31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 26 Bloody Pit of Horror

Bloody Pit of Horror
Source-Something Weird Video DVD

I have been hearing about this mid 60s Italian made horror film for decades now. All I knew about it for years was Jane Mansfield's husband was the lead in it. Then once I got online there was a guy,and I can't not remember his posting name,that at every horror forum I found he was posting there and used a pic of Hargertiy's Crimson Executioner as his avatar.

After all these years I finally decided maybe I should see the film.Threw it on my Netflix queue and kind of forgot about it. A week or so ago it had made it's way to the top of my list. And one lazy Sunday I sat down to watch it. But after about 10 minutes I got bored and spent the rest of the film online doing various things. So I figured I should get the movie a second chance. And this time give it my full attention.

A photographer and a group of models are off to do a photo shoot at abandoned castle. They get into the castle and find out the owner is still there. At first he is gonna kick them out. But changes his mind. Telling them they can stay. But are not allowed to go down to the dungeon.

Of course this means they go down to the dungeon to take pics of some nice looking models wearing almost no clothing. Which pisses the owner off. So he assumes the mantel of the Crimson Executioner. And over the course of the rest of the film kills off all but two of the group. Those two end up tricking him and he dies in one of his own traps.

Honestly most horror from before 1968 is hard for me to get into. The pacing and acting usually just doesn't work for me. And this film has those two faults. I can totally see why it has a cult following. I am sure if I had seen this as a kid I would love it. But seeing it for the first time as an adult and after seeing lots of much better Euro-Horror it is just dull to me.

Bloody Pit of Horror gets a D+.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Franchise review Piranha

A few years ago I did short reviews of every film in various horror franchises. And to me a film has to have at least 4 films to be a franchise. So I was thinking "What is a franchise I don't hear lots of talk about?" And after realizing not only I don't want to re-watch all 13 entries in the Witchcraft franchise,I also only own about half of them. Then a few days ago I got ahold of a film that I had forgotten about. Yep got the mid 90s remake of Piranha.

Starting in 1978 with the Roger Corman produced Jaws rip off. Piranha now has a total of 5 films in the series.

The first one I saw years ago late at night on one of the local UHF channels. Where genetically engineered WAR piranhas get released.And they end up in a water resort where carnage happens.

Going back a few years ago when Shout Factory released a great DVD of this film I found it really fun and entertaining. It is very much a 70s low budget horror. But I love that type of film.

3 years later in 81 a sequel hit the silver screen. Directed by James Cameron,in what was his first theatrically released film.Besides some flying piranhas,yeah they can fly in this one. The FX work is decent.But truthfully this is the worst film in the franchise. Just proving to me once again unless he is ripping off old episodes of Outer Limits,that Cameron is a hack and one of the most over rated directors of the past 100 years.

And now we are up to the film I just finally got a copy of. Back in the mid to late 90s Showtime had a weekly Roger Corman Presents show. Where each Saturday you got a new Corman produced film. Really this is pretty much a straight remake of the late 70s original. But it has a neat cast. You got William "Greatest American Hero" Katt,Alexandra"Christine" Paul,Soleil Moon Frye AKA Punky Brewster and in her debut role Mila Kunis. Yeah I was surprised when I saw her. Doing some research it seems this did get a DVD release that is out of print.

In 2010 Piranha was remade for a second time. This time in 3D. And what a fun film this is. You get right at 1 1/2 hours of hot women,gore and a dash of comedy. This time it is set during Spring break in a town on the edge of a huge lake. The cast is pretty fun. You got the almost always good Elizabeth Shue. Christopher Lloyd pretty much playing his Doc Brown role from Back to the Future.And Jerry O'Connell as a sleazy as fuck Girls Gone Wild director.

Then in 2012 we got what as of this post the last film in the franchise. Piranha 3dd,which from what I can find got a very limited theatrical release. And I can see why. This movie is kind of a mess. It uses any excuse to show boobs or blood. And besides David Hasselhoff playing himself the rest of the cast is crap. This and the Flash TV show are what proved to me that Danielle Panabaker lost all her acting talent once she grew up.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 25 Dance of the Dead

Masters of Horror Season 1 Episode Dance of the Dead
Source-Anchor Bay Blu Ray

When this first aired I missed it. I recorded it and didn't see it for at least a month. All the reviews I read were calling it horrible and "another dud from one hit wonder Tobe Hooper". Now I believe Mr Hooper has had way more than one good film. So when I did sit down to watch it I was ready for it to be horrible or be great.

Set in the near future. After some kind of biological war. Our lead is a teenage girl. She works at her mother's diner. And one day meets some older boys. Who invite her to come out partying with them that night. They want her to come with them to the city and goto a club. But of course her mother doesn't want her to go.

She ends up going. The club they goto is ran by Robert Englund. Who using electric shocks causes zombie like people to "dance" on the stage. We find out these "zombies" need blood to live. And the two boys that brought our lead to the club have been providing that blood to Robert. Then a dancer comes out who our lead girl knows. It is her older sister. The one her mother had told her had died.

Our lead ends up confronting Englund about this right around the time her mother shows up to drag her back home. We find out that the sister got hooked on hard drugs,they are everywhere in this near future. So the mother pretty much killed her then sold her undead body to Robert Englund. The film then skips ahead some time. We are back in the club. Our lead is a scumbag like the two boys that took her. And now her mother has become the new lead dancer at the club.

I have always enjoy post apocalyptic fiction. And this film is kind of a new spin on that.Pretty sure this is based on a short story. I need to track it down and see how much is cut or changed in the episode. I do understand why people might not have liked this episode. Coming after 2 or 3 really good episodes it is a a very different type of horror. And lots of the online horror fans seem to either parrot what certain horror podcasts say or for some reason legit believe the only good film Tobe Hooper has done was Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Dance of the Dead gets a C.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 24 Population 436

Population 436
Source-Mill Creek Where Evil Lies DVD set

Made in 2006 sometime in 2008 I was flipping channels and saw the last 10 minutes of this film on one of the movie channels. I liked what I saw and pulled up the onscreen info. Saw that Fred Durst was one of the main stars.Thought to myself "Well Limp Biscuit was total crap. I kind of doubt Durst is a good actor. I will just skip this movie."

Then it was late last year. I saw the Mill Creek Where Evil Lies set in the $5 bin.I looked at the back to see what 6 movies made up the set. Saw Population 436 and another that sounded decent. So I grabbed the set. But like what happens lots of time when I buy these cheap multi-film sets I end up throwing it on my shelf and never watching it.

I had no idea what I was gonna watch for my movie today. Then I remembered Population 436. Threw it in and was surprised at how good the film is. Jeremy Sisto is the lead. A man that works for the government. And is sent to the town of Rockwell Falls. To learn why the population of the town has stayed at 436 for over 100 years.

He gets to the town and it is like Mayberry come to life. With Fred Durst as a meathead Andy Griffth. Actually honestly Durst does a damn good job as the town Deputy. I haven't heard of him doing any more acting. Which is kind of sad cause his acting is way better than his singing.

Over the course of the films 1 1/2 hour running time we start seeing more and more how the town is just a bit off. Then in the final 20 minutes we learn why the town is so peaceful and why the population has stayed the same for so long.

The film is a nice blending of a mystery and a horror film. And isn't super gory or violent. Hell I am not really sure why it got an R rating. If you know someone that loves a good mystery this is a film they would enjoy.

Population 436 gets a B-.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 090 Clive Barker's Books of Blood 1

TITLE-Clive Barker's Books of Blood 1
AUTHOR-Clive Barker
FORMAT-Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-Free,was a gift.

I have owned at least 5 copies of this book. From the various US published paperback editions. To at one time a very nice UK published hardback that contained every volume of the Books of Blood. Well I lost them all over the years. So last year for X-mas I got this UK hardcover as a gift. I love how Barker did the dust jacket artwork.

After an introduction from Ramsey Campbell,we get the first story.

The Book of Blood,where a fake psychic gets attacked by spirits and has a bunch of stories carved into his skin. This is fairly short. And in the final Book of Blood we get a sequel to it. And these 2 stories were the inspiration for a halfway decent film adaptation a few years back.

The Midnight Meat Train,When I first read this story back in the mid 80s I was shocked. It feels like Barker wanted to write a splatterpunk style story. And he wrote a damn good one. Quite a few years ago this story was adapted into a damn good movie.

The Yattering and Jack,Set around X-mas. This is one of Barker's mixtures of horror and comedy. A lower level demon has been assigned to torment Jack. But keeps failing. Pretty sure this was made into an episode of Tales from the Darkside.

Pig Blood Blues,is a fun story set at a bordering school. Which reminds me a bit of Evilspeak.

Sex,Death and Starshine,goes back to Barker's theater roots. And has a nice EC style twist at the ending.

In the Hills,The Cities-My second favorite story in the books of blood. A couple is off in Eastern Europe. They get lost and stumble upon two warring villages. But instead of normal modern warface,the villagers strap themselves into 2 giants.That fight each other.

Clive Barker's Books of Blood 1 gets an A.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 23 Dracula 2000

Dracula 2000
Source-Various Echo Bridge multipacks,really I own 8 copies of this movie thanks to the cheap Echo Bridge movie packs.

I can remember going to see some film in a theater and seeing the Dracula 2000 trailer for the first time. The trailer looked great. And it appeared to have a fun cast. So I went to see it when it came out. Ended up being very disappointed with the movie.

One of Van Helsings decedents has Dracula's body sealed up in silver coffin. Jennifer Esposito allows her shitbag boyfriend and his crew of thieves brake into Van Helsings shop. They see all the security measures put in place cause of the silver coffin. So figuring something that well protected must be very valuable they steal the coffin. And head from the UK to New Orleans with it. During the flight to NOLA one of the thieves,Hyde from That 70's Show,opens up the coffin awakens Dracula. And in the chaos the plane crashes in the swamps outside NOLA.

Honestly this movie is pretty much total shit.Only 3 things make it stand out a bit against all the other modern vampire films. First is the so called "brides of Dracula". They are the three ladies pictured above. I have always thought Jennifer Esposito was a pretty young lady,and Colleen Fitzpatrick AKA Vitamin C is also really pretty. Then there is Jeri Ryan. And I am sure what I am about to say will piss off plenty of Trekkies. But I have never found Ms Ryan to be a good actress or to be that attractive. Sure she has pretty big breasts. But her face looks like someone shaved Gizmo from Gremlins.She has less acting talent than my dead departed dog Peaches. And always has a look on  her face like she thinks she has to fart,but isn't sure if it is a fart or she has to take a shit.The second thing is the male cast of this film. Gerald Butler tries his best as Dracula and does an OK job. Jonny Lee Miller tries really hard in his role,but to me he was only good in one film and that was Hackers. And the final thing from the film that stands out. Is the theory it throws out that Dracula is actually Judas. And the reason why vampires are harmed to silver is because of the 30 pieces of silver Judas was given to betray Jesus. The rest of the film is pretty much your normal late 90s/early 2000s Dimension Films movie.

The only reason I watched this film this year is because of a friend.He is known mostly online as thefuckerfromhell or just Fucker for short. And this is one of his favorite films. So since I own so many copies of it I thought I would give it another chance. And I doubt I ever watch this again. I also own 1 of the 2 sequels to this. But I haven't watched it yet.

Dracula 2000 gets a D-.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 22 Blade Anime series

Blade Anime
Source-Sony Pictures DVD

A few years back on G4 they showed 4 different Marvel comic Anime tv series. Each was 12 episodes long. I am not sure why I didn't watch them when they came out. While I am not a huge anime fan I have enjoyed some of it. And I really liked the Witchblade anime show.

Over the past 2 years I keep finding the 2 disc sets of these Marvel anime tv shows cheap at Dollar General.About 2 weeks ago I was at DG grabbing snacks. Saw they had dropped the price on the Blade anime to $7. I didn't feel like paying that much. But on my way home I saw there was a garage sale near my home. I stopped looked around thinking it was gonna be a bust. Then the husband tells his wife "Go inside get those dvds we bought for the grand kids and they wouldn't watch them cause they said they were too old." She went in and came back out with Thundercats season 1 vol 1 andBl this Blade set. The Blade set was still sealed and they only wanted a buck for it so I took a chance.

In this series Blade is over in the far east. And facing all the different types of vampires that are parts of the various Asian cultures.Which makes for some neat and new vampires for Blade to fight. Deacon Frost is brought back as the lead villain. And at least to me it feels like this anime is set in the same continuity as the first live action film.

Over all the series is decent. The story is nothing special,pretty sure Warren Ellis had something to do with it.But the animation  more than makes up for how average the story is. Done by Madhouse,one of the best anime studios,the animation looks really good for a made for TV show.

One weird quirk about this set I noticed was when you first start the show the audio is in Japanese and the English subtitles are turned on. Cause of my hearing damage I normally keep the subtitles on when watching a film,even if it is in English.And because that first viewing I was more listening to the show than watching it I turned on the English audio. Then I started noticing the English audio and the English subtitles do not match up that often.When I watched the show again today I paid more attention and the subtitles seem to tell the story much better than the English audio.

Blade Anime series gets a C-.

31 Days of Horror 2015 EXTRA 04 Spider Baby

Sure it isn't the best looking version of the film. But the above video is the full film.

Spider Baby was released in 1968. Directed by Jack Hill.It's two biggest names are a young Sid Haig,and a very old Lon Chaney Jr.

This came out the same year as the horror game changer Night of the Living Dead. And in many ways this film,that was completed a number of years before it was released,pushes the envelope as much as NotLD does in the horror quota.

Chaney Jr is the guardian and driver of what is left of the Merrye family. Which is 3 "kids". Who all look to be mid 20s. They suffer from a rare affliction where once they hit the age of 10 they mentally regress. With Sid Haig being pretty much feral in this movie.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 021 Trip with Teacher

Trip with Teacher
Source-Gorehouse Greats Collection DVD from Mill Creek

This is part of the handful of rape/revenge horror/thriller movies that came out in the 70s. Coming out in 1975 this is one sleazy ass film.A teacher and a handful of her female students are on a field trip. Going to see some Navajo ruins. On their way their bus breaks down and some bikers offer to help tow the bus.

The bus get towed to an old house and this is when the sleaze begins.Two of the bikers,Al and Pete,start off by raping the the teacher in front of the students. Pete is played by a young Zalman King. Who because of his choice of sunglasses looks like Beautiful Day era Bono from U2.

Trip with Teacher looks like a movie that would be the last film on a triple feature at a late 70s drive in. Sure it is low budget and the script isn't amazing. But it knows what it is. And never strays from that.

Before buying this set I had never even heard of Trip with the Teacher. After watching it,well it isn't anything special. It feels like the only reason this is remembered is because of Zalman King's role as Pete.It is the perfect sleazy drive in film. There is plenty of trashy dialogue. And piles of nudity.

Trip with the Teacher gets a C-.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 020 Stanley

Stanley
Source-Millcreek Gorehouse Greats Collection DVD

In the 70s there was lots of nature run amok films. Stuff like Grizzly,Jaws and the film I am talking about today.

Our lead is a Native American Nam vet.After coming back from the war he moved into the Florida Everglades and starts training snakes to obey his commands. He also uses the snakes to help the local hospital get anti venom.

So once two poachers start coming into the Everglades,who are also connected to the man our lead suspects of killing his father the shit hits the fan. One of my favorite scenes is when both the poachers are stuck in some quicksand and our lead sends in Stanley to kill them. Stanley  is his favorite snake. And in lots of ways their relationship reminds me of the original Willard film.

I am a bit surprised this film isn't a bigger cult hit. It is full of wacky stuff that normally help  film gain cult status. Just for the scenes of a stripper biting the heads off huge snakes I would think this movie would have a pretty big following.

Before this set came out from Mill Creek,BCI Eclipse released an extras packed version of Stanley.The same print of the film is used for this set. But all the extras are gone. But this was a 12 film set that normally was selling for 5 to 7 bucks.

Stanley gets a C.