Jurassic Prey

I've said it before and I will say it again. I grew up watching and loving old stop motion monster movies. I still love them. Godzilla in a rubber suite stepping on plastic tanks, or a stop motion King Kong battering a dinosaur is way more entertaining to me then a cgi creature movie. With that said I was quite anxious to sit down with Jurassic Prey.

Jurassic Prey is the story of 2 bank robbers. After they pull a job they head out to an old cabin with the police in hot pursuit they grab a girl who, as fate would have it, just robbed her criminal boyfriend. Because of that she has goons chasing after her.

So now we have people in a remote cabin, people outside the cabin waiting for them, and just some occasional people wandering around. We also have a giant dinosaur outside to eat them.

The dino, as far as I can tell is a guy in a big rubber suite. When you get full on body shots Its an old school stop motion dinosaur. Just fyi, the suite and the puppet don't really look similar. It also has the cool little off screen kills where you see a limb from the dino and a person being mutilated.

Of course everyone has to band together, sort of, at the end to try and stop animal and escape.
This film is fun plain and simple. Giant monster, stupid people for food, what more do you need.

 If you dig films like this you should definitely add it to your collection



Overall 2.5 out of 5 Stars.

Scars

Ok so try and picture a movie about 2 friends who happen to be girls and who happen to be incredibly beautiful. Now picture these two beautiful women hugging in a room full of blood. Why picture them doing that, because there not only incredibly hot, but also completely insane.

Scars is the story of two women. One a lovely punk rockish lady who wears cat like make up. One day her husband or boyfriend asks her to grab him a beer. She does, then smashes the bottle over his head and stabs him to death.

Our other lovely lady enjoys dating married men. After she seduces them she also enjoys blackmailing them. She has a nice flat rate as well. Five grand up front then two grand a month after that.

One night her blackmail doesn't go so well after her jilted lover starts beating the crap out of her. Luckily our other beautiful lady is around to kill the guy thus saving her.

As the two become closer friends they both realize how much they enjoy killing men. Through various means they meet, and violently kill random men the encounter. Unfortunately there not overly good at covering up the crimes and soon a detective begins hunting them.

I could try and do a makeshift comparison like picture "insert movie title here" now picture it with 2 serial killing women, but that would do it no justice. This is a film that is not only incredibly well done, but original as well. Part slasher, part coming of age, part art house, I've never really seen a film like this.

Aside from being gorgeous, the two female leads do an amazing job portraying there roles. Relying on mannerisms, as they don't have tons of dialogue they covey a sense of fear to the audience, as well as making you feel almost sympathetic to what there going through, and doing.

If you like movies then watch this. Doesn't matter what type as I stated it fits into so many different categories, and succeeds on so many levels that you can't compare it to anything. Just trust me when I say to go pick this up.

Overall 4 out of 5 stars!

Accidental Exorcist

I hate the Exorcist. Its boring in every sense of the word. I hate the Omen, it's horrible in every sense of the word. I tried to watch the Rite a while back. I hated it so much I went in the bathroom to read Bret Hit-Man Harts autobiography. On a side note, that was really good. Because of all this I was somewhat apprehensive about sitting down and watching The Accidental Exorcist, but as I needed a laugh and this is a bit of a dark comedy I figured why not. Besides if it stunk I would have non problem reading Bret Harts book again.

Accidental Exorcist is the story of Richard the city's top Exorcist. Unfortunately for him business is booming. There's a rash of demon possessions going on so people keep calling him to help. He does it in a cool way. He takes a pictures, talks to the possessed person then grabs them and hits there forehead a few times. Yea, he doesn't waste 25 minutes speaking Latin.

As busy as he is he obviously doesn't charge much, as he loves in a crap hole and is behind on his rent. He also eats spam for dinner every night.

One other thing, he really seems unhappy in his job. Could be from the fact he's so busy, and also that when he performs an exorcism his stigmata opens and he bleeds from his hands and feet.

This film is pretty damn entertaining. I found myself laughing a few times over watching it. The acting and writing was well done and it moved at a very quick pace. Fans of the possession and haunting type films should find this enjoyable and should add it to there collection.


Overall 3 out of 5 Stars.

Blood Bath!!!

This movie is something else. The history behind this film is probably one of the best story's in film history. But before we get to that let me give you a quick synopsis.

This is the story of Max. A nice normal guy who paints nude women. He calls them "Dead Read Nudes" he meets a young lady admiring one of the paintings and after a little prodding convinces her to be his next model.

He takes her back to his tower like studio. Then turns into some sort of demon vampire thingie. He kills here and dumps her body in wax.

Its not just her he kills, no he kills lots of people through the film. Unfortunately for him the boyfriend of his first victim is searching for his missing girlfriend. At one point a woman who may be the incarceration of Max's former witch lover even comes into play.

This is a must see for horror fans. Filmed in chilling black and white with an amazing score, it's one of the most atmospheric films ever made. Its beautiful to watch. And seeing as how this is an Arrow release its better than ever.

The transfer is flawless. Nothing was spared in transferring this to Blu Ray. The shadows all pop in the film and the sound is absolutely perfect. And you get all the versions of the film to boot. Yes all the versions.

So Roger Corman bought the rights to a film called Operacija Ticijan problem was the finished version, in his eyes was unwatchable so he changed a few things and released it at Portrait of Terror
Now the following year, still unhappy they took the film and did re shoots and changed it to the story of a lunatic who,kills women. This was Blood Bath.

Still not really happy, a few years later he decided to once again film new scenes and change the film around. The twist with Max being a vampire like monster was added in but the title stayed Blood Bath. This version actually got a limited theatrical run.

And, as this film has a short run time, especially for television more scenes were added, that mostly just featured a girl dancing and it was re-titled Track of the Vampire!

As this is brought to you via the fine folks at Arrow you know it's loaded with special features.  These are as follows:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of four versions of the film: Operation Titian, Portrait in Terror, Blood Bath and Track of the Vampire
• Brand new 2K restorations of Portrait in Terror, Blood Bath and Track of the Vampire from original film materials
• Brand new reconstruction of Operation Titian using original film materials and standard definition inserts • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on all four versions
• The Trouble with Titian Revisited – a brand new visual essay in which Tim Lucas returns to (and updates) his three-part Video Watchdog feature to examine the convoluted production history of Blood Bath and its multiple versions
• Bathing in Blood with Sid Haig – a new interview with the actor, recorded exclusively for this release
• Archive interview with producer-director Jack Hill
• Stills gallery
• Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artworks
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Dan Mumford
• Limited edition booklet containing new writing on the film and its cast by Anthony Nield, Vic Pratt, Cullen Gallagher and Peter Beckman

This is a must have for any serious horror fan, and truthfully for any fan of cinema do to the
backstory. This is highly recommended and one that's definitely a must have for any collection.


Overall 4.5 out of 5 Stars!

2 Jennifer

Ok let me start of by apologizing. This film is a sequel to the film Jennifer. I'm not apologizing for that, I'm apologizing for the fact I did not know that before watching so I never saw part one. I guess that's not a bad thing for you as I have nothing to compare this to. Nothing.

2 Jennifer is a horror film first and foremost, it's also a handheld film. Sort of. Its the story of a filmmaker. See the director of Jennifer wants to do a sequel but he doesn't want to make it. He lets a fan make it. Too bad the fan in question is a weirdo.

He wants to shoot the film entirely on an iPhone and being the film is Jennifer 2 he will only cast a girl named Jennifer in the lead role.  He spends a lot of time making calls, meeting his buddies roommates and prepping for this film. Throughout this process we also see how he's basically insane.
The film starts slow but picks up once our filmmaker finds his Jennifer and basically just wants to kill and torture her for real. That's where the payoff hits. The closing act is incredibly shocking and a fantastic payoff.

The iPhone handheld camera is a nice touch and not overdone in terms of shaky cam style. The acting is good and the script is very tight. My only issue is the slow build up. Don't get me wrong the payoff is great but the pacing could have been a little quicker to start.

Overall though this film is unique and a must watch for horror fans


Over all 2.5 out of 3 Stars

The Joe Show!

Every once and a while a film comes out that is so different than anything you have seen it's almost hard to classify. Not hipster art house different, no those I find are made to confuse to be hip and cool. I mean really different in tone and plot. I mean The Joe Show!

Joe Show is about, you guessed it, a guy named Joe. He's an interesting guy. He's drives a cab for a living, or at least he used to. He lives alone, and from what I could tell has no really friends or family. In the evenings he goes to a poetry club where he reads the poetry he writes. It always focuses on his bizarre cab customers and how he flashes out of reality and at times becomes violent with them.
Turns out he's actually unemployed. We witness him stealing a car to go on a job interview with a cab company. He also poses naked for money. Ohh yea and girls seem to be going missing. Did I mention he carry's around gasoline and a saw from time to time?

Let me say right of this is a great film. Its different sure, but it comes across better than most psychological horror films that hit the mainstream do. This is a small budget production but that helps set the tone perfectly.

The acting is great and the writing of the poetry Joe reads is spot on entertaining as well as chilling in its own right.

Like I said in the beginning it's very different, but not in the sense that it is made to cater to a certain audience. This is a film that horror, drama, thriller, mystery, and psychological film fans will enjoy. I give this one a very high recommendation to say the least. Well worth watching.


Overall 4 out of 5 Stars.

Awaken The Devil!!

Awaken The Devil! Pretty cool title, also, as you can see above pretty cool cover art. Its also a pretty cool film with a pretty cool visual concept. Think Sin City meets Scanner Darkly with a smoke like effect instead of full blown animation.

Its the story of two brothers Vernon and Tom Dopple. Things aren't going to good for them. For starters Vernon can't talk, or walk, he gets pushed around in his dilapidated wheelchair by his brother Tom. He does have a little chalkboard he writes things on. Its ok he can't talk,because Tom never really shuts up. Also they are homeless, and even more also Vernon can see demons.

One night they decide to bed down in an abandoned building. I'll say it again fans. Nothing good happens in abandoned buildings in movies. Nothing good happens here either as they find a dead girl laying by a giant pentagram.

From there it really goes downhill as there trapped in the building that's inhabited with some type of evil. They start changing as,well as Vernon starts getting better in terms of his health while Tom begins to deteriorate. Its as if there switching body's. Is this the work of the Devil himself?

Besides the obvious cinematography that sets it apart from other films the general tone is also much different than a standard horror film. This doesn't play as your typical blood and guy devil worship type horror film. This plays off more suspenseful. Its like watching a spiritual battle for someone's soul.

The acting is also very impressive for a small budget production. Both leads are fantastic. You really believe that they are experiencing what you are watching. There interaction with each other is fantastic to say the least.

This is a pretty cool film with a nice hook on the cinematography end for horror fans. Well worth a look


Overall 3 out of 5 Stars

All Sinners Night

You know the other day I was saying I had not seen a good old fashioned cult film in a while. By cult I mean religious. They were all the rage years back. Bad Dreams, Lord of Illusions, heck even Drive Angry. Well that changed the other night when I sat down and watched All Sinners Night!

All Sinners Night is a gem of an Indy film to say the least. It starts out with a reporter named David Shipman who's wife comes home on Halloween wearing a see through type mask. She greets him by shooting herself in the head.

We flash forward a year and meet Lana Williams. Her bother Daniel went missing last Halloween, the same time David's wife commuted suicide, and has not been seen since. She is convinced that his disappearance and David's wife's suicide is the work of a religious cult.

David has his suspicions as well and has been researching satanic cults for a while. The 2 decide to work together to uncover what is going on.

To make thing stranger a traveling reverend is in town, as Halloween is evil, and he appears to actually posses supernatural powers. Know people names,and horrible facts about there past.

This film has a charm about it to say the least. From the first shots of yards  decorated with Halloween props, and big shout out to the cinematographer as I own several of these same decorations The soundtrack is great as you need some good hard music to take you back to a time when heavy metal and Satanism went hand in hand. The score is fantastic, haunting and moody. The acting is very well done as well. There are actually times I feel like I'm watching an old fashioned Giallo Its so well crafted.

If you like the mystery/horror/cult films of the 70s and 80s this is a really good film to watch. If you simply in the mood for a nice creepy film then it's for you. I plan on watching this again in the fall when it gets colder so I can open the windows to get that full effect of Halloween style horror.


Overall 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Killer Dames: Two Gothic Chillers by Emilio Miraglia

Giallo films for those not familiar are slower paced mystery/thriller with horror elaments. These can be of the slasher, supernatural, or at times erotic film that originated in Italy. Durring the early to mid 70s these types of films experienced a spike in popularity all the way here in America. Horror fans were particularly fond of these films for the suspense elaments as well as the more graphic murder fx.

During this time frame a director by the name of Emilio Miraglia made 2 of the more popular films, The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave and The Red Queen Kills Seven Times. These have been circulating around for many years but now Arrow has finally put out a beatuful 2k restoration of these on a limited 4 disc Blu Ray set

Evelyn is the story of Alan. A rich man who after catching his wife Evelyn cheating on him kills her, it's downhill after that as he is institutionalised. Once out he decides to cope by killing random readheads he picks up. He is convinced that re marrying a woman will cure him of this issue. Too bad once he's married people around him start getting killed and he and his new wife start seeing a mysterious zombie woman. Is it Evelyn? 

The Red Queen Kills Seven Times Is a more supernatural themed mystery. Its the story of 2 sisters Franziska and Kitty, who Are lucky enough to be in a family that is apparently cursed. See there was another sister named Evelyn, she was murdered and then a cover up ensued. So when there grandfather dies people around them start getting killed just like in the legend of a painting they have called The Red Queen Kills Seven Times. Is it the Red Queen? Is it Evelyn back from the dead? 

Ok now like I said before these films have been issued before in various formats, and anyone who knows me knows I am not into re buying films I have. However this is the time to make an exception.
Arrow has outdone themselves with these transfers. Everything about them looks absolutely stunning. The sound quality is perfect. The special features are amazing as well. This limited 4 disc set contains the following

Brand new 2K restorations of the films from the original camera negatives

High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations

Original Italian and English soundtracks in mono audio (lossless DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray Discs)

Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtracks

Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtracks

Limited Edition 60-page booklet containing new writing by James Blackford, Kat Ellinger, Leonard Jacobs and Rachael Nisbet

THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE

New audio commentary by Troy Howarth

Exclusive introduction by actress Erika Blanc

Writer Stephen Thrower on The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave

The Night Erika Came Out of the Grave exclusive interview with Erika Blanc

The Whip and the Body archival interview with Erika Blanc

Still Rising from the Grave archival interview with production designer Lorenzo Baraldi

Original Italian and US theatrical trailers

Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx

THE RED QUEEN KILLS SEVEN TIMES

New audio commentary by Alan Jones and Kim Newman

Writer Stephen Thrower on The Red Queen Kills Seven Times

Archival introduction by production/costume designer Lorenzo Baraldi

Dead à Porter archival interview with Lorenzo Baraldi

Rounding Up the Usual Suspects archival interview with actor Marino Masé

If I Met Emilio Miraglia Today archival featurette with Erika Blanc, Lorenzo Baraldi and Marino Masé

My Favourite... Films archival interview with actress Barbara Bouchet

Alternative opening

Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx

What more do you need. If you already own these it's well worth picking this set up. If you have never seen them now is your chance.

Overall 5 out of 5 stars

Helga: She Wolf of Spilberg

Helga: She Wolf of Spilberg, that's certainly an eye catching title. Now if your automatically thinking Ilsa She Wolf of The SS your not alone.

Helga is a long forgotten women in prison movie from 1977 it was made due to the popularity of Ilsa and it is in the same vein. A nasty little s&m grind house film from France.

Its the story of Helga a warden at a prison that holds Political Prisoners. It's never really said where this prison is, just some small country. But that's not really important. Whats important is Helga

Helga walks around in a nice leather outfit and carries around her trusty leather whip, that she uses to inflict punishment on unruly prisoners. When she's not walking around she's laying in bed usually seducing a prisoner. And I cannot stress enough how beautiful she is. Its worth buying this for her performance alone.

The subplot is some story about a rebel force trying to overthrow the government. When the rebel leaders daughter is captured Helga sets her sites on her.

The film is low budget, even for an exploitation film. It basically has a set of a bedroom, lab, hallway, and a barn outside. That's not a bad thing though as it adds to its, quote unquote charm. It is filmed well, and the cast does a good job. Even the dubbing (it's from France) is actually pretty decent as 70s exploitation films go

Overall the film is exactly what it claims to be. A nasty women in prison film with lots of violence and nudity and a beautiful leading lady. Is it as rough as the Ilsa films? By no means, but if your a fan of Ilsa, or exploitation films in general do yourself a favor and pick it up. Our friends over at MVD have it available. Here's the link

http://mvdb2b.com/s/HelgaSheWolfOfStilberg/MVD8209D



Overall 3 out of 5 stars

Hired To Kill

Arrow Video has done it again.  Let me tell you they are on a roll lately with all the titles they have been dropping.  And this is one of them that I have been looking forward to sitting down and watching.  Hired to Kill! This is old school 90's action at its finest.  

Hired to Kill features Brian Thompson from Cobra fame as Frank Ryan, a mercenary hired by the late George Kennedy to go down to the county of Cypra to rescue a political prisoner.  We know Thompson is cool because in the opening scene when his alarm clock goes off he shoots it.  As the evil leader, so to speak, of Cypra has lots of goons, and one fine fake mustache Thompson needs an elite commando squad to help him.  That squad comes in the form of seven lethal lady's.

See Thompson's cover is that of a gay fashion designer, and as this is the 90's it has some fine un-pc comments.  He finds all his lady's and then we go into a nice training montage.  From there its off to Cyrpus where the team meets there contacts and the evil Oliver Reed as the head bad guy.  It all culminates with a large commando style raid in the last act.

The film itself is an old favorite of mine.  If you have never seen it before I think you will really enjoy it. Its nice to see Thompson play the good guy for once, and the lady's are quite beautiful.  The action is over the top as is the dialogue and plot.

As for the presentation Arrow has spared no expense.  The transfer is gorgeous.  From the bright popping opening credits, to the outside action scenes, everything in this transfer looks amazing.  The sound is uncompressed stereo and sounds great even if you don't have a sound system.  And the special features are all great.  In fact this is what they are.

Collector Book

Still Gallery

Screenplay

Original Trailer

Hired To Direct: All new interview with the director

Undercover Mercenary: All new interview with Brian Thompson

Audio Commentary with the editor

2K Restoration

Reversible cover sleeve

If you love action films, especially of the 90's variety check this out.  Its a great film and a great transfer

Overall 3 out of 5 stars

Paranormal Halloween

Ahh the parody film. A surprisingly hard thing to pull off currently. I mean come on most of them stink. And that is generally because they all try to lump way to many types of films into one. Now don't get me wrong, you can throw in many films but they have to all be the same type. In the case of Paranormal Halloween that type is horror.

Paranormal Halloween is the story of 2 losers, Caesar and Otto, who live in a car with there dad. Caesar is currently the only one making any money as he dressed like a woman to earn cash as a baby sitter. One day when sitting there's breaking news that a crazy killer has escaped and he's heading to the house that Caesar is in.

Why the killer arrives he and his brother run out and after a little bit of hilarity there dad runs the maniac over with his car. So when law enforcement and the mayor arrive they are the killer and assume that these 2 dimwits are heroes. And as there down on there luck that are even given jobs as house sitters at the mayor's summer home.

Once there that soon realize the place is not what it seems. We then delve into a parody of Amitiville, The Shinning, Poltergeist, and may more. What keeps it moving is it's all from the same haunted house type of film. Add in the fact that the 2 leads actually work well and play off one another, and you have a heck of a fun film here.

When doing a bit of research on it, it seems its part of a series. Looks like these 2 have done several horror themed films, so you can bet I will be tracking those down as this gave me a really good laugh.
So if your a fan of horror, and of comedies you should definitely check this one out.



Overall 3 out of 5 Stars

HI-8

Shot on video horror movies. Man, I remember those days. Because I'm old enough to, not because I read about the glory days online. Because, just to be clear, not everything that came out back then was good. In fact a lot of it was crap. Its just become such a thing of the past people have become nostalgic for it.

Now there was always one type of film from back in the day that was good. Horror Anthologies. Films like Creepshow, and my favorite, Tales from the Darkside. So what happens when you take a horror anthology and add the stipulation that they have to have little to no budget.

Our directors for these films are as follows:

Ron Bonk
Donald Farmer
Marcus Koch
Tony Masiello
Tim Ritter
Chris Seaver
Todd Sheets
Brad Sykes

What follows is a series of fantastic throwback films, complete with wrap around, that offer, zombies, killers, evil gangs, post apocalyptic action, and even jilted lovers.

The acting and Gore are done bad on purpose and each film runs at a very short run time, which ensures that you will never be bored during these segments.

If you miss the days of the old vhs sov films you would rent on the weekends then pic this one up. Its highly entertaining.


Overall 4 out of 5 stars

A Plague So Pleasant

"When we stopped shooting the zombies, the zombies stopped eating us.”

That's a great line, from a great movie. A Plague so Pleasant. I must say i am still a fan of zombie films. Sure there is an overabundance of them over the last few years, but that's due to the success of The Walking Dead.

The one good thing though is more and more filmmakers are starting to do things a bit different with zombie films. We have seen some funny ones. One with zombies as pets, even one with Bigfoot. A Plague So Pleasant is another one that offers a fresh spin on things.

In this reality we learn via narration from the star of the film Clay, that when the zombie apocalypse hit, it only lasted a couple hours. In fact zombies aren't even bad guys, just defensive when you want to kill them. Hell now your not allowed to kill them, there a protected species. They stay on reservations, although they also do wander around. So much in fact at jobs now you have to watch zombie safety videos.

Anyway Clay's sisters boyfriend died a while back and now he's of course a zombie. Problem with that is she still loves him and won't move on. So Clay figures he can go to the reservation he's on and Kill him for good so she won't keep visiting and finally move on.

What happens after that is pretty straightforward. Plan goes wrong, Clay gets trapped, and a bloodbath ensues.

And let me say the make up work is pretty impressive so such a small budget production.
This film is great. I also dig how they beginning is done in black and white, almost paying tribute to the old school before changing over to color for,the new era to begin.

Overall a great new spin on a timeless style.


4 out of 5 Stars

House of Afflictions

House of Allfictions is a ghost story, nothing more nothing less. Its an old school ghost story, that relies on mystery and suspense to move the story, not jump scares, or a few gory killings. Think the original Amiyiville Horror. Were you a fan of that film? Do you like that type of film? If you answered yes, than House of Afflictions is a movie you need to see, as there is definitely a lack of old style ghost films.

House of Afflictions centers around a woman named Katie who is a well received crime author. She hasn't written anything in a few years however as her daughter suddenly went missing. No clues, no body, no nothinh, just poof and gone. Her and her husband are closely starting to come to grips on the situation so she decides to start writing a new novel. 

She decides to rent a small house to work in as she's too distracted trying to work at at her own home. Unfortunately for her the new house is kind of scarey. In fact you would think it's haunted. Is it her missing daughter, a ghost, a killer, who knows. Well you will know at the end. 

Like I said in the beginning, it's more psychological than jump scare so it does move at a slower pace. It is well acted and has that nice twist ending that's closes everything out. The score is pretty good as are the visuals.

If your into old school inspired ghost story's you should give this a look

Overall 2.5 out of 5 Stars