31 Days of Horror 2025 Day 19 The AGFA Horror Trailer Show

 

TITLE-The AGFA Horror Trailer Show 

SOURCE-AGFA Blu Ray

I've always loved trailer comps and this one is one of the best. Set up like you are at a drive in and watching almost 90 minutes of trailers and ads for Drive in consessions. The trailer selection is really good too. With some of these trailers making total shithole films look worth seeing. Fear No Evil is one I had never seen and now got on my must see list.

If it was just that this would be a great buy. But nope there is more. First a commentary on the feature. Filled with info. Then a second feature. That focuses on late 80 thru late 90s SOV and DTV horror. I was impressed by how good some of these trailers in this second feature look.

Really a good trailer comp needs not the same 40 trailers we have seen many times before. And a good pace. This one does both.

The AGFA Horror Trailer Show gets a A.

31 Days of Horror 2025 day 05 Late Night with the Devil

 

TITLE-Late Night with the Devil

SOURCE-DVD

Last year near the start of October on a whim I bought a few dvds of newer horror films. Late Night with the Devil was one I kept hearing about. 

Watched the DVD,with the commentary going,as I did laundry one day. Yea I'm weird and will do stuff like first time watching a  movie put on the commentary.

Then way late in October it aired on Joe Bob's annual Halloween special. Watched it again,and Joe Bob had on the lead actor. Fuck this is good.

So today wanted something to watch saw the DVD on the shelf,put it in the player and yea this is damn good.

Our lead is a late night tv show host in the mid 70s. He is trying his best to beat Johnny Carson. After his wife dies from lung cancer his contract about to end on Halloween night 1977 he does a show that he hopes will get him the ratings he needs to keep the show going.

Starts off with a psychic coming out on the show. Cold reading the room and using the normal cold reading tricks. This kind of bombs. Then a former magician comes out shows how the Psychic did the cold read. 

But now the Psychic isn't feeling good. And he ends up projecting vomiting black bile. Rushed off to the hospital and dies on the way.

The next guest is a parapsycologist and her current patient. And young teen girl who is the only survivor of a Satanic Cult.

The teen girl is strapped to a chair and on live tv the demon appears in her. And yea I was like ok this is decent but why was everyone raving about it at this point.

The film does a great job recreating how 70s tv looked. And the BTS footage is a nice touch.

Now the magican is back out. Takes the co host of the show hypnotizes him and the audience and shows that this is how the demon appeared.

Nope,all through out the film many mentions are made of our lead going to "the Grove". Yea Bohemian Grove is part of the plot of this film.

The Demon takes over the little girl. She starts killing everyone in the studio. And our host survives.

Then we get the twist ending. It is strongly hinted the host sold his soul to the Devil to get ratings. And one of the prices of this was his wife was a sacrifice.

Fucking amazing film. I got vague memories of seeing a few late night talk shows in the late 70s. Mostly nights I was being babysat.  The sets,clothing and hairstyles look right to me.

Late Night with the Devil gets a B+

Piranha DVD

 

Title-Piranha

SOURCE-Shout Factory DVD

Yea normally I save horror stuff for October. Just after watching this the other night I felt the need to write about it. Now I have covered the 90s remake and the 2000s remake on this blog before. And I've seen  the original many times. 

First time viewing it had to be when it premiered on network tv. Sure it was some channels Movie of the week,who else remembers that? Each major OTA network would have a night of the week where they showed cut for tv versions of big movies. Would be a big deal when stuff like Alien played tv for the first time. I had to be 8 or so when I first saw Piranha and I loved it.

The plot is Jaws but replacing the giant shark with a pile of mutated piranhas. They are heading to a water resort and of course the owner doesn't want to shut it down.

Cheesy and cheaply made this is still the best Jaws rip off from that era. Decent FX work,ok acting and a decent plot.

This DVD is loaded. Got a great commentary,that is full of info on  the film. A almost 20 minute long featurette with Corman and others that worked on  the film. They even dug up the scenes added back into the TV version. Back in the day lots of the time when  a film was edited for tv it would cause the running time to be too short,average movie needed to be 90 to 95 minutes so a 2 hour block would have 25 to 30 minutes of ads,so cut scenes would be added back in. Some films even  had new scenes filmed for the tv version.

I know there is a great blu ray of this out there. Betting a 4k is either out or out soon. This DVD is a great cheap choice if you want to try out the film

Piranha 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 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 2021 Day 01 Fantasy Island (2020)

 

TITLE-Fantasy Island

SOURCE-Starz Channel Airing off the DVR

Back on Valentine's Day 2020 Blumhouse released their Fantasy Island film. Taking the old tv show and making it into a horror film was an idea I liked. We planned on going. We are both huge horror fans and have spent a few Valentines Days at the theater enjoying a new horror film. But something happened and we just never went to see it.

Skip ahead to 2021. I had been building up a nice selection of horror films I had never seen on the DVR. Remembering how much we wanted to see Fantasy Island when it was in theaters I popped some popcorn. Turned off the cell phones and sat down to watch it.

The cast ain't bad. Michael Pena I knew from stuff like The Shield and Eastbound and Down. He is good as Mr Roarke. Maggie Q,took me a few minutes to realize it was her,does well in her part as the older businesswoman. Then the only other member of the cast I knew was Lucy Hale. And that was just because she was the lead on CW's short lived Katy Keene series.

Like the old show,which I tried to watch each week as a kid,a handful of people arrive at the island by plane and are told their wildest fantasies will come true. For most of the main cast this is simple nice stuff. But Lucy Hale wants to torture the woman that bullied her back in school. And the film starts to take a very dark twist.

The FX work ain't bad. I wish more of it was practical work. But the CGI that is used looks decent. While none of the cast are big names they all did great. With Jimmy O. Yang being a stand out. Before this I had just seen him in bit parts in film and tv and he was decent. In this film he is the stand out.

I see that the film got bad reviews but made almost 7 times it's budget at the box office. Now I wouldn't saw Fantasy Island was an amazing film. But for mainstream horror it was pretty decent. Worth catching on say Netflix or Hulu.

Fantasy Island gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2020 Day 10 Pledges

 

TITLE-Pledges

SOURCE-Echo Bridge DVD

I am always on the lookout for cheap horror dvds. With the many Dollar Generals and Family Dollars in my area sometimes being amazing places to find stuff for cheap. But stuff balances out. Sure I have found cheap blu rays/dvds over the last 4 years at the nearby DG,but I have also found stuff like Pledges.....

2 years ago it was late October and I was looking for something new to watch. Dug thru the few cheap dvd bins they had scattered all over the store. Saw the above cover,saw it was Not Rated and 77 minutes. "Hey this might be good." Then saw the price sticker ....$7. That is high for a DTV horror at DG. Still bought it.Got home and somehow this dvd ended up behind my work desk, and was just found a few weeks ago.

Look at that cover. You just know you are gonna get a cheap but bloody slasher from that cover. And cheerleaders. And yea it is cheap and it has cheerleaders.....

A bunch of college kids are stipped to their underwear,tied up and blindfolded. Then dropped off in the woods for Hell Week. Now this looking like a slasher and the premise so far you expect a bunch of nudity. You don't get that.I am still not sure if the lady from the cover is in this movie or not. A killer is out in the woods along with some other college jackasses.

This is horrid. Too much is promised and never given. The acting is bottom of the barrel. The FX work is ok for a cheap budget but still aint worth a crap. And that 77 minutes feels more like 140 minutes.

How come so many modern directors can't make a simple entertaining slasher? For every good one like Hatchet you get 10 bads ones like Pledges. This movie is almost as bad as Vampeggedon or Z.O.M.B.I.E.S.

Avoid this shit unless you somehow have a passion for shitty modern cheap budget slashers with deceptive covers.

Pledges gets a F+

31 Days of Horror Day 24 Amsterdamned

TITLE-Amsterdamned
SOURCE-Shudder streaming service

I read about this film in Fangoria. It sounded pretty good so I hoped that it might play a theater near me. That didn't happen. A year later I see it is getting a VHS release. So went to the 8 video rental stores I had memberships at. None of them had it or could/would get it. Since 1990 have searched for it on cable...nope never caught it. Figured I just wouldn't see this film and kinda forgot about it.

Then earlier this year I got the Shudder streaming service. Was adding stuff to my list and started with the letter A. Saw they had Amsterdamned and was pretty happy. Added it to my list thinking I would watch it in a few days.

Well a few days became 5 months later. I needed something to watch today. Was going through my various lists on the streaming services I use. Saw Amsterdamned and started it up.

In the city of Amsterdam there is a serial killer on the loose. And he is wearing a full frogman suit and has a harpoon and a sharp as fuck knife to kill with. Using the canals to get around,this killer leads the lead detective on a wild chase.

This plays out like a mystery. With the audience and the detective trying to figure out who the killer is. Plus there is a beautiful woman that our lead ends up hooking up with. Yep this is pretty much a Dutch Giallo.

THe kills and their aftermaths are so well filmed and staged. With the very first one and it's aftermath being my favorite. The killer grabs a hooker on her way home from the brothel she works at. After killing her,she is hung from a bridge over one of the canals. Then the next morning as a boat,with a glass roof,full of tourists goes by the body slides down the glass roof leaving a bloody mess.

I looked and saw that Blue Underground has released a Blu Ray/DVD combo of the film. And I enjoy it enough I am going to buy it sometime soon.

Now like most giallos you have to deal with some things that might bother some viewers. Like bad dubbing. And there is some bad dubbing in this movie. Almost as bad as the little blonde boy in House by the Cementary.  Thankfully the script is fairly coherent. And the FX work is really good.

Amsterdamned gets a B.

31 Days of Horror Day 22 Rocky Horror Picture Show

TITLE-Rocky Horror Picture Show
SOURCE-DVD

I was surprised when I realized I have never covered Rocky Horror as part of 31 days of horror. So today tossed in my DVD and watched the film for what has to be close to the 500th time.

I can still remember the first time I saw Rocky Horror. It was Halloween night I was 14 and we had just gotten back from taking some buddie's younger sisters trick or treating. Our plan was to eat some candy and stay up most of the night watching various horror movies we had rented from Homeport Video. My buddy Jason's older sister ,she was 17,came out of  her bedroom in a crazy outfit. "Hey Tasha and I are going to the Silver Screen to see Rocky Horror. Do any of yall want to come?" I had heard of Rocky Horror,and remember this was a few years before it had any kind of home video release and I had a major crush on my buddy's sister. So I said I would go.

We get to the theater and the line went way down the block. Lots of people in costume. I knew the film was some kind of horror/comedy/musical mixture. And that it had a huge cult following but that was it. After the doors open we find some seats and a bit over an hour and half later I was sitting there amazed at what I had just seen.

Years later the Silver Screen had brought Rocky Horror back and was showing it every Friday and Saturday. And now there was a group of about 20 of us that went at least once every weekend. Most of my friends ended up being part of the shadowcast . So every Friday and Saturday after Rocky Horror was over a buddy would throw a party at his house.

For about a 3 year period I saw Rocky Horror in a theater at least once a week. At last count I had seen this film in a theater a bit over 200 times. Then I moved from MS to TX. And since then I haven't seen Rocky Horror in a theater.

Sure the local community theater shows Rocky Horror every year around Halloween. But they are just projecting a DVD. Plus they don't have a shadowcast. And want 15 a person to see it. If they were showing an actual film print I would be happy to pay that price. But if I am gonna watch the dvd and with no shadowcast I might as well watch it at my house.

So what is the film about? The plot is prety simple. Heading home after two friends of theirs got married,Brad and Janet have car trouble. So they brave the horrible storm and goto a nearby castle to see if they can use the phone to call for a repair man.

At the castle there is a huge party going on. And Dr Frank N Furter is going to reveal his newest experiment. He has created a man,with blonde hair and a tan. YOU CALL THAT A TAN? And from that simple premise this film goes all over the place.

The film is based on a UK play that became a huge hit.So 20th Century Fox decided to take this play that had become a hit in the UK and the US into a film. The film bombed big time. But then over the course of a few years it became a huge cult hit thanks to many midnight screenings.

I have now seen the play. Which is a bit different from the film. And even watched the made for TV remake from a few years ago. And earlier this year I got the play's soundtrack on CD.

If you are a fan of sci fi/horror/cult cinema from the 50s and 60s there is so many references and homages to films of that era in this movie/play. It is really a love letter to that era of cinema.

Then you got the amazing songs from the film. Thanks to seeing the film so many times I know every word to every song in the soundtrack. Hell I know most of the lines from the film.

Anyways if you have never seen Rocky Horror Picture Show find a theater near you that is showing it. Sure you can find the blu ray or dvd fairly easy and watch it that way.But seeing it in your living room is a very different experience than seeing it in a packed theater. A theater full of people that have seen it  multiple times. Then you also get the people that dress up as the character and act the film out in front of the movie screen. Seeing Rocky Horror in a theater is a one of the kind experience.

Rocky Horror Picture Show gets a A.

31 Days of horror Day 21 Leviathan

Title-Leviathan
Source-Encore Suspense airing

In the late 80s there was a rash of undersea sci fi/horror films. The three most remembered one's are The Abyss,Deepstar Six and Leviathan.

While The Abyss had that hack James Cameron behind it,and one of the few of his films worth watching, Leviathan has Stan Winston doing the FX work. Plus a cast full of genre actors. People like Peter Weller, Ernie Hudson, Amanda Payes and others.

After finding the wreckage of the Russian deep sea vessel Leviathan ,our leads go explore it. They find some liquor,which a few of the crew consume.

Turns out this liquor is infected and the people that drink it start to mutate. And cause of a nearby hurricane the crew can't be evacuated for 12 hours.

This is a fun b horror. Feels a bit like Alien mixed with The Thing but set underwater.

Leviathan gets a B.

31 Days of horror Day 20 Lucifer Season 1

Title-Lucifer the complete season 1
Source-Warner Bros DVD

Having read the Sandman comic that Lucifer spun off from I had an idea of where I thought this TV show would go. Turns out I was very wrong.

After abandoning Hell,Lucifer now runs a popular night club in Los Angeles.  After seeing a pop star get murdered our lead feels something changing in him.

In the 13 episodes in season 1,we see Lucifer slowly changing. He becomes a consultant for the police. All the while having to deal with an angel that wants to get our lead back in Hell.

The main cast is pretty good. The plots are decent. And I was surprised with how much I enjoyed the show.

Lucifer season 1 gets a B+.

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+

Scream Blacula Scream VHS review

2017 Comic Challenge 310 The Walking Dead #165

TITLE-The Walking Dead 165
PUBLISHER-Image

FUCK! Yeah Kirkman got me again. I have been thinking that either Rick or Carl would die soon. But I was wrong.

We got our group on horseback leading the herd into the ocean. All is going well. Then Andrea and Eugene get separated. Andrea makes it out,but has to go back to rescue Eugene.

Dwight's group is doing good. Then what is left of the Saviours show up and Dwight gets attacked.

Back at Alexandria Rick and Negan are slowly thinning out the herd that is surrounding the shed they are trapped in.

So it looks like all is going ok. Then the final page happens. And we see what I am pretty sure is a bite mark on Andrea's neck. Like I said at the beginning FUCK!.

The Walking Dead 165 gets a BUY!

2017 Comic Challenge 307 The Walking Dead #163

TITLE-The Walking Dead #163
PUBLISHER-Image
FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know Alexandria was prepared for a zombie herd attack,but no way were they prepared for a herd this large.

Andrea,Eugene,Jesus,Michonne and others are out on horses. To try to lead off large amounts of the herd away from the town. Back at the community Rick has everyone ready with knives to stab all the zombies pressing up against the front gate. But there is so many zombies the ones on the gate start to get crushed and become liquefied.
While our leads might have survived the war with the Whisperers fairly well it doesn’t look like they have a chance of surviving this herd. I am guessing that before issue 175 what is left of our leads will be back living on the run.

The Walking Dead #163 gets a buy!

2017 Comic Challenge 305 The Walking Dead #162

TITLE-The Walking Dead #162

PUBLISHER-Image

The battle is over. Some troops reach Hilltop and see what is left. Dwight's group makes it back to Alexandria. Carl has a sweet moment with Lydia. All looks good. The war is over. Our leads have once again won. Sure they suffered losses of people and Hilltop is almost totally gone.Plus Eugene has worked himself to death to manufacture and deliver to Alexandria a huge wagon packed to the rafters with ammunition.So it looks good. Maybe a time of peace for our survivors.Time to mourn the dead and keep on surviving.

Then in the last 5 pages shit hits the fan. Dwight is explaining to Rick how his army managed to stop the Whisperers and their herd of around 1000 zombies. And we find out that Beta and what is left of the Whisperers have lead what looks to be millions of zombies towards Alexandria.

There is so many beautiful 2 page spreads in this issue. The first being when the troops on horseback finally make it to Hilltop. The other two are near the end. It is just millions and millions of zombies being lead towards Alexandria.

Just guessing but I am gonna say before the end of this year our leads will be back on the road again. But who knows with this title.

There is a reason I get Walking Dead every month. A reason why I end up buying every issue twice,digital for monthly issues and then whenever the next Compendium comes out.And it is cause even after 162 issues it still finds a way to keep surprising me and keeping my interest.

The Walking Dead #162 gets a BUY!

2016 Comic Challenge 294 Zombies! Feast #01

TITLE-Zombies!Feast #01
PUBLISHER-IDW

I have no clue if or when this IDW Zombies! series connects to any of their other Zombies series/mini series.

A prisoner transport bus has a wreck out in  the middle of nowhere. It is up to 3 guards to lead 8 prisoners across a few miles. Mostly cause neither radio or cell phones work in this area.

They stumble upon a farm house,no it's not going there I think.While there,and looking for a phone,they run into a child zombie.

This time Shane Maccarthy does the writing chores and the art is by Chris Bolton. Again no clue who either is.The decent wraparound cover is by Bolton,but there is a variant that has Ted McKeever art. I wish I would have gotten that one.

I do have one later issue in this series. Might read it soon. But honestly unless I found later issues for a buck or less I wouldn't bother with this.

Zombies!Feast #01 gets a borrow.

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 272 Tales from the Darkside #03

TITLE-Tales from the Darkside #03
PUBLISHER-IDW

Seems now with the chip in his head our lead has his evil side released. And this is causing all kind of problems in the lab.

After a bit he is imprisoned in a giant black Rubic's Cube. Which no one can get into.

The scientist leading the experiment realize that they have released something awful into the world.

So at least now I know who the guy that appeared quickly in issue 4 is. Seems he has released "The darkside" to the world and I am guessing the rest of the series will deal with that.

Tales from the Darkside #3 gets a borrow.

31 Days of Horror 2016 Day 29 Psycho IV

Title-Psycho IV
Source-DVD

Pretty sure I have seen this installment of the Psycho franchise more times that any other film in the series. It  went straight to cable. And I caught it's first airing on Showtime. For years I had a VHS with Psycho IV and Meridian AKA Kiss of the Beast.

Norman is out and free. He is married. He calls into a talk radio show,hosted by CCH Pounder. And started to tell all his history. So we get to see how Norman was as a child and teen. All the torture his mother did to him. Plus why he killed her.

Thru out the film Norman hints he is ready to kill again. With CCH and the rest of the radio station crew trying their best to talk him out of this. And the reveal as to why he wants to kill again is a big shocker.

Since this installment in the franchise went straight to cable it isn't as well known as the other 3.For a long time it was hard to find the VHS and wasn't out on DVD. I was pleasantly surprised when I found the above pictured DVD set for $5 a few years ago.

Psycho IV gets a B+.