31 days of Horror 2012 day 26

Bloody Murder 2 Closing Camp
2003
Artisan DVD

Grabbed this one when Movie Gallery was closing a few years back. Had seen it once years ago and enjoyed it. Where as the first part was horrible attempt at a modern slasher this one is much better. Part of that is cause there is a much better cast in this one.

We get 7 counselors and the owner shutting down the camp for the year. With Tiffany Shepis playing one of the counselors. Lots of bloody kills and some nice nudity this time. With Ms Shepis providing most of the nudity. I have been a huge fan of Ms Shepis for years. The plot is your basic slasher plot. But with a modern spin.

Sadly the DVD has no extras. No commentary,nothing. Which sucks. I would have loved a commentary with the director and Tiffany Shepis. I hear there is a part 3 but I have never found a copy. Bloody Murder 2 Closing Camp gets a C.

31 days of Horror 2012 day 25

Bloody Murder
2000
Artisan DVD

Heard about this modern slasher for years. So when I found the DVD for $3 I grabbed it. Sure all the reviews of it were horrible. But I have learned that my taste in horror cinema and most online horror fans taste are very different.

The plot is a mishmash of various slasher tropes. Teens at a summer camp. Getting killed for having sex and doing drugs. Killer is named Trevor Moorehouse but is a obvious rip-off off Jason and Michael Myers. The kills are all bloodless and there is next to no nudity. Which is strange for a slasher.

Thankfully the dvd has a fun commentary with the director which goes into great detail about the production of the film. This commentary is worth the $3. So unless you find it cheap skip this. But rent it for the commentary. Bloody Murder gets a D-.

31 days of Horror 2012 day 24

The Cabin in the Woods
2012
Lionsgate DVD

This movie was filmed back in 2009 but held up from being released for a few years.Part of this had to do with MGM filing for bankruptcy. I heard about it in 2009 and all I knew was Joss "Buffy the Vampire slayer" Weldon was one of the writers. Now I enjoyed most of the seasons of the Buffy TV show. So I was wanting to see what he could do with a more serious version of horror. Well in early April 2012 it got a wide release. But the theater in town didn't get it and I didn't get a chance to see it. Thankfully I did real good about avoiding spoilers about the films plot. All I knew before I watched it today was what I had seen in the trailer.

WARNING SPOILERS BELOW SKIP IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM YET!

A group of 5 college students head up to a cabin in the woods. At first I was like "Great we got the normal horror stereotypes." There is the jock,the slut,the stoner,the smart guy and the virginal young lady. But quickly we find out that there is something up and this film isn't gonna be your normal teens/young adults get stalked and killed way out in the woods. It seems there is some kind of underground scientific lab below the cabin. And two guys in it are in charge of making sure that at the very least the four of the group,minus the virgin,die. And it looks like that is what happened. A group of inbred zombie hillbillies attack and the only one left alive is the virginal girl. She is out on the pier and is about to die when we find out the stoner isn't dead. He saved her and leads her to a underground room he has found. And this is where the film takes a major turn. The people in the lab keep talking about how these young adults must die to appease the "Ancient Ones". Which I must assume are the elder Gods from HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos. We find out there are more than one lab like this. There seems to be many around the world. Once a year at least 4 people must die to keep the "Ancient Ones" from rising and destroying the world. Well it seems all the other labs have failed this year so it is up to the on in the USA. But the stoner and the virgin find an elevator and go down into the lab. Where they learn all kinds of monsters are kept in cages and depending on what item is messed with in the cabin's basement that determines what creature/creatures come to kill the people. There is a werewolf,zombies,vampires and my favorite a being clearly based on Pinhead from Hellraiser. Well the stoner and virgin manage to find the sacrifice room and then meet up with the director of this operation. Who is  a person I had no idea was in this film. Now I don't want to spoil the ending so that is all I can say.

SPOILERS OVER!

The DVD looks great and has nice strong sound design. The acting is all well done. With all five of the college students doing a great job. Chris Hemsworth plays the jock and this is the best acting I have seen from him so far. But outta the 5 the real stand out is Francis Elliott "Fran" Kranz as Marty the stoner. Most films with stoners overplay it.. But Fran does a great job of not going over the top with his performance. All the FX work is really well done and it was hard to tell what was practical FX and what was CGI. It seems outside of a few people this film is really well liked and considered one of the best horror films of the past few years. Cabin in the Woods gets an almost perfect A.

31 days of Horror 2012 day 23

Tourist Trap
1979
Koch Vision DVD

Saw the first half of this years ago when I was a kid on late night UHF.Really enjoyed what I liked but forgot the name of the film. So a few years ago I tracked down the DVD. Which sat unwatched for years on my shelf. Not sure why I didn't watch it for so long. But I have a bad habit of buying DVDs and leaving them unwatched on my shelves for years at a time.

We get a weird thriller with Chuck Conners and a young Tanya Roberts as the only real well known stars. Full of unset-telling moments and lots of creepy stuff. The film is full of creep manikins and all kinds of weird camera angles. Actually a few moments remind me of scenes from "Twin Peaks Fire Walk with me". The plot is your basic people trapped out in the boonies and having to take shelter.

The DVD looks decent. But I would love to see a totally remastered version of this film one day on Blu Ray.  The commentary is great and is loaded with info about the film. Lots of behind the scenes stories. Tourist Trap gets a C+.

31 days of Horror 2012 day 22

Three on the Meathook
1972
Substance DVD

Now this is a film I have heard about for years. Remember seeing the above video cover on the shelves of my local video store. But never rented it.

Supposedly based on Ed Gein,this film is a story about 4 women that go on a trip to a lake. On their way back they have car troubles and a nice young man takes them back to his farm. 3 of the girls die.

Wow what a boring badly paced film. I went in expecting a wall to wall bloodbath. And got a slow boring film. Directed by William Girdler, this was his second film. He ended up doing 3 blaxploitation films and then had his biggest hit. Which was Grizzly.

Now the DVD looks like a VHS rip. And the only extras are trailers for a bunch of low budget crappy looking films. Thankfully I just rented this instead of buying it. Three on a Meathook gets a F+.

31 days of Horror 2012 day 21

Lovecraft fear of the unknown
2008
Documentary Channel airing

I first heard of H.P. Lovecraft after seeing Reanimator with my Uncle. He told me it was based on a Lovecraft story. So next time I was at the library I found a collection of Lovecraft's stories. Read them and at that young age most of them didn't appeal to me much. Years later after hearing so many authors I love talk about how much they liked Lovecraft,I read some more of his work. And loved it.

This documentary,while it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know,is a fun watch. Some well known people like Neil Gaiman,Ramsey Campbell and Guillermo del Toro. The documentary is a nice walk through Lovecraft's life and all his influences. Plus loaded with info about his unusual views on society.My favorite part has to be when various people try to pronounce Cthulhu. Now since this was airing on the Documentary Channel it might have had some slight edits. But it didn't seem to be missing anything.

If you are a fan of Lovecraft's works. Or someone that knows the name and doesn't know much about him this is worth tracking down. Lovecraft fear of the unknown gets a B-.

31 days of Horror 2012 Extra 13

Buffy the vampire slayer season 1
2002
20th century Fox DVD

It has been close to 10 years since I have watched the first season of this fun show. I never got to see it when it was airing . Cause when it was airing on WB we got only UPN. Then when it moved to UPN over cable company took away UPN and gave us WB. So it wasn't until it hit syndication and FX that I got to see it. Loved the show and have been slowing getting the DVD season sets. Got this one last week for $3 total.

Starting as a mid season replacement in 1997 the first season was only 12 episodes. But in those 12 episodes all the mythos are set up. We get introduced to Giles,Xander,Willow and Cordelia.

The stand out episodes are ,The one where we find out Angel is a vampire,The demon in the computer one,and my favorite where there is an invisible girl. Which has a great ending with some secret government group taking the invisible girl and training her to be an assassin. Now my memory might be faulty but this is never brought up again in the rest of the TV series.

The DVD looks pretty good. I know this first season had a very low budget,but the picture and sound is great. There is a few commentaries that are informative. And there is some behind the scenes stuff. Buffy Season 1 DVD gets a B.

31 days of Horror 2012 day 20

Drive In Horror Show
2011
Midnight Releasing DVD

Heard about this film thanks to Night of the Living Podcast's crew. Was gonna rent it from Netflix but it seems it is streaming only. So I took a chance and bought the DVD. This is a low budget horror anthology. Luis Negron is our host and does a great job introducing each segment.

The first segment is titled "Pig". It is about a woman that was slipped a roofie at a frat party and date raped by a frat boy douche bag. Well she gets her revenge by gluing him into a tub and turning on the water so he will drown. OK acting in this segment with well done FX work.

Up next is "The Closet". This is a fun tale about a young kid who wants to be an astronaut but his family is against that. He discovers a creature in his closet and it helps him get his revenge. While some of the acting in this segment is not that great the premise and FX work are well done.

"Fall Apart" is the third segment. And has the best FX work of the entire film. It kind of reminds me of the old EC horror comics.

"Meat Man" is up next and it is really the worst segment of the film. The acting by the two kids is really bad. Some OK FX work but not enough to make up for the bad acting. And the twist at the end is one I called 4 minutes into the film.

The last segment and I want to say the longest is "The Watcher". Two couples go camping out in the woods and get slaughtered by some crazed inbred. Great FX work and the acting is well done.

Drive In Horror Show is a nice low budget anthology and is more than worth renting. Drive In Horror Show gets a B-.

31 days of Horror 2012 day 19

Vampegeddon
2010
Echo Bridge Midnight Horror collection volume 4 DVD

Now I have been doing my whole watch at least one horror film a day in October thing for close to 10 years. And I have seen some really bad films. But this one has to be one of the worst.  Where to start? First off it seems the entire film was dubbed in post production. Not sure why since the cast all seem to speak English and the lips match the words all the time. Then there is the acting. The actors/actresses all look to be late 20s or early 30s. But are suppose to be high school students. And all of them over act constantly. Not sure if maybe the dubbing adds to this or not. Then there is ever present background music. All of it is bad. Generic hard rock and metal.

But it isn't all negative. One of the actors looks just like Bubba Ray Dudley so that made me chuckle a few times. And one of the lead actresses had a front tooth that looks like it might be made out of wood. Which almost made me laugh. Vampegeddon gets a F+.

31 days of Horror 2012 Extra 12

Echo Bridge Entertainment gets shit on a bunch by online horror fans. They are well know for their packs of 8 films spread out onto two DVDs. Usually these packs can be found for $5. I keep hearing how the picture quality is shit. Well I have a pretty good TV and my cousin has an amazing huge LCD TV. I have watched lots of these Echo Bridge packs on both TVs and the picture looks pretty good. Plus you are usually getting 8 movies for $5. Which means you are paying around 63 cents per film. So I figured I would do some quick reviews of all the horror related Echo Bridge sets I have.

 The Midnight Horror Collection Volume 01
Pretty sure this is the first one I got. I had heard it was out and in the Walmart $5 bin. I wanted it so I could finally have a non-DVD-r copy of Meridian. But I looked for weeks and never could find it. Finally ordered it off Dvdempire paying $8. Then later that day went to Walmart and I saw a copy sitting on top the bin. So I grabbed that copy. Then canceled my order when I got home. The films on this one are.
The Legend of Sorrow Creek-Still haven't watched this one,but it is a 2007 DTV film.
Prom Night-This is a 1980 slasher with Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielson. Not a fan of the film.
Below-2002 WWII horror film produced by Darren Aronofsky. Haven't watched it yet.
I am Omega-A 2007 mockbuster of "I am Legend" from the Asylum. Fun time waster.
Charles Band's Evil Bong-Full Moon studios film from 2006. Funny but nothing amazing.
Meridian-Review of this is here. Meridian review from last years 31 days of horror.
Demonic Toys-1992 film from Full Moon Studios. Really funny and well done.
Decadent Evil-2005 Full Moon Studios vampire film. Not horrible,but I doubt I watch it again.



So outta 8 films there is 3 I know I will watch more than once,2 I haven't seen yet,and 3 I might watch again. Not a bad deal for $5

The Midnight Horror Collection Volume 04
Got this one along with volume 5 earlier this month for $5 total. So that is 16 films for $5. So 32 cents a film.
Now since I have just gotten both of these I haven't seen many of the films on them.
The Last Vampire on Earth-2009 DTV low budget Twilight rip off. Reviews on it are pretty bad.
Night Shadow-1989 werewolf film,the description on the back of the case sounds like "The Howling".
Kraken:Tentacles of the deep-2006 made for Sci Fi channel giant monster on the loose film.
Bloodlock-2008 DTV film about a house with a secret.
Blood Red Moon-2009 DTV Twilight rip off. Really bad. Skip this one.
Howling IV:The Original Nightmare-Fun but slow werewolf film.Adapts the first Howling novel.
Raging Sharks-2005 made for Sci fi creature feature with Corin Nemec and Vanessa Angel.
Vampegeddon-2010 DTV horrible vampire film. Will be reviewed later this month.
Well out of the 4 films I have seen off that pack. Only Howling 4 is worth seeing.

The Midnight Horror Collection volume 05
This is the other one I got with volume 4 for $5 total.
Live Animals-2008 torture porn,really bad skip this one.
Salvage-2006 Australian film,interesting premise that is dragged down by not so good acting.
Memory-2006 psychological thriller with Dennis Hopper and Billy Zane. Looks decent. Will watch it soon.
Wages of Sin-2006 film about an evil preacher. Tried watching this a few times and never make it far.
Roman-2006 psychological thriller. Directed by Angela Bettis. Worth paying $5 just for this film.
Mortuary-2005 film from Tobe Hooper. Not  one of his better films. But worth at least one viewing.
Skeleton Man-Really well done 2004 film. With Michael Rooker and Casper Van Dien. Worth a watch.
Bloody Mary-2006 DTV horror,some OK FX work and the acting isn't horrible.
So 3 bad films,4 great to OK ones,and one I want to watch but haven't seen yet. Worth grabbing for the 4 good ones.

The Midnight Horror Collection Bloody Slashers
This is the one from the Midnight Horror Collection that people look for. Cause it is the only region 1 DVD release of the 80s slasher Curtains.Again this cost $5 so each film was $1.25.
Hoboken Hollow-Dennis Hopper stars in this film. Still haven't watched it.
Secret of the Clown-Watched this one and it is just OK. Worth at least one viewing.
Room 33-Another I haven't seen.
Curtains-Heard about this film for years but could never track down a VHS of it. Well this DVD version looks like they ripped it from an ex-rental VHS. Fun slasher that makes this set worth tracking down.
Curtains is worth the $5. But I wish a better looking and sounding version comes out one day.

The Midnight Horror Collection Blood Predators
As always cost $5 so $1.25 a film.
The Vampire Conspiracy-A weird mix of Vampires and torture porn. Average film at best.
Fist of the Vampire-ECW's Blue Meanie and Darrian Cane star in this bad DTV Vampire flick.
Curse of the Wolf-ECw's Blue Meanie,Leaping Lanny Poffo and Darrian Cane in another bad DTV film.
Bachelor Party in the Bungalow of the Damned-No way the film can live up to that title.
Outta the 3 I have watched only one is worth seeing. Total dud of a pack.

The Midnight Horror Collection Charles Band Presents Puppet Master Volume 01
This time we get the first 3 Puppet Master films from Full Moon Studios. So 3 films for $5 equals $1.67 a movie. We get the first two films on one side of the DVD and the third film gets the other side all to it's lonesome.
Puppet Master-The original film that started one of the longer running franchises in horror history. Really fun film. With some well done puppet FX work.
Puppet Master 2-Nice sequel that is almost better than the original.
Puppet Master 3:Toulon's Revenge-A prequel this is my favorite of the series. Set in WWII Germany this one tells us the origin of the puppets.
Now I am a fan of this franchise so this set is totally worth the $5 for me.

 The Midnight Horror Collection Charles Band Presents Puppet Master Volume 02
This one has Part 4 on one side of the DVD. With 5 and 6 sharing the reverse side. Again $5 for the set so $1.67 a film.
Puppet Master 4-In this entry we get a new puppet Decapitron. And sadly the puppet FX aren't as good as the previous 3. But still worth watching.
Puppet Master 5-Pretty much part 2 of the 4th film. Fun time waster but not one of the better entries in the series.
Curse of the Puppet Master-The puppets have a new master. Who is a deep woods scientist. The puppets get revenge on their new master and at the end we get a new puppet added to the gang.
While these 3 films aren't nearly as good as the first three at this cheap price this set is worth picking up.

Sharks,Piranhas&Monsters 6 movie pack
Another $5 pack. So 6 films means each one cost 84 cents. 4 of these were made for Sci Fi channel films. While the other 2 are low budget films from the 50s and 70s.
Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus-Asylum made cheese starring Debbie Gibson and Lorenzo Lamas. Really funny in it's so bad it's good way.
30,000 Leagues under the seas-Captain Nemo and friends have some adventures under the seas. Skip it.
Attack of the Giant Leeches-AIP 1959 low budget film. The giant leeches look like people walking around in sleeping bags. Fun but nothing special.
Beneath Loch Ness-Miramax made for Sci Fi channel film. OK watch if you are bored and have nothing else to watch.
Mega Piranha-Made for Sci Fi Channel film with Tiffany,the 80s pop singer. Really bad and really fun.
Piranha-1972 jungle thriller. Skip this garbage the print they use looks really bad.
Besides Mega Shark and Mega Piranha this set is a total let down.

Full Moon Triple Feature
 This set has 3 semi related Full Moon studio films. Again it cost $5,so that works out to $1.67 a film.
Demonic Toys-Fun fast paced film about killer toys. With Tracy Scoggins.
Dollman-Fun Sci fi film with Tim Thomerson. There is some well done forced perspective shots in this.
Dollman VS Demonic Toys-This has people from Dollman,Demonic Toys and Bad Channels. But too bad the film is boring. It is barely over an hour but fells much longer.
Well like Meatloaf said 2 outta 3 ain't bad. Worth grabbing for Demonic Toys and Dollman.

Full Moon Triple Feature
This collects the first 3 of the Subspecies franchise. I know there is a part 4 and another film that is a spin off. I saw the first 2 years ago on Showtime late at night.
Subspecies-Not bad early 90s low budget vampire movie. Good atmosphere.
Bloodstone:Subspecies II-Quickly made follow up,that isn't as good as the original but worth a watch.
Bloodlust:Subspecies III-Horrible film,don't both watching it.
Another pack that was $5 so each film is $1.67. The first 2 are worth that price. But part 3 isn't even worth a buck.

The Prophecy Collection Miramax Classics
This collects all 5 of the Prophecy franchise.Prophecy 1 and 2 share the same side of a DVD. With part 3 getting the other side. The parts 4 and 5 share the same side of a DVD.Now unlike every other Echo Bridge set I have bought,this one cost $7.50. So 5 films at that cost equals out to$1.50 a film.
The Prophecy-Saw this during it's short theatrical run. Had read about it for months in Fangoria when it was known as "God's Army". Walken gives a great performance. So does Eric Stoltz and Virgina Madison.
The Prophecy II-Walken returns and this film also has Jennifer Beals and the late Britney Murphy. Fun film that is almost as good as the original.It also has a small part for Glenn Danzig.
The Prophecy III:The Ascent-Walken is back for a third time. I know I have seen this before,but remember nothing about it.
The Prophecy:Uprising-No Walken this time. But we do get Doug "Pinhead" Bradley and the always lovely Kari Wuhrer. What I remember of the film is decent.
The Prophecy:Forsaken-Kari Wuhrer is back. And we also get Jason Scott Lee and Tony "Candyman Todd. Haven't seen this one so far. But all the reviews claim it is really bad.
This set is worth the price for the first 2 films at least.

The Children of the Corn Collection Miramax Classics
Collecting Children of the Corn 2,3,4,5,6 and 7. This set was the first time part 2 came out on DVD in region 1. I found it in the Walmart $5. The DVD case is orange and that caught me attention. Now before buying this I had seen parts 2,3,4,5 but had not seen 6 or 7. So 6 films for $5 works out to 84 cents a film.
Children of the Corn II:The Final Sacrifice-I remember enjoying this when I saw it years ago on VHS. But watching it now it fucking sucks. The FX work is pretty shoddy and really there isn't that much of a connection to the first film. I do wish they had explored the corn mold causing craziness angle more.
Children of the Corn III:Urban Harvest-A inner city couple adopts two brothers from that wacky corn cult. So we get killer corn in the city. Good FX work and a inventive plot.
Children of the Corn IV:The Gathering-Children of the Corn IV review from 2010 .
Children of the Corn V:Fields of Terror-6 college kids take a wrong turn and run into those wacky corn cult kids. Strange cast in this one you got Alexis Arquette,Ahmet Zappa,Eva Mendez,Fred Williamson and David Carradine.Better than part 2 but not as good as 3 or 4.
Children of the Corn 666:Isaac's Return-Children of the Corn 666 2011 review
Children of the Corn VII:Revelation-Still haven't watched this one.
So we get 4 good films.One I haven't seen and one stinker. But this is easy to find for $5 so worth getting.

The Hellraiser Collection Miramax Classics
Before this set came out it was hard to get Hellraiser III on DVD. It had been released years ago and had gone out of print. Another $5 bin find. So once again it is 84 cents per movie. Containing Hellraiser 3,4,5,6,7 and 8. I am a huge Hellraiser fan so grabbed this as soon as I saw it. Even though I already owned 3,5,6 and 8 on DVD.
Hellraiser III:Hell on Earth-This film gets unfairly shit on. Sure it isn't as good as the original. But I enjoy it much more than the over praised piece of shit that is Hellraiser II Hellbound.
Hellraiser IV:Bloodline-The last of the series to get a theatrical release it was held up for a long time after filming was finished. With another director coming in and re filming lots of scenes. Horrible film that totally shits on the story set up in the Hellbound Heart novella that spawned this franchise.
Hellraiser V:Inferno-Another one that seems to get shit on by fans. "Pinhead is barely in it!" is why most say they don't like it. Well he gets almost as much screen time in this as he did in the original. Fucking amazing film and my second favorite in the series. It is like a dark,sexy and twisted Twilight Zone episode.
Hellraiser VI:Hellseeker-Hellraiser 6 2010 review
Hellraiser VII:Deader-This one started off as a non-Hellraiser film. Then Dimension films bought the script and had some small parts with the Cenobites added to make it a Hellraiser film. Not that good. But not horrible.
Hellraiser VII:Hellworld-Another entry that didn't start out as a Hellraiser film. But was changed into one when Dimension films bought the script.Slightly better than part 7 but not by much.
This is worth grabbing for parts 3,5 and 6.

Well lets see 13 DVD sets reviewed. 30 good films out of a total of 67 films. Total cost for 67 films is $62.50. So less that a buck a movie. So really these Echo Bridge packs are a decent value.