The Toxic Avenger Remake Unrated DVD

 

TITLE-The Toxic Avenger Remake

SOURCE-Unrated DVD

Feels like 20 years ago I heard a rumor that the cult classic 80s gore/comedy/horror film The Toxic Avenger was getting remade. I was worried. I love the Toxic Avenger franchise and felt a remake wouldn't work. Film gets completed then sat on the shelves for a few years. Mostly cause the owners of the film wanted to get a Unrated version in  wide release. 

This time instead of a nerdy dude that cleans up at a health club our lead is a midget that is a janitor at the big chemical plant that is polluting the entire area. Peter Dinklage is our lead and he is struggling to pay bills and take care of his stepson. Plus Peter is dying from some brain issue.

Kevin Bacon is the owner of this big poluting Chemical Plant and we get Elijah Woods as a very   Danny Devito Batman Returns Penquin looking character. The rest of the cast is mostly folks I dont know from other films or tv shows.

Leaning heavy on the current problem of healthcare costing so much. And how a simple operation  could bankrupt a family,this remake takes the gore and dark comedy of the original updates it for a modern audience and makes it a film that I could see being a bigger hit than any of the previous 4 Toxic Avenger films.

Gory as hell. I do love how this feels like a big budget 80s/90s era Troma film. Yea there is more CGI than you would see in a Troma film. Thankfully most of the CGI works and looks decent.

No clue how this would play to your standard horror fan. One that thinks the Terrifier series is the gorest films ever,not even close if you know Euro Horror or Asian horror. For me it was a great way to kill almost 2 hours.

For me the best scene is when Toxie goes to a concert and does a great cover of Motorhead's Overkill while killing the band on stage.

The Toxic Avenger Remake Unrated gets a B+

31 Days of Horror 2021 Day 19 House by the Cemetery

 

TITLE-The House by the Cemetery

SOURCE-Joe Bob's Last Drive In airing on Shudder

Some how this Lucio Fulci classic escaped me. Never found the VHS for rent or for sale. Never saw the DVD for sale. And after a bit I just forgot about it.

Skip ahead to near the end of winter in 2004. My wallet was flush with cash from my recent income tax return. After stopping at a near by Mom&Pop electronics store,bought a 42 inch Samsung Plasma tv,I went across the street to the local mall. Figuring I would buy a few DVDs to watch on my new TV. At a FYE I saw they were having a big sale. Spend 40 bucks and get 2 free DVDs out of their clearance bin. After grabbing a few wrestling DVDs and a couple of comedies I was over the 40 buck threshold. Went to dig into the clearance bin and saw.

I knew that Horror Rises from the Tomb was a Paul Naschy film. And after seeing Fury of the Wolfman and Werewolf vs the Vampire Women I was interested in seeing more of his films. I had no clue what the other 3 films on this set was. Plus since it was 2 discs,flippers with one movie per side,FYE counted it as 2 DVDs. I thought Fuck it! It's a Paul Naschy film I had never seen so I picked it as my free DVDs.

After I got home and hooked up the new TV,this set got place on the ever growing "To Be Watched"pile. And there it sat for a few years. When I moved again in early 2007 we went a few days without cable. So that To Be Watched pile shrunk some. This is when I learned that Zombie Hell House was just a retitled version of Fulci's The House by the Cemetery. 

From what I can find online Zombie Hell House is a UK retitling of the film. I'm guessing Brentwood,who put out the Horror Rises from the Graves set,just assumed this edit of the film was Public domain and released it.

After watching House by the Cemetery I saw why it was loved and hated. You start off right with a nice kill

With a knife to the back of a lady's skull. I wasn't prepared for the next scene though. We got another place. And are introduced to Bob....

As soon as he appeared on the screen I realized two things. First I had seen this same actor before in Warriors of the Wasteland,a great Mad Max Italian ripoff with Fred Williamson and George Eastman. And secondly once Bob spoke  I saw why everybody I knew that saw this film talked about how bad the dubbing for Bob was. He sounds like a 40 year old woman trying to do a young male kid's voice. It is so bad that the actor that plays Bob has at conventions and in interviews apologized for the dubbing.

Bob and his family move into the house where we saw the woman get knife to the skull. And shit just gets weirder. For example a bat comes into the house and attacks them. The dad manages to kill it in a fairly bloody way.

It being a Fulci movie I expected gore. And I'm a bit use to Italian horror films not always making lots of sense. This film has piles of stuff that just doesn't fit or make sense. Like when the mother comes into a room,sees the nanny cleaning blood off the floor. And after being told the nanny had just made coffee the Mom never mentions the big blood stain!

From what I have read an early home video release of this film got a couple of the film reels out of order. So you would see people die,then later on they were back alive. Which I'm sure back in the day people just chalked up to Italian horror not always making sense.

This isn't top tier Fulci horror. But it isn't his worse. The best way to watch this is with a group. And never ever try to figure out what the fuck is going on. Treat it like a nightmare and allow the dream logic to just flow.

The House by the Cemetery gets a C+.

31 Days of Horror 2021 Day 04 American Guinea Pig Song of Solomon

 

TITLE-American Guinea Pig Song of Solomon

SOURCE-Unearthed Films Blu Ray

Back in 2015 or so I heard rumors about some company getting the rights to make a new series of films in the infamous Guinea Pig franchise. Turns out the company was Unearthed Films. And so far the American Guinea Pig Films,like the Japanese ones,have divided the horror fan base. Some people see them are well made gore films. Others think they are cheap cash grabs.

Back in 2020 around the middle of October I had some Amazon giftcards left over from my birthday the previous summer. Was trying to think of stuff I wanted that I had never gotten so far. Was looking at Jim Van Bebber films. Saw that he was in Song of Solomon and ordered the Blu Ray.

A young female witnesses her father's suicide,it is a pretty violent and gory suicide. Mary,the young female, starts to act strange. Which causes her mother to get some help. Nothing seems to help Mary. And then her eye's turn black. Cut to Father Blake,Jim Van Bebber,who is called in to exorcise Mary. 

Sure this sounds a bit like the Exorcist. And yea in some ways Song of Solomon is a Exorcist clone. But the Exorcist never got this extreme. And from what I have read the Exorcist didn't use De Exorcismus Et Supplicationibus Quirbusdam,the Roman Catholic book on how to perform an exorcisium,but the director of Song of Solomon used that book along with a bunch of other fairly unknown and/or forgotten Christian texts to make this film as close to reality as they could get.

Now Song of Solomon isn't a film for everyone. The gore is fairly well done and stomach turning. As of a few weeks ago Song of Solomon was streaming on Tubi. Tubi is free to anyone in the US  or Canada. They show various films and movies uncut for free. But you do get ad breaks. But that is a good way for someone to try out this film without buying it.

American Guinea Pig Song of Solomon gets a B.

31 Days of Horror 2021 Day 03 Violent Shit

 

TITLE-Violent Shit

SOURCE-Synapse DVD

In 90 or 91 at a convention I learned about Andreas Schnaas. This homemade gore film set in West Germany became a huge underground hit. With copies of the unsubbed German dialogue film being traded and sold all over the US. Even not understanding German the film was easy to follow.

Karl is a young male and has an abusive mother. He kills her with his trusty meat cleaver. 20 years later Karl escapes custody. And from then till the end of the film we get a series of events so that various people are off in the countryside near Karl. Karl wanders up kills then in graphic ways and wanders off.

After each kill we see that for some reason Karl is falling apart Near the end Karl finds Jesus in a church. Jesus is killed and Karl climbs up inside the corpse like he is on Hoth and Jesus is a tautaun.

Not long after this Karl kills a few more outside the church.He rips himself open and reveals a baby.

I got this film as part of Synapses Violent Shit Collection. A cheap and easy to find way to see all these films. There is 4 or five films total in the Violent Shit series. And there is no other way to get them in English so easily.

For being an amatuer film done on a very low budget I was surprised at how good the gore effects are. The acting..well it is not that good. But I've seen much worse acting in low budget horror movies.

After seeing this film in German on a bootleg VHS decades ago I had been wanting to see the film and the first 2 sequels for a long time. But I just kept forgetting to order a copy. Then a friend last year was on a horror/gore kick. He bought the Synapse set and raved about it. I took the chance and ordered the set and wow it is worth the money.

Violent Shit gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror 2020 Day 14 Hostel Part 2 Unrated Director's Cut

 

TITLE-Hostel Part II Unrated Director's Cut

SOURCE-Sony DVD

I think I might have reviewed this back the year it hit theaters. But not sure. And even if I did what I had back then was the workprint,which was missing some of the FX work,that had leaked a month before the film hit theaters.

Now Eli Roth is a love him or hate him director. When Cabin Fever came out all I saw was people praising him and how he was gonna save mainstream horror. Then between that film and the first Hostel started seeing more and more fans hating on Eli. Some of them could explain why they didn't like him. But lots of them would just say stupid stuff like "He uses too much product on his hair."WTF what does that have to do with his directing? It really felt like the ones that hated him and couldn't give a real reason was more they were mad that a life long horror fan was out there making movies. While they were stuck working their boring job and doing whatever they could to try to get a bit of internet fame.Me,I have enjoyed almost every Eli Roth film I have seen. Even shit like Knock Knock.

Hostel 2 starts off showing us that the one survivor of the first film lives in fear. And he ends up being the first kill we see. After that we head over to Europe where three young women are taking an art class. These three will be our leads this time. And the story is kinda a flipped version of the first film.

The three leads are played by Lauren German,Bijou Phillips and Heather Matarazzo.

 For Ms German this was the first thing I saw her in. And for a bit the only thing I knew she had done until the tv show Lucifer started. She is a decent actress. But appears to pretty much stick to TV work now. Lauren plays the rich girl of the group. She is incredible wealthy and appears to pay for pretty much everything for her and her 2 friends.

Bijou Phillips is an actress I have been watching in films and TV for what feels like over half my life. For my fellow horror fans she is best known for being in the remake of Wizard of Gore and the Miramax 2005 voodoo film Venom. Both are films I have covered in previous 31 Days of Horror and both films are worth tracking down. Phillips the party girl of our lead trio. Which from various stories floating around is pretty much what Bijou was for a long time.

Heather Matarazzo is the last of our female trio. Before this film I knew her from playing DJ Conner's girlfriend on the last season of Roseanne,well last season of the original run,and her amazing early role in Welcome to the Dollhouse. But it appears most people know Heather as the sidekick from the Princess Diaries series of films. She plays the shy virginal girl of the group.

Now with this being Hostel and our leads being in Europe of course this means they will get bad info and head off to one of the places the evil group from the first film are.

The ladies are at a village's harvest festival and a man approachs Heather. He talks her into taking a boat ride with him down a nearby creek. And yep you know where this is going. She gets knocked out. The other two ladies notice she is missing and go to find her.

Heather wakes up hanging from the ceiling and fully nude. Seems someone wanted to recreate the infamous Elizabeth Bathroy stuff. Added bonus to the woman looking to kill Heather is Heather is a virgin. Yep we get to see a lady bathe in the blood of a female virgin. In what is the best kill scene in the Hostel trilogy,

Sadly after this scene most of the rest of the film is downhill. With only the twist about 8 minutes before the ending providing anything that will surprise your normal horror fan.

The gore is well done. And most of it is practical FX work. The acting ain't bad for what is pretty much a high budget gore film. But too much of it feels like Roth redoing his favorite gore scenes from movies he saw too many times as a teen.

That twist I mentioned... German is rich. She uses her money to buy her way out of dying. It's a neat twist. And one I should have called before it happened. 

After this movie Eli Roth turned the franchise over to other hands. I figure lots of that has to with how this movie didn't do that great at the box office. 

The first Hostel,released in 2005,cost a little under 5 million  and made a bit over 80 million. Hostel II came out 2 years later.It Cost a bit over 10 million to make,but only made a tiny bit under 36 million.

Some will say that is because besides changing the genders of the lead trio there isn't that much difference between the two films. Sony and Roth claim it is because almost a month before the films US theatrical release a workprint got leaked. This workprint,which is how I saw the film for years until I got the DVD pictured up at the top,looked decent. But the final beheading effect wasn't finished. And a few music tracks got changed for the theatrical release. 

I believe it was a bit of both as to why this film under performed. Plus a dash of the first film did so well cause it was the first big studio big budget gore film in decades. By the time the second film came out the whole torture porn subgenre had exploded.

No matter the reason,this film is the reason why the third film went direct to video. Had a tiny budget. And the third film feels more like a revamping of the series instead of a sequel that continues on the story from the first two films.

Hostel II is a decent gore film with an interesting cast of fairly talented young actresses. Hostel II gets a C+.

31 Days of Horror 2020 Day 11 Blood Sucking Freaks

 

Title-Blood Sucking Freaks

Source-Joe Bob's Last Drive In Airing

Oh man another year and another great batch of episodes from Joe Bob.  This is one of those films that was whispered about on the school yard. Somehow one kid had gotten to see it. And he told everyone. Which lead to other kids claiming "Yea I saw it the other night on HBO." or my favorite "You know Channel 15 shows uncut movies at 2am Sunday morning? Yea They showed Blood sucking Freaks and I spit on your grave last week. They dont list they right films in the tv guide so Channel 15 doesnt get in trouble with the cops." Man I'm betting you don't have crazy stories like this now on schoolyards. Kids can just pull out their cell and look stuff up now.

But back to Blood Sucking Freaks,Sometime in 94 or 95 we found a copy to rent at this great video store. You know the kind of video store,was ran by a dude that loved horror and cult movies. The kind of store that in that timeframe made sure to stock copies of Nekromantik and Traces of Death. The store where once the owner got to know you he would recommend films. And to top all that his extremely cute tall hippie daughter worked there.And she was a hardcore explotation film nut.

So yea we rented it. Called everyone over to watch it. Made it a BYOB movie watching event. Had a houseful of people. And sure if anyone got grossed out and had to leave the room they caught some shit.

While it was great to finally see this much talked about film,the tape looked like ass. Not only was it the normal fullscreen crap. Cause the tape was older and had been rented many many times the picture and sound was badly degraded. 

The brainsucking thru a straw scene had that look to it which told ya many people had rewound,slow motioned and paused that scene. Kinda like how back in the day when you rented Fast Times at Ridgemont High and you got to the Phoebe Cates pool scene,the picture quality took a major drop from all the pausing and slow moing that had been done to that part of the tape.

Here I am happy that I finally got to see this cult classic film. Then disappointed that the tape looked so bad. When I returned the tape I asked the hippie daughter if they could order a copy."I know tapes aint cheap but I really want to see it fresh out the shrinkwrap." She took down my home number and a few weeks later she called. Told me the tape was currently out of print. "I can get you a like new copy from Video Oyster up north for 80 dollars." Yea ain't gonna drop that much on the film. Thanked her and hung up.

And pretty much forgot about Blood Sucking Freaks for decades. Ended up getting the Troma DVD. So got to see a slightly better version of the film. What was up with so many of the Troma DVDs looking janky? 

The film is pretty much a series of gore set pieces. Sure there is a skeleton of a plot. A crazed maniac puts on an way way way off Broadway stage show. Like the Grand Gungol in France. But he is really maiming and killing people.

The gore is well done for the era. And is the main reason this film developed a devoted cult following. Then add in the wackiness of the cast. 

With the midget being the stand out. So many metal/punk/alt rock bands have used quotes from the midget in their music.

The Joe Bob Last Drive In airing looks and sounds great. Way better than the Troma DVD or that old ass VHS. And it is obvious that Joe Bob is a huge fan of the film. He provides plenty of info about the film. As a neat bonus Joe Bob had on Chris Jericho. For those that don't know who Jericho is,he is a pro wrestler that also is the lead singer of the band Fozzy. Jericho is a huge fan of Blood Sucking Freaks. And even wrote a song about it that he premiered on Joe Bob's Last Drive In.

I like Blood Sucking Freaks.And want a nice blu ray of it.But I also know it isn't a film for everyone. And it is a film I feel the need to see at most every 5 years.

Joe Bob's Last Drive In airing of Blood Sucking Freaks is a solid A.Between Joe Bob and the normal cast's info and thought on the film and the added bonus of Chris Jericho they took a slightly above average film and made it much better.

With out all the stuff from Joe Bob and the gang... Blood Sucking Freaks gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror Day 14 Blood Feast II

Title-Blood Feast II
Source-Shriek Show DVD

Yep the final film the late HG Lewis made.Sadly in 2016 HG Lewis died.

 I have been slowly over the past 20 years been trying to see all of HG Lewis's films. Even the pre-gore stuff. Somehow for years Blood Feast II eluded me. Every time I would think to order it it was out of stock. I never saw it in any store. And back in 2002 when this hit DVD I was in Best Buy and Circuit City at least once a week.

Then back right about the time it was going from spring to summer I found a copy. In an odd place. There is a bodega near a good friend's apartment. The kind of store that if they know you will sell you beer on Sundays,a major no no in MS. Well I had stopped there to grab a drink for my drive home. The line was long. While waiting in the line I started digging thru their cardboard bin of  DVDs. I am guessing the DVDs come from a place that deals in overstock media. Cause you never know what you will find. And sometimes there is even Wii games mixed into the DVDs. So while waiting in this long line I found for cheap Blood Feast II and another DVD that is OOP.

Blood Feast II was made 40 years after the original Blood Feast. And it was HG Lewis's first movie since 1972's The Gore Gore Girls. Even though Lewis had done interviews and appeared at conventions I just assumed he was done making movies. Then in 2000 I started hearing rumors online that Lewis was gonna make another movie. And word was it was a sequel to one of the infamous Gore Trilogy.

I was hoping for a sequel to 2000 Maniacs,which we kinda got years later in the 2001 Maniacs remake/sequel. But instead we got a sequel to Blood Feast. Lewis's first and most famous film. And this isn't even the first time a sequel to that film was attempted. Back in the 80s the movie Blood Diner,a great cult classic horror/comedy,started off as a sequel to Blood Feast. And when you watch it you can tell it is suppose to be a sequel to Blood Feast.

The grandson of Fuad Ramses ,Fuad Ramses the third, returns to Miami.And reopens his grandfather's catering business.He is quickly hired to cater a sheriff's wedding. A Sheriff that knows what Fuad's grandfather did years ago. And is suspicious.

While cleaning up the store to reopen it,Fuad finds the statue of Ishtar that his grandfather had. Ishtar's spirit possesses Fuad. And sets him on the task to complete the blood feast ritual that his grandfather couldn't.

The acting isn't that great.But then the acting in the original Blood Feast wasn't good. The gore is actually pretty well done. And damn gory. About 8 minutes was cut from the film to get an R rated cut. Thankfully the DVD I found is the uncut version. What is odd is that even though it is modern day,lots of the people in the film dress like the cast in the original film from 40 years ago.

I was surprised that there is almost no extras on this DVD. I figured Lewis would do a commentary,since he has done them on most of his films that Something Weird  Video has released. It would have been neat to hear his thoughts on making a film after so many years in retirement.

The film is enjoyable. But only if you like low budget gore films. The acting is a set above porn levels. The gore is better than I expected.

Blood Feast II gets a C.

31 Days of Horror Day 12 Bad Taste

Title-Bad Taste
Source-Count Gore Devol's airing on Vimeo

Ahhhh Bad Taste,the first film and first movie I saw from a guy who is one of my favorite director,Mr Peter Jackson. I had heard about the movie thanks to Fangoria and a few horror zines I read. I was on my way home from school on a Friday. Had just spent most of Chemisty II class reading an article in Fangoria about Peter Jackson's newest film Dead/Alive AKA Braindead. A buddy had told me that this one video store had just gotten in a bunch of horror films. So I stopped by to see if there was anything worth renting. This store ,that I later found out got shut down cause it was renting bootlegs,never had more than one copy of any film. But they had a huge horror,sci fi and porn selection. Seriously I could find pretty much any horror film that was on VHS at this store. I went in and headed straight for the horror section. Saw the above image and grabbed it cause I knew it was a film I had been reading about for years now.

I got home. Put the tape into my VCR and right at 90s minutes I sat there with my jaw on the floor. I had seen gore movies before this. But none of them had as much comedy. Or were made on such a low budget. Then right at the very end the tape stopped and started rewinding. This is when I started to suspect the video store was renting out bootlegs. Almost none of the tapes you rented from them had the FBI warning or a bunch of trailers before the film started. A friend swears he rented some Euro softcore film from the same store and saw the Cinemax After Dark logo pop up a few times. So I was a bit mad that I didn't see the entire film. But really going back now I see that all I missed was the credits.

The plot is fairly simple. Aliens have come to Earth.They want humans to serve as the food in their intergalactic fast food places. And Peter Jackson and some friends are the Earth's only defense.

Mr Jackson shot this film over a long period of time. With himself and various friends playing all the roles. And sometimes not being able to shoot footage cause they were out of money. It was mostly made on the weekends.

What sucks is AFAIK it hasn't gotten a Blu Ray release in the USA. The legit DVD release doesn't look that great and is OOP. I figured once Jackson hit it big with the Lord of the Rings films,fuck I hate those movies,that all his previous stuff would get re-released on DVD. But that doesn't seemed to have happened.

Notice how I said legit DVD release. Somehow a few companies seem to think Bad Taste,which was released in 1987,is in the public domain. So it has shown up on a handful of those multiple horror movie sets. You know like 50 Chilling Classics on 10 DVDs for only 20 bucks. The versions of Bad Taste found on those sets looks worst than the bootleg VHS I rented back in 90 or 91.

What is even odder is early this year Count Gore DeVol aired Bad Taste on his Vimeo show. Count Gore is a horror host that used to be on TV in the DC area. And in the early 2000s switched over to being online. Every week or so you get a new film from him. And it is free to watch. I am guessing whoever picks the movies for his show saw Bad Taste on those PD horror sets and just assumed the film is PD. The print Count Gore used looks decent. It looks as good if not better than the officially released DVD. And hell it is free. Added bonus if you have the Vimeo app you can download videos off Vimeo to watch offline. Whenever I am making a road trip I always load up a few Count Gore episodes on  my Tablet to watch while in the van going to what ever tiny town we are heading to.

I love this movie. But then I love all of Jackson's pre-LOTR stuff. Sadly it looks like the days of him making amazing horror/comedies is over. I thought after the huge success of LOTR Jackson would use that to get a big budget and make the best horror/comedy ever. But nope we got a decent but un-needed remake of King Kong. Then the horrible Hobbit trilogy.

Since the DVD is OOP and selling for too much if you want to see this goto Vimeo and watch Count Gore's airing of it.

Bad Taste gets a B+.

31 Days of Horror Day 08 Anthropophagus

Title-Anthropophagous
Source-Midnight Video VHS

Also known as The Grim Reaper,Anthropophagous is an infamous film from Italian director Joe D'Amato. It is a movie that has suffered from being censored many times in various countries. In the States the first release ,known under the title Grim Reaper,was heavily cut. I had heard for years about all the stuff that was cut.

Then in the mid 90s at a con I found someone selling copies of Midnight Video's full uncut version of the movie. Midnight Video used many sources to make what was the first fully uncut version in  English. The main source was a Japanese VHS release.So lots of the film on this VHS has Japanese subtitles on the bottom of the screen. But even that Japanese VHS was missing two scenes. The first is a pre-credits of a couple being attacked on a beach,which sadly is in French with no subtitles. The other scene is from near the end of the film. It is the famous ending shot of the killer eating his own disemboweled intestines,which supposedly was only ever released on a hard to find VHS that came out in Venezuela. The only other scene in this version that wasn't in the Grim Reaper release is when the killer kills a pregnant woman then eats her fetus.

A group of young adults are on a cruise in their yacht during the summer. They agree to take a young American woman to a Greek island. They get to the island and there is no one there. And the telegraph line has been cut. Our young adults leave the pregnant member of their group on the boat and go explore the island.

On the  island they find a young blind girl. Who keeps telling them about an evil presence on the island. One by one the leads are attacked and killed by the title killer. Played by George Eastman aka Luigi Montefiori. Who is the son of a wealthy family. He got shipwrecked on the island.Becoming a cannibal after eating his wife and son.

It seems Midnight Video spent right at 3 years assembling their cut of this movie. Most of this version is made up of footage from the previously mentioned Japanese VHS. For some reason that VHS had audio in French. So the people at Midnight Video took the video from the Japanese VHS and married it with a English soundtrack. I admire all the work they did back then. In the days before we had easy to get audio and video editing software doing stuff like that was very hard to do and very very time consuming. Of course since this VHS came out there has been a few DVD releases. All of which now make this VHS look like crap. But back in the mid 90s this was the best you could do.

Honestly Anthropophagus is worth seeing if you are interested in late 70s/early 80s Italian gore movies. And thanks to Youtube you don't have to spend a bunch of money on the movie. I paid IIRC 30 bucks for the VHS. And I bet the DVD was about that price when it came out.

Here is the trailer. It isn't safe for work. But it does give you a good idea of what the film is about.

                                     

Anthropophagus gets a C+.

31 Days of Horror Day 09 Color Me Blood Red

TITLE-Color Me Blood Red
FORMAT-Something Weird Video/Image Blu Ray

Got this great and cheap pack of the Blood Trilogy on Blu a few years back. But never really paid much attention to Color me Blood Red.I might have watched it 2 times,and both times got bored and turned the commentary on,which is amazing,but more on that later.

The film has a crazy artist using his blood,and blood from others,to paint. Imagine Bucket of Blood with the gore taken up to 11.Out of all of Lewis and Friedman's collaborations this is the most boring of the ones I have seen.

So yeah a stinky movie,but the other two on the set are great and both have great commentaries. And Color Me Blood Red has a amazing commentary. I knew before listening to it that Dave Friedman and HG Lewis split years ago and always wondered why. The commentary on this set reveals what sounds to me to be the honest answer.

Looking around online you can get this for about 7 bucks plus shipping. If you are a horror fan and can handle gore this is one of the best Blu Ray Horror releases so far in the history of the format.

Color Me Blood Red gets a D-.But with the commentary on it rises to a B.

2016 Comic Challenge 292 Zombies! Eclipse of the undead #01

TITLE-Zombies!Eclipse of the Undead #01
PUBLISHER-IDW

Got this comic in a lot of "10lbs of random comics". Had no idea at the time that IDW even had a zombie comic.

Our lead is a medical student.Who is living in one of the stadiums in LA. The stadium is surrounded by zombies,but the military is still there keeping them out.

Then food and water run  out,the military leaves during an eclipse. And someone on the inside is infected.So we get an outbreak of zombies in the stadium.

No clue how long this series ran.The cover is ok I guess. A bit dark but not the worst I have seen.El Torres is the writer and Yair Herrera is the artist. Never heard of either.

If I happen to find the later issues of this series for a buck or less I might grab them. But this is just a slightly above average spin on your typical zombie story.

Zombies!Eclipse of the Undead #01 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 136 2001 Maniacs Special

TITLE-2001 Maniacs Special
PUBLISHER-Avatar

I discovered the 2001 Maniacs film about 6 months or so before it finally hit DVD.Someone I knew had been sent a screener DVD of it and gave it to me. I loved the film and wanted more out of this rebooting of the Hershal; Gordon Lewis gore classic.

This comic tells the story of when the town the maniacs live in was attacked by a army from the North.So we get to see the slaughter and destruction of the town. Which is a good idea. It is a nice way to fill in some gaps but also not contradict what we already know from the first film.

Tim Sullivan gets the story credit.And Raulo Caceres is credit as the artist. Pretty sure Mr Sullivan was the director of the film. Caceres I do not know. But his art has that sameness look that most art on Avatar books has.

2001 Maniacs Special gets a borrow.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 17 Blood Diner

Blood Diner
Source-Lionsgate DVD

Yeah I know the above cover is the German release from Dragon. The same image is used on the menu of the Lionsgate release I own.

Blood Diner is a kind of sequel to Blood Feast. Two nephews of the lead from Blood Feast,with his name and death changed a bit,dig up his body. And by making a feast for Sheetar they can bring the uncle back.

This is one I saw when it hit video years ago,mostly cause of the good reviews it was getting in lots of the horror mags I was reading.And I remember seeing it a bunch syndicated on various local channels late night slots.Kept hearing for years that a "Loaded dvd version with all kinds of extras Boz" was coming out. It so far hasn't. Few years back this quietly at first slipped out on a 6 film pack. No extras,just the film.

That pack at least in my area is still easy to find for $5,so it is worth grabbing for that price. If you love the Hershall Gordon Lewis Gore films this is a must see.

Blood Diner gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 06 Black Sheep

Black Sheep
Source-Dimension Extreme Unrated DVD

Back when the Weinsteins started up the Dimension Extreme label because the films were usually cheap I grabbed everyone of them I found. And Black Sheep turned out to be the best of all the ones I grabbed.

Set in the rural areas of New Zealand,this is  a tale of mutated flesh eating sheep. Yeah sheep.Once a guy who is afraid of sheep comes back to sell his share of the family farm the shit hits the fan.Seems his brother has been performing genetic experiments on the sheep.

This is a nice combo of creature feature plus the gore/comedy stuff Peter Jackson use to do. To offset all the gore there is so much humor in this movie. And the humor is what makes this stand out. When this came out the DTV market was flooded with piles of modern creature features that had subpar CGI for the creatures. Black Sheep has decently done CGI and some great practical FX work.

The DVD has a nice amount of extras. We get some deleted scenes that can be watched with or without commentary. A film long commentary with writer/director Jon King and actor Nathan Meister. And a halfway decent making of Black Sheep featurette. IIRC this DVD was $7.50 brand new and is totally worth that price.

Black Sheep gets a B.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 04 Two Thousand Maniacs

Two Thousand Maniacs
Source-The Bloody Trilogy Blu Ray from Something Weird Video/Image Entertainment

This is the second of Lewis's famous Gore Trilogy.And until I got this Blu ray I had never seen it. I knew the plot and had seen the remake,2001 Maniacs check it out it is fun.

A small southern town is destroyed back during the Civil War. A northern army comes thru,burns it down and kills all the citizens of the town. So in the modern day on the anniversary of this happening the town tricks some vacationing northerners into coming to the town.

Once there these Yankees are killed off one by one. In fairly brutal ways. One guy it placed into a barrel. Nails are hammered into it. Then the barrel is rolled down a hill. One woman gets squashed under a huge rock that is dropped off a tower.

Out of all the HG Lewis films I have seen this is my favorite. Sure it is as low budget and cheesy as his other films. But the film still manages to shine thru all the crap. The title song is great. The acting is much better than most other Lewis films. And even the gore seems to be better done.

And because this is from Something Weird Video it is loaded with extras. Like Blood Feast this film has a pile of outtakes,once again with no sound,the original trailer and an amazing commentary once again with Lewis,Friedman and Varney.

In the commentary Lewis and Friedman talk about how the movie was filmed in St Cloud Florida. Which back then was just a tiny town near Orlando. Of course now St Cloud has been taken over by Disney and is huge.

If you have never seen any of Lewis's horror/gore films this is the one to start with. And if you own a Blu Ray player get this great triple feature Blu Ray. I see it selling brand new for 10 bucks all the time.

2000 Maniacs gets an A.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 03 Blood Feast

Blood Feast
Source-The Bloody Trilogy Blu Ray from Something Weird Video/Image Entertainment

It was the mid 80s when I first heard about Hershell Gordon Lewis's gore films. And almost 10 years later before I got the chance to see the first of his gore films. There was a drive in theater about 2 hours away from where I lived. One Saturday night they had a triple feature of Night of the Living Dead/The Undertaker and his Pals and Blood Feast. By the time Blood Feast had started everyone else in the car had fallen asleep. And I was fairly drunk and the next day could only remember a few scenes from the film.

It wasn't until after Turner Classic Movies started their great TCM Underground series that I got to see Blood Feast again. And I really enjoyed it. But for some reason I never bothered getting the well done DVD release.Then back in early August I got the Blu Ray release that had Blood Feast plus the next two films in HG Lewis's gore series.

The film is about an insane caterer. He worships an ancient Egyptian God. He gets hired out to provide the refreshments for a rich girl's birthday party. So he goes around town killing young women and cutting off various body parts. What I found funny is lots of these kills he does in daylight in heavy populated areas.

Now sure the gore FX look like crap now. The acting is worse than a 3rd grade play. But some how this film rises above those flaws. And as far as anyone knows this is the first gore film made in North America. And one of the first ones made in the world.

The Blu Ray is loaded with extras. You get the original trailer. Plus piles of outtakes,which sadly have no sound. But the best extra is a feature length commentary with David Friedman RIP,Hershell Gordon Lewis and Mike Varney RIP. Since getting this disc I have listened to that commentary 3 times. It is loaded with not only info on the film. But also lots of great stories from Friedman and Lewis.

Blood Feast gets a B-.

31 days of Horror 2012 day 02

Paura nella città dei morti viventi AKA City of the Living Dead AKA Gates of Hell
1980
Blue Underground DVD

This is the first film from infamous Italian director Lucio Fulci that I ever saw. I found it,under the Gates of Hell title,for rent at Homeport Video out in Forts Lake Mississippi. I had never heard of it before,but on the box cover was a warning that said cause of extreme scenes of violence and gore it was recommended that no one under the age of 18 see the movie. That right there was  a huge clue that I must see this movie. I had to be about 13 at the time. Got home with the VHS through it in and sat down to watch it while I ate my dinner. At the time I had no idea this was an Italian film,and also had no idea who Lucio Fulci was. But after watching the film I knew that I must own a copy. So before returning the VHS to the video store I hooked up 2 VCRs and made myself a copy. Fast forward almost 20 years and I was in Circuit City and looking for some new horror DVDs to buy. I saw saw a DVD titled City of the living dead,and since I have always loved zombies movies I picked it up and read the description on the back of the case. It sounded kind of familiar to me,but it didn't connect it to Gates of Hell. I saw that Blue Underground had put it out,and I knew that they always did great work on their DVD releases so I bought it. Well the DVD sat on my shelf for years before I even opened it up. Then sometime in 2008 I threw it in late one night when I was looking for some thing to watch. After about 10 minutes I realized I had seen it before. So I looked it up on the internet and realized it was also known as Gates of Hell.

The film is about how after a priest commits suicide in a graveyard he opens up one of the Gates of hell. And zombies pour through this gate and invade the town. A reporter played by Christopher George finds out that the gate most be closed by All Saint's day. If this doesn't happen the zombies will end up taking over the world. Like most Fulci horror films,City of the Living Dead doesn't have the most amazing plot. But what it does have is great atmosphere and some really well done practical FX work. We get one well done scene where Giovanni Lombardo Radice gets killed by a drill to his head. Then what is one of the best known deaths in any Fulci film, when one lady ends up puking up all her intestines. This effect was done by having the actress swallow some sheep intestines and then having her regurgitate them. And it works really well. First time I saw the movie,like I mentioned above,I was eating my dinner and the gut puking part almost made me puke. One complaint I hear from most people is how the film really has no ending. This is cause the last reel of film got messed up and Fulci didn't have the money or time to re-film it. So we get a crappy non-ending ending. But if you are a fan of 80s Italian horror City of the Living dead is worth at least a rental. I know that a few years ago Blue Underground released this on Blu Ray. And at the same time put out a new edition on DVD. These newer releases have a really good making of documentary. The DVD I have is bare bones. Besides the film ,you get a trailer and a fact file on Fulci. City of the Living Dead 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 Year 3 day 03

 Chaos
2005
Razor Digital Entertainment


Chaos is a 2005 film directed by David DeFalco. And starring Kevin Gage,Stephen Wozniak,Kelly K.C. Quann and Sage Stallone. This film I had heard about for many years. Cause of how disgusting it was and how it was a complete rip off of the original The Last House on the Left. But I didn't want to buy it cause it cost way more than I was willing to spend on a film that got almost completely bad reviews and something I hadn't seen yet. Well right about the time the remake of Last House on the Left hit dvd. I found the DVD of Chaos for what I considered a reasonable price. But never bothered to watch it till recently.

And what I read was right this film is an almost scene by scene rip off of Last House on the Left. A few things are changed but not that much. And it is also pretty graphic in the violence they show. This time it is 2 girls heading off to a rave held way out in the woods. When they get their they want to score some X. So they see Sage Stallone and he tells them he lives not too far away and has some X they can have. The girls are stupid and follow him. The film then follows the original Last house from that point.  After being tortured both girls manage to get away. But the group catches up with one of them. And the leader of the group,nicknamed Chaos and played by Kevin Gage,rips off her top and bra. Then using his knife cuts off her left nipple and areola. He put it into his mouth and chew it for a minute. Then forces the girl to eat it. She quickly throws it up. He then flips her over on her stomach and him and Stephen Wozniack rape her. Finally Gage stabs her multiple times in her back. The group finally catches up with the other girl. And after raping her Gage shoves his knife up her vagina. And she ends up bleeding to death.

Well sometime before they caught the second girl Sage accidentally gets killed. So the 2 guys and the girl go and seek refuge at the nearest house. Which just happens to be the second girl to be killed,parent's home. And from this point till right at the very end is exactly like Last House. At the end the cops show up and the only one of the bad guys left alive is Gage. The father has a hunting rifle pointed at him and the cops keep telling him to put the gun down. When he doesn't the older cop shots him in the head. This causes the wife to grab the older cop's backup pistol and she shots the older cop 2 or 3 times. The younger cop shots the mom,and while all this is happening Gage gets the hunting rifle and shots the younger cop. So in the end Gage is the only one to survive.

Well the movie is bad enough. But the director and the producer do a commentary. In which the director keeps calling Chaos "THE MOST BRUTAL FILM EVER MADE". Which is total bullshit. And he mentions many times all the 70s films that inspired him to make Chaos. But never once mentions Last House on the left. Then there is a very very odd special feature. It has a shirtless David Defalco walking around the LA morgue flexing and ranting about Roger Ebert. Now Defalco is a guido musclehead and I still am not really sure why this part was filmed in the LA morgue. But near the end he starts talking about how by using meth it allows demons to take control of your body. Overall it is one of the weirdest special features I have ever seen.

Now I will say the acting in the film is decent. And the gore FX are well done. But since it is a complete rip off of Last House that drops the film down a few notches. Chaos gets a F+.

31 days of horror Year 2 day 24

Night of the Demons 2009 remake

I acquired a copy of this last weekend and finally got around to watching it the other day. Same basic premise as the original. Teens in a house ,demons attack blah blah blah. But this time you have a cast of somewhat knowns. Like Monica Keena,Edward Furlong,Shannon Elizabeth,and Diora Bard. There is a nice cameo from Linnea Quigley near the beginning of the film. And it is a nice reference to the original. Diora Bard does the infamous lipstick gag,and while it has been changed it still works pretty well. Furlong is the male lead and is convincing playing a pudgy,bloated,drug dealing sleazebag. Keena is the female lead and does a good job,plus she is still looking incredibly hot. Shannon Elizabeth plays Angela,and does an ok job. I have found that outside Jack Frost and American Pie I really don't care for Ms Elizabeth. The various effects are good. And the demon makeup is well done. Sadly Tiffany Shepis has what amounts to about a 5 minute cameo. She deserves better. I do like how the ending was changed and it is very effective. Night of the Demons 2009 remake earns a solid B+.