Bad Manners

 

TITLE-Bad Manners

SOURCE-Scorpion Releasing Blu Ray

Back earlier in the year hit up the Kino Lober fall sale and really was just grabbing various items that caught my eye. And this 1984 comedy did that. I had never heard of it. Just saw Martin Mull and Karen black plus a orphanage full of bad kids and figured it was worth the 5 bucks.

Piper gets taken by the cops to a orphanage. Where he meets Girl Joey,a tomboyish referee shirt wearing tough girl.Mouse,small freckled faced terror. The one black kid at the orphanage,known as (this is how the subtitles spelled it) Blacky. And this blonde kid that I think they were trying to say was a skater kid. 

This orphanage is ran by nuns and the flamboyantly gay dude from Airplane,who in this one appears to have a crush on one of the younger nuns.

Or lead kids get put in medatation room,aka the freezer,and using Piper's switchblade cut their fingers.With Mouse cutting his middle finger,and become blood brothers.

Mouse gets adopted by Martin Mull and Karen Black. Who are some super rich 80s era Yuppies.Mouse goes to live with them and meets their oddball kids. Up first is their son. Who appears ot only ever watch Shogun Assassin ,the movie,wears his hair like a samurai and thinks he is Japanese. And their daughter played by Kimmy Robertson from Twin Peaks.

Back at the orphanage the remaining lead kids decide to break out. Make this wacky plan to shut off the electric fence that surrounds the property. The plan works in a way. They escape. 

Making it to a bus station they figure out they need about 11 bucks a kid to take the bus to where Mouse is. While trying to steal a purse in the bathroom Girl Joey gets caught. And speaking of girl Joey,I know this actress from something later on in her career. Can't be arsed to go look her up. Guessing there is another Joey at the orphanage that is a boy.

Back at Mouse's new home he is being a holy terror. Like hiding in the shower with a poloroid camera. And taking pictures of his new sister naked. Yep if you ever wanted to see Lucy from Twin Peaks naked get this film.....

Our lead kids get enough money and hop a cab. Their driver is drinking beer. Which leads to our kids drinking beer on the ride. And a conversation you wouldn't get in a comedy aimed at kids now. 

Mouse tries to escape by hitching a ride with a biker lady. He is almost to the Orphanage,yep he rather be there than be Mull's kid,but gets arrested along with a biker gang. So off Martin Mull and Karen Black go to bail their new son out of jail.

Piper and the rest arrive at the house. Kimmy talks them into tying her and her brother up to teach "My parents a lesson." Piper and his friends FUCK UP this house majorly.

Mull and Black get back home withh Mouse. More wackiness happens. And the film ends with Piper and the rest of the orphan kids,including Mouse,driving off in Karen Black's Triumph.

Credits roll over postcard like shots of the kids in various tourist areas. Including Hawaii.

Besides a some trailers and the subtitles there is no extras. The film looked good sounded good.

So yea this is very much a way too late ripoff of Bad News Bears. Got dialogue that feels like it was cut from Bad News Bears.

This was cheap in the sale. $5 IIRC. Scorpion is gone,the owner passed in 2023. So this is Out of Print and I really do not see another label putting it out on 4k or putting it out again on Blu ray. 

Bad Manners gets a C.

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 31 Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey

 

TITLE-Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey

SOURCE-Peacock Streaming and Scream Factory Blu Ray

Back within 3 weeks of this coming out in 2023 I had gotten a bootleg. Watched it late one night and thought ok this is not nearly as bad as expected. And that means it is one of the few ITN distributed movie worth seeing..

With Winnie the Pooh being public domain it isn't surprising someone made a bloody horror film out of it.

ITN for those that don't know is a group that mostly releases Spanish made and UK made horror films straight to DVD. I have seen at least 10 movies now from them and 2 are worth seeing.

So the plot... Christopher Robin is a kid in the 100 acre woods runs into the gang we all know from the books and or Disney stuff. But once Christopher Robin is grown and off to college one harsh winter the gang is starving. So Pooh talks them into eating Eeyore. After this they vow to never talk and go after anyone in the 100 Acre Woods.

Christopher Robin and his wife come back. And get captured. Then a group of 5 college girls show up. And one by one they are killed by Winnie and or Piglet,the others have passed it seems.

Some bloody kills some dumb kills. I do love the scene where Pooh pimpslaps half a guys face off. That is one oddity it is never really explained why Pooh and Piglet are superhumanly strong and like the Tick Nigh Invunerable.

Expected to bomb this made a good profit and a sequel and shared universe are in the works.

One warning wait on buying the blu ray/dvd of this. Right now that fucker is 20 bucks or so and the only extras is a barely 15 minute EPK and a trailer.

Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey gets a C.

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 30 Beyond the Door III AKA Amok Train

 

TITLE-Beyond the Door III AKA AMok Train

SOURCE-Joe Bob's Last Drive In on Shudder

So this years season of the Last Drive In was the first one since I got Shudder that I watched NONE of the episodes as they aired. And each week when I would go look see what was aired it was either stuff I have seen 100 times or stuff I didn't give a crap about.

Months back had been slowly working my way through each episode,and man some of them were rough,and started up Beyond the Door III. Yea I had heard about this late 80s Italian film. Not connected at all to the previous 2 Beyond the Door films. Thinking I saw this years back when a pile of us were working our way through the local mom and pop video stores horror sections. Remember nothing about that viewing. And from my research some releases of this movie in the US cut out most of the gore. Which would make this movie fairly forgettable.

College kids in Eastern Europe run into trouble. Hop a near by train to get out of the country fast. But this train is possessed and can so shit like leave the tracks to run over someone in a boat in a lake!

This is just pure 80s Italian gore and insanity. With that gore cut out the film is lacking the punch it needs. Acting is  pretty lackluster. Bo Svenson is the biggest name and he is barely in the film,as a teacher to the college kids. The plot is all over the place and doesn't really make sense. The films fast pace and the crazy gore are what makes this film so appealing.

Oh and that gore. Yea most remembered is when the one lady's head starts to split open then all her skin slides off. Which is a great practical gore effect. For me the two that stand out the most are when the train decapitates the lady in the boat on the lake. And when the one dude is hanging outside the train and gets impaled on a board hanging off a watertower.

If this had had the gore in it in that viewing decades ago,thinking it was 96ish,it would have been a hit. the 5 to 10 of us that would gather often to drink and watch b-horror loved gore and just heckling the hell out of movies. This would work for that perfectly.

The DVD is still easy to find for not a bad price,but seeing reviews claiming the picture is not great. The Blu Ray is OOP and a bit pricey. What Shudder has is the Blu ray.

Give this a watch on Shudder if you like Euro Horror and Gore.

Beyond the Door III gets a B-

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 29 Wrong Turn (2021)

 

TITLE-Wrong Turn(2021)

SOURCE-Paramount Plus Streaming

Covered some of the previous Wrong Turns in 31 Days of Horror years before. Been wanting to see this reboot and when I added the Showtime addon to my P+ sub I saw it was streaming.

A bunch of college age young adults are hiking through rural West Virginia. They are warned many times to "Stick to the trail".

Of course they don't. And start running into multiple traps. Hell yea time to see some inbred cannibals attacking. NOPE. TWIST TIME FOLKS.

The family this time in the woods are more old English stuck in 1700s style folks. They kill anyone that enters their domain.

After the college kids get captured most die. But our lead lady manages to work out a deal to save her and her boyfriend.

Skip ahead a few months. Matthew Modine,remember him?,is the lead lady's father and he is searching for her.

He finds her. And through a bunch of stuff they manage to escape.

Skip ahead a few months. Our lead lady is entering her home and sees the leader of the woods family in her home. She agrees to leave with him,seems she is pregnant with his child. Credits start to roll. But don't stop the movie yet. Nope our lead crashes the RV and slaughters the evil West Virginia family. And the end.

Wow wasn't expecting this much of a change. But get why they did it. Keep hearing their might be  a sequel. Hope so.

Wrong Turn(2021) gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 28 Alison's Birthday

 

TITLE-Alison's Birthday

SOURCE-Shudder streaming service

One thing I have noticed is usually within a month of being released lots of cult/horror boutique label releases hit Shudder. Which makes it more than worth the low price for a year. What I pay for a year of Shudder is what two purchases would cost from a Boutique.

When Severin released their "folk horror" big boxed set I wanted to see a few of the films in the set and the documentary. But not wanting to drop 200 bucks I waited. Tried watching the documentary on Shudder and still haven't made it all the way through it. 

Earlier this year had someone tell me this early 80s Austrailian made horror was worth a watch. Alison's Birthday is almost a forgotten film. I had heard of it but never seen it until earlier this year. And out of the cast only person I knew was the  lead. Who IIRC was Mad Max's lady in the first film.

So needing a film to watch today put this on for my second viewing. Starts off with 3 teenage girls attempting to contact a spirt. One girl gets possessed and warns Alison to leave this place and make sure to never be  here on your 19th birthday. They crazy shit happens,wind blowing a shelf falls on the possessed girl. And Alison ends up leaving her home and moving away.

Skip ahead a few years Alison is almost 19. And she gets a call from her aunt and uncle.They want her to come stay a bit and celebrate her up coming birthday. And off Alison and her boyfriend head to the Aunt and Uncle's. Riding in what appears to be a street legal dune buggy. 

Once at the home Alison is reminded of just how odd stuff is. Like one area of the property she is reminded to avoid "cause there is snakes". And her aunt's ancient grandmother who rarely leaves her room.

This is a real slow burn of a film. While only being 1 hour and 30 odd minutes it feels longer. This isn't a flaw. But to people not use to how cinema had a slower pace a few decades ago I can see it being an issue.

We finally find out the Aunt and Uncle are druids. And they are planning on holding some kind of ritual when Alison turns 19. The boyfriend tries to prevent this from happening. But he fails. At the end the ritual causes Alison's mind to go into the ancient grandmother's body. And vice versa. And we end on alison in the old elderly body screaming.

Worth watching if you want a slow but decent religious horror. No real gore or much violence. Some nice camera angles and shots. 

Alison's Birthday gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 27 Critters

 

TITLE-Critters

SOURCE-WB DVD

Every so often I watch a movie and think I wish I hadn't already covered this for 31 days of Horror. Then go check my master list and realize I haven't. That is what happened with Critters. I was sure I  covered it years ago. Nope.

Set in a tiny town. A bunch of aliens,known as Krites,who are like deadly porcupine/hedgehog combos land. With two bounty hunters hot on their trail.

This simple premise that has been done before ended up birthing a franchise that has produced 5 films so far and a fairly large fanbase.

So what made this movie so memorable? What made it stand out from the onslaught of Gremlins clones in the mid 80s? One thing is the Chiodo brothers and their studio handled making the puppets/Krites. But it was how the film balanced that line between horror made for adults and horror kids can watch. Yea it has a PG13 rating. But there isn't much gore or extreme violence in the movie.

The cast ain't bad with Dee Wallace and Don Keith Opper being the stand outs. Now sure most reading this know who Dee is,But Don Keith Opper seems to be unknown unless you are a big Critters fan. His character of Charlie is the lynchpin that keeps this franchise going. 

Charlie starts off as the town drunk. Not far from rock bottom and only still surviving cause most of the small town feels for him. But by the end of the film he has a purpose. He will go off and hunt krites.

If you never seen it track down the first film and give it a watch. No clue where it is streaming currently. If you enjoy it find this 4 pack. Seen it selling as cheap as 7 bucks.

Critters gets a B.

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 26 The Pope's Exorcist

 

TITLE-The Pope's Exorcist

SOURCE-Netflix Streaming

Saw the trailers for this film when it  hit theaters and thought meh might watch it in a few years. Then heard some good reviews so changed that  to OK will watch this when it hits streaming. Forgetting that now stuff hits streaming  5 weeks  after theaters.

Russell Crowe is the Pope's Exorcist. He is sent  to an old abby in  Spain. Where a  family has  moved.  They were trying to renovate the abby  ,so  they could sell it.  The work crew ran  off when  one of them  got burnt  by a gas leak. Then the woman's son gets possessed.

Was  expecting  your standard Exorcist  ripoff. But glossy and full  of  cheap CGI. Nope they gave us more than one twist.  A good chunk of the FX work looks practical or at least a practical base with some CGI help on top that.

Really really surprised at how much I enjoyed this. Not as good as Song of Solomon. But for me better than the Exorcist. OR at least this entertained me  more than  any viewing  of the Exorcist.

The Pope's Exorcist gets a B.

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 25 Cannibal Apocalypse

TITLE-Cannibal Apocalypse

SOURCE-Kino Lober Blu ray

This infamous Cannibals in Atlanta Italian made fiim. And I finally got a good copy.

Start off with John Saxon over in the Nam War. His troop slaughters some enemies fleeing a cave. Then they find two PWOs. One who is Jonathan Morgan. 

SKip ahead and Saxon is back stateside. In Atlanta. Morgan calls him wantiing to go get a beer,but Saxon says he is busy. So Morgan wanders off to see a movie. Which is a Nam War film made by the same director as this film.

In the theater Morgan starts having flashbacks,and we are left to wonder if the movie's war scenes or the couple in front of him making out,trigger all this. Morgan freaks out and bites the woman in front of him on the neck.ANd boom we got cannibals on the loose in Atlanta Georgia.

Pretty sure first time I heard of this movie was on a list of Video Nasties. And I got vague memories of seeing this off a vhs. Which I am betting  was the cut for US version. Then next time I saw it was uncut in a not so great looking copy on youtube. This Kino Lober Blu ray looks great. So good that the Nam stock footage in the beginning really doesnt match up with the footage of Saxon and his platoon.

There is a commentary. An almost hour long documentary on the film. Plus some interviews. And trailers and stuff.

Really a loaded release for a film that I feel has been forgotten in favor of Ferox or Holocaust.

Cannibal Apocalypse gets a B.

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 24 Ghoulies Svengoolie Airing

 

TITLE-Ghoulies

SOURCE-Svengoolie TV Airing from 2023

Months ago,think it might have been late 2022,Dish Network dropped MeTV. One of the few channels I watch. No big issue for me I pay for the FRNDLY app and it has MeTV. So I didn't miss Svengoolie.

Most years during 31 Days of Horror,over the last 10 years,I try to cover an episode of Sven's show. He almost always shows something owned by Universal. And I have used this as a way for me to cover older stuff.

Since FRNDLY has an unlimited DVR space I will sometimes have months worth of Sven episodes sitting on it. Back sometime in July I was off in some rural town filming wrestling. When I checked my phone during intermission someone had messaged me saying how SVen was showing Ghoulies II. I get home and check the DVR and yep GHoulies II and the week before was GHoulies .

Now years back I covered Ghoulies III. And enjoyed it. I remember seeing the first film when it hit home video and not really enjoying it. The poster and trailers made it out like a more horror less comedy version of Gremlins. The Ghoulies don't show up that much in this film and the non Ghoulie parts were just boring.

So Ghoulies is one of those longer running horror franchises where the first film is the worst in the run. 

Pretty much unless you feel like you gotta see every Gremlins rip off avoid this movie. Even Sven's bits before and after ad breaks can't save this turd.

Ghoulies get D-.

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 23 Nightmare Sisters

 

TITLE-Nightmare Sisters 

SOURCE-VS Blu Ray

I have always been a big fan of the 80s era Scream Queens. And when I learned like Sorority Babes in the Slime Ball Bowl a Rama that Nightmare Sisters had Linnea Quigley,Michelle Bauer and my favorite Brinke Stevens I had to see it. No video store had a copy of the VHS. 

It wasn't until the film aired on the old USA Network Up All Night program that I got a chance to see it. And I had no clue then what I was seeing had new scenes shot just for the TV version.Glad I got this packed Blu Ray/DVD combo pack.

Brinke,Linnea and Michelle are the nerdy and/or fat sorority sisters. Stuck at the house while all the other sorority members are off with their boyfriends. Some nerdy guys from a near by frat come over. A possessed crystal ball,once owned by Dookie Flyswatter,enters the house. And evil spirts,succubi,enter the three nerdy ladies. 

Before they get possessed with a low budget the film tries to make the three ladies as unattractive as they can. Linnea gets fitted with some huge buck teeth. Michelle they put into a fat suit. Brinke has the simplest change. They toss some glasses on her. Put her hair back in a pony tail . And boom Nerdy Brinke.

After being possessed the girls are trying to kill not only the three nerds that came over but a few other members of the same frat.

I mentioned how the TV version had new scenes shot. The main thing replaced is a almost 15 minute long scene. All three ladies pile into a bath tub. Where while they are bathing,when they soap up their breasts squeeky balloon noises were added in post,the three nerdy frat dudes are outside peeking in on them. 

In the TV version they couldn't show this scene. But needed to replace it. So when it cuts to the girls now they are in lingere and playing with balloons!!! LOL. That is to explain the squeeky balloon noises when the boys are peeking in.

The Blu Ray looks great and sounds good. Both the TV version and the normal version. The only real extra,besides the tv version,is a commentary with the director and Linnea.

Nightmare Sisters gets a B.