HELLRAISER (1987)"The word "cenobite" or cenobitic refers to a style of religious monasticism, contrasted with erebitic, which is religious hermithood. In keeping with this religious element, the Cenobites shown in the film are dressed in a style blending religious vestments and S&M fetish gear. Ultracosmic hedonists, they seek to expand the limits of sensation, of pain and pleasure and that which is both. In a way, the S&M elements blend into the religious elements, bringing to mind good ol' penitent flagellation, the practice of beating oneself to remember the agonies of Christ and to bring oneself closer to the divinity."
THE TRIPPER (2006)"It is soon apparent that a maniac with a Ronald Reagan fetish is hacking up hippies with an axe, and sprinkling their corpses with jelly beans. He even goes so far as to wear a disturbingly realistic Reagan mask and imitating the Gipper's voice."
THE DESCENT (2005)"In THE DESCENT, we experience a gradual ramping up of horror, as Marshall takes us first through the all-too-real nightmarish possibilities of spelunking -- cave-ins, injury, isolation, drowning -- and then adds a race of feral, degraded, troglophilic (not truely cave-bound, as it's suggested they come to the surface periodically to hunt) humanoids, because caves weren't perilous enough to begin with."
CITIZEN TOXIE: THE TOXIC AVENGER IV (2000)"The "Tromadu" sequence, parodying Orson Welles' crowning glory CITIZEN KANE, was filmed at the Playboy Mansion, of all places, and allegedly Hugh Hefner (the hormone-crazed 15 year old boy who never grew up) originally had a small part in the film, until his lawyers convinced him to request it be cut."
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974)"Leatherface himself is extremely loosely based on uber-nutjob Ed Gein (mostly in terms of the skin suit, which is only briefly seen in DERANGED), while the family of cannibals hiding out in a remote location, waylaying travelers, is a tale as old as Sawney Beane, which dates back at least to the time of King James I (the early 1600s), if not earlier. It almost takes on a mythic quality, at least in my head -- the Maniac of a Thousand Faces, to paraphrase (or maybe bastardize) Joseph Campbell."
DOG SOLDIERS (2002)"These are Scottish werewolves, whose monthly diet would likely consist primarily of Scotsmen. I know what the Scots eat -- pure fried cholesterol, for those not in the know -- and I have to ask: How do these werewolves keep their hearts from exploding?"
