bunch of idiots. Really, there isn't a whole lot you can say about this film, I've just summed up the plot in two sentences. The only things that stand out about the film is that Roger Corman produced the film, but more than likely, he just signed the dotted line. The other thing is that the annoying younger brother in Lizzie Mcguire gets killed by the creature.

Honestly, its one of those films that every second you watch it makes you wonder why the hell you're watching it. The last time I watched it, I had probably finished a good chunk of a bottle of whiskey, so that should give you an idea of how to watch it.

[TheEvilDog]

My next film would be 1999's Komodo.

The name might no be familiar, but it does feature some memorable stars, such as Jill Hennessy, Billy Burke and Kevin Zegers.

The film begins in the late 70s on an island off South Carolina, where some dipstick thinks it'd be a great idea to dump some Komodo dragon eggs on the island and drives off. Skipping ahead 20 years, the island has become a shadow of its former self due to the destructive practises of a local oil company. A family arrive at the island for their vacation - mom, dad, teenage son and their little dog. While the son goes out to explore the island, his parents are attacked and killed by the Komodos, now desperately hungry due to the lack of animals on the island. Even the dog gets eaten.

The film cuts to sometime later, where the son is still suffering from the trauma of what happened. His grandmother and aunt bring in a renowned therapist (Hennessy) to try and help him. Her suggestion? Bring the kid to the island where his parents were killed. Naturally the aunt is against this and demands to come along. Add to this two men are charged with hunting and killing the Komodos are trying to keep people off the island.  Within 30 minutes you've pretty much guessed who is going to get chomped.

Despite the cliches, the film isn't that bad and definitely worth a watch.

[ackblom12]

Is it wrong that I actually laughed out loud when the Komodo trailer proudly displayed 'From the writers of Anaconda'?

[TheEvilDog]

Is it wrong that I actually laughed out loud when the Komodo trailer proudly displayed 'From the writers of Anaconda'?

No, no. Its probably the best way to deal with this type of film.

[ackblom12]

Currently trying to decide which film I should do next. I feel like I'm putting way too many high quality films in here lately.*

* - Says the guy who recently posted a film called Zombie Flesh Eaters.

[ackblom12]

Just Before Dawn (1981):

Just Before Dawn is not what I'd call a terribly impressive movie, but how can you go wrong with murderous inbred hillbillies and stupid pretty people? Said stupid pretty people come to scope out the mountain land that one of them owns and as things go in these movies, they start dying. It's kind of a mixture of Deliverance and The Hills Have Eyes, but without the directorial talent of Wes Craven or the acting talent of Deliverance's cast. It has one great thing going for it and that is the finale, when the female lead kills a rather large Hillbilly by shoving her fistdown his throat . It's pretty damn brutal.

Almost as brutal as a scene with some very white people dancing.

[ackblom12]

April Fool's Day (1986):

In the 80's there was a trend of naming and/or basing your horror film on a holiday. Friday the 13th, Halloween (technically 70's, I know), Mother's Day and so on. They were usually terrible as I'm sure you can imagine, with a few stand out gems of schlock. This is one of the gems. Also Biff is in it!

A bunch of obnoxious, rich, white college graduates go to the home that one of them has just inherited from some rich relative or another, to celebrate their graduation. Of course this is all happening around April Fool's Day and the pranks start early. They all start finding some rather 'interesting' things in the house left over from the previous residents and after the first night, the pranks seem to turn deadly, with people disappearing or turning up dead at a pretty swift pace. It has some impressively terrible dialogue and everything else you could love about 80's horror movies. It's not the best bit of schlock out there, not everything can be Night of the Lepus or Re-Animator after all, but it's definitely in the category of good schlock.

[ackblom12]

Black Sunday (1960):

Black Sunday (aka The Mask of Satan) is a wonderful bit of Italian horror history starring Barbara Steele (she is also in Shivers) with her super creepy and sexy eyes. She is a witch/vampire/devil worshiper who is put to death during an Inquisition. Before she dies, she places a curse on the family of her killer and 200 years later, she is awakened to exact her revenge. It's great fun throughout.

[ackblom12]

Audition (1999):

Anyone familiar with Takashi Miike's filmography is aware that he is very very good at making movies that are incredibly uncomfortable to watch. Audition is no exception to this. Miike loves his revenge films and he especially loves to frame them as a form of karmic backlash. In many cases not just against the person who did the deed, but those they love and innocents who had nothing to do with it. Their actions and decisions are not made in a vacuum and the films are pretty brutal about reminding you of this. Revenge is an ugly and terrible thing, regularly just as bad or even worse than the original sin and he does not shy away from it. Terrible people do terrible things, and people who were previously 'normal' become terrible, even if only for a short time. There are no heroes in Takashi Miike's films.

The story is about a widower named Ryo who has realized that he's lonely and wants to re-marry. He confides in a friend of his who is a movie producer and is convinced to use the auditions for a film that may get funded to search for a new wife. Ryo's friend is sleazy, and the movie makes no bones about this. He is also well aware that what he's agreed to do is, at best, morally questionable, but he gives into temptation and does so anyway. He becomes enamored with one of the actresses, Eihi, and they start to see each other. One day, she disappears and he begins to look for her. The problem is that all of her contacts, jobs etc. all lead to dead ends. They either never existed, have died in some horrible manner or are missing. She comes back one day and I imagine it's a really tough thing to watch for most people.

The last 12 minutes or so of the movie are why people regularly label this film as Torture Porn and I have a hard time arguing with it. But Miike doesn't deal with it like some films such as Hostel does. Rather than focusing on what she's doing to him (It's not terrible gory, though he does do that just enough to make you squirm), it instead focuses on Eihi and her very obvious sadism. Every time she does something to him you can tell she loves it, and that's far more disturbing than any typical gory torture scene.

[ackblom12]

The Woman (2011):

Directed by Lucky McKee, The Woman is a movie about a middle class white man who discovers a Wild Woman while hunting and decides to 'civilize' her. I'm sure that you can make some guesses as to what his methods are. The longer the film goes on, the more disturbing the story gets in. This movie has a lot to say about patriarchy, misogyny, rape culture, domestic abuse, as well as those that stand by and let all this happen. What's really surprising is it manages to do it pretty damn well in a borderline gore hound package. If you think you can stomach the gore that eventually comes up, I would definitely suggest checking it out.