31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 25 Cannibal Apocalypse

TITLE-Cannibal Apocalypse

SOURCE-Kino Lober Blu ray

This infamous Cannibals in Atlanta Italian made fiim. And I finally got a good copy.

Start off with John Saxon over in the Nam War. His troop slaughters some enemies fleeing a cave. Then they find two PWOs. One who is Jonathan Morgan. 

SKip ahead and Saxon is back stateside. In Atlanta. Morgan calls him wantiing to go get a beer,but Saxon says he is busy. So Morgan wanders off to see a movie. Which is a Nam War film made by the same director as this film.

In the theater Morgan starts having flashbacks,and we are left to wonder if the movie's war scenes or the couple in front of him making out,trigger all this. Morgan freaks out and bites the woman in front of him on the neck.ANd boom we got cannibals on the loose in Atlanta Georgia.

Pretty sure first time I heard of this movie was on a list of Video Nasties. And I got vague memories of seeing this off a vhs. Which I am betting  was the cut for US version. Then next time I saw it was uncut in a not so great looking copy on youtube. This Kino Lober Blu ray looks great. So good that the Nam stock footage in the beginning really doesnt match up with the footage of Saxon and his platoon.

There is a commentary. An almost hour long documentary on the film. Plus some interviews. And trailers and stuff.

Really a loaded release for a film that I feel has been forgotten in favor of Ferox or Holocaust.

Cannibal Apocalypse gets a B.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 20 Wrong Turn 5 Bloodlines

 

TITLE-Wrong Turn 5 Bloodlines

SOURCE-2oth Century Fox DVD

Got a set  over a year ago with the first 6 Wrong Turn films. Sure I already owned part 1,but figured for 10 bucks I was getting a deal.

Before this I had seen 1,2 and 3 of the series. It was late one night and I wanted a movie to watch. Settled on Bloodlines,which is part 5,and was shocked how much I enjoyed it.

This film is set before the first 4. Giving us a bit of a origin/backstory for the crazy inbred hillbillies.

Seems a long time ago Dougla Bradley was a serial killer. And he became a father figure for our 3 killer West Virginia inbreds.Also notice how this film get the subtitle Bloodlines and Bradley was in Hellraiser 4 which was subtitled Bloodline.

Now after 4 films in the series you know going in what you are getting. Plenty of gore and manic hillbillies. Plenty of women in skimy clothing. And gorgeous scenery. Filmed in Bulgaria this passed for rural backwoods West Virginia. Which makes sense IIRC the Jesco White movie White Lightning also used Bulgaria to stand in for Boone County WV.

Our three killers are smart. They take out the phone lines and cell tower. Then kill the power for the entire town. Love it cause this gets around the modern horror trope of some checkign their cell and saying "I aint getting any signal"

Also with Wrong Turn you go in wanting gory kills and part 5 does disappoint. Piles and piles of gore. With the final kill being really well done.

I was expecting a by the numbers long in the tooth sequel and instead got a well made pretty fun prequel.

Wrong Turn 5 gets a solid C.

31 Days of Horror 2020 Day 16 Wrong Turn 2 UNRATED

 

TITLE-Wrong Turn 2 Dead End

SOURCE-20th Century Fox DVD set

Back in the spring of this year I was looking for stuff to watch. Found at a local store a pack with the first 6 Wrong Turn films in it. Having already seen the first 2 film,and already owning the first one,plus the 6 film set being right at 10 bucks I grabbed it.Get home open it up and it is what I figured.Repacked discs from all these films solo releases. So that means films 2 thru 6 are unrated. 

Before sitting down to watch Wrong Turn 2 I had seen it maybe 2 times. But both times I caught it on Syfy channel. Which means of course I saw the film chopped to shreds. Getting a chance to see it uncut and unrated was a nice experience.

Directed by Joe Lynch,who I knew from his short in Chillerama,this is a interesting way to continue the Wrong Turn franchise. Set out in the backwoods of West Virginia,which is a scary scary place,we have Henry Rollins as the host of a reality show. Kinda a Survivor that has more of a military feel.

Rollins plays Dale Murphy. Love how good Henry is at playing these meathead roles. Like when he was a cop in The Chase. Or the White Power Skinhead guy on that season of Sons of Anarchy. Rollins is great and playing roles that are total opposites of him. And yea I've been a fan of Rollins since I discovered his time in Black Flag back in the mid 80s. 

The only other member of the cast I knew is Erica Leerhsen. Took a bit before I remembered what I had seen Erica in previously. She was the hitchhiker in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. Plus played the wiccan lady in Book of Shadows:Blair Witch 2". Kinda surprised she hasn't had bigger roles in cinema. She is a good actress and appears to work often. But it is small stuff that few see.

And I can't not mention the best name I have seen in a credits list in years. TEXAS BATTLE!! And it is the guy's real name. He appears to mostly be a soap opera actor. But that name is great. TEXAS BATTLE!!! Sounds like a old cheap western. Or maybe an early 80s Italian Mad Max ripoff with George Eastman.

So we got our reality show people out in the backwoods. And the inbred mutant hillbilly family from the first film trying to kill them. Like in the first film the FX work is really good. Looks to be 90% practical effects. Like that they made sure to bring back Three Finger from the first film.

Now the first Wrong Turn came out in 2003,cost a bit over 12 million and made right at 28 million from the box office. Plus who knows what it did on home video. So 4 years later Wrong Turn 2 hit theaters for what appears to be a 1 month limited run. Costing 4 million,I can't find how much the film made in it's short theatrical run. But saw that it hit home video about a month after theaters and made 9 million on home video. That is a damn good for a pretty much DTV horror. And explains why they made a 3rd,4th,5th,6th and I think a 7th film.

The FX work is good. The main members of the cast are all good actors/actresses. And I liked how they kinda spoofed the reality show tropes.

Wrong Turn 2 Dead End Unrated gets a B.

31 Days of Horror Day 29 The Fergusons

Title-The Fergusons
Source-Vudu

Was looking for something to watch. And saw that Vudu had a bunch of Horror films for free viewing. Then saw that 90s Skinamax star Monique Parent was one of the leads in this film and figured "Hell it's free give it a watch."

Ms Parent,her husband and two kids move into a new neighborhood. They seem a bit odd. And fairly quickly I figured out the twist. The family are all cannibals.

Yep it's a low budget ripoff of Parents. The acting is ok. And the FX work is ok. But the film has that cheap soap opera look. Well at least the film was barely over an hour long.

The Fergusons gets a C.

31 Days of Horror Day 08 In the Land of the Cannibals

Title-In the Land of the Cannibals
Source-Russian R0 DVD

Sometime in late 2006 I got lucky and found the Russian Region Free DVD release of this Bruno Mattei. Wanting to see more cannibal madness from one of my favorite lower tier Euro Horror/Sleaze directors. I had avoided the few reviews that were floating around. So went into this just knowing it was a cannibal film by Mattei that was made cheap in the Phillipines.

Back in the 60s thru 80s lots of Italian made horror movies were just ripoffs of bigger US films. With piles of Jaws and Dawn of the Dead ripoffs floating around. This time Mattei rips off Predator. Replace the Predator with a group of cannibals and you got In the Land of the Cannibals.

Thankfully to make up for the ripoff plot the FX work is at least practical. And looks pretty good.The people playing the cannibals look like real cannibals. And our soldiers aren't totally horrible in their roles.

In the Land of the Cannibals gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 29 Double Feature The Green Inferno/Forbidden Transmission Halloween episode

The Green Inferno
Source-VOD

Been hearing about this film since 2012. And really wanted to see it. I have seen pretty much all of the well known Italian made cannibal films. And wanted to see what a life long horror fan like Eli Roth would do with the concept.

A group of college kids go down to Peru to protest the destruction of the rain forest. They are on their way home when the tiny plane they are in crashes. And they end up captives of the local cannibal tribe.

If you have seen stuff like Cannibal Ferox or Cannibal Holocaust,imagine a version of that with a much bigger budget. Better acting and Roth's trademark moments of comedy to relieve the tension.

The FX work is damn good,well besides the CGI ants looking a bit wonky. The acting was much better than I expected. And the camera work is great. I was shocked at how colorful the film is.

Before seeing it I had read lots of non spoiler reviews that hated the film. And really hated the mid credits scene. I do not see why people hate this movie. After 4 films people should know that going into an Eli Roth film what to expect. He has a formula and it is used in this film. As for the mid credits scene,well to me it makes sense and sets up a sequel.



The Green Inferno gets a B.

Forbidden Transmission Halloween episode
Source-Digital files sent to me by the creator of the show

Forbidden Transmission was a two season public access tv show. Created by the Skeleton Farm group.Who are known for creating some of the best video mixtapes.

I had found 2 or 3 episodes almost 10 years ago. And loved them. Then met the creator of the show on a horror forum. Asked him if I could buy both seasons off him. "Hey how about I just make a torrent of every episode?" Which was fine with me. So I have had them sitting on a flash drive for a few years now.

Well after Green Inferno I wanted something short to watch. Saw there was an Halloween episode. And like all the others I have seen this was a blast. We get a few music videos. Clips from various Public Domain horror films. And even the short animated film that inspired the modern Halloween classic Trick R Treat.

Forbidden Transmission Halloween episode gets a B+.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 05 Cannibal Holocaust

Cannibal Holocaust
Source-Grindhouse Releasing DVD

From 1980,growing up this was THE Cannibal film. The one every horror loving kid had heard of but most of us had never seen. Then finally when I was 14 I was at my local con. And there was the grey market dealer guy. Yall older fanboys know who I am talking about. His table was loaded with VHS. Most of which were copies of laserdiscs. With a few workprints or never released on VHS films mixed in. Well the guy had Cannibal Holocaust. "Yeah that is the fully uncut version. Got it off a Japanese laserdisc. So it also looks and sounds really good." I asked the price and got told $30. I handed him the money and thought that I would finally get to see this film I had been hearing about for a long time.

The bad thing I bought the tape on Sunday. The last day of the con. I  got home. Sure I had school the next day and had barely slept that weekend. But I was gonna watch Cannibal Holocaust before I went to sleep. I throw the tape in. And it is blank.Yep I had paid $30 for a blank tape. Thru a friend that helped run the con he got a message to the dealer. Got told "He said if you are willing to pay the shipping he will send you another copy plus another film from his stash as a sorta sorry I missed up gift" So I mailed the guy the money. Waited forever and never got anything. The next year at the con I planned on talking to him. And of course he wasn't there. So I gave up on seeing the film.

Then around 2005 ,might have the year wrong,I got the Grindhouse Releasing DVD. Sat down and watched it. And while the film is gory. It was only the real animal deaths that got to me. Thankfully the dvd I got has an option to watch it with the animal deaths removed. And until today when I watch the film that is how I watch it.

So how is the film? The plot isn't bad. A camera crew disappears in the Amazon rain forest while filming a documentary on the various tribes that live in the area. Another group is sent in to find the film crew but all they end up finding is the footage that was shot.

The rest of the film is us watching this footage. And we get to see how brutal and asshole like the documentary crew was acting. And at least with me after a short while I was wanting the cannibals to eat them.

Cannibal Holocaust is considered one of the first films in the Found Footage genre. And it is the earliest film from that genre that I have seen. It is also well known for how many times it has been banned or heavily censored in various countries. In the UK it was on the video nasties list in the 80s. And unless I have missed something it still hasn't been released uncut in the UK. In the USA it seems we have always gotten an uncut release.

This DVD is like every Grindhouse Releasing product loaded with extras. We got a fun commentary with the director and one of the lead actors. A short featurette on the "Road to hell " footage. A few trailers. And my favorite extra the previously mentioned animal cruelty free version of the film. For this viewing I watched the fully uncut film with animal deaths still in it. And like the first time I watched it those animal deaths still get to me.But the director has said he wishes he hadn't filmed them.

Cannibal Holocaust gets a B-.

31 days of horror 2012 day 01

Dying Breed
2009
After Dark Horrorfest III collection Lionsgate dvd


Earlier this year I found a dvd in the infamous Walmart $5 bin. It had all of the After Dark Horrorfest III films. I figured since it was 8 films for $5 I would take a chance. Dying Breed was the first one on the set I watched.

Set in Tasmania,a group of young adults are in search for the mythical Tasmanian Tiger . They go way out in the wilderness. And find more than they were looking for. Turns out the small town they are in has a secret. Most of the townsfolk are cannibals descended from Alexander Pearce. And this town is looking for fresh breeding stock.

Now before getting this set I had no seen or heard much about any of the films from what was the third After Dark Horrorfest. I had seen and enjoyed some of the films from the first two,and since this set was so cheap I figured if even one of the films was good I was getting a decent deal. Out of the entire cast the only person I knew was Melanie Vallejo. Who I knew as Maddison Rocca in Power Rangers Mystic Force. I had always thought she was very cute. So seeing she was in the film made me pay more attention than I normally would have. What we get from Dying Breed is your typical backwoods horror film. With young adults from the city being attacked by the brutal rural folk. There is plenty of well done practical FX work. And  pretty well done ending. Usually with films like this about 30 minutes into the film I can predict the ending. But that didn't happen this time. If you find the After Dark Horrorfest III collection DVD for $5 or cheaper pick it up. It is worth that much just for Dying Breed. Dying Breed gets a B.

31 Days of horror Day 12

Jack Ketchum's Offspring

Source-Ghosthouse Underground DVD

First off I am a huge Jack Ketchum fan,and also have been very impressed with the 3 previous films based on his novels. So when I first heard about a film adaptation of Offspring,which is my second favorite novel from him,I was very excited. I had a feeling that no R rated movie could accurately recreate the novel.

A recently divorced mother and her son travel up to the Maine coast to visit some friends. The first day there the mom gets a call from her ex-husband. He is driving up to come see them. This upsets her cause he was abusive and she has a restraining order against him. Later that night before he arrives a local "family" of cannibals attacks the house. The husband of the couple dies first in a pretty gruesome way. 3 of the cannibal kids surround the wife of the couple,but the divorced mom manages to run up stairs,get the couple's baby,and makes it to the room her son is sleeping in. The oldest male of the cannibals follows her and tries to get in the room. The cannibals want the baby to replace one that died earlier. The mom gets her son to jump out the window and she follows while holding the baby. All three of them run off into the woods. The male cannibal manages to break thru the door and sees them running off into the woods. He goes and tells the head of the "family", a very alpha female. And she tells all the kids to run after them. They run out and this is the moment that the ex-husband happens to drive up. The cannibal kids assault his car,and he manages to drive off. As he is driving very fast down the dirt roads leading away from the house,he runs into 3 cops that are looking for the cannibals. They start to question him,and he runs off into the woods. Meanwhile Mom,son,and baby are hiding in a tree house the son had found earlier. For some unknown reason the Mom decides they need to keep moving. So they all climb down . They run for a short while when they run into the eldest male cannibal. The mom hands the baby off to her son and tells him to run. Mom is taken hostage by the male,but the son manages to make it back to the tree house. He leaves the baby up there and climbs down and starts trailing the cannibal that is dragging his mom to the cave where they live. The ex-husband comes out of the woods onto a beach,where he is accosted by some of the cannibals . They cut him on his left calf and leave him on the beach. Not much later the 3 cops are a little ways away from the ex-husband on the beach. They think they hear something and 3 of the cannibal kids attack them. One cop gets a very long nail shoved into his left eye. another is stabbed in the gut.The cop with the nail in his eye ,pulls out his gun and shots the kid that is still hanging on him directly in the head. The third cop,who is actually a retired cop that has dealt with some of this "family before,is knocked to the ground. He hits his head on a rock and passes out. The Alpha female cannibal comes along sees the three presumed dead cops,plus the dead kid,and tells one of the surviving kids to take the dead body up to the cave. Alpha female keeps walking along the beach and finds ex-husband,and she finds a connection in him.So she helps him to his feet and they head towards the cave. The son sees all of this and also heads towards the cave. The ex-cop comes too and heads down the beach,where he meets up with the son. This leads up to a very violent and gruesome showdown that would ruin the movie if i talked about it. The acting was uniformly good. The story follows the book very closely. And the special effects amazed me,since I knew this was a very low budget film. I found this to be a stunningly brutal movie,that really didn't pull any punches,and it is the best American made cannibal movie I have seen. Not only that but it is also the best horror film I have seen this year. A+