October Horror Movie Massacre!!!

[claws]

10/08/14 (12)



The Sender (1982) ~ remains criminally underrated. 4/5
One Dark Night (1982) ~ Spooktastic 4/5
Sole Survivor (1983) ~ Creepy 4/5

10/09/14 (13)



The Jackhammer Massacre (2004) ~ Jack goes from riches to rags - once a successful businessman, now a homeless drug addict. After taking a fatal PCP drug mix Jack becomes a psychopathic paranoid junkie. Working as a janitor in a small warehouse Jack ever so often grabs a Jackhammer to kill "intruders".
Sort of ambitious shot-on-digital-video cheapie with urban setting, The Jackhammer Massacre is quite the experience. Director Joe Castro had a vision that translated well to the (small) screen. The message is a bit unclear however (drugs are bad?), but the homoerotic undertones are more than obvious. Unlike his colleague David DeCoteau, the camera does not linger on schoolboys in whitey tighties. Though Castro finds the most ridiculous reasons for his muscular male actors to go shirtless, which in my opinion enhances the unintentional funny factor. There is female nudity as well, decent blood splatter and handmade gore, bad acting, limited setting, trippy images, and a filthy dirty gutter junkie atmosphere throughout. 5/5

10/10/14 (14)



Schizo (1976) ~ Ice Skating Celeb Queen Samantha is about to get married, but a dark secret from her past emerges and starts stalking her: William, her mother's former lover and alleged killer. No one seems to believe Sam's stalking concerns but when dead bodies pile up Sam must fear for her own life.
Pete Walker slasher/shocker is a bit uneven and kind of mediocre at times. It still delivers the goods but only in small doses. 3.5/5

[JaseSF]

4. Count Dracula's Great Love (1973): Viewed via Elvira's Movie Macabre DVD, this tells the story of five people who get stranded in the Carpathian mountains and wind up seeking refuge in a sanatorium recently purchased by a mysterious doctor named Dr. Wendell Marlow (Paul Naschy). Unfortunately for them, this castle has a reputation for its long ties to the legendary Count Dracula.

There's some good moments and a creepy atmosphere present for a lot of this one. Also the vampires in this one do come across as being particularly aggressive, evil, and diabolical. Unfortunately the film gets bogged down by a slow pace, perhaps too much focus on erotic softcore undertones (although the ladies cast as certainly easy on the eyes and many of them end up in states of undress), and a rather corny ending that doesn't seem to ring true to what has been previously established. Naschy gives a good performance in this one but well it doesn't rise this above being at best trashy, guilty pleasure fun. I really enjoyed Elvira's comments on it during her Elvira's Movie Macabre segments which made this even more fun for me.

[StinkerMadness]

Texas Chain Saw Massacre Bluray
This film looks SOOO good for the tiny budget it was on.  Nothing looks bad at all. However!  The sound quality is atrocious and without really paying deep attention half the dialogue is just gibberish.  Way too much shouting and screaming over dialogue. But from what I could determine the dialogue is pretty poor anyways.  I really like the cinematography but the screenplay is just too meh for it to be as praised as this film is. 5/10

Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI
This was a total surprise. I had always heard that any of these aside from 4 were not worth viewing. This was a GREAT time with lots of silly fun in it. Really enjoyed it. 7/10

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMzg4MTk3MzQ2MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODc4ODIyMQ@@._V1_SY317_CR5,0,214,317_AL_.jpgHalloween III: Season of the Witch
This was the winner of the day. This movie is just SOOOO bad that it instantly moved into my Hall of Fame's honorable mentions. I loved it. The plot makes 0 sense and seems like it was written by the kid at realultimatepower.net. Tom Atkins basically has every women in the film falling all over him. And the effects and makeup are pretty fun as well. Really great with a group of bad movie friends. 8/10

[Jack]

The Haunted Palace (1963) - Vincent Price moves to a remote village to take possession of a palace he's inherited.  Unfortunately one of his ancestors (also played by Price) was an evil warlock and soon possesses our new Price causing him to turn evil as well.  This is a big favorite of mine, Price at his menacing best, good characters, great atmosphere, excellent theme music.  4.5/5.

Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971) - so this guy (Andrew Keir) went on an expedition to Egypt and discovered a mummy - a perfectly preserved hot babe mummy (Valerie Leon).  At the same moment he found the mummy his wife, back in England, gave birth to a daughter (also played by Leon) who has grown up to look exactly like the mummy.  The time has come for the mummy to rise from the dead and unleash her evil upon the world - but will the forces of good be able to stop her in time?!?!  This is another favorite of mine.  It's extremely slow moving at the start but has some good atmosphere and lots and lots of this to look at:



4.5/5.

[JaseSF]

5. Legacy of Blood (1971): Watched this piece of old dark house/lurid trash via Elvira's Movie Macabre. Basically it's the story of a group of potential heirs, the majority of whom seem kooky as can be, to the fortune of Christopher Dean (John Carradine), an evil, twisted old bastard who forces them to spend a week in his mansion together in order to earn their inheritance. Despite its lurid moments, its twisted characters, and its inventive gore surprises, this falters mainly because it's overly dull, none of the characters are the least bit likable and/or sympathetic, and the many twists and turns and surprise reveals are way, way too predictable. Still it is kind of fascinating in a way to watch once well-reputed stars such as Jeff Morrow, Faith Domergue, Carradine, and John Russell slumming in this piece of trash. Also on hand are Brooke Mills and Richard Davalos for an potentially incestuous subplot. Buck Kartalian plays the more traditional old dark house demented servant Igor while Ivy Bethune plays the equally spooky Elga. Obviously this takes said traditional old dark house plot and throws it on its ear adding in elements of slasher, twisted lurid melodrama, and general sleaziness. Sadly it's never as good as I perhaps made it just sound. I'm glad I watched this on Elvira's Movie Macabre as I'm not sure I would have made it through this in one sitting without her. She definitely made watching this trash a lot more fun.

6. Count Dracula (1970): A young man named Jonathan Harker (Fred Williams) finds his life and that of those around descending into horror after he travels to Transylvania to visit the castle of Count Dracula (Christopher Lee). Upon his return, a weakened and mentally exhausted Harker is placed into the care of Dr. van Helsing (Herbert Lom) and Dr. Seward (Paul Muller). Soon his fiancee and her friend visit him and they all find themselves the potential prey and pawns in the games of horror played by Count Dracula.

This adaptation of Stoker's novel directed by Jess Franco was somewhat better than I expected. It is atmospheric and creepy and relatively true to the spirit at least of its movie predecessors. Like the classic 1931 film however, this is perhaps a tad too slow-moving at times. Still I really enjoyed the acting performances in this one especially Lom as van Helsing and Lee as the Count. Klaus Kiniski is also on hand to give his take on Renfield which was interesting to watch although not quite as good as Dwight Frye IMO.  This film though has a definite badass edge going for it with a surprising level of aggressiveness from both the Count and those who try to stop him. The stuff with the taxidermy animals at times seemed cheesy, at other times it felt creepy. Overlooking that, I kind of dug this edgy take on the old story.

[Jack]

Frankenstein (1931) - our good Dr. Frankenstein creates his monster and it's not long before it's running amok killing villagers and even ruining the doctor's wedding.  Of course we end up with a mob of villagers with torches and I think I spotted a few pitchforks, burning down a big windmill with the creature inside.  Very much a classic but I've seen it a few too many times now and it seemed really slow moving, especially all the time wasted with the wedding and the zero chemistry "romance" with his fiancee.  3.5/5.

[Trevor]

John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness is on TV here this weekend: I haven't seen it since it was first released. 

[Rev. Powell]

Unfortunately, my first horror movie of 2014 was a real loser.

DOCTOR JEKYLL AND THE WEREWOLF (1972): A werewolf (Paul Naschy, playing the role of Waldemar Daninsky for the sixth time) travels to London (eventually) to seek a cure for his lycanthropy from the grandson of Dr. Jekyll. This setup sounds impossible to mess up, but Naschy manages to do it with a script that's ridiculous and incredibly slow-moving at the same time. Things pick up once he gets to London after an interminable first half in Transylvania, but I had lost interest at that point and was barely paying attention.  1.5/5, very generously.

[claws]

10/12/14 (17)



Rites of Spring (2011) ~ Since 1984 every spring young girls disappear from a small town never to be seen again. When two young women wake up tied in a barn after being drugged and abducted they realize they are being prepared for a deadly ritual.
Gory Indie Slasher that reminded me of Malevolence (2003) and You're Next (2011). 3/5

Afflicted (2013) ~ Two blogging dudes documenting their trip across Europe encounter a beautiful woman in France who gives one of the guys something "special". Soon enough he starts changing with a deadly urge to kill.
Entertaining found footage horror with a neat twist. I quite enjoyed this. 4/5

10/13/14 (18)



Scanners II: The New Order (1991) ~ Not too shabby sequel I haven't seen since first released to video. I remember reading the Fangoria article where they said that three versions of Scanners 2 was being made: A soft TV version (heart attacks instead of exploding bodies), a regular R-Rated version and a gorier version for the Asian market. I sometimes wonder if they actually did film the TV and gorier version. 3.5/5

[major jay]

LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE (1974)
It's been at least two years since I've watched this and I was reminded why I've always dug it. It's a Spanish/Italian production of an old school zombie flick, but what puts it over the top, for me, is the beautifully atmospheric English countryside locations.  5/5

[Jim H]

I saw Wolfcop last night.  I'll say I don't feel it quite lived up to the trailer and poster (which is awesome).  I did find it moderately entertaining though - with some funny lines, good effects work, gore, and a likeable lead actor.  It's also very short, which was a plus.  It's surprisingly amateurish in its production at times for a $1 million film (sometimes the lighting is weak, and a lot of the editing is sketchy, though it looked more like a lack of footage than a bad editor).  Yes, $1 million is cheap, but compare this to You're Next, which was also a $1 million film.  Or, for that matter, Take Shelter.  I suspect an inexperienced director and crew.

6/10.

[Jack]

Dead Space (1991) - Marc Singer stars as sort of an intergalactic problem solver who gets a call from a genetic research lab on a remote planet.  They've created a nasty little alien beasty and it's on the loose.  So basically a low budget Roger Corman version of Alien.  The characters were decent and kept me somewhat engaged, and the special effects were enjoyably cheesy.  Nothing special but a good time overall.  3.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC (1977): Four years after Father Merrin died casting a demon out of young Regan, a priest investigates the affair and discovers the demon isn't completely gone; further investigation takes him to Africa in search of the evil spirit's roots. With dreamlike flashbacks, locust-cam and Richard Burton warning everyone about the power of "eee-vil," John Boorman's nutty sequel isn't much like the original; but, although it has a lot of issues, being boring isn't one of them. 3/5.

[StinkerMadness]

I saw Wolfcop last night.  I'll say I don't feel it quite lived up to the trailer and poster (which is awesome).  I did find it moderately entertaining though - with some funny lines, good effects work, gore, and a likeable lead actor.  It's also very short, which was a plus.  It's surprisingly amateurish in its production at times for a $1 million film (sometimes the lighting is weak, and a lot of the editing is sketchy, though it looked more like a lack of footage than a bad editor).  Yes, $1 million is cheap, but compare this to You're Next, which was also a $1 million film.  Or, for that matter, Take Shelter.  I suspect an inexperienced director and crew.

6/10.

That's too bad to hear. Had high hopes. Where did you see it at?

[StinkerMadness]

Stake Land - Finally threw down on this and I waited WAY too long. This is a great film. I really enjoyed the story and the acting. There was on problem I had with it and its basically the climax. They threw in something completely unnecessary that watered down the whole plot for me, but it's a brief enough bit that I was able to get over it.

7/10


The Town that Dreaded Sundown - Not great but still worth the time. Its nice because it's based on an ACTUAL true story (not like Texas Chain Saw Massacre - which is VERY loosely based on anything that happened) but there was some weird comedy themes in it that just didn't fit with the story. However, I am now going as the Phantom killer for Halloween.

5/10


Phantoms - HOLY cow is this one terrible. Anyone in this film is lucky they got out with their careers alive (I'm looking at you Ben Affleck). Every performance is laughable even Peter O'Toole (with the exception of Liev Schreiber - who basically had nothing to work with). It's very close to being Dreamcatcher bad. How did Dean Koontz ever become a thing... in a word - STUPID.  But still a really good time if you are looking for a bad movie to make fun of.

3/10