31 days of Horror 2012 Extra 05

American Horror Story
2011
20th century Fox Blu ray

Now last year during my 31 days of Horror I talked about the first 2 or 3 episodes of this new series. For some reason I watched the first 6 and never watched the last half of season 1. But the day it hit Blu Ray I bought it and over the past 3 days been marathoning it.

The Harmon's are a some what normal family. The father is a shrink,the mom has just suffered from a miscarriage and their daughter Violet is a moody brooding teen. After Ms Harmon catches her husband cheating on her,they end up moving to California to get a fresh start.

Turns out the house they buy has a long an gruesome history. Pretty much everybody who has lived in it is now dead. And if you die in the house your ghost will haunt the house forever.

Well right off the bat we get clues that this isn't gonna be your normal FX drama. The first episode is packed with strange images and camera work that isn't the norm.

Each episode of the season starts off with a flashback. And it is through these flashbacks we get a bunch of the back story filled in. Like in the first episode the neighbor,played by Jessica Lange,tells the maid "Don't make me kill you again!" Now we already know something is strange about the maid. Cause to the husband she looks like the young woman in the picture at the top. But everyone else sees her as an old lady with a wonky eye. A few episodes later we get a flashback where Jessica Lange kills the Moira the maid. Cause Jessica thinks the maid is screwing her husband.

Each episode is filled with stuff designed to unnerve you. Like the Rubber man. In the first episode the Harmon family finds a latex bondage suit in the attic. It belonged to the previous owners. A gay couple who died in the house. And someone keeps showing up wearing the Rubber Man outfit all through out the season.

What I really liked about the show is seeing some of these episodes for the second time I can see all the little clues and foreshadowing that was in them. Stuff that if you know what to look for lets you know what will happen later on in the season.

The Blu Ray set looks amazing. The sound is well done and helps set the mood. I haven't watched any of the extras. But did listen to the commentary on the first episode. One drawback to that is there is some major spoilers in that commentary. But oh well. American Horror Story season 1 Blu Ray gets a A-.

31 days of Horror 2012 day 09

Tender Flesh
1997
Lust for Frankenstein/Tender Flesh double feature Shock-O-rama Cinema DVD

I first heard about this Jess Franco film thanks to the late Alternative Cinema magazine. They did a long review of it and talked about how the limited edition VHS release was gonna be the only release of the fully uncut version. At the time I had just discovered Jess Franco and really wanted to see Tender Flesh,but the price for the VHS was more than I was willing to pay. Fast forward to 2009 and I find on eBay a DVD that not only has the fully uncut Tender Flesh but the Jess Franco film Lust for Frankenstein. I ordered it. And ended up having to wait about 2 weeks before I finally got it.

Amber Newman plays a stripper,and her and her mega sleazy boyfriend are invited to a private party on an island owned by a very rich woman. What they don't know is this woman wants them to come so she can hunt them down. This is Jess Franco's version of the classic story "The Most Dangerous Game". The cast has a few people that if you are into cult cinema you will know. People like Amber Newman,Monique Parent and the late Lina Romay. Now while this is a sleazier version of the most dangerous game,what makes it stand out in most people who have seen it's minds is a scene where a woman marinades a steak by pissing on it. And you can tell this scene isn't faked. Yeah I know it is pretty gross. And I bet that scene is the one that was supposed to be removed from the non-limited edition VHS releases. No idea if there ever was a non-limited edition release. Overall the film isn't bad. Amber and Monique are both nice looking ladies. The acting is all over the place,with some of the actors doing good jobs. And some of them being worse than a kindergarden production of Peter Pan. Tender Flesh gets a C-.