America's Deadliest Home Video

SOV horror films are getting quite the resurgence lately.  So are found footage films.  From what I can tell Americas Deadliest Home Videos is the original fount footage SOV film.  Sorry guys, I don’t really count Cannibal Holocaust as a found footage film. A true found footage film really is a Blair Witch or even better August Underground.  

Well all the way back in 1993 Americas Deadliest Home Videos was released on video.  Sadly it did not take the world by storm.  In fact it did nothing.  Which is a real shame as it was light years ahead of its time. 

Well fortunately for everyone with the rise of the Paranormal Activity films, which I hate by the way, found footage films started getting more and more recognition.  And Luckily Camp Motion Pictures was able to acquire the rights to this long lost classic and put out a beautiful DVD release, and even a very limited VHS Release.

Americans Deadliest Home Videos stars my man Danny Bonaduce.  Sadly it’s not the cool VH1 new and improved Danny Bonaduce, its his normal average 90’s counterpart.  He plays a shlub of a guy named Doug.  He has a cheating wife, who is actually played by Danny’s beautiful ex-wife Gretchen.  He’s a camcorder enthusiast as most of us were back in the day.  Carrying the big giant camera around recording everything in sight.  One night he discovers his wife having sex with another man and decides to take a road trip with his camera.

While driving around and filming everything he sees he stumbles across a group of men, who unbeknownst to him are the Clint Dyer  Gang.  He video tapes them destroying the latest getaway car when they notice they are being filmed.  Luckily the gang leader, Dryer doesn’t kill Doug.  He decides to have him tag along and video tape all of their criminal activities.  In fact he even has Doug participate in some of them.

This film is loaded, and I do mean loaded with over the top violence, and a fair amount of good old fashioned sleaze.  The acting is very well done.  If you have seen the trailer then yes it is meant to be humorous, but more of in an ironic dark comedy way, not a laugh out loud funny film.

 I have always like Danny Bonaduce.  He was never really given the chance he deserved at being a leading man in the late 80s and early 90’s and he shines here as Doug.  If you have seen his reality show or even listen to his radio show you know he is a pretty bad ass guy.  He didn’t get that way from VH1, he always was, so watching him play a nebbish with a cheating wife really is quite a stretch for him.

As I said this is one of the first found footage films out there, possible the first and the tone and setting benefit from the gimmick perfectly.  Watching parts unfold via camcorder footage works better in this than in most any of the modern films out there.  This film really did, and still does deserve to be held in high regard in the horror community, heck it should be held in high regard by the film community in general.

This one gets one of my highest recommendations for the sheer fun it is to watch, let alone how unique and ahead of its time it was/is.  Pick this up now

Overall 4 out of 5 stars!

Alone in the Ghost House

Ghost Hunter shows, I hate them, movies about ghost hunting, I hate them.  Paranormal films, I can take or leave them.  Found Footage films, I can also take or leave them.  It’s not that I’m a snob I just find them rather dull.  I remember when Paranormal Activity came out and everyone around me was scared and jumping and screaming.  At what?!  A lamp turning on.  Preposterous. I remember people literally drenched in fear at one point where you hear a crash and they see there chandelier has fallen.  Come one really?  And until I see a ghost come and eat someone on one of those shows I will continue to find them dull.  

My wife however, who, yes I will admit wears the pants in the family is a huge fan.  That’s why I sit through them.  The other day I got the film Alone in the Ghost House.  She was right excited to watch it so we turned it on.  I must say I was pleasantly surprised.

It’s the story of Ghost hunters Lana and Derek, there not really ghost hunters in that horrible History Channel way, they actually have a pretty cool gimmick. They go to supposed haunted sites tell you what happened to make it haunted, give you the rundown on the local legends and so on.  The hook is Lana is a skeptic so she will prove there’s nothing to be scared of by staying the night in these haunted locals.  They are joined by their wisecracking cameraman and friend, and go from area to area filming these encounters.

For their next show they decide to head to “The Devils Commune”  It was an old artist commune that was the sight of a grisly mass murder.  One of the artists was convinced his girlfriend was having an affair so he killed her, and every single artist in the commune. Its basically never been touched since the murders but appears normal.  The only creepy part is the basement where the crazy artist did his work.

To spice things up for the show Derek decides to hire a medium he found on craigslist.  Ok you have to find that ironic and funny at the same time.  Anyway after performing her ritual everything starts to get creepy.  The group is separated in a typical haunted house fashion and we begin to experience strange things. And let me say we get one hell of a pay off in the end. 

The film works because its set as a show being filmed.  The raw look and feel and quick cuts add to the realness of the picture.  The cast does an amazing job of showing humor, skepticism, and downright terror throughout the movie.  Special effects are minimal but the score and lighting set the mood perfectly.  And like I said the ending is great.  Probably the best ending I’ve seen to a horror film in years.  And I watch a lot of horror films.

I enjoyed the approach of our characters being skeptic and filming things for a tv show as opposed to being actually ghost hunters looking to see something that on tv shows never appears.  If you dig the ghost hunter and paranormal films this is definitely a must see.  If you a fan of horror this is definitely a must see.  Bottom line this is a must see horror film.  Check it out you will be glad you did.

Overall 3 out of 5 Stars!

Satanic

Satanic Panic, remember that.  It was all the rage in the 80s.  People blamed everything on Satan.  Movies, Heavy Metal Music, Dungeons and Dragons, everything was evil and your children were not safe.  There were books and tv shows and special news bulletins all about it on a daily basis. Geraldo Rivera even did a big prime time special all about it.  I remember the special because he used some seriously creepy Goblin style score to play behind a lot of the footage to make it seem even more horrifying.  It even became a trend in Heavy Metal Horror Films, a genre of film that died too quickly. 

Recently this phenomena of panic has gained cult status, as most of these things do.  But not with the generation that went through it, but with the younger generation.  This film, Satanic deals with these people.

4 sort of friends consisting of 2 preppies and 2 goths are headed out to LA, the preppy kid wants to see the Hollywood Walk of Fame and other tourist nonsense.  The goth girl however wants to go and visit different Satanic Panic sights.  The Church of Anton Levee, The Tate house, they even stay in a hotel room that was the site of some weird ceremony where a girl committed suicide to honor Satan himself.

Things take a wrong turn when they stop at an occult store on the strip and encounter the weird devil worshiping owner.  He threatens them and makes them leave.  So what do our 4 friends do.  They go back and night and decide to follow him home. 

Once there they encounter a cult performing a ritual on some young lady.  When one of the followers holds a knife to her throat they scream and run off.  The next day they are contacted by the girl from the ceremony and offer to let her stay with them for the night.

Thant’s when everything goes wrong.  After an evening of drinking, and good old fashioned Ouija board use the crazed cult girl slices her own throat in front of the others.  As this is a murder investigation the LAPD tells them they cannot leave town.  As they sit and wait weird things being to happen.  Their house is destroyed, one of the girls falls ill, dead birds line there pool.  Is it from a spirit, the cult they interrupted, a prank.  As all these things occur they are lead down a long spiral of evil.

The film work in most aspects.  The acting is good, and the plot is actually original, it even has a hell of a good pay off in the end.  I dug the lighting and camera work, but the soundtrack was horrible.  It didn’t fit the tone of the film at all.  The special effects are very well done, although this is not a gory film.  There are a few scenes but this relies more on the atmosphere and paranoia to frighten you.

The disc features a making of, interviews with the cast, behind the scenes on special effects footage, and the original trailer.

If you are into supernatural films or if you just remember the evil time in the 80’s it’s well worth checking out.

Overall 2.5 out of 5 Stars!

A Werewolf In The Amazon Collection

One of the most prolific directors out of Brazil has always been Ivan Cardoso. Know for not only making erotic horror films that feature over the top gore and practical effects but a unique blend of comedy as well.  Hes films all contain the most amazing, pulse pounding scores and beautiful lighting that we tend to never use here in the states. 

These films have been the subject of bootlegs over the years here in American with none of them really getting the proper treatment releasing wise. Well for the first time ever Camp Motion Pictures is releasing 4 of his films fully remastered in one fantastic DVD Collection entitled, A Werewolf in the Amazon Collection

You are going to get the following films, which I will get into later,

A Werewolf in the Amazon

The Scarlet Scorpion

The Seven Vampires

The Secret of the Mummy

As I stated these films have been sought after for quite some time and have appeared over the years at lots of horror conventions on bootleg dvds and vhs tapes.  If you are a fan you will want to own this remastered collection because of the stunning transfers, and if you have never seen these films, which I have often said are far superior to the Hammer Films people know and love they this is a great starting point.  Let’s break down these films

A Werewolf in the Amazon starring Spanish Icon Paul Naschy in the story of a group of friends who are on the hunt for a fun and strong hallucinogen.  They head on out to the Amazon to find the ultimate high but end up in a Dr Moreau style camp full of human animal creatures.  It’s a fun film.  Serious in tone but funny in delivery.  A great pulse pounding score and plenty of blood for the gore hounds out there.  As with most of these it does feature plenty of nudity and some sex scenes.  The makeup effects for the monsters is also surprisingly well done.  It’s a great start to the collection.

The Scarlet Scorpion is a really weird film that is fun and can only be described as middle class Brazilian Batman.  They say he’s a millionaire but I find that highly unlikely.  It’s about The masked crime fighter The Angel, who must do battle with his arch nemesis The Scarlett Scorpion who has just kidnapped the city’s most famous fashion designer.  It’s fun on a lot of levels.  In all honesty it reminds me a lot of an old El Santo Film.  Given that I love El Santo I would recommend this for the fun romp that it is.

The Seven Vampires, not to be confused with the Seven Golden Vampires is the story of 2 detectives investigating a series of vampire murders taking place in and around a very sex upscale nightclub.  Yes that does in fact mean nudity galore int his one.  And a great amount of blood.  OH and I forgot it also has a man eating plant.

The Secret of the Mummy is a standard mummy film, in that the hero of the story, Professor Expiodito Vitus is trying to collect 8 pieces of treasure that make a map to the mummy tomb.  Once there it unleashes a very awesome looking mummy to say the least.  Once again A nice amount of blood and gore add to the fantastic tone of the film.

If all of that is not enough you also get The Mark of Terrir which can only be described as a “Found Footage” documentary.  Throw in a poster and some linear notes and you have one hell of a DVD set on your hands.

As I have stated these films, although they sound corny and over the top are not for kids.  Don’t get me wrong they are corny and over the top but they all feature ample amounts of nudity, simulated sex, and very realistic gore shots.

But like I previously stated this is a must own collection.  These films look incredible and you get 4 of the most notorious films of Brazilian cinema remastered for the first time ever her in the states.  If you a fan of campy, weird, over the top, erotic horror then this is a must purchase set.

Overall 4 out of 5 stars.

Phobe: The Xenophobic Experiments

In 1995 Erica Benedikty wrote a script for a Sci fi film titled Phobe: The Xenophobic Experiment.  She saw this as being a $500,000 film.  She in fact was in the midst of negotiations to make it on 16mm film.  Unfortunately her deal fell through at the last minute.  

So she decided to just simply make it herself on a $250.00 yes two hundred and fifty dollars, Canadian!  She was smart.  She got volunteers from the public access station she worked at to be her actors.  Got local businesses to donate a camera.  Even had a company donate a crane for a few of the films crane shots.  Her $250.00 basically paid for some paint, and a few special effects.

When complete she would air the film as a filler on Public Access.  If you needed a 2hr hours block filled they would throw this on.  Over the years it managed to slowly build a rather large cult following.  People were actually emailing the station wanting to know how they could see this.

Fast Forward all the way to 2015 and the film was finally shown on the big screen at Toronto’s Laserblast Film Society’s WTF festival.  To get this ready though they did have to clean it up a bit from the old Beta tape they had lying around.  A few quick computer edits and changes and it was ready for the big screen.

Phoebe tells the tale of well a Phobe which is a military experiment, a lifeform created to be the ultimate soldier on the planet of Mondora.  It crashes on Earth and is found by a High School Cheerleader who takes it to earth.  The Phobe is being hunted by Sgt.  Gegory Dapp who is sent to destroy it.  I must say that basically it for the plot of the film.  But watching it is like looking for a giant Easter egg.  I swear at one part I saw an alien wearing a pair of Bret “Hit-Man” Hart sunglasses.  I recognized the Helmet the alien wore as I had the same kind when I played Lazor Tag.

The film is an absolute blast, but not in the Rocky Horror way where it’s so bad you make fun of it.  No it’s a blast because you can tell the people working on it were having the time of their lives making it.  That fun feeling transfers over to the final product.  Light-saber battles, laser gun shootouts, Roman Candles for alien bomb effects, you name it.  Its like an Alien vs Predator, I Come In Peace hybrid that’s actually more entertaining than most big budget Sci fi films.

How can you see this you ask?  Well that’s easy.  Due to the massive cult following and out pour of support the film has garnered over the years.  InterVision Films, a division of Severin Films is putting it out on DVD and loading it up with special features.

Audio commentary by writer/director Erica Benedikty, moderated by Paul Corupe (Canuxploitation.com) and Peter Kuplowsky (Laser Blast Film Society)
Director Erica Benedikty’s first feature-length movie, BACK IN BLACK
”The Making of PHOBE”, all new featurette by Josh Johnson (Rewind This!)
Q&A with cast and crew following home town screening of the movie in St. Catharines, Ontario
Original FX shots from 1995 broadcast version of PHOBE
Outtakes
Gribble Hell Performs Phobe Theme

I cant stress enough that this is a must see for anyone.  Sure it’s definitely cheap, two hundred and fifty dollar cheap and the majority is filmed outside, but it really is fantastic.  Like I said its better than most films I have seen in the theature lately.  And its also a good reminder to filmmakers that even though it takes time it is possible for you little film to get the credit it deserves.


Overall 4 out of 5 Stars!

Hellbent

I love Punk music.  Always have, always will.  I love punk movies.  Repo Man, Suburbia, Rock N Roll High School, you name it.  Actually I named most.  There is a strong shortage of punk films out there mostly because punk, no matter what anyone says was an underground trend that crashed and burned fast.  Sure there are lots of fake punk bands out there, but I’m talking about good old DIY Punk style. Gritty, Hard, Fast, Sounds like crap, really hardcore punk music.  In that same sense I have respect for DIY movies.  Good old shot on video skimp on the budget cheap style.  Well luckily director Richard Casey, the man behind Horror House on Highway 5 was able to combine both of these elements into one big shot on video punk/horror movie titled Hellbent.

It’s the story of a punk band called The High Lonesome and there lead singer, Lemmy.  TO say this band is struggling to make it big is an understatement.  They basically stink.  Gig after gig the flop.  But Lemmy is confident they can be the greatest band in the history of music.  He’s is the only guy who thinks this, because like I said they stink.  They end up playing a gig at some seedy LA Club and its yet again another failed venture.  However this time they are in luck as the owner just fired his main house band and would like to sign them exclusively.

The owners name is Tanas (you know supposed to be Satan but spelled backwards, and wrong) Anyway he offers a Faust like deal.  Sign my contract, become famous, I get your soul yadda yadda yadd.  He has underlings so they start working on the other members of the band.  While all this is going on we encounter a young woman, who was recently widowed by Tanas.  She’s got a gun and she is sort of out for revenge. 

The weird subplot aside the film does work, and fires on every cylinder.  The atmosphere is dirty and dank just like punk music is supposed to be. I personally dig the red lighting used throughout.  It set the tone of horror club/hell perfectly.  The acting is a bit corny at times but it also fits the tone, as this one doesn’t take itself too seriously.  Parts of it in fact are very tongue and cheek to say the least.

Director Richard Casey who has directed videos for Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult was able to get so really good local bands for the soundtrack.  Trotsky, Icepick, Angst, and The Angry Samoans all contributed to it.  That score alone makes the film worth watching.

For years this only had a really crappy out of print VHS release but Vinegar Syndrome has managed to acquire the rights and release it in both standard and limited edition Blu Ray releases. The limited 2 disc set with alternate cover art is very limited.  Only 2000 copies are being made, and they can only be purchased directly through Vinegar Syndrome or DiabolikDVD.  The features include

 All extras on both formats
• Region free Blu-ray and DVD combo pack
• Scanned and restored in 2k from 35mm original camera negative
• “A Little Chaos” – making of featurette
• Commentary track with director Richard Casey
• Original cover artwork by Cody Brown
• Reversible cover artwork

Like I said there is a definite shortage of punk films, so if you like punk and or horror this is a great addition to your collection.  The style mixes perfectly making this a film I would definitely recommend.

Overall 3 out of 5 Stars.

Count Dracula’s Great Love

Paul Naschy, if you’re a horror fan you should now that name.  He’s an actor and screenwriter form some of the most well-known Spanish Horror films of the 70’s and 80’s.  He is known as the “Lon Chaney of Spanish Cinema by many.  He even had a large run of Werewolf films, in fact he played almost every horror monster out there.  Sometimes he even played Dracula.  In fact in this film, Count Dracula’s Great Love he not only wrote the screenplay, but he also portrays the Count.

Count Dracula’s Great Love is the story of Dracula of course.  In this the alter ego is Dr Wendell Marlow.  You see he has just purchased an old Sanitarium up in the castles.  The film opens with 2 men delivering a large crate.  Can you guess who/what is in there.  They decide to check the place out, as they assume if you buy a big castle you probably have money and jewels lying about.  Unfortunately one gets a nice axe shot to his head and the other gets his throat ripped out.  All you see of the killer is the black cape. 

In a cool opening sequence these kills flash over the opening credits of the picture.

Once the film begins it’s the story of a young woman named Karen, she and 3 other hot girls are riding along in a stage coach when the driver is suddenly killed and the coach wrecked when it loses a wheel.  They decide to all seek shelter in the closest possible place which happens to be the Sanitarium the Dracula has just purchased. 

He of course invites them all in and throughout the course of the film begins biting them to turn them into his slaves.  He plans on bringing his daughter back to life and to do that he needs Karen for the last ritual as she is a virgin.

This film packs a hell of a punch.  I would rate the Spanish Horror field leaps and bounds about the films Hammer put out.  Count Dracula’s Great Love is over 40 years old and still holds up.  In fact it would probably have a hard time getting an R rating by today's standards. 

As it’s a vampire film it focuses on the erotic, and pure sexual tone of the vampire.  Naschy does fine as the count and the film features a good amount of nudity.  The gore scenes are great, lots of blood to satisfy the gore hounds out there.  And the atmosphere is fantastic.  Some of the best visuals I have ever seen in any vampire film.  From low lighting to fog, and even slow motion this really captures the feel and essence of a classic vampire story. 

The dialogue all fits to the time and style of the film.   People out there have finally after all these years begun to realize that Vampires are actually sexual predators.  Most all vampire stories are actually love story’s if you dissect them, and this film really fits that style.

Most of these films from this era are heavily censored but luckily Vinegar Syndrome has picked up the rights and are releasing it fully uncut on Blu-ray.  Like most of these titles it will have the standard release as well as the limited edition.  The extras included are

All extras on both formats
• Region free Blu-ray and DVD combo pack
• Scanned & restored in 2k from 35mm internegative
• Commentary track with director Javier Aguirre and lead actor Paul Naschy, moderated by Angel Gomez Rivero
• New video interview with actress Mirta Miller
• Includes both the English dub and original Spanish language soundtrack
• International theatrical trailer
• Still gallery
• 8 page booklet by Mirek Lipinski
• English and Spanish subtitles
• Reversible cover artwork

I have to say the transfer is amazing and any fan of horror, erotic thrillers, of vampire films should definitely add this one to their collection.


Overall 4 out of 5 Stars.