31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 10 Skinamarink

 

TITLE-Skinamarink

SOURCE-Shudder

Every few years it feels like a new experimental horror film comes out and divides the horror fandom. This years I am sure is Skinamarink. 

Somehow when this was on the festival circuit a good quality copy leaked and word of mouth blew it up into the MUST SEE horror film of early 2023.

I saw a few reviews that avoided spoilers. Stuff like odd and nightmare/dreamlike were used to describe the movie.

Looked of course Shudder got the streaming rights. So one day back in  late Feb I started the movie up. What felt like 10 hours later it was over. The film is only 90 odd minutes but that first viewing felt like it was at least 8 hours long.Didn't help that every 15 minutes I would pause the movie to see how much of this turd was left to watch.

As I was making up my list of 31 things to watch this October Skinamarink popped back up in my mind. "Give it a second viewing. Some movies majorly improve on repeat viewings."

That is what I just finished doing. The Film DIDN'T improve.

Shot for a really cheap price,and it shows,this is a Canadian indie film. The director kept a log of his nightmares and noticed a trend in them. So used that and made this movie.

You rarely see anyone in the film. When you do it is like a foot or their back. I can remember only one scene where we see someones face. 

Kevin falls down the stairs but is ok. A young brother and sister are sent downstairs and told to not come back up. After what could be hours or could be days one of them goes back up and finds their parents. They are sitting on opposite sides of the bed. Then after the kid closes their eyes the mother disappears.

That night,hard to tell if it is day or night,the kid hears their mothers voice calling from the dark hallway.

Stuff starts to disappear. Or gets moved around.

The ending solves or explains nothing and the turd of a film is over.

This is black and white. The sound is so low that even with my speakers cranked I could barely hear the dialogue. Best to watch it with subtitles on. Cause while the dialogue is low there is just odd sudden noises that are SUPER LOUD!

The camera shots are exciting things like a 5 minute shot of the upper corner of a room. While in the distant we can faintly hear cartoons playing on the tv.

Now I am one that loves odd weird movies. Lots of the time I rather a film not explain everything to me. Giving me a chance to figure stuff out using clues in the film and context. For example I love David Lynch and besides Dune have enjoyed everyone of his movies. But in Lynch's films you can feel there is a deep story being told. 

Skinamarink feels like oddness and being vague just to be odd and vague. Sure after seeing it the first time I went and read a pile of reviews explaining what the reviewer thought the film was about. Stuff like the death of your parents making someone no matter what their age feeling like a small child. To maybe the film is about the end of the world.

All I know is I have wasted a bit over 3 hours watching this pile of crap.

Skinamarink gets a D-

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 09 Terrifier 2

 

TITLE-Terrifier 2

SOURCE-Steelbook Blu Ray

Was a few years back I started hearing there was  a new gory clown horror film out there.  Did some research and this Art the Clown had appeared a few years earlier in a horror anthology called All Hallow's Eve. 

Last year in November I finally watched Terrifier. Thought it had good practical FX work. But needed more story and maybe better acting from some of the cast.

Also last year Terrifier 2 hit theaters. And people were shocked. GORIEST MOVIE EVER!!! Made people faint and throw up. 

Well yea,I hear shit like that and usually it is a big red flag. Telling me to avoid the movie. But kept hearing how good Terrifier 2 was. So early 2023 I bought this Steelbook release.

Art is back from the dead. A late teens lady is working on her Halloween costume,think she is a valkyrie. There is long almost senseless dream scenes. Then near the end I realized OK either I missed something not seeing All Hallow's Eve or there was major clues in this film I didn't catch.

Now sure the film was gory. But far from goriest ever. But I guess we are what now 1 and 1/2 generations into this Horror is PG 13 and that is cool crowd...

I wanted to see if there was more to the film than I caught on that first viewing. Saw there is a director's commentary. Put that on and yep while some of what the director is saying is there in the film. Some of it is so buried and coded that I doubt most would notice it.

Anyways this was an improvement from the first Terrifier film. But I wanted a easier to understand story,and why the hell must all movies be 2 hours or longer now? This would have worked much better at a shorter length.

Terrifier 2 gets a C-

31 Days of Horror 2024 Day 08 I Married a Monster from Outer Space

 

TITLE-I married a Monster from Outer Space

SOURCE-Bootleg DVD-R from Layne619 Video Entertainment

First off shout out to CodyLL.Look over to the right and there  is a link to his blog. He is also doing 31 days of Horror and this year his theme is Universal Horror.

I can't remember where I first heard of this movie. Might have been one of the Crestwood House books or one of the other many many many horror/sci fi movie books aimed at kids.Really shocked none of these books show up often now with how ever-present they were when I was a kid. But  I know when I saw an image of the alien from this film I had to see the movie. But back then there was no streaming,no Cinemageddon hell there wasn't even say Youtube where you could at least go see the trailer or maybe find a vhs rip with Greek subtitles.Which is why it wasn't until the early 90s and when SCIFI channel started that I got a chance to see this cult horror/scifi classic.

It was airing late late one weeknight. I should have been in bed,having to be up at 730am for high school the next day.But nope was sitting there with my earphones plugged into my TV. Cause while I was told "you goto bed whenever you want. just be up in the morning for school" I knew that really meant "i'm not going to force you to turn off the light and lay there in the dark form 10pm till whenever you fall asleep. But also dont stay up all night watching movies." So gotta havee the earphones in so Mom didn't hear the TV. Loved the movie and wished I had set my VCR to record it. Just so I could watch it again. 

The plot isn' t nothing super original. Newly wed bride starts to notice her husband acting odd. And One night when lightning flashes she sees that his human form is a disguise and he is this hideous alien. Who to me always looked one  of the giant monsters from Inhumanoids. She started to do some investigating and we learn most of the married men in this smallish town have been taken over by evil aliens.The Aliens are mating with the Earth women to help keep their race from dying off. 

See a plot that was in I bet 100 pulps and old ass sci fi comics. It is the look and way this film was shot and sounds that makes it stand out. Thee look of the Aliens is unique for the time. Looking both creepy as hell but also toy-riffic.Reminder look and see if anyone has made action figures out of the alien from this movie.

Since seeing this over 30 years ago on Sci Fi Channel I wanted a copy. Never saw the VHS for sale or rent. Hell never seen the DVD for sale. Then last year CodyLL ,nice dude go read his blog,offered me this DVD-r I told him yes I wanted it. Sure it isn't a film I will watch every year. But it is one I don't think is legally streaming on any service. And a one I will want to see every few years.

I Married a Monster from Outer Space gets a B.

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 07 Babysitter Massacre

 

TITLE-Babysitter Massacrre

SOURCE-EI DVD

Back last year in early December the infamous 42nd Street Pete did a big sale. Piles of DVDS,Blu Rays and other media for cheap. Had always seen the above image and said what the hell ordered 4 movies and 2 books.

So what did I get? A low budget tribute/homage to stuff like Slumber Party Massacre,Sorority House Massacre and other b horror movies.

It is Halloween night 3 early 20s women are staying at home waiting on some friends to get back from a party. They keep getting sent pictures of these friends covered in Blood. But it being  Halloween they just assume it is costume blood or a prank. Not knowing a killer in an all white mask is out killing.

Like the director says on the pretty decent commentary,you know what type of film you are watching cause 1 minute 30 seconds we get our first set of boobs. And from there until the end it is boobs and blood. 

The acting  aint bad for what is such a lower level film. Gore aint bad either. Really my only major complaint about this,and it is the same with lots of classic slashers,I know who the killer is  long long before the reveal.

Sometimes you just want to watch an almost brainless slasher that you have never seen and Babysitter Massacre fills that need really well.

The extras are decent. Two short films. A commentary. A talk with the directors from some film screening. All of decent length and containing interesting  info.

If you have already seen all the classic slashers and want something in that vein give Babysitter Massacre a watch. Just remember I don't think any actual babysitters get massacred in this movie.

Babysitter Massacre gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 06 The New York Ripper

 

TITLE-The New York Ripper

SOURCE-Blue Underground DVD

First off thanks to CodyLL for hooking me up with this DVD. Sure I had seen  it before getting this DVD. Hell first time I saw it was a bootleg VHS that I was told was a  rip of the rare Japanese laserdisc.

After the surprise world wide success of Zombi,Fulci  kept making gory horror movies. With New York Ripper becoming infamous for it's gory and just how dark it subject matter is. Well that and the murderer quacking like a duck. Yep the killer in this gory Giallo QUACKS LIKE A DUCK. And the killer isn't shitfaced drunk trying to piss on the side of the interstate,yes I know maybe 5 people reading this will get that super inside joke.

Beside the gore the only other thing this movie has going for it is all the shot on location stuff. Made in NYC in the early 80s this is a film that gives you a close look at how sleazy and grimy parts of NYC were back then. I love all the scenes of people going thru the 42nd street area of New York City. Odd I have been to NYC 3 times in my life. But the only two areas of the city I can name,and I knew of both long before I visited are 42nd street and the corner of 53rd and 3rd. The first of course was famous all over for being the sleazy captitol of the east coast. The latter because of the Ramones song Dee Dee wrote.

Now as you can see at the top of the DVD cover it says Special Edition. This is one of the weakess Special Editions I have ever seen. The film had already been released fully uncut in the US before this release. The only new stuff is a short interview with actress Zora Kerova,which is mostly subtitled. And a very very very short,under 6 minutes,extra titled NYC locations then and now. Oh and they got the films trailer. Which is a neat extra. There is some different dialogue in the trailer than from the film. The scene with the morgue worker describing how the killer mutilated someone has very very different words in tthe trailer when compared to the version in the film.

Ok yea this isn't even close to the best storywise film from Fulci. Pretty much the little story that is here is just to get us to the next kill. Heard some people call this the worst of Fulci's 80s work. Guessing they have never seen Manhatten Baby.

New York Ripper gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 05 Pledge Night(1988)

                              

TITLE-Pledge Night

SOURCE-Shudder

It was late October last year and I was wanting a horror film to watch. Wanted something I had never seen and was looking through the various movies on Shudder. Saw Pledge Night and took a chance.

As soon as in the credits I saw tha Anthrax had provided all the music I knew I was in for a good movie.

A Frat is doing hell week. A group of guys are pledging. One of the FRat brothers is acting like he is crazy,even stabbing another brother during dinner with a steak knife.  What the other Frat brothers don't know is the crazy brother is actually possessed by the ghost of Acid Sid. A pledge who was accidentlly killed in the early 70s. This pledge is played by Joey Belladonna,former lead singer of Anthrax. 

First half of the movie is Frat guys hazing the pledges. Making them pick up cherries with their asses off blocks of ice. Making the pledges think they  are eating turds or worms and other gross stuff. Then one pledge is taking a shit and out of the toilet comes ACID SID. Who the creators of the film wanted to become a slasher icon like Freddy. Cause Acid Sid looks like a hippie version of Freddy.

The second half is the pledges trapped in the frat house fighting off Acid Sid. Good gross deaths. One where Sid pulls out his own spine and chokes a pledge with it is great.

Reading up on the film it was made extremely cheap in 88. Sat  on the shelf until a limited DTV release in 1990. And in the early 2000s started developing a reputation online as a "forgotten slasher". It is fun. And worth seeing if you have Shudder. But I am not gonna pay the 25 to 30 bucks the Blu ray costs.

Pledge Night gets a B-.

31 Days of Horro 2023 Day 04 The Amusement Park

 

TITLE-The Amusement Park

SOURCE-RLJE Blu ray

Yea I saw this what was it now 2 years ago when it debuted on Shudder. Wasn't that into it. Neat to see a lost Romero film but nothing about it stood out to me. Waited forever for it to hit Blu ray. Then saw it was going to be like 25 bucks. Nope not paying that much for a film that is barely an hour.

Then late one night the host of Exploited Cinema clued me in that Amazon had it for 15 bucks. That is the right price grabbed it. And since then watched it a pile.

The film was made for some church group to help the elderly. And it is horrific. Very metaphoric stuff. Seeing old folks sell their treasured possessions for a few tickets so they can eat and ride stuff in the amusement park. And how the richer old folk get it much nicer.

Betting when George Romero handed this in the group that comissioned it were surprised. Cause it feels nothing like any PSA or PUblic Service film I have ever seen.

Thankfully this release is packed with extras. commentary,piles of longish features. And just all kinds of stuff.

Worth seeing if you are a Romero fan. But don't go in expecting Of the Dead no think more Season of the Witch or Knightriders.

The Amusement Park gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 03 Dementia 13

 

TITLE-Dementia 13 Director's Cut

SOURCE-Vestron Video Blu Ray

Yep the first full movie from famous director Francis Ford Coppola. I first heard about this movie in some horror film reference book back in the early 80s. By the late 80s I found a cheap VHS copy,not knowing back then that the film was in the public domain. Grabbed this and wasn't that impressed. But that vhs looked and sounded horrible. Plus I for some reason was thinking this was going to be a proto-slasher.

This movie is one that even if it wasn't directed by someone who went on to become one of the most acclaimed directors of the last 50 years it would be remembered. Really the story feels like something out of EC's Crime Supense Stories comic. A widow is trying to convince her dead husband's family that he is still alive. She does this during the yearly memorial to the brother's dead sister who drown. But this time there is an ax carrying nutjob roaming the area.

Having had seen this movie at least 20 times before getting the blu ray,when I first put it on I put on the commentary. Which is the only extra on the disc. This commentary has Francis Ford Coppola. Great and very entertaining commentary. 

It wasn't until my 3rd viewing of this blu ray,which happened today,that I saw how cleaned up this print is. I was use to Dementia 13 looking like ass. Washed out image,bad contrast levels and the sound was always bad. This time it looks pristine. Sounds great and really feels like how it did when I finally saw a good cleaned up print of Night of the Living Dead 68.

Also want to point out how this is one of the cheapest Vestron Video Blu Rays out there. I do like what Vestron is doing,putting out cult movies on nice Blu rays.But hate how for their first 10 or so releases they were wanting 35 bucks a movie. Now you can find them for 15 or so new. And Dementia 13 was 8 bucks new.

If you have never seen this movie or only saw those scratched up PD prints that were everywhere for years go look on Youtube or Archive DOT Org and find this director's cut. I have no clue what was put back in or removed for this director's cut. For me this Blu ray is worth owning cause not only is this a really good movie but this is the best it has ever looked. If you are already a fan of the film track down this blu ray. Too many companies don't want to release PD films on Blu Ray,well too many don't want to release them if they remastered the prints. Since the film is PD that means once you remaster it anyone can take your cleaned up print and release it for free. 

Dementia 13 gets a B-

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 02 Tombs of the Blind Dead

 

Title-Tombs of the Blind Dead

Source-Blue Underground DVD 

So until I discovered Grey Market vhs dealers I had never heard of the 4 Blind Dead films. At a few cons had Sumguy dealer trying to sell me a "Japanese Laserdisc rip in SP MODE  I swear! Only 30 bucks" I never bought a copy. Then BU put out a boxed set of all four. And caught it on sale for 35.

Released in 1972 Tombs of the Blind Dead is a Spanish-Portuguese film. Based around a legend of Tenplar Knights coming back as blind,because birds ate their eyes,skeletal ghouls/Zombies.

Sure the film is extremely slow paced. And the modest budget shines in a few scenes. Plus the best version is subtitled.  Which makes it a film I have to be in the right mood to watch. 

The good things are the film looks amazing. Lots of location shooting.  And a stunning cast of brunettes,that the Templar Knights stalk and kill.

Last time I looked Shudder had this movie. Which is a cheap way to try before you buy. Cause while the tension and Horror is similar to NOTLD68,the pacing feels more like some 50s b pic.

I do enjoy each film in this slice of Euro Horror. Tombs is my favorite of the 4. Tombs of the Blind Dead gets  a B.

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 01 Leprechaun in Space

 

TITLE-Leprechaun 4 aka Leprechaun in Space
SOURCE-Lionsgate Blu ray
Yep the mostly shit upon 90s horror frachise. And this is the most shit upon entry in the series. But it is my 2nd favorite film in this series.

When the first Leprechaun film came out I loved it. Saw it in a theater. Then not that many months later it was airing at least once a week on Showtime. Sure now it is mostly remembered for being an early role for Jennifer Anniston,for me I find it to be a fun and interesting horror film. Sure my generation grew up with leprechauns as a kind of mystic creatures that are all fun and wackiness. But going back to the Irish legends that created the  Leprechauns you will see they were evil tricksters. And Leprechaun brought the creature back to it's roots,kind of like how Wishmaster took  the Genie/Djinn and made that back into the evil trickster demon it started out as.

After Leprechaun 3 being set in Vegas it was time to change up the scenery some. The plan was with part 3 to end the franchise. And since 3 didn't do well at the box office it appeared that was the end. But the home video market saved the franchise. Seems Leprechaun 3 was a huge hit on home video and cable.  So a couple of years later,and from what I can find going direct to video,Leprechaun 4 was made.

Now I had no clue this film was happening. Mostly because I had stopped reading Fangoria.  It was around Thanksgiving and like I had many many times before at that time of year I was up in rural Mississippi for a week. Visiting friends of my parents. Normally I hated going up there cause they had just an antenna for tv. But they had just got DISH Network. So knowing this in advance I brought with a stack of blank VHS. And spent 9 days recording a pile of movies off the various movie channels they got.

It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Dad and his buddy were home at lunch from deer hunting. Mom and her friend had went to town to shop. I saw Leprechaun in Space listed as airing  on TMC . Turned it on and had a blast watching it with dad and Tony. We sat there drinking a few beers and just laughing.

Directed by Australian director Brian Trinchard Smith ,pretty sure he also directed the 3rd film,Leprechaun 4 is pretty much Aliens. But with Warwick Davis as the killer Irish midget in place of the Xenomorphs.

Our group of Space Marine track down the Leprechaun and kill him early on in the film. Then one marine decides to piss on the corpse of the title villain. We see a green  spark go from  the corpse up the piss stream and assuming it enters the Marine' penis.

Back on their ship this marineis hooking up with Debbie Dunning,yep the lady that replaced Pam Anderson as the Tool Time Girl on Home Improvement. They are having sex when Leprechaun explodes out of the  male marine's dick and now we got the midget killer loose on this space ship.

We are never told how the Leprechaun gets from Vegas to Space. And while the timeline of the Leprechaun films is all over the place,I am just assuming this film happens way way in the future.  But really I don't care that we aren't told how we got from the ending of the 3rd film to this film.

By this point in the franchise all I want out of the films is some decent gory kills. And some decent laughes. Lep in space provided this. A bonus is it has that kind of odd 2000 AD way of sc fi  that I have noticed Brian Trenchard Smith  puts  in most of his films.

Leprechaun in  Space aka Leprechaun 4 gets a B+