31 Days of Horror 2020 Day 16 Wrong Turn 2 UNRATED

 

TITLE-Wrong Turn 2 Dead End

SOURCE-20th Century Fox DVD set

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wrong Turn 2 Dead End Unrated gets a B.

31 Days of Horror 2020 Day 15 Mirrors 2 Unrated

 

TITLE-Mirrors 2

SOURCE-20th Century Fox DVD

Cause I buy lots of my DVDs used from thrifts and pawn shops I end up buying in bulk. Most of the local pawns will charge you as little as 50 cents a dvd if you buy say 20 at a time. One of my more recent trips to a pawn that is overstocked with DVDs I was needing one more DVD to hit that magic number of 20. So dispite having never seen Mirrors or the Asian film it was a remake of,I grabbed Mirrors 2. It was the best choice. And it being unrated I figured "Hey I might get lots of gore!"

Nick Stahl is the lead. He recently lost his fiancee,has a bad case of survivor's guilt and now is working a nightwatchman job at his Dad's store in New Orleans. After starting the job Nick AKA Max learns that one of the other nightwatch crew has went missing And the person who's job he has now went crazy.

Being named Mirrors you kinda know that late at night in a closed and almost empty of humans store you are gonna get a few mirror scares. Sadly this film is nothing but mirror scares... 

Whoever did the gore FX did a decent job. But after the first few mirror scares it all just becomes a jumble in my brain. I actually stopped the movie at the 45 minute mark and called up a close friend who is a huge fan of both Mirrors films. Asked her if there was anything from the first film that I should know before I go about finishing the sequel. After being asked why I watched the second film before watching the first movie,and being called weirdo I got told "Nah not really.The second film is more of the same just set in New Orleans."

So now I'm wondering,why did this DTV sequel to a horror film that wasn't a big hit get so much chatter online when it was coming out? Thought it might be the cast. Besides Nick Stahl you got Emmanuelle Vaugier. Who I kinda remembered from one of the CSI shows. The other person I knew was William Katt. Best known from Greatest American Hero and House and House IV. 

Hmmm maybe there is someone in the cast that I just don't know is a big or cult star. So I messaged my girlfriend. Sent her a link to the IMDB page."Hey scan this cast list and tell me if there is anyone in it that is a star that I wouldn't realize is a star."

Get a reply telling me the woman in the picture above this was on some Disney teen show for a long time and after that was the voice of Kim Possible. Ok so that might explain why people talked this movie up. Then a scene happened and I realized Mirrors 2 is to 90s kids what Streets was to the kids that were teens when Married with Children was the hottest show around. 

Yep Christy Carlson Romano,I hope I spelled that right,aka Ren Stevens of Even Stevens wanted to shed her good girl image and went topless in this movie.

Yall older folks will remember how a few seasons into Married with Children how there was press all over the place about how Christina Applegate was doing nudity in an upcoming film called Streets. This press helped this tiny low budget Roger Corman movie be a huge home video hit.

And it appears all that hype I saw in 2010 for Mirrors 2,a really bad DTV sequel to a from what I have been told crap original film,was cause a former teen star showed some skin.....

Man this movie just isn't good. Stahl and the rest of the cast appear to be trying their best with what they have. But movie is crap. 

When I see movies this bad I make it a point to see who directed it. So I can IMDB the direcotr and make sure to skip the rest of their filmography. Off to IMDB to look up Victor Garcia.

Ok he did the DTV sequel to 30 days of night,which I have heard was horrible. And I didn't think 30 Days of night was worth a fuck.

Same year he had Return to House on Haunted Hill.The unneeded sequel to a unneeded remake.But this time they got Cabin Fever and Power Rangers star Cerina Vincent.What ever happened to her?

Then some movie titled Artic Predator,which isn't a Predator sequel. It looks like one of those creature features that premieres on SyFy channel on a Saturday night. Mirrors 2 was 2010. His next film is 2011...

Ok yea fuck Victor Garcia. Fuck this shitty movie. Even if you have wanted to see that Disney chick naked you entire life don't torment yourself with this horrible shitstain of a film. Google image the screenshots and prevent having to endure this bottom of the barrel 90 minute film.

Mirrors 2 gets a D-.

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 13 Satanis The Devil's Mass

 

TITLE-Satanis the Devil's Mass

SOURCE-Something Weird Video DVD

I love Something Weird Video and I love Documentaries. So when I found this SWV dvd at a near by pawn shop and I saw it had a documentary on Anton LeVay's Church of Satan I had to buy it.

This double feature DVD is loaded. You get two full movies,Satanis and Sinthia The Devil's Doll,and so many extras. Like the shorts British Black Mass and My Tale is Hot!,starring the legendary Candy Barr. Plus of course trailers and all kinds of other extras.

Filmed back in 1969.at the infamous San Franciso Black House,Satanis is a documentary all about Anton LeVay and his Church of Satan. The film makers get to enter this forbidden house of worship and film a "real" black mass.

I'm sure when this was released in 1970 people were shocked and disgusted. But now 50 years later it is pretty obvious that Anton and the rest of his church were putting on a big fake show for the camera lens.

For those that don't know sometime in the 60s Anton founded the Church of Satan. And managed to get it a sanctioned church in the US.  Sure the general public hears Church of Satan and imagines a dark room full of people in black and red,drinking blood and maybe sacrificing some animals. And of course since Anton was carny as fuck that is what he gave the crew filming him and his church for Satanis.

The thing is the Church of Satan are basically Atheist. Yep the Church of Satan doesn't believe Satan exists. They just chose the name Church of Satan to get a reaction out of the people that aren't in on the joke.

Yea so with lots of the stuff being filmed being a smoke show this isn't that great of a documentary. I would have rather seen a long sit down interview with Anton. Where he breaks kayfabe and shoots with the camera. But that wouldn't have riled up the public. And Anton loved to fuck with the general public.

If it wasn't for having another film and a pile of extras this DVD would be a rip off. Also recently this was one of the films AGFA and SWV have announced as coming to Blu Ray.

Satanis The Devil's Mass gets a D-.

31 Days of Horror 2020 Day 12 Carnival Of Souls Creepy Koffee Movie Time airing

 

TITLE-Carnival of Souls

SOURCE-Amazon Prime Creepy Koffee Movie Time airing

I'm fairly sure most people that read my annual 31 Days of Horror reviews at least knows of Carnival Of Souls. With the proliferation of cheap Public Domain Movies on DVD,lots of people own this movie. So while I will go into the film some I am gonna spend more time on Creepy Koffee Movie Time.

Starting back in the 2000s in the San Francisco Bay area,and airing on Over the Air channel KOFI,Creepy Koffee Movie Time is one of the best modern horror host programs. Hosted by Balrok and No Name,plus house band The Deadlies,this program shows the same Public Domain movies that pretty much every modern horror host airs. What makes CKMT stand out is the feel of the show. Airing late at night the hosts make you feel like it is midnight on a Saturday,you have been drinking for at least  a few hours and got a few friends over to watch some old horror movies.

Like with most horror host shows in the modern era the succeed or fail on the charisma of their hosts. And charisma is one thing both Balrok and No Name have in abundance.

Balrok is either a gargoyle or some kind of demon. But he is way more interested in drinking,watching goth or punk women dance,listening to some stand up comedy and getting sex tips from Annie Cruz. In this first episode of season 1 Balrok's makeup and outfit are fairly cheap. But look much better than makeup you will see on some low budget DTV horror movies. 

No Name is I'm guessing some kind of ghoul or zombie.Bald,pasty white and him being a bit slow are why I lean towards Zombie/Ghoul. No Name is also the one you can count on to make a few jokes or references that I've heard got the show in trouble with KOFI.

That is another thing that makes CKMT stand out. Most modern horror host programs are aimed at everyone. For example Svengoolie markets his show to families. And I know of a few families that sit and watch Sven together. Elvira's most recent show was aimed at kids and the older folks that grew up on Elvira in the 80s. But CKMT is obviously aimed at people 16 and older. 

What makes me say this? Well there is so many things. First off the previously mentioned goth and/or punk women that are always on the set. Usually wearing as little clothing as can be allowed on a show carried over the airwaves. The various jokes the two hosts make are not the normal "nudge nudge wink wink" slightly racy jokes most hosts make. And finally most episodes they have on Porn Star Annie Cruz to give sex advice.

 Plus going to the show's merch website it appears they had at least one episode each season that only aired once. All cause KOFI got too many complaints about stuff No Name said.

I'm sure by now yall,that haven't seen it before,are wondering "How is Carnival of Souls?" Out of all the horror films in the public domain,Carnival of Souls is one of the best. While it's low budget origins are all over the film,the crew did so much with so little. 

Being in B/W adds another layer to the oddness of the film. Same with the cast.The lead is Candace Hilligoss.

 Who was a model before becoming an actress for a short while,she has about 5 roles credit to her. Mrs Hilligoss not being a polished actress gives her performance  this off beat feel that just adds to the over-all  weird feel of the film.

The other stand out in the cast is Herk Harvey. Like many directors of low budget cinema Herk took on many jobs. Herk produced,directed and was the lead antagonist in Carnival of Souls. He is the lead ghoul

 and his look in this film has been homaged,parodied and just flat out stolen by so many generations of horror fans.

Yea I know there is a few of yall reading this thinking "OK asshole I have never seen this movie. Stop rambling and give us the plot."

After a accident during a drag race in Kansas the lead played by Candace moves to SLC Utah. Candace gets a job playing the organ for a church. The further into the film we get the more and more odd stuff happens. Like how Herk appears as a ghoul.

 And just when the viewer is thinking the film can't get any weirder Herk tosses us a twist ending.

From what I have found online this movie wasn't a hit when it came out in 62. Then cause of it being public domain it started getting aired often late at night UHF channels. Thru these airings it became one of the biggest cult horror films from the early 60s. Thanks to it's cult following Criterion put out an amazing DVD of this film. With a print that looked better than the film has looked since it's first theatrical screening. And the DVD is loaded with great extras.

After seeing how good Creepy Koffee Movie Time was with their first episode I knew I was gonna watch more. And as of this writing Amazon Prime has 5 seasons of the show.

Carnival of Souls Creepy Koffee Movie Time airing gets a A-.

Carnival of Souls by itself gets a B+.

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 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+

Return to nukem high part 1 Blu Ray Showcase

31 Days of Horror 2020 Day 09 Pilgrim

TITLE-Pilgrim
SOURCE-Hulu

Last year in October I covered the film School Spirit. After getting Hulu right at 2 years ago I saw that Blumhouse was doing 1 horror film a month that was exclusive to Hulu. They were usually themed after a holiday in the month their premiered.

Since at least 85 I have wanted a good Thanksgiving themed horror. But the only ones I know of are that bad slasher with the Body By Jake guy,and the Thankskillings series. The latter isn't horrible.

Wanting more Thanksgiving set/themed horror I remembered Into the Dark. That is the title of the monthly series of films from Blumhouse.

One thing I have noticed is since Hulu considers this a TV series you will get like 3 or 4 ad breaks during the film.

Now yea the Into the Dark films usually get horrible reviews. The only one I had started before Pilgrim and finished was School Spirit,which was a fun but kinda by the numbers slasher set at a modern high school.

So Pilgrim.... Yea.....this was well it was a gory and in parts fun Thanksgiving themed horror. A stepmom,father,daughter and sickingly sweet young brother live in a nice neighbor hood. The stepmom invites some Pilgrim re-enactors to her big Thanksgiving party.

But these Pilgrims are strict strict puritans. And anything they find sinful or evil is killed in a bloody way.

Now sure the gore is well done and appears to be mostly practical effects. It is the acting and kinda dumb as fuck script.

Let me explain the dumb as fuck script a bit more. After the party where the Pilgrims come off as creepy, the mom invites one to stay with them.

This guy looks that insane from the moment he appears on the screen until his death near the end. Plus he loves to chew the scenery and just comes off as maybe he is small town theater guy getting his first shot at a legit movie.So ya the stepmom invites this nutty looking dude to stay with them until Thanksgiving.

Speaking of the dumb as dirt stepmom,there she is on the right in the stocks. Took me a bit to realize it is the actress that plays Daniel Larusso's wife on Cobra Kai. She is the only person in the movie I had seen before. And besides her just being totally obvilous to the creepy Pilgrim dude being uber creepy she isn't bad in the film.

The dad is the normal can't put work away when he is home dad you have seen in hundreds of things. Nothing he does stands out.

This lady is the other main pilgrim. She was staying with the daughter's boyfriend's family. Then kills them and then comes to live with creepy Pilgrim dude.

She was not bad really. Even if I still wonder how if these people appear to be human she survived a huge turkey needle to her brain.... There is a great scene where she is stalking the annoying little brother. And yea I was wanting her to kill him.

The stand out actor/actress in the film was the lady that played the daughter. She managed to play a fairly believable teen. And you could buy that she was smart enough to finally pull a fast one on the Pilgrims and manage to use tradition to kill them.

Yea the twist near the end,well the first of two,isn;t bad. Even if it was so obvious from about 35 minutes into the film. THe lead pilgrim is forcing the daughter and stepmom to help prepare the Thanksgiving feast. "No do not touch the ones with the green stems those and Jerusalam berries they are deadly."

Now he might have said cherries instead of berries,I didnt have the subtitles on. But Cherries makes less sense to me. Cause I always thought a traditional Thanksgiving feast item,one I dont eat,is cranberry sauce.

I hear him say this I knew it would be how the family,wasn't sure who all would survive,would defeat these evil ass Pilgrims.

The daughter manages to palm some of the deadly berries/cherries. Then places them in the bowl that she is mashing the non poison berries. But why did the Pilgrims bring the poison ones?

Now that final twist. When I saw what it was I laughed cause I wouldnt have seen it coming. Early on in the film the daughter wishes on a wishbone,for the THanksgiving day to be a disaster. All because her mother doesn;t like the guy she is dating.

The sometimes dumb as fuck script plus some of the acting being just janky hurt this movie. But the gore helped make up for those flaws.

Pilgrim gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2020 Day 08 Kingdom of the Spiders

TITLE-Kingdom of the Spiders
SOURCE-DVD Rip on Youtube

Back in the 70s,this film came out in 76 or 77,there was plenty of creature run amuck films.I had seen lots of these. Thanks mostly to late night syndicated tv. Seen Tarantulas Deadly Cargo,which I reviewed here for 31 Days of Horror a few years ago,seen Grizzly,seen SSSSSSSSSSSS,another I reviewed here of 31 Days of Horror a few years ago. But until earlier this year I had never seen Kingdom of the Spiders.

That changed back in the spring. We were all kinda stuck at home.Bat32 of Sleaze Fiend Magazine fame wanted to bring back his old podcast. Exploited Cinema had been one of the best cult/sleazy movie podcasts for years. So Bat rounded up Zach from the Behind the Mask Podcast and asked me to come on. The film on discussion was of course Kingdom of the Spiders. Bat had found 2 copies of this film on youtube. One was a rip of the Shout/Scream Factory DVD release. The other was a VHS rip of when this filmed aired on Commander USA years ago.

Set in the Southwest this is a fairly entertaining PG rated creature feature. William Shatner(Rack in
this movie) is a vet. He also is helping out his dead brother's wife and daughter. He gets called to Woody Strode's farm.

Woody Strode and his wife at the farm

Seems Strode's cow is sick. Shatner gets there the cow is dead and he sends the body off to see why it died. Strode  and his wife are worried it is the black plague and they will get quarentined. Strode is a ex football player/pro wrestler. In an interview Shat talks about how Strode kept in amazing shape,even at the age of 62 when this film was made. Seems Strode would do all kinds of push ups every day. One handed,Elevated,diamonds "He could even do no handed ones" Shatner joked.

After finding out thru various tests that the cow died from spider venom,Shat calls in some help. This  lets Tiffany Bolling
to enter the film. She gets to fuck around with spiders,be Shat's love interest and a chance to get a big time movie role. Before this Bolling ,while a decent star on tv,had mostly done low budget films that are cult films now. Now she is getting a chance to be in a pic that costs 1 million bucks and has the Shat as her co star!

The rest of the cast and the film are decent. This film feels like either a big budget made for tv mid 70s horror or a low budget theatrical mid 70s horror. It had a 1 millon dollar budget,but so did Dawn of the Dead. And Dawn is a way more impressive film. Cause with Kingdom of the Spiders besides all the spiders,almost all the spiders we see in the film is real spiders,the only other things in the film that could have cost a decent amount is the water tower stunt,the plane crash stunt and of course The Shat!

In the deaths is where the films lower budget shows. It is odd with the director being a former stuntman but the film having so few stunts. For example Woody Strode's death. He is in his truck heading somewhere. Spiders start to crawl out from under and behind the seat and all over Strode. We see them on his face. The truck starts to swerve,cut away and we hear the truck crash. Most of the people that die we see the aftermath. In which it looks like the FX team ran to Dollar General 2 days after Halloween and bought a bunch of bags of clearence spider webs. The water tower crash looks great. Looks like something you would see in a big budget film of the era.

Then you got the biggest stunt in the film. After being told by Tiffany and the Shat that using poison on the spiders is not a good idea,the spiders are attacking dogs and cows and humans cause all of their normal food has been killed off by DDT. No not Jake the Snake's finishing move ! The now banned pesticide from the 70s. So a local yokel fills his cropduster plane up with some spider poison and flies all over the town dumping it. He forgot to check his plane before heading up and ends up with a pile of spiders all over him. Causing him to crash the plane and a great explosion happens. This was damn impressive. And the action highlight of the film.

The Shat gets attacked by spiders!

There is a hotel/bar and grill in town. Ran by this older redhead lady. Tiffany is staying there. Shat ends up taking his sister in law and niece there. The last 20 minutes of the film is what is left of our cast in this place.Boarding it all up like Night of the Living Dead. I guess Shatner knew the plane stunt was pretty damn good,and in the interview I saw he talked about how "I was in great shape back then. Wanted to do a stunt". The power goes out,the Shat goes into the basement to fuck with the breakers.
Spiders attack and he stumbles back to the others with a giant spider on his cheek biting him. Now any one else in the film that got bit died. But not the Shat. He is too tough for this venom that can kill huge cows. You get to see this great one long take part with Shatner stumbling into frame with the spider biting him he falls to the floor in perfect view of the camera. It is a great scene.

The next morning the few living people are listening to the radio. Shatner prys a few of the boards off a window. Looks out... and sees...THAT THE ENTIRE TOWN IS COVERED IN HUGE THICK SPIDER WEBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The END!!!!!!

I loved the fuck out of this film. It gets better with each viewing. Everything about it is just average. But all of that blends so well you get a film that is really so much more than the sum of it's parts. The acting is good from the names I mentioned to the smaller parts like the hillbilly with the flat tire. Or the gas station owner he tries to fight off a spider by spitting tobacco juice at it. The film looks nice and has some great shots of the southwest scenery. The music.,fuck I haven't talked about the music yet.

The score is all music from library tracks. All of which was used on the original Twilight Zone tv show. At first the score wasn't working for me. Not far into the film the score started working for me. THe few actual songs in the movie aren't bad. The feel like 70s early pop county stuff. So nothing I would buy but also nothing I hate.

Besides the DVD release from Shout Factory there is a Blu Ray from Code Red. Not sure I would pay what they want for it. If I see the DVD for say 15 bucks or less I will grab it.

Kingdom of the Spiders gets a C+