31 Days of Horror 2025 Day 18 David "The Rock" Nelson Collection Vol 1

 

TITLE-David The Rock Nelson Collection Volume 1

SOURCE-Saturns Core Blu Ray

In the late 90s I was buying all the genre film mags. Stuff like Video Watchdog,Phantom of the Movie's Videoscope,Cults Movies and of course Alternative Cinema. It was in the latter two I started seeing ads for David the Rock Nelson films. Stuff like the Devil Ant or Conrad Brooks vs Werewolf. The films looked horrible and the one review I saw for one of them called it "the worst shit I have ever seen." I really wanted to see one. Back then it would have ran me almost 30 bucks with shipping to get one of these films. So I wasn't gonna bother.

Skip head 20+ years and now a partner label of Vinger Syndrome put out this collection. Which not only has Conrad Brooks vs Werewolf and Son  of the Werewolf  but also two of the Adventures of Janet films.  If it was just all that I would have grabbed it but maybe waited for a sale. Saturns Core also includes an almost hour long documentary on David The Rock Nelson. Yea I gotta get this. I pre-ordered it.

Who the fuck is David The Rock Nelson? A military vet who loves old monster movies. So using a vhs camcorder and super low budgets he makes these odd as hell films. And has gotten a fairly big cult following.

And how are the films? They are some of the worst films I have seen. But not the bad films that are boring and make you want to turn them off. Nah these are the kind that are horrible but stil entertaining in their horrible ways.

You get David The Rock Nelson  running around in rubber masks playing more than one character. The audio appears to be recorded using the camera's built in mic. Errors and flubs are left in.  Plus most of the films  are way longer than needed.

The films feel like shit I would start and never finish. Back in the early 90s when we got our first video camera. Gather some friends,have no script and after 1 day of filming no one comes back. But with David the Rock Nelson manages to finish his films and gets them out to the "fans".

David's love for monster movies shows in  his films. And that is part of their appeal. Feels like most of us horror fans born before 1990 had a phase where as a kid we love monster movies. 

David The Rock Nelson Collection volume 1 is a solid C.

Mom n Pop the Indie video store boom of the 80s Blu ray

 

TITLE-Mom N Pop The Indie Video Store Boom of the 80s/90s

SOURCE-Saturns Core Blu ray

The small area on the MS gulf coast where I grew up was loaded with Mom n Pop video stores. Wasn't until 93 or 94 that a chain store invaded the area,and not long after that all the Mom n Pops started closing. So when I saw there was a documentary on these indie video stores I had to see it.

Full of people that either owned a Indie Video store or went to them often this is a great look back at a forgotten era. I see people all the time wishing Blockbuster was back.. Fuck that. Blockbuster sucked. Sure if you just wanted to see the major releases and rent a SNES game they were ok. But I wasn't finding stuff like Pink Flamingos or Nekromantix at Blockbuster. Nah had to goto Video Showboat or Tapes and More. 

Added bonus J.T. "Streebo" McRoberts appears a few times. He is a indie horror director/writer. Who through a podcast we learned we are both from the same hometown,well I was only born in that town he lived there for a bit. I was actually listening to this documentary while organizing my Blu Ray/4k shelf. Heard Streebo's voice and stopped to go see him being interviewed at one of the many cons he goes to.

Loaded with extras this is a niche documentary. One if you remember back when there was video stores everywhere and Blockbuster hadn't come and destroyed a once thriving local business.

And if you are one of those pining for the days of Blockbuster... I feel sorry for you. Not knowing a good video store. Will we have 28 year olds in 10 years from now wishing Redbox was back?

Mom N Pop the Indie Video Store Boom gets a B+

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 13 Duck! The Carbine High Massacre

 
TITLE-Duck! The Carbine High Massacre

SOURCE-Saturns Core Blu Ray

Yep gonna go into a bit of 90s SOV filmage this time,for those that don't know SOV=Shot on Video.

Back not long after the Columbine shootings,William Hellfire and Joey Smack made this movie. They figured if they didn't do it Lifetime would make "A crappy made for TV movie"

Not long after the film came out it was getting lots of press.Mostly people shocked that someone would make a film out of this tragedy,forgetting that films based on real life events was a common thing for decades. Then someone alerted the police that a few of the scenes,that were actually filmed on school property,had William and Joey walking around with legit guns. This got the two directors/writers/stars arrested. But the press caused sales of this film to shoot through the roof. And that money was used to bail them out.

So the film? It is a very over the top parody of the real events. Outside of our two leads everybody else in the film is boiled down to their core essence. Like Erin Brown,aka Misty Mundae,who plays Bible Girl. Or the various actors that play generic jocks.

Back when this came out I heard about it,mostly cause I was reading Alternative Cinema. Was tempted to order a copy. But it was a VHS only release and with shipping would have been 30 bucks. By this time I was use to VHS being sold cheap,mostly cause this was the early days of DVD in the States. 

Skip ahead 4 or so years and thanks to Brian Torrens,AKA Bit Torrent,I got a rip of that VHS. Put it on a drive and never watched it.

Then last years thanks to a review on the RockShockPop site I saw this was hitting blu ray. Wondering how a shot on VHS film would look on Blu ray I ordered a copy. 

I was very surprised at how good the movie looks. Sure it is low budget. But the lighting and sound are pretty good. Plus the Blu Ray is loaded with extras. All kinds of news reports from when the film came out. All kinds of BTS and bonus footage. Plus a really informative commentary with William Hellfire,Joey Smack had passed before this commentary was recorded.

Now back in the late 80s/early 90s I hated SOV horror. More than a few times I would rent a movie,get home and realize it was SOV and usually wouldn't bother watching it. But in the past 20 years I have developed a taste for SOV horror. And this is one of the best SOV Horror I have seen.

Of course if you are easily offended,and if you are boy are you at the wrong blog,avoid this movie. But if you can agree that anything can be mined for comedy,this movie is worth seeing.

Duck! The Carbine High Massacre gets a B-.