Eurocine / J E Films (Julian Esteban Films) / Lisa Film
CineHollywood / Manhattan Video / Wizard Video / Severin Films
3.25 / 10
This has to be one of the most boring and laborious films I've ever seen. However, with the premise of the story, this film should have been a kickass action horror film. A model is kidnapped while on a shoot by a gang of criminals who intend to ransom her off. They, unfortunately, didn't count on the cannibals and their demon God. In comes Peter Western a type of bounty hunter hired to rescue the model.
The possibilities for this story are huge and as such, I believe this would make a good remake. Having said that, the original misses on all the exciting possibilities and just relies on the story concept. This mistake and the ensuing horrendous film lies squarely on the shoulders of the writer and director Jesus Franco and writer Julian Esteban. Everything is so lacklustre and lackadaisically constructed even the special effects - the demon God is just a tall man with the worst "bug-out" eyes ever, he's more comical than ominous.
The bad thing is that the acting isn't too bad, it's the slow pace and the below standard direction which makes them come off badly.
Except for the story, there's not much that saves this film. Because of this, I would only recommend to Die Hard cannibal fans, though I would like to stress, make sure you're wide away and you have a large cup of coffee close by as you may need the caffeine buzz to get through this boring snoozefest.
Compagnia Cinematografica Champion / Braunsberg Productions / Carlo Ponti Cinematografica / Rassam Productions / Yanne Et Rassam
Bryanston Distributing / EMI Distribution / Image Entertainment / Tartan Video Limited
6.25 / 10
Oh, my God! This movie is magnificent in its badness. A true masterpiece of awfulness. This is the epitome and the complete definition of a bad movie. This is the type of movie you can enjoy even though it's far from perfect.
For example, there's a scene where Udo Kier, Baron Frankenstein, is telling his servant Otto, played by starey-eyed Arno Juerging (does he even blink(?)) about his days as an assistant, "I had to clean out all the toilets before I could stick my nose into the laboratory!" Except, due to Kier's accent, "laboratory" sounds live "lavatory". Brilliant.
Another positive is that this is a cross between the old lavish Hammer Horror movies and the visceral Italian gorefest and it works really well. There is not one scene where you cannot see everything, though there are times you wish you weren't seeing it. Especially when the Baron likes playing with the female Zombies innards too much and poor Otto has to keep wiping his brow. Even though you think this is wrong it only gets worse.
Even when you think the only one who is remotely sane is the Baron's wife, brilliantly portrayed by Monique Van Vooren, even she tips her toes into the darker side of sexual kinkiness. I can fully understand why this one got the BANNED stamp, though they are done so gloriously you see it as funny or erotic.
The story is a pretty decent one though. The Baron is looking to reincarnate humans into Zombies and with the sole purpose of procreating and building a super-race of Serbians. Through his strict guidelines, he procures his body parts for looks and sexual prowess. These Zombies will give him the perfect children he always wanted and he will have control over them all. This allows the writer to create some good individual characters, though writing, acting, and direction aren't perfect because each personality is different it helps to keep the viewer watching the screen. I especially loved the male Zombies attitude and logic at the end of the story.
The special effects are up to the usual Italian standards. Even though the decapitation isn't too realistic, you have to give the FX crew big respect because the eyes blink and move, which they will do because a head can remain conscious for a minute after being removed. There are lots of guts and oodles of bright red blood (much too bright to be real).
All of this mixed in with some nudity and you have a marvellous exploitation movie.
This is a MUST WATCH for all who love bad b-movie horror flicks. I cannot believe it's taken me so long to find this one, though now I have I will be watching it again and again with a smile on my face and a chortle in my throat. Good on ya' Mister Warhol...
Leisure Investment Company / Coronet Film Corporation : Warner Bros. / Anchor Bay Entertainment / Warner Home Video
7.25 / 10
What surprises me most about this title is that I haven't seen it up until recently, as it's right up my alley... dark, nasty, and messed up.
This is the story of Stanley Coopersmith, a strange gawky kid who finds it hard to make friends and so ends up as a joke and punching bag for the other cadets at military school. However, while he's being punished by having to tidy up the chapel's basement he finds a secret room and a book of Satanic spells and worship. These were hidden away by a rogue priest Father Esteban, who had been banished to the Americas.
Unable to read the scriptures in the book, Coopersmith uses the schools' computer to translate them. and when he finally carries out the Black Mass all hell breaks loose at the school and the chapel.
One of the better aspects of this film is the cast as it stars Clint Howard as Coopersmith and it's really nice to see him in a lead role and not just playing a strange and creepy secondary role. Though he's young here, he does a good job.
Then there's R J Armstrong who plays Sarge, the drunk janitor looking after the school and chapel, who hates kids and has it out for Coopersmith. Armstrong is great in this portrayal, he gives the air of a man you just wouldn't trust.
Charles Tyner does a brilliant representation of a prig of a Colonel who finds it demeaning and below him to run the military school.
Finally, Richard Moll is excellent in the role of the Evil Father Esteban. He adds the right amount of power, menace and violence to the character to make him believable as being the hand of Satan.
For the time, the special effects would have been superb, especially the computer graphics (which today are cringeworthy and laughable) and most are still passable today. The climax of the film in the destruction of the God's house is very well done and created.
All in all, this is a pretty decent horror movie with a lot of the right elements and well directed by Eric Weston. A definite watch for a horror nut and if you're not, it's still worth a look-see on a dark night...
Embassy Pictures / Vestron Video / Blue Underground
7.5 / 10
Oh my God, this was so nearly a perfect horror film... So what went wrong?
This starts off brilliantly with the titles which give the audience the feel of a classy and elegant movie. This is a bold move for a horror but the director, Gary Sherman knew exactly what he was doing. Sherman continues this ambiance into the opening scene of a photographer snapping piccies of driftwood and fishing tackle. He is joined on the beach by the beautiful Lisa (played by Lisa Blount) and after a few flirtations she removes her blouse and asks if she could be a model. As the photographer closes in for a romantic clinch...
This is when all hell breaks loose... I cannot say anything else otherwise "Spoilers" - and we don't like them do we.
The opening sequence does a fantastic job of drawing in the viewer in and making them wonder just what the hell is going on in the little seaside village of Potter's Bluff. It's up to Sheriff Dan Gillis (strongly portrayed by James Farentino) to solve the murders and the mysteries behind them. Coroner William G Dobbs (splendidly played by Jack Albertson) is helping him with his investigations. These are the main two characters in the movie and are well crafted with their own personal attributes and qualities making them likable and relatable.
The writers, Jeff Millar, Alex Stern, who wrote the story based on a Chelsea Quinn Yarbro novel, and screenwriters Ronald Shusett and the skillful Dan O'Bannon, give the Zombie mythos a new spin. Along with special effects wizard Stan Winston they all create a tangible tension and eeriness that adds to the power and atmosphere of the movie.
Then the reveal comes...
...and everything falls apart.
Suddenly the strong personality of Sheriff Gillis becomes that of a screaming and wailing weak-willed person; the off-beat Dodds becomes comically insane; Gillis' wife Janet (played by Melody Anderson) falls apart mentally; and the story ends with a whimper rather than a scream. This ending makes a brilliant movie a mess and a shambles.
However, it's still worth watching for the earlier part of the film and not the last ten minutes. I now want to find a copy of the novel to read to see if this ending is also the book's finale... it may work better in words and in imagination than it does on film.
Friedman-Lewis Productions : Box Office Spectaculars / Cult Video / Astra Video
7.75 / 10
Director Herschell Gordon Lewis is definitely the wizard of gore as this film attests. Though this film was shot in 1963 and the special effects were just starting to bloom, Lewis knew he could get away without showing too much by coating everything in gallons of fake blood.
It's this overabundance of the sticky red stuff that placed Lewis into the hearts of all the horror lovers out there - myself included,
Here you have an Egyptian Caterer, who is really a follower of an Egyptian Goddess he is trying to bring back to life by carrying out an Egyptian "Blood" Feast. This consists of taking body parts from numerous beautiful women... a heart here, a brain there. These are to be devoured at the feast and when a willing sacrifice is given to the Goddess she will arise once more...
Lewis does a pretty decent job of keeping the pace of the story flowing throughout the film, keeping the audience interested. The acting is standard and the only two outstanding characters are Mal Arnold who overacts the hell out of the killer Fuad Ramses and helps make the film more distinctive, and lovable in a B-Movie kind of way. Though, Gene Courtier as Tony the boy on the beach is really annoying and detracts from the film.
If you want a romp through a slayerfest then you will like this tongue-in-cheek horror film.
Produzioni Intersound : Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation / Anchor Bay Entertainment / Arrow Film Distributors
8.25 / 10
In my opinion, this was wrongly given a video nasty label as it towers above the rest in that dubious genre. Once again Argento gives the audience a beautifully shot horror movie, filled with elegant locations, bewitching choreographed death scenes, and mood lighting to chill the bones.
This time the story is larger than the first chapter as it encompasses both Rome and New York. We are no longer confined to just one building with its tenants and this gives Argento more scope to show how widespread the occult has become and to strengthen the story. We are shown a hidden room in a cellar. This is an ingenious set in the movie as the room is flooded, so our heroine has to dive in when she loses a bracelet through a whole in the floor. With the use of music, camera angles, and shots through the murky water he creates a nice uneasiness.
This is one of many excellent scenes that give the movie its strength. The mysterious Alchemist in the labyrinths of a library. The inexplicable beautiful woman, in a Rome lecture class, with her cat. Kazanian, the bookstore owner, in Central Park.
It's also great to hear Keith Emerson, of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, again as he composed some of the music for the soundtrack.
As with Suspiria, it's the story that is the comedown of the movie. For it too, suffers from being muddled and confusing, though not to the extent of Suspiria. But it's not enough to distract from the story and not reason enough to not watch the film.
This is better than Suspiria and builds on the mythos of the witches, their powers, and their histories. Argento has shaped the movie to be a "stand alone", so it doesn't matter if you've watched the first movie or not.
I would recommend this film, not just to horror fans, but to film buffs in general, as Dario Argento, in this period was trying something new in the genre, which hasn't really been seen since. This is a movie to enjoy.
Original Title - Non Si Deve Profanare Il Sonno Dei Morti
AKA - The Living Dead
AKA - The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue
AKA - Do Not Profane The Sleep Of The Dead
AKA - Don't Open The Window
Star Films SA / Flaminia Produzioni Cinematografiche : Anchor Bay Entertainment / Blue Underground
7.75 / 10
As you can see the film goes under many names though I chose the "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" as this is the translation of the original Italian and better suits the film than all the rest. However, I believe that "The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue" is one of the most popular names used - once I'd watched the film I thought the title misleading as we never get to the Manchester Morgue.
This is definitely a film of its time and not just for the low budget or dodgy acting but for the context. The dead reanimator is an experimental low-frequency radiation emitting pest controller, which our anti-hero keeps telling people that they shouldn't trust it. We also shouldn't trust the police to do their job correctly. I remember these being the underlying feelings of quite a few people in the 1970's. It's a shame it got banned because it could have had quite a following for these ideologies alone.
What you have is your standard fare of Italian horror, though this time, transferred into the English countryside. If you were in doubt that this is England the Director punches it home in the opening sequence as our anti-hero, George Meaning (Ray Lovelock) rides through the countryside on his Norton. When he pulls into a garage for supplies our heroine Edna (poor lass) Simmonds (Cristina Galbo) reverses into the Norton in her Mini. From here on out they are pretty much joined at the hip as he commands her to take him to Windermere because it's the least she could do... then he jumps into the driver's seat since he doesn't want to go there in reverse.
George is a bullish man who likes to command everybody and isn't afraid to speak out and let everybody know how he feels. There are sometimes that you would love to hit this guy for being so rude, though most of the time it made me giggle.
As with most Italian Horror Films, the dubbing is pretty atrocious, however, it does give it a strange kind of ambience, maybe I've watched too many and I've grown fond of the sub-genre. Jorge Grau does a satisfying job of bringing the story, wrote by Sandro Continenza and Marcello Coscia, to the screen. He creates nice tension as the film progresses. You can feel the uneasiness that Edna feels when she first sees the dead homeless man Guthrie Wilson for the first time. This scene reminded me of Romero's Night Of The Living Dead, though it's not a rip-off more of a tribute as the rest of the film try to add something to the Zombie folklore, such as the way other cadavers can be resurrected.
On the whole, the acting is okay, though the dubbing does detract from the actor's skills because their voices don't feel like they're their own. The only character who appeared to have his own voice was The Inspector. The trouble was that Arthur Kennedy who portrayed him is American and his accent was a mix of Irish, Scottish, and American, he never quite landed on just one. This made his character unintentionally humourous at times.
I've always like the Italian FX as they really know how to deliver the gory goods. For me, the tearing apart of the Hospital Nurse come receptionist was the best. There were rumours of a scene where a Zombie eats an eyeball, I think this is the church scene; a policeman is food for the zombies and you see his face sans eye, then you get a shot of Granny-Z popping something into her mouth, though you don't see what. It would have been so good to have that shot.
All-in-All it's not a bad movie though it has its flaws it's still worth a watch. If only half the horrors today were like this then I'd be happy.
The Jerry Gross Organisation : Anchor Bay Entertainment / 88 Films
4.25 / 10
This another one of those movies that make me feel sad as it could have been so much better had the writer, director and producer, Ulli Lommel, spent a little more time on it. I can say this in fairness as the story is pretty sound and there are some good original bits in the movie. Though what you get is a lacklustre movie which steals shots and feeling from other movies to ignite the viewers fear. The opening panning shot to the front of the house is very reminiscent of John Carpenter and Halloween, even the soundtrack is very similar to Carpenter's style, as well as the Phantasm movies. The two protagonists of the film move in with their aunt and uncle on their farm... the farmhouse looks to have had the same architect as the Amityville house and in the end sequence all the windows glow red.
These rip-offs scream of laziness. However, I liked the idea of a killer trapped in a mirror until the mirror is smashed and his soul is released to kill again. I think Lommel missed a major scene here. Instead of starting the film with the mother and her lover getting frisky as the kids spied on them. He should have started with the lover killing somebody on the way to his rendezvous with the mother. This would have added a depth to the "killer" character. As it is he's just a man wearing a stocking over his head... not really boogey man material... would he really go on a killing spree? This actually weakens the story as it's hard to believe.
As for the special FX, these are hit and miss and I think the budget was spent on the more gruesome FX, though on the whole, they're more than passable. I particularly like the bathroom death sequence, especially the death by scissors, and the teenagers "kiss of death" in the mustang.
The direction, for the most part, is okay. Lommel does create tension at times, there could have been more of it though. Some are obvious so it doesn't really work, like when Will is in the barn as a pitchfork gets ready to impale him. The pitchfork raises and hangs in the air for an eternity before his sister Lacey arrives to save him. If this had been trimmed down it would have worked much better, it's just too long.
As for the acting... well, the best actors are the three kids who are in the original house where the murder took place. They actually do a good portrayal of brother and sisters. Their interaction is spot-on, each has their own life but still interact with each other. They're in the movie for only a few minutes, though this section is the best in the whole film.
Lacey is portrayed by Suzanna Love (who also part scripted the screenplay), who takes woodenness to a new level - Suzanna Love Oak. The only person worse than her is the guy playing her brother, Will, Nicholas Love. For most of the movie he's mute, a psychological reaction to the murder, so you would think he would act using his body and facial expressions... Don't be silly. At times it looks like he's taken root. His stand-in could have been a store mannequin.
The other actors are average and really try to do their best with speeches, which at times, are awkward and unconvincing. Even John Carradine cannot add any credence to this film.
This is a movie for die hard horror fans. I watch films like this to find the hidden treasure in a quagmire of rubbish. It could be a good actor, an outstanding scene, or an effect that is well thought out and executed. Sometimes there's no treasure... but most of the time, like this film, there a couple of things.
The International Picture Show Company : 21st Century Film Corporation / Continental Video / Marquis Video
7.5 / 10
So I thought I would revisit my youth and have a "look see" at the films I couldn't watch then because, for censorship reasons, they were banned.
I cannot understand why The Slayer received the "Video Nasty" distinction, yes there are gory scene's though nothing too untoward for a horror movie, especially from the 1980's. I think it might be the necrophilia overtones in one scene, but hey, she doesn't know he's dead!
That said, this film ticked all the boxes for what I look for in a horror movie - a spooky atmosphere and location - characters and situations that are believable (excluding the supernatural and paranormal elements) - tension and a feeling of unease - decent to brilliant FX (no unrealistic CGI here).
The story concerns two couples who decide to vacation on a remote and, at this time of year, uninhabited island, to get away from the stresses of modern life and take a breather. Kay is an artist who has started to have a reoccurring nightmare, which she used to have as a child. David is her husband and he's on the island to take photographs as well as to fish. Eric is Kay's brother, he arranged the vacation through a colleague at work who told him about the splendid fishing the island provides. Brooke is his wife, who has come along reluctantly, an isolated island is not her idea of fun.
Once they've been dropped at the island the pilot warns them of an oncoming storm as storms hit hard there and come at you from all directions. Heeding his warning they choose to stay. Once the storm hits and the rain falls and the lightning tears open the sky, one-by-one the holidayers are killed off in gruesome ways. My favourite of which is the pitchfork.
So this appears to be your usual run of the mill slasher film... It Isn't!
It's not a slasher film at all. This is why: I make this differentiation: A slasher film to me is Chopping Mall, Visiting Hours, Friday The 13th, the type of movie where the murderer is human, commonly a psychopath, and goes on a killing spree, usually with very sharp weapons. This puts it into the Thriller genre.
Therefore I do not classify the Halloween movies, the Friday The 13th Films (the ones with Jason as the killer), or A Nightmare On Elm Street saga as slashers. These are true horror films with elements of the supernatural and paranormal.
It's the ending of this film that plants this firmly into the Horror genre.
This is J S Cardone's first directing job and it's a pretty decent endeavour. He creates a nice uneasiness throughout the film which adds to the suspense and tension. The only thing which irked me was the darkness. I know directors use the darkness to try and build tensity in their film, though sometimes like here, it's just too dark. Even when lanterns and torches are lit the light they give off is minimal, to say the least. I don't remember them being that bad back then.
The acting is average and, as was the case back then as well as sometimes now, relies too much on screams. I've never screamed and I don't know anybody who has... yelled and jumped in fright... but never screamed and never like they do in horror films. As I said, I liked the FX in the pitchfork death scene, though the screaming from the actress is really annoying. It is almost laughable as she screams continuously while trying to get away and breaking a window... you hardly hear the glass break above her screams... this girl can sure wail...
If you're a horror fan, as I am, then you will enjoy this twisted and gory tale of dreams come true. Well worth watching on a dark night with the lights off.
