31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 04 Two Thousand Maniacs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2000 Maniacs gets an A.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 03 Blood Feast

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blood Feast gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 02 Return to Nuke'em High volume 1

Return to Nuke'em High Volume 1

Source-Anchor Bay/Troma Blu Ray

I saw the original Nuke'em High film during one of the Scifi Channels marathons of Troma movies. Yep back when Scifi was first hitting the airwaves they showed cut for cable Troma films. I enjoyed part 1,but parts 2 and 3 were much better.

So 3 years ago when I heard Troma was making a fourth film in the franchise I got pretty damn excited. But like with most recent Troma films it took a long time from when the film was finished until it got a home video release. I understand that Troma wants their films to play as many theaters as they can before it hits dvd/blu ray. But with no theater within a 3 hour drive of me that would show a Troma film I have to wait on home video.

The nuclear power plant by Nuke'em High is now the HQ of some giant global food corporation.And they are supplying food for Nuke'em High. Which of course is contaminated.

So the food ends up transforming the Glee Club into the new Cretins. And our heroes,if you can call them that,are two young ladies that goto Nuke'em high. Who through out the course of the film fall in love. 

Really my only complaint about this film is that it is broken up into two parts. And as of the writing of this post no release date has been set for volume 2.

I will say the blu ray of this looks great. And has well done sound. Plus you get two commentaries. One with some of the cast. And one with Lloyd Kaufman. And if you look around you can find this cheap.

Return to Nuke'em High Volume 1 gets a B.

3 Toys from the Junkbox Halloween edition

Thanks to store remodeling I have been getting the blind bag Imaginext figures cheap. With movie reviews and trying to at least finish 5 books this month I doubt I will do another of these this month. I got enough Halloween/Horror style toys to do a few. But on to the 4,yeah it's almost Halloween fuck the rules getting 1 extra toy this time.

From series three this is some kind of either alien or undersea creature. Good sculpting on the legs and arms and face. The spear looks really good also.

But if you take the helmet off and the spear away it looks a bit more like the Creature from the Black Lagoon. I wouldn't mind getting another of these since it has two very different looks depending on if you put the accessories on or not.

 BIGFOOT!!! There is a huge Imaginext remote control Bigfoot I have been trying to get for over a year. This smaller one,that comes with a giant fish!!!!,will make a good substitute.

Yeah you take the Mask off and and he looks doofy. But you can now add a Bigfoot mask to your other Imaginext figures.

This one is like the first one in that it has two totally different looks.With the "tater sack" mask on and weedwacker he looks like either Jason Voorhies in Friday the 13th part 2 or the killer from The Town that dreaded sundown.

You take the "Tater Sack" off and you got a great zombie figure.This line is for 3 to 8 year olds ,so a toy this creepy and scary in a line aimed at that age group is strange but a neat find.

Finally this very very well done vampire. The sculpting ,paint job and accessories are the best I have seen from this line of toys.The bat seems to hold best on the right arm. And the cape is a nice touch,

He does lose a bit without the cape. And the bat. But still a great looking figure. One I am kind of glad I got 2 of now.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 1 Sharknado 3 Oh Hell No

Sharknado 3 Oh Hell No
Source-TV airing

Figured I would  start this years 31 days of Horror off with what has become one of my favorite horror franchises. Starting 3 summers ago Syfy aired the original Sharknado. And it was such a hit now each July we get a new one.

We start the film with Finn in DC accepting an award from the President. His wife April is in Florida with their daughter. Of course another Sharknado hits. The first one hits DC while Finn is there. And after he helps save the President,he finds out there are more Sharknados. And one is heading right for where his now pregnant wife and teenage daughter are.

Finn heads down to Florida and on his way ends up running into Nova. Who was in the first film. Seems she now travels around North America fighting Sharknados.

After getting to Florida and saving his wife and daughter. Nova and Finn figure out a way to stop the multiple Sharknados that are heading towards the east coast. To do this they need to go up into space. So it is handy that Finn's father is an astronaut.

So we got Finn,his pregnant wife and his astronaut father going up in a space shuttle. But of course just cause they are in space doesn't mean they are safe from the Sharknados.

Sure the films are cheesy. And with each film they become more self aware. But they remind me so much of the cheesy creature features Roger Corman made back in the day. The films I would see at the drive in and then later on airing late at night on the weekends. And all the various cameos of various celebrities just adds to the fun of these films.

Sharknado 3 Oh Hell No gets a B+

3 Toys from the Junkbox 9/20/2015

Yeah I know it has been awhile since I did one of these. But I have been busy with lots of stuff this summer.

This is from the Imaginext line. They do blind buy bagged figures. Normally they are 3 or 4 bucks. But my local Walmart is clearing series 3 out at $1.50 a figure. Sadly the figures have no names so I named this guy Louie. He has articulation his hips,wrists,shoulders and neck. With the shoulders being on balljoints. Which gives you much more range of movement. I love how all the Imaginext stuff works with any figure from the line. So I can take Louie's guitar and amp and give them to say the Batman Imaginext I got back in May.

The paint on Louie is well done. And the sculpting is really good for such a small figure. You can't see it in the pic but his vest has all kinds of chains,buttons and other stuff sculpted into it.

Here is another Imaginext figure. I have named him Nok Nok the caveman. Imaginext has a dinosaur line and Nok Nok is from that set. The dinosaur he rides has a lever that makes his mouth open and close. And over all has decent articulation. And great paint and sculpting. Nok Nok comes with the mask that is made to look like it was made out of bone. No clue what these normally cost. But I got mine on clearance for $2.

And the last figure. It is Doc Brown from Back to the Future. This is from the Funko made ReAction line of action figures.I really like how these are made to look like the old Kenner Star Wars figures I collected as a kid. And like those figures they don't have much articulation. Doc Brown has joints at his hips,shoulders and neck. But that is all the old Star Wars figures had. The sculpting and paint is much better than those old Kenner figures were. And his only accessory is the toolkit he has in his left hand. Now normally these are 10 bucks each. Which is way more than I would pay. I caught this on sale for $5 and it is worth that much to me. There is only 4 figures in the ReAction Back to the Future line. They had all 4 in the store. And I was tempted to get them all. But ended up finding some other stuff I wanted more.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 87 Preacher vol 3 Proud Americans

Title-Preacher:Proud Americans
AUTHOR-Garth Ennis
FORMAT-Trade Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-Nope
PRICE-$15

By the time this trade hit the shelves I was already hooked on Preacher. I had been a huge fan of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series from the Vertigo imprint,and Preacher was the polar opposite.

Most of this trade is all about Jesse and his two friends going to France and meeting the Grail for the first time.So we get the first appearances of recurring major villain Herr Star.

It is the first issue reprinted in this trade that sticks in my memory.While at an airport waiting for his plane to France,Jesse happens to run into a friend of his father's. One who was over in Nam with him. So we get the origin of Jesse's Fuck Communism zippo. This and the much later  on in the series Nam flashback story are my two favorite issues of the series. I would love to see a 6 to 8 issue mini that is Ennis and Steve Dillon telling more stories of Jesse's Dad in the war.

The art is even better than the last two trades. To me it was around this time that Steve Dillon got all the major characters figured out.

Preacher vol 3 Proud Americans gets a 4.95 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 086 G.I.Joe

TITLE-G.I.Joe
AUTHOR-Chuck Dixon
FORMAT-Trade Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-Yes
PRICE-1 cent plus shipping

I read the Joe comic from Marvel for about 3 or 4 years when I was younger. Had heard some of the Joe stuff from IDW was pretty good. Saw this for a penny plus shipping.

Set in modern day. In this trade,which collects issues 0 thru 6,GI Joe has never faced Cobra. Hell they first really hear of Cobra in the 0 issue. So instead the villain is Destro. Who thru accident has infiltrated the Pit with 5 spider drones.

The art in this trade is really good.Robert Atkins does the pencils. He has changed a few of the Joe's uniforms. But they are actually good changes. His has  a sense of motion to his art. Which works really well in a title like GI Joe.

Really my only major complaint about this trade is it's generic name. I am guessing this is the first 7 issues of IDW's first GI Joe comic. But I don't know for sure. If I can find the next trade for cheap,IE $5 or under, I will pick it up.

G.I.Joe gets a 4.82 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 085 Mail Order Mysteries Real Stuff from Old Comic Book Ads!

TITLE-Mail-Order Mysteries Real Stuff from Old Comic Book Ads!
AUTHOR-Kirk DeMarais
FORMAT-Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-$8

As a kid I would spend piles of time looking at all the ads in comics. Wanting to order stuff like x ray specs,lock picking kits and the Charles Atlas muscle building kit. I never ordered a thing cause my parents would always say "It's a ripoff!".

Found this book and guess what they were right. But it doesn't matter the book is a great tour through all kinds of fads. I love all the monster related stuff in here. The posters,masks,make up kits,etc.

Hell it wasn't until this reading that I discovered the front and back cover have glow in the dark paint on them. The front is mostly just outline stuff. But the back has a skull painted on it. I was heading out of my room with the book in my hands. Flipped the light off and saw this huge skull on the back glowing.

Now I wish there was a bit more writing in the book.Sure there is lots of pictures of the items. But with some of them there is barely 2 sentences of info.

Mail Order Mysteries gets a 3.33 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 084 HOLY SH*T The World's Weirdest Comic Books

TITLE-Holy Sh*t The World's Weirdest Comic Books
AUTHOR-Paul Gravett and Peter Stanbury
FORMAT-Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-$10

Found this book a few years back on sale. And took a chance on it. It is a collection of what the two authors think are the 61 weirdest comics. It is a nice blend of promotional comics,underground comics,foreign comics and just plain WTF comics.

Each comic gets a one page write up and a reproduction of the cover. Before reading it I had heard of a few of these. I even own two of them. One is a Popeye promotional comic where he talks about personal service careers. The other is the Dark Horse published comic Charles Barkley vs Godzilla.

While it is a pretty fun read. I wouldn't pay cover price for this. But at least now I know about stuff like the Spiderman inspired Italian made softcore porn comics. And great underground titles like Tales from the Leather Nun and Amputee Love.

Holy Sh*t gets a 2.98 outta 5.