Boardinghouse, 1982

 

Jim Royce inherits a house off his uncle who has passed away.

Unbeknownst to Jim, the house has a bad history and ten years earlier a Dr. Hoffman and his wife were found dead, and the only survivor was their daughter Debbie, who was later sent to an institution due to a nervous breakdown. Dr. Hoffman and his wife both were experts in the occult and telekinesis and since their deaths anyone who has lived in the house has died, like Jim's uncle.

Jim who also has a interest in the occult and as some telekinesis power, plans to open the house up as a boarding-house. Being young go getter/playboy the rooms are available to young single women, more a plan for Jim to meet more ladies!

He soon fills the rooms up with ladies and then that’s when the fun starts with weird dreams and eventually murders. It is revealed one of the tenants isn't who she says she is and this comes down to a showdown near the end of the film where Jim and one of the other tenants he has bonded with use their power of telekinesis to defeat the evil that lies within the house!

I thought Boardinghouse was good, mean it isn't going to win any awards and think a lot of people may think it is shit! However, I think it is pretty decent for a low budget horror, it may not have the best special effects, but the gore scenes are fairly good enough not to be laughable. The plot maybe a bit all over the place but then most low budget films are and guess the acting isn't all that good to, mean one the actresses uses a really horrible English accent (I did try find where she was born to confirm she wasn't English but not much info on her bar she may have starred in a couple of adult movies).

Boardinghouse is also the first horror movie shot on video, so definitely in some scenes has the feel of an 80's porn flick. I would assume with it being SOV it would have been cheaper to film then have it filmed on proper film tape; however, the film was blown up to 35mm and shown in some cinemas in the states which I don't think is something that is common with a lot of SOV movies. It also has some great early 80's computer graphics (I think!) for the title card!

Would like to say this film has the Dennis Waterman effect of the director writing the film, starring in the film and even doing the music for the film! John Wintergate pretty much did it all in this film and even had his wife as the main female lead!

Both him and his wife were (and still are?) on the band Lightstorm, during the film at the pool party his wife does sing a bit too!

It was recently released on Blu Ray by AFGA and contains three cuts of the film:

Theatrical Cut - 87mins 57s

Original Home Video Cut - 98m 46s

Psycho Killer Cut - 98m 8s

I've read that the original cut of this film was two hours and thirty-eight minutes, though I'm not sure how they could have spread the story out this far. I believe Slasher//Video released this version but have also read that this version was like a fan composite version? Either way this version is not on the recent Blu Ray release.

Boardinghouse, while it may not be great is a worth a watch, I would assume anyone watching would be for their love of horror and won't expect a film of an Oscar nomination standard!

Think this would pair well with another SOV classic, Suffer the Children!

Toxic Zombies, 1980

A gang of hippies are growing marijuana in the forests illegally but unknown to them they are being tracked by the government who want to destroy their crop. To do this they decide to go ahead and use a chemical called Dromax which hasn't been used outside the lab due to it not being labelled safe yet. They manage to hire someone to dust crop the weed fields with Dromax however they manage to also get a few of the hippies covered in it as well.

Meanwhile Tom Cole, the local forest ranger is planning a fishing trip with his wife and brother. He has heard a report about flooding near where he is heading and is puzzled as he is aware no such thing has happened and assumes maybe it is superiors mentioning this to catch him out fishing when he should be working. This, however, does not stop him from his trip!

By now the hippies that were covered in Dromax start to become more violent and attack two of their group that were not covered and start wondering off in the forest where they attack and man and his wife whose children are elsewhere in the forest.

The children return to find their parents gone and find Tom and his group when they are suddenly attacked by the now zombie like hippies and Tom's brother is killed. They escape into the forest but are pursed by them all night.

The government officials who sanctioned this head out to the forest as they never heard back from the crop-duster and plan to clean up if needed from any witnesses and bump into Tom and his group. This leads into the finale where the officials try to silence the group but are attacked by the remaining zombie hippies, though during the melee, Tom's wife is killed as are the two officials.

Tom dispatches off the remaining hippies and saves the kids....

Toxic Zombies isn't going to blow anyone away, but it does have some charm to it that makes it a worthwhile watch. It was one of the many films put on the UK's video nasty list and think under the name Forest of Fear (other names for this film Bloodeaters, Bloodeaters: Butchers of the Damned and The Dromax Derangement). I think the charm to me is that everyone involved just wanted to make a movie for the hell of it, like they knew their limitations, but it didn't let it stop them.

I did read that Charles McCrann, managed to hire the camera for the entire shoot for about $200/300 and for night-time shoots used a cheapish light powered by batteries. Mean yeah, some of the night scenes are a bit too dark but guess it shows you what you can do with a limited budget. 

It does a little remind me of Jean Rollin's The Grapes of Death from 1978, where a new pesticide is used on wine grapes that make those exposed or have drank the wine made from them grapes into zombies!

The plot was loosely based on something McCrann had read about the government spraying some drugs in Mexico(?!) and may have poisoned some people as well, though I've not found where I read that to be sure!

Apart from John Amplas (Martin/Day of the Dead) I don't think many of the cast went on to do many other films. McCann who appears to have done a bit of everything on this film went on to work in law/insurance and unfortunately died on the September 11th attacks in New York. It may be his only film and one that many may think is a big pile of crap, but it has left a mark on a lot of horror fans and upset the moral righteousness brigade of 1980’s Britain.

This was recently released on Blu Ray by Massacre Video they did great with the elements that were available to make a new master. It's some good mindless fun which doesn't take itself too seriously.

Bloody Moon, 1981

Is a Spanish-German slasher film directed by Jess Franco. It is an English language movie opposed to being Spanish, which I suspect was more aimed towards the American Market at the time.

It is a typical run of the mill slasher with some over the top gore moments compared to other slasher films of the time. It starts off with Miguel, a young man with a facial disfigurement (looks like a burn mark) who at a party tricks a girl back to hers for sex, she thinking it is someone else she likes. However, once discovering it is not the person, she thinks it is, a fight breaks out between them, and Miguel ends up murdering her.

Miguel is then sent to an institution and is released five years later into the care of his sister Manuela who we later find he was having an incestuous affair with. They return to the place where he committed his crime - his aunt, Maria owns the place which is now become a boarding school of languages ran by his sister. She runs it alongside a teacher called Alvaro. 

Manuela tells Alvaro that her aunt is trying to get rid of her as Maria thinks she is only after her money which disclosed that once she dies everything goes to Miguel.

Soon the killings start, first with Maria and then the students are slowly taken out one at a time, until the final girl is left, and all is revealed to who the real killer is....

Bloody Moon (Die Säge des Todes) as I said is a fairly run of the mill slasher film, I don't believe it to be Franco's best work as it seems a bit out place compared to some other films he is known for. That said he has upped his game in terms of gore especially with the infamous sawmill beheading and maybe going a bit too far with having a child brutally ran over by the killer! 

Bloody Moon was also on the video nasties list and has been released uncut in the past decade or so, however due to it being cut that the now reinserted cut scenes do look a bit more blurred compared to the rest of the film after it had been restored. It isn't a big deal, but some scenes do look slightly darker.

I did like the film and will probably watch it again as it does kind of live up to its video nasty status! Nowadays I think that it's a bit weird that back then some of these films caused moral outrage and some films now that have a higher violence or bloodshed rate are left alone (to some extent!), though also with the internet and news we have access and are shown real world violence on a much larger scale!

Darkroom, 1989

Janet, a student returns to her family home to visit her family that she hasn't seen for a while. She is later joined by her boyfriend who is welcomed into the family.

Janet's other sister is missing, and we find out has been murdered by someone who likes to take photos of his victims. Suspicion falls on her sister’s boyfriend who lives down by the river and had met her sister while working for her family, though this is one of a couple of red herrings to put you off who the real killer is.

Eventually the killer gets his eyes on Jane and the rest of her family and starts killing and trying to kill them all off one by one. This all leads to Janet finding who the killer is and some secrets about her family she did not know.

Darkroom is an ok film, not great but watchable if a bit predictable near the end and I thought it was obvious halfway though who the killer was! While a late slasher, it at times does feel a bit like a giallo but only just!

I think the movie went out on the strength of the it being a Nico Mastrakis production, Nico having directed the video nasty Island of Death. That saying I have only seen Zero Boys, along with Island of Death by him, but this film doesn't hold up to them bar maybe have a similar subplot of incest like in Island...

While it is definitely a run of the mill slasher, it's worth a watch, mean it doesn't bring anything new to the table, but it may bring joy to some slasher fans!

10 to Midnight, 1983

Recently picked this up from 88 Films as part of their classic slasher line, though I really wouldn't consider this a slasher in the classic sense, more a thriller/cop drama.

10 to Midnight revolves around a man called Warren Stacey who doesn't take rejection from women very well, his attempts at flirting and guess his general demeanour towards women comes off as creepy. Enough to go and get revenge on them by murdering them and anyone else that gets in his way.

Bronson's character Detective Leo Kessler and his new partner Paul are on the case to try track him down, however Warren seems one step ahead of him and plans his murders meticulously which provides him with solid albis to avoid prosecution. He also commits the murders in the nude and wears latex gloves to avoid any fingerprints.

He is eventually arrested and sent to court but due to evidence planted by Kessler to nail him due to nothing concrete sticking him to the crimes he did commit is set free and Kessler suspended.

Warren then gets fixated with Kessler's daughter Laurie who he sees at the funeral of first victim of the film as she was a friend of Laurie’s. This all leads up to the finale, where Warren goes to the nursing college where Laurie is and ends up murdering three of Laurie’s roommates while trying to get to her.

He doesn't get to Laurie but chases her through the streets naked, while Kessler goes after him and catches up to him. Warren says he cannot do anything to him as he will say he heard voices that made him do it and can sway it so people think he is crazy, and he will get away with it.

However, Kessler disagrees with him by shooting him in the head and finally stopping him from anymore murders....

I liked this film, though as I don't think it is a slasher film it is pretty close to real life horror in terms of the subject matter. In recent years there have been more similar murders due to men being rejected and the character of Warren is definitely what people would refer to as today as an incel. The final murders of the film I'm surprised didn't cause upset around the time as it is similar to what Ted Bundy did where he murdered a couple of students in the same building.

One scene did have me laughing where Bronson is waving the weirdest looking sex toy around in the interrogation room. Not sure how he managed to keep a straight face doing that!

A fairly decent film with a frightening reality of shit like incels are really dangerous!

 

Sometimes Aunt Martha Does Dreadful Things, 1971

Two criminals Paul and Stanley are on the run from the law in Baltimore over a murder Stanley committed. They have located themselves down in the suburbs of Miami. 

To disguise themselves from any suspicions, Paul decides to dress up as a woman and pretend to me Stanley's aunt Martha.

Much to Paul's dismay, Stanley carries on doing drugs, drink, and hang with girls. We get the impression that Paul and Stanley may be or had been in a gay relationship though it is not confirmed in the film. Stanley however when drunk acts like a fool or when on drugs doesn't really know what he is doing and Paul uses this to his advantage, reminding him that he murder he committed in Baltimore and everything he does is for his benefit.

Paul as Aunt Martha gets rid of Stanley's girlfriends in a fit of rage which then leads on to a downward spiral when Stanley brings home a drunk who recognises them from Baltimore. Following this a couple more murders and then both Paul and Stanley go on the run where it is revealed Stanley didn't commit the murder in Baltimore it was Paul, which by then Paul stabs Stanley to death before he is blown away himself by the police.

I found this to be a fairly decent crime/exploitation film, a bit goofy in places but watchable. I read that it's part of the early queer cinema due the two characters relationship but I don't think that is really confirmed through the film, maybe later when they share a bed. 

Paul's alter ego of Aunt Martha may have him dressing and living as a woman, but I feel it kind of makes it seem like anyone that cross dresses or wants to live a trans life in a film is a dangerous person or mentally instable.

In films like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, and Sleepaway Camp amongst over films that are similar with having transgender people in them, I think of portraying them as evil murderers etc probably does more harm than good. 

I really can't think of a film especially in horror that has a transgender person being the "same" as a straight woman/man. Hopefully this makes sense and that I have not offended anyone that reads this. There is probably a lot better blogs or magazines that have discussed this topic better than I can put it.

Not knocking the film as it is more probably a product of the time and a lot has happened since then, but there is still a long way to go for cinema to make issues like this not to be treat as it is.

Currently there is a DVD and a limited Blu Ray release by AGFA for this film, and believe that Something Weird may have had a hand in getting this back out there.

 

Nightbirds, 1970

The first of Andy Milligan's UK made first and the last he did in black and white, set in the East End of London. We find a young man, called Dink staggering the streets unwell until he collapses and encounters Dee who comes to his aid.

She brings him home and the two eventually fall into a relationship, however this leads down to a dark road where Dink seems to be getting better and more positive about life but brought back down by Dee's cruelty.

We later find that Dee comes from a well to do family, despite telling Dink she has no family bar an aunt but has run away to live in London in her rundown apartment though occasionally calls home when she needs money but refuses to go back to her family.

Her cruelty reveals itself more with trying to not let Dink's friend come see him and then she throws Dink out in a rage and he ends up falling off the roof of their building to his death. 

We then see a similar scene of a man coughing and staggering the East End to be stopped by Dee asking if he needs help....

Nightbirds is definitely a different style of film to what Milligan is known for, it still suffers from not being a great film but also has some charm of a kitchen sink drama that somewhat plods along. I think Milligan was trying to be a bit more serious with this film and not as camp and bloody as previous films.

Despite being on for 74 minutes, I found that some scenes did tend to linger to long and some of the dialogue was a bit of a ramble. Some of the plot could have been written out a bit better, would have liked to know more of Dee's past and maybe her relationship with the landlord. 

At one point this film was considered lost until director Nicolas Winding Refn bought a bit lot off eBay (I think) of Milligans films and materials, at which to fund this as he paid £25,000 grand for it, he directed a commercial! 

A print of Nightbirds was found in this and Refn worked with BFI to bring this out on Blu Ray, though when doing this, it was found that some scenes were missing but lucky for us all Something Weird had the missing scenes required in their vast collection. I believe this would have been down to Milligan cutting these scenes from the negative to make the trailer to save money as think he did this on a few films!

Berwick Kaler who played Dink and worked with Milligan in all four of his UK made films is a bit of a local kind of, being from South Shields and has been on a lot of local shows like Spender, Auf Wiedersehen Pet amongst other shows not set in the North East of England. I find this pretty cool someone from South Shields worked on some interesting and weird cult films by Andy Milligan!

Along with the BFI release, this film is included in the boxset Severin put out a while back of Andy's films.

 

Blood Ceremony, 1973

Blood Ceremony or Ceremonia Sangrienta in its native Spain is a horror film retelling the myth of Elizabeth Báthory though through one of her descendants who has a similar first name of Erzebeth...

Set in 19th century Europe, people are still superstitious about vampires and the like. The film starts with villagers exhuming a grave of a recently deceased man they suspect of being a vampire and put the body on trial where they make sure he is dead by putting a stake through his heart.

Erzebeth's husband is at this hearing and is intrigued to hear about a medallion the man had been wearing which is daughter said was cursed. He takes it and tells the rest he will wear it to disprove the theory of curses and vampires.

In the meantime, Erzebeth is feeling old and unloved by her husband who seems to be more interested in his birds and reading then her. One day in incident occurs where the blood of a much younger woman is spilled and gets on the skin of Erzebeth and she notices it makes the area look younger. She is then reminded by her lady companion of her ancestor’s story of how she bathed in blood to make her younger and to which they hatch a plan to murder more young women to keep her young looking.

Her husband while wearing the medallion suddenly dies due to the curse and comes back from the dead and pursues various young maidens in the village for himself and to help his wife keep her youthful appearance.

It all comes to a head where they are found out, though at first it seems everyone blames Erzebeth's husband whose body is up for trail and a stake put through his heart, however she confesses to her crimes in front of everyone.

The film ends with the punishment being dished out; her companion has her tongue removed but is allowed to live but only to serve Erzebeth whose punishment is to be bricked into her room in her castle where she will live until she dies with the last shot being of her face that is now older looking due to not bathing in any more blood.

This was an ok film, did feel it dragged a little in places. It does however capture a time of film making where I think where European horror was probably at its best, though believe at the time it was a victim a bit of the Spanish censors cutting out a bit of nudity. It has a feel of trying to be a bit like a Hammer Horror though again around this time Hammer were putting out some great films so could see how it make other film makers/studios try copy and recreate the same elsewhere if not at times better it.

It was directed by Jorge Grau a year before he would go on to do the great Living Dead at Manchester Morgue. The film is also known as The Legend of Blood Castle and has a couple of other names it goes by, off the top of my head think Female Butcher is one of them.

Mondo Macabro, recently released it on Blu Ray with both cuts of the film and as always they have did a great job of bringing it back from maybe slight obscurity.

Day of the Dead, 1985

The third in the original Dead Trilogy by George Romero is set within an underground military base. A quickly rounded up team of scientists and soldiers have been put together to study what has caused the dead to rise. We are not given a definite time stamp of how long they have been there but assume many months due to Dr Sarah Bowman ticking off days on her calendar.

The film opens with Sarah, Miguel, John and McDermott flying into an abandon city to try search for any survivors. They land and Sarah and Miguel head off a little further from the helicopter and use a bullhorn to get the attention of anyone that may be there. We are shown that the streets are awry with rubbish and abandoned cars until we hear footsteps and are greeted with a zombie with its jaw missing. Around the city more zombies are awaken by Miguels voice and follow it. Both Sarah and Miguel see the horde slowly coming towards them, knowing that it is futile and there is no one left alive as far as they can see and head back to the helicopter and head home to the base.

Back at base, Miguel who is under a lot of stress and is not coping with how life now is, is asked to go with Private Steele and Private Rickles to collect more specimens for Dr Logan, who they have nicknamed Frankenstein. Sarah intervenes and says she will go instead as Miguel is suffering from exhaustion. Miguel not impressed argues he is fine and goes along with them. They get to a place where they have fenced off and have behind the fence some zombies that they have for experiments etc....

An incident occurs where Miguel drops the ball and a zombie nearly attacks Rickles and a small disagreement between him and Steele happens where Sarah is forced to threaten Steele with her gun. With Miguel not being a hundred percent, Sarah later gives him a sedative to help him sleep.

During this time, they also find out that Major Cooper who was in charge has passed away and now Captain Rhodes is now running the place with worsening tensions between him and the scientific team due to them losing more men compared to them.

Sarah goes along to see Dr Logan, who has been cutting up their specimens left, right and centre to which she expresses her concerns that if they run out, she doubts the soldiers will head out on top to collect more. She also is concerned he is going round in circles with theories that had been debunked or proven at the start of the crises, though Dr Logan states he has some progress and interesting news he must share later on. However, with one of his experiments Sarah notices he has used the corpse of Major Cooper and asks who they have buried, to which Dr Logan says a dead specimen and that Cooper is now helping them more now than he was alive. Sarah disgusted by this tells him that Rhodes better not find out or it could mean the end for him and the team.

A meeting is held later where Rhodes spouts off that things are going to change and is further wound up by Dr Logan arriving late. Rhodes angrier throughout the meeting announces if people do anything he doesn't like they will be court martialled and then executed.

Later Sarah goes to the lab where she and Dr Fisher see Bub, Dr Logans star zombie pupil do stuff they never expected from the dead to do. Dr Logan has been working on trying to train Bub to do stuff and seems Bub can recall items from his past life.  Bub then shocks them more when Dr Logan presents a telephone to him and he gets Bub to speak!

This is interrupted by Rhodes and his men who are shocked to see what is going on. Even more so when Bub sees Rhodes and salutes him, giving an idea that maybe in his past life Bub was part of the military. Dr Logan gets Dr Fisher to pass him his gun but to take the bullets out of it and hands it to Bub to see what he does. Bub aims the gun the at Rhodes and fires, but nothing happens. Bub checks that there is no magazine in the gun showing that he has the ability and a memory of how a gun works. Rhodes is not happy with this and wonders what the hell they are trying to achieve and threatens to live in the helicopter with his men.

All seems to settle for a bit, and Miguel and the other soldiers go to get more specimens from the other side, however one of the zombie’s breaks loose and rips the throat out of one who fires his gun and kills another soldier. Miguel is bitten in the chaos and runs off. Steele goes to see the soldier who has been bitten and he tells him to kill him which Steele does. Sarah runs after him and they get to where John and McDermott live and knocks Miguel out then proceeds to cut off the bitten arm and burns the stump to prevent further blood loss.

Rhodes with Steele and Rickles come round and want to kill Miguel before he turns but Sarah argues that she caught the infection in time and if he does turn, she will kill him herself. Rhodes agrees to this for now.

Sarah needs to get further medication to treat Miguel so she and McDermott go visit Dr Logans lab where they discover he has been feeding Bud the bodies of the recently dead soldiers, however Rhodes finds out and loses his mind over this and blasts Dr Logan to death and takes the weapons off Sarah, McDermott and Dr Fisher.

They march to Jon and McDermott's place and tell Jon that he is going to fly then out this way and to make room, Rhodes shoots Dr Fisher in the head. They place Sarah and McDermott in the gateway to where their specimens are kept and open the door, while during this Rhodes has Steele beat Jon up.

During this Sarah and McDermott make a run for it as there is an old missile silo they could get to and get out of the place they are. Unbeknownst to the others Miguel has dragged himself out and used the lift to go topside, he damages the controls from inside and while outside he opens the gates to let the undead in. He lays down on the lift platform and lets the zombies attack him while he presses the button to let the lift take him and the horde into the base. Hearing the lift Rhode gets Steele and Rickles to go investigate and when they are gone Jon takes control and knocks Rhodes and the other remaining soldier out and takes their weapons and heads off to find Sarah and McDermott.

In the lab, Bub's chain comes loose so he goes to find Dr Logan and finds his corpse riddled with bullets. He picks up one of the guns and heads off to find what is going on.

Steele and Rickles get to the lift and realise that there is nothing they can do and start to run for it when they see the lift coming down with the undead on it, while in the meantime Rhodes and the other soldier wake up to find themselves without any weapons and go run to see what is happening. This all leads to some bloody deaths, Rickles is surrounded and torn apart, and the unknown soldier has his head ripped off as the zombie’s tuck into him!

Steele is shot at by Bub who finds him and so Steele hides in one of the labs waiting for Bub until a zombie pops around the corner and bites him. He takes out a couple but knows he is trapped so makes the decision to kill himself instead and proceeds to blow his brains out.

Rhodes is found by Bub who clips him in the leg with a bullet, Rhodes limps away as fast as he can and opens a door to be confronted by a group of zombies, turns around to get away but is shot again by Bub and falls into the arms of the undead who rip hm in two while Bub salutes Rhodes and walks away.

Sarah, Jon and McDermott finally get out of the base and run for the helicopter, Sarah saying they hope they refuelled it from the other day as watching in the distance that the zombies are still pouring through the open gates. When they get to the helicopter a pair of zombie arms grab out for Sarah and the screen goes black.

We find that later they managed to get away and are on an island, relaxing and Sarah marks off another day on her calendar.

I've always found Day of the Dead to be great, as much as Dawn is my favourite of the trilogy, I found the special effects on the zombies to be a lot more frighting than Dawn and the blood was not as comic book like. I like the start of the film where the city is more or less abandoned until the dead start slowly coming together. There is one goof in the part as when the helicopter flies over, you can see a car driving around on the roads!

Tom Savini and his crew definitely surpassed themselves with their special effects works in this film. Greg Nicotero, who was also a soldier in the film worked on Savini's team and he ended up working on the Walking Dead TV series.

I had read the script had been rewritten but it is still a fairly strong story to it. The script was changed I think more the studio wanting it to get a certain rating but also read that the original script was going to cost too much. Which speaking off, if you have Anchor Bay's DVD from the early 2000s (it is the Region 1 version) the original script is an extra on the DVD Rom part. It involves an island and more zombies like Bub but also a Rich vs Poor scenario. One bit I can remember is a character named Spider who is a deaf mute who near the end has bombs sewn inside her!

I do think Romero did reuse a vast part of this script for Land of the Dead, but if he had got the ok would have been interesting to see how it would have been! Though what we did get was some good horror and some memorable scenes!

Some of the actors in Day have a connection to other Romero films;

Lori Cardille - her father, Bill Cardille was in the original Night of the Living Dead in a small role and also in the 90's remake. He is also a zombie in Day!

Joseph Pilato - plays one of the police officers at the docks in Dawn of the Dead.

Richard Liberty - was in The Crazies

John Amplas - was in the excellent Martin and a small part in Dawn of the Dead.

There is probably more in the film I've overlooked, but Romero used a lot of friends in his films so always had a good selection of people he could use and from commentaries and interviews from people it does seem like everyone was one big family!

Day of the Dead has been remade twice and has had a prequel/sequel made over the last couple of decades.

Day of the Dead 2: Contagium - 2005

I've not seen this, but it is down as a prequel for the first part of the film then a sequel set 37 years later (from the first part of this film not the original Day I think?!). 

Day of the Dead - 2008

Remake which isn't very good. Ving Rhames is in this, not for long but he was also in the Dawn remake (which is good I think!)

Day of the Dead: Bloodline - 2018

Another remake, again not great! They have a similar Bub-esque zombie who was a stalker of the main character when he was human and it's just stupid!

I've read that Sy Fy have done a TV series for Day of the Dead for some time in 2021. I read it isn't going to be like the film but more focus on the outbreak and how people survive and join up, though this could change, I guess.

What surprised me more is that it's been announced that Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander and Jarlath are going to reprise their roles from Day in a new film called Night of the Living Dead II. I'm interested in how that will be but fear it won't be as good as it could be, also spoils the ending of all the original trilogy as I liked how they all end in an uncertain way, well more like you want to know what happens after, like in Dawn do they get far and what happens next? With Day I want to know how long do they stay on the island they found etc....

Run Coyote Run, 1987

Another James Bryan/Renee Harmon masterpiece!

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a sequel to their earlier film Lady Street Fighter or I've seen people say a sort of remake, who knows as this film is very confusing. There is also a Revenge of Lady Street Fighter from 1990, though have not seen that yet, not sure after seeing this I want to!

Harmon plays a cop with psychic abilities and uses them to try solving who murdered her twin sister Linda. All why trying dodge hitmen and bent FBI agents!!

I read that the negatives or video tape (most the new scenes seem shot on video!) where found in the trunk of a car and I guess maybe it should have stayed that way! Sliced in this film are scenes from other Bryan/Harmon films such as Lady Street Fighter, Frozen Scream, Hell Riders and The Executioner Part II. Some of the new footage film kind of goes with it and think they have actors who were in these films back to add to them which doesn't really work when some have aged or put on weight!

I probably won't be in a hurry to watch this again as it's just for a lack of a better word, shit! Would not even make friends watch it as part of a bad movie fest!

This was the second feature on the Jungle Trap Blu Ray released by AGFA/Bleeding Skull, again maybe not to everyone's liking on how bad both are but all respect to both AGFA and Bleeding Skull for putting this out!

Jungle Trap, 1990

Don't really know where to start with this film!

A group organise a trip to the jungle, a past expedition had happened where a member of the group had died.

They head to a part of the jungle where there was once a hotel built on some native tribe’s land, which is now abandoned.

At the hotel the group are taken out one by one by the spirits of those who died in the hotel until a small showdown with the tribe....

There is also something about a golden skull idol thrown in.

Jungle Trap was filmed in 1990 but was never released until Bleeding Skull and AGFA released it in 2020 on Blu Ray. It was shot on video and looks like a bad soap opera which isn't helped by the ham acting! It's like a bad adult film which in a way would make sense as director James Bryan early in his career did direct two adult films before doing the video nasty classic, Don't Go in the Woods.

Speaking of video nasties, this film also stars Renee Harmon who was in Frozen Scream, who also produced Jungle Trap with Bryan along with some other films.

Jungle Trap will probably have some fans, but I found it to be ok if not a bit of a mess with the plot and very poor acting! Though fair play to them for trying to make a film on a low budget!

 

Evil Dead Trap, 1988

Nami is a host of a late-night TV show where viewers send in their home movies.

One day she receives a tape in the post and pops it in to watch. At first, she thinks it's just another generic film made to creep people out until it turns in a snuff film with a girl being tortured and then murdered.

Something about the film makes Nami feel as it is real and convinces her station manager to go investigate the tape with her team. Nami and her team then go to investigate and use the video as a guide to find the place.

They find the building which turns out to be a disused military base and split into groups to explore and see if the video was indeed real. While exploring Nami bumps into a stranger who claims is looking for his brother who tells her this place is not a playground and to leave when they can.

The team are then slowly picked off one at a time by a mysterious man clad in camouflage and his face covered, until only Nami is left.

The stranger from before helps Nami escape but she then sees the killer removing the corpse of her friend and another victim and decides she needs to end this once and for all.

The killer is revealed to be the stranger who helped her escape although he is controlled by his brother Hideki who is a small foetus like conjoined twin. The stranger fights the urge of his twin to kill Nami which leads to a showdown to Nami eventually killing them.

Evil Dead Trap has been a film I've been wanting to watch for years after seeing trailers for it and finally now seeing it, it has not disappointed.

It feels in places like a Japanese giallo, which I think the soundtrack also helps give that impression. It is very brutal in places and some very gory practical effects. I do think the ending may be not to everyone's taste as I guess the whole conjoined twin (who seems to have supernatural powers?!) knocks the whole film out the ballpark on craziness.

Despite the ending getting even weirder near the end, for which I won't spoil! That scene is something I could imagine coming from a Junji Ito comic!

There are two sequels, but I think they are not connected to this film in anyway but just in name.

Hunting Ground, 1983

In Hunting Ground (also known as Coto de Caza), Adele is a lawyer who believes all criminals should have a second chance and they are the victims themselves due to the social environment they have been brought up in, drugs, unemployment etc...

However, Adele is soon the victim herself with a gang who first steals her car and then later in a botched burglary at her holiday home murder her husband. This is not the end to Adele's torment as one of the burglars who does get arrested ends up dying in prison and his brother who is the leader of the gang vows to get further revenge on Adele which leads up to a more brutal and more bloody home invasion....

Hunting Ground is the second film I have seen by director Jorge Grau, the other being The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue. I thought from that film, this may be quite rough from what I had read about this film and its premise, though for most of the film it is a bit of a slow burn of a crime/thriller film until the final twenty minutes when it goes from 1 to 10 in how violent it gets and bit of an uneasy watch.

I doubt it will be a film I'll be in a hurry to watch again if I do probably will watch it in its original Spanish language! Mondo Macabro have done a great job with their Blu Ray release of this film. 

Even though I wasn't a big fan of this film, I do find it interesting with what other films directors have done in their back catalogue also how maybe their style changes throughout the years.

Orgy of the Living Dead, 1973

Orgy of the Living Dead, also known as The Hanging Woman and La Orgía de los Muertos is a Spanish horror film. The poster above makes it out that Paul Naschy has a big role in the film, but he is only a minor character in this film.

Set in the Scottish Highlands in the late 19th century a man called Serge is on his way to his deceased uncles’ estate where he is to hear his will. He has not seen his uncle for many years, so is unfamiliar with the village and his uncle's personal life.

On his way he discovers a woman who has hung herself from a tree outside the cemetery and tries to get help but finds that no one in the village wants to help or open up to a stranger until by chance he knocks on his uncle's house. Here he meets his uncle's wife, maid and his uncle’s friend Professor Droila.

Serge is told that the woman he found was his cousin who he had never met and now that she is gone, he inherits everything from his uncle. This causes an upset with his uncle's window and the others living in the house.

The film then goes on a sort of murder mystery with added witchcraft shenanigans. Serge later finds out that Professor Droila has been doing experiments in the basement of the house, with his uncles blessing which turns out he has been resurrecting the dead and has been using them for his own gain until they all turn on him....

I thought Orgy was an ok film, it's not great and I found in parts in dragged a little. It did remind me of Hammer's Plague of the Zombies, it did seem like it was trying to be a bit like a Hammer studio film. The Orgy title is a bit misleading as I was expecting more zombies than what was actually in the film!

If they removed the zombies, maybe changed the script a bit and used just The Hanging Woman, I think you would have a pretty decent giallo-esque film.

I did write that this film was set in the Scottish Highlands and this is what I have seen elsewhere but when Serge first arrives I'm sure I saw a sign at the train/coach station that said Skopje which is in North Macedonia. I will assume that the Spanish and Italian production teams may have filmed it there as it may have been cheaper at the time?

As I mentioned the poster has Paul Naschy as the only name seen whereas in he movie he does not have much screen time. I've read this was due to him filming another film at the same time as this.

This is available on blu ray from Full Moon Features and is region free, if anyone is interested in getting a copy and I'm sure it will be online somewhere to stream.

 

Dawn of the Dead, 1978

The second film in George Romero's original Dead Trilogy, although not a direct sequel, fact there are no connections to each other in the trilogy other than zombies! With how the titles of the films go, Night being the start/early days of the dead coming back to life. Dawn being set in middle/height of the problem becoming too much and then finally Day representing the last days of humanity.

Dawn follows a group who leave everything behind to escape the chaos that is happening around them. We have Fran and Stephen, a couple who work for a local TV station that decide to use the stations helicopter to run away in. We also have Peter and Roger, two SWAT police officers, Roger being friends with Stephen and has arranged to go with them. He brings Peter along with him after meeting him earlier during an operation in the down town projects.

On their travels in the helicopter, they see how far spread the zombie problem is and following an incident while refuelling that they need to be always on their guard. They eventually come across a shopping mall, where they find a room via the rooftop that they can hold up in for a bit.

In time they make and secure the entire mall and make it their home, however losing Roger along the way. Eventually more time passes, and they become more like prisoners stuck within the walls of the mall until one night the mall is raided by bikers who destroy everything they did to keep the zombies out. Peter and Stephen try to defend what they can but it's too late and Steven is bitten by zombies. The film ends with Fran and Peter escaping in the helicopter with the zombies taken over the mall and wondering around mindlessly window shopping.

I think we can probably thank Dario Argento for this film as he had heard Romero was doing a sequel to Night of the Living Dead and help get some funding for the film and even got Romero over to Rome for a change of scenery while he wrote the script. He also got some distribution rights for Europe, plus helped with ideas for the script. Dario also edited down the film for the European market to make the pacing faster as he thought the original cut of the film was a bit too long. He also did some of the soundtrack with the band Goblin, though what part he played in that I'm not sure if he played an instrument or recorded it. They are listed in the credits as The Goblins with Dario Argento!

There are three official cuts of the film:

The Directors Cut (also known as the Cannes Cut) - 139 minutes

US Theatrical Cut - 127 minutes

Argento Cut/European Cut (released under the title Zombi) - 118 minutes

All three cuts can be found on many of the Dawn boxsets that have come out over the years, currently Second Sight (if you like in the UK like I do) have a great set out for it.

There is a fan version called The Mall Hours/Extended Mall Hours which is 155 minutes, though I've never seen it. I assume it’s been edited to include everything from all three versions of the film. There are other versions out, but they are one that have been edited and cut in different countries. In the UK on video the head explosion scene was cut (though reinstated on later releases) and I think at one point the scene where Peter kills the two zombie kids at the airport wasn't allowed due to the Dunblane massacre.

I recently found out that in one of the Japanese releases that the film starts off with a short explanation to why the dead have risen, it's basically a link to Night of the Living Dead!

The special effects despite coming off a bit comic, with the blood being a bit more like melted crayons than real blood, are great. All done by the legend that is Tom Savani, in the old DVD I had, it came with commentary by Savini and I loved how he explained for some of the headshots he used a button from a shirt and a lid from a tin can and a bit fishing line to help make a headwound from a gunshot in some of the scenes. He also mentions one of the dummies he made up got the police involved when it was on display at a local shop for Halloween (don't have this DVD anymore so going off memory!) as it was very realistic but that only proves how good Savini's special effects are!

It gets mentioned a bit that Dawn can be seen to having some social commentary to it with I suppose the rise of consumerism, which is highlighted in the scenes where they all enjoy the mall after getting rid of the zombies and sealing it shut from the outside world. With their new found "wealth" within the mall they don't want to give it up at all.

The ending where the bikers raid and trash what's left could be like what supermarkets have been like with Covid over the last year and half!

When they first come to the mall they discover all the stockpiled food and water in what later becomes their home and they question what is this and why it's there. In the book that came out when the film did, it explains that the owner of the mall, who they later find dead, had been doing this, hoping himself to live in the mall. Like the total opposite of the residents of the projects at the start of the film, they have nowhere to go and can't stockpile and with the soon to be collapse of the government they are left to defend for themselves.

The ending of the film was supposed to be a lot grimmer with both Peter and Fran committing suicide rather than being ripped apart by the horde of zombies. Think Peter was to shoot himself and Fran was to jump in the helicopter blades with being shown that even if they did make it out on the helicopter there wasn't enough fuel as the blades slowly stop whirling onto the onset of dawn. 

This was all changed to both escaping in the helicopter and Peter asking how much fuel to which Fran replies not much!

Again, in the DVD I had, Savini states that they did film the Fran suicide scene, though Romero had always said they never. I don't think any photos of this scene have been shown (if it was filmed) so guess we will never know for sure. Though I kind of believe Savani as they made a cast of Gaylen Ross' head and that was used in the exploding head scene in the SWAT operation at the start of the movie.

Dawn of the Dead, to me is one of the greatest horror films ever made. I first saw it when I was either 11 or 12 and BBC 2 were showing it late on a Sunday night. I taped it as I had school the next day but ended up staying up anyway up to about 2am watching it. Next day I couldn't stop thinking about it and how excellent I thought it was, I more likely couldn't stop going on about it to my mates! That VHS that I taped it on got a lot of wear over the next year or two before I finally picked up my first copy of Dawn on DVD!

I'm not really one to geek out over stuff, but Dawn is one of the only films where I have a lot of junk for like multiple copies of the film, soundtrack, couple of t shirts and bought a small original Japanese poster for and would probably buy other tat if I find it! I did also see Goblin play, though they only played a small section of their soundtrack to Dawn!

Speaking of the soundtrack, as great as the Goblin soundtrack is, I really love the library music used as well, think the majority of it was taken from the De Wolfe library, which some got released on Trunk records and a fuller version released as part of the Second Sight boxset. Very good release as for many years had wondered what two tracks were called and finally know they are Cantando by Peter Merrick, a classical(?) guitar piece and Fugarock by Derek Scott which sounds like a prog rock banger (I imagine a video of a church hall and village life when I hear it due to the organ being played in it!).

Dawn did get a remake in the early 2000's, when I first heard this I pretty much horrified as how could you remake an absolute classic without it being shit! Most remakes today are pretty poor. However, I was actually impressed with it when I saw it, I would say it's more a remake in name only as it isn't a shot for shot remake.

Scanner Cop 2: The Showdown, 1995

Set maybe a few years after the first Scanner Cop film, Sam Staziak is now a detective with the police force. He is now able to control his scanning ability better with a newer form of medication that allows him to use his scanning power without the possibility of going insane like other scanners have in the past, like his father. He is given this by his friend and fellow scanner, Carrie who runs a company to help others like them manage their lives free without their minds being swamped with other people’s thoughts. Carrie has also been helping Sam try to trace his biological mother.

During this time another scanner, Volkin is on the hunt for Sam as he holds him responsible for his brother’s death years prior. Volkin while not as strong as Sam has learned while locked up how to drain the power from other scanners to make himself strong enough to exact his revenge.

Volkin stalks Carrie who has recently found out some information regarding Sam's mother. However, Volkin scans Carrie and finds this info but leaves her in a comatose state instead of sapping all her power like the other scanners he has met.

Sam goes to the hospital and manages to bring Carrie out of her state where she informs him that his mother is alive and where she is, and they both head off to try save her from Volkin. Unfortunately, they arrived too late and Sam finds his mother dying after jumping off a ledge in her care home instead of letting Volkin scan her to death.

Sam now angry goes off to face Volkin on a one-on-one battle to put a stop to his evilness...

Scanner Cop 2 is a pretty decent sequel, I would say slightly better than the first one. Sam's character has seemed to between films became less of a nerd to a rugged, seen a lot of shit veteran cop. He does not mess around and gets straight to the point when facing the bad guys and using his powers. There is a nice link to the first film, with them explaining that Volkin is probably doing the same as what Revok tried to do Vale in the finale of Scanners.

The special effects and gore scenes are fantastically done, the face tears are quite terrifying and a nice head explosion in the final showdown, maybe another nod to Cronenberg’s Scanners in particular! 

I did read that there had been plans for a Scanners remake or even a TV series. Though nothing yet has materialised and at this moment don't think they will be likely to happen. If a TV show did happen, think it would have been good, depending on how successful it would be if they brought in Staziak as a character. Maybe have him and Vale team up against a bigger threat to scanners/the world.

Night of the Hunted, 1980

Night of the Hunted (Nuit des Traquées in its native France), begins with a man called Robert driving through the countryside during the night. He sees a woman running and stops to help her though does not see the woman’s friend who is far behind her. The woman introduces herself as Elizabeth and that there are people after her. Robert sees she is confused and scared so takes her back to her apartment in Paris. On the way there he realises she has problems remembering his name or anything else.

They spend the night at Robert's place and in the morning, he has to go to work. He tells Elizbeth to remember his face and that he will be back later. Not known to Robert and Elizabeth they have been tracked by her pursuers, one that turns out to be Dr. Francis. They break into Robert’s flat and take Elizabeth back to their clinic.

It is revealed that Dr. Francis works in a clinic relating to memory loss and that Elizabeth and all those currently in the clinic are victims of a nuclear gas leak which affected everyone in the area of the local nuclear power plant. They are all suffering due to the leak to their memories slowly been taking away and will eventually leave them all mindless.

Elizabeth bumps into the woman she initially ran away with and recalls her name but that is all she can remember. They then both plan to try run away and Elizabeth gets in contact with Robert as she remembers him. Robert makes it to the clinic and confronts Dr. Francis who tells him why they are here and that their fate is already sealed as those who have already went mindless are being taken away to be disposed of.

Robert mortified that this is happening, goes to find and rescue Elizabeth but he finds he is too late, and she does not recall him or anything of her past life. Dr. Francis appears and shoots Robert in the head but does not kill him.

Robert now has become like Elizabeth due to the head injury and both he and Elizabeth walk off side by side on railway tracks in the fog.

Night of the Hunted was directed by Jean Rollin, who I've only over the past two years been getting more into his films. A lot of his films are known to be as part of the fantastique genre, a lot of his films involve vampires.

They are all wonderful films I that I have watched so far, filmed in a way that they come off as quite mystical and out there. You could say that Jean Rollin was France's equivalent to Spain's Jess Franco, though sure some would disagree with me!

This was the first Rollin film I watched, and it is a really enjoyable film, it's slightly reminded me a little of Shivers, though that was just one scene. The outside shots of the clinic at night had a nice cold feel to them which added to the bleak atmosphere our two leads would eventually face in the disused rail tracks.

Rollin never had big budgets for any of his films but what he did have was a drive to make very good films with what he had available to him. I do wonder if he was given a bigger budget to explore his ideas in more depth what he would have done? I do recommend the book, Fascination by David Hinds on Headpress, it covers all of Jean Rollin's films and a little bit of background to each.

Scanner Cop, 1994

Sam Staziak like his father is a scanner, one day he witnesses his father lose control when they have run out of medication which helps block their power to scan. The owner of the hotel they are living in gets the police involved to remove them due to Sam's father screaming in pain and hallucinating due to being able to read all in the building’s minds. In a small standoff between the police and the hotel owner, his father uses his power to throw one police officer through the wall and nearly kills the other before he is shot dead by the hotel owner. One of the police officers, Peter, after finding out Sam is a scanner and may face experiments on him adopts him with his wife.

Years later and Sam has followed in his adoptive father’s footsteps and become a police officer. During this time there is a rash of cop killings committing by people who have had no trouble with the police in the past.

Sam is asked to use his scanning power to help find those responsible before it is too late but also faces the possibility of losing his mind like his father when he stops taking his medication that blocks it.

Scanner Cop is a sequel of sorts to David Cronenberg's Scanners but has a link via director Pierre David to the original as he was one of the producers and for a few of Cronenberg's earlier films.

I enjoyed this film more than I expected, it has some really good effects when it comes to some of the gory scenes, one of the final scenes being a funny when a skull plate gets blown away! I think I assumed with it being a 90's film it may not hold up to the original but it does, maybe not a violent but still enough to hold my attention. 

Decent story although I wanted to know more about Sam's past before he was adopted, like is there a connection to other scanners from the first movie or not? Though as there is a Scanner Cop 2, I assume this may get covered in that.

It has recently been given a 4K/Blu Ray boxset by Vinegar Syndrome, who have done a great job with it. It also has the second film included. It has made me want to dig out Scanners again as been a while since I've seen that and also look for Scanners II & III as never seen them before.

Last Night, 1998

Set on the last day of Earths existence, we see how a few people who become loosely connected spend their final hours. It is not explained what or why the world ending is happening, but it is mentioned people have known for months that it is coming. The city is a mess and there has been violence, looting and rioting all the way up to the end.

We meet Patrick who is having dinner at his parent’s place with extended members of his family, he leaves to go spend his final hours alone in his home. While preparing his last hours however he gets a knock on the door from Sandra.

Sandra who had been looking for items in the city as she plans to have an evening with her husband Duncan, who has for the last few weeks, maybe months has been calling all the customers of his energy company to thank them for their custom. However, her car is flipped over by a gang and knocks on Patrick randomly to use his phone to call her husband.

Unable to get a hold of her husband, which is later revealed to have been murdered when he hears a shot outside his home, Patrick helps Sandra to get a new car and goes to meet his friend Craig.

Craig has been spending the last moments in life having as much and varied sex as he could possibly have, one fantasy being an old schoolteacher of his and he also tries to offer Patrick a bit of fun as after tonight they will all cease to exist. Patrick refuses and takes the car to which he gives to Sandra.

In the last section of the film, Sandra does not get far in the car as she is stopped by protesters who damage the car and thus, she returns to Patrick’s home, knowing she will not make it in time to see her husband.

She reveals to Patrick that her plan with Duncan was to kill themselves before the end and shows him the two guns she has been carrying around with her. She asks Patrick to join her which he does after telling her more about himself to which it is revealed that to him the world for him ended months ago when his partner passed away.

The film ended with both Patrick and Sandra pointing guns at each other temples on the roof of Patrick's building, they lower their weapons and start to kiss while a white glow slowly grows over the screen into nothing....

Last Night is a great and I suppose not widely known film. I caught this film way back in 2003 maybe 2004 and only because channel 4 was showing it in the early hours, it took me a while to track down a DVD copy from what I remember. 

Don McKellar who wrote and directed it also stars as Patrick; I believe this may have been his directorial debut for a full-length feature. I loved the pacing in the film, in that it does not seemed rushed as most end of the world type of films go. This may sound daft that I like how it is slightly slow when it is a film about the last few hours on earth and you would assume everyone would be going wild!

The bleakness of the ending is grim, where some films of the same genre may offer some hope for survival, this one does not. Even though you know how the outcome is as do the characters in the film, you do hope that Sandra would meet her husband and preferable before he is murdered.

It is worth tracking a copy down, though I have recently seen copies for sale for around £50/60 but that is for a UK copy on the Park Circus label (have seen one listed for $259.99!), though I guess it could possibly be uploaded on youtube to watch.

Der Fan, 1982

Der Fan is a film from (the then) West Germany about a young teenage girl, Simone played by Désirée Nosbusch who is obsessed with the popstar known as R. She eats, sleeps and breathes R and writes fan letters to him as any other obsessed teen probably would have back before the days of the internet!

It gets to the point where her obsession has taken over her life and she cannot function normally. Her fixation is enough that one day she skips school to travel to a television studio where R is doing a signing session.

She eventually due to fainting in front of R, finally gets his attention and offers to come in to the studio to see him perform and later takes her back to his place, where he eventually sleeps with her.

The next day Simone is dismayed when she concludes she has been used by R and that he does not care for her as much as she cares for him. Being to much for her to take she kills R and over the period of a few days dismembers R, cooks, and eats his remains.

The film ends with a Simone now bald after shaving her head and back at home writing a letter to R, saying he will always be a part of her and indicates that she may be carrying his child...

First time I saw Der Fan I was quite lost for words at how it ends in such a grim way, mean R does deserve his demise for being a person who would use a fan like he did! Think it may shock people with Simone being a schoolgirl and doing what she does.

I guess it highlights that no matter what year it was, famous blokes have always been arseholes when it comes to taking advantage of people. There are some scenes that are a bit hmm as I think Désirée Nosbusch was only 16 at the time she filmed this and Bodo Steiger who played R was a lot older. I read somewhere Désirée tried to stop this film coming out years later due the nudity scenes, maybe due to her age at the time but I haven’t been able to find the article I read that to add to this or confirm.

Bodo Steiger at the time was in fact a pop star and his band Rheingold did the soundtrack to the film.

Children of the Living Dead, 2001

This film is slightly all over the place, it starts off during a zombie infestation that seems to be dealt with, however one zombie seems to escape into hiding. This zombie was apparently in a previous life a serial killer named Abbot Hayes.

Years later a businessman tries to set up a new car dealership in what was a cemetery and has the bodies removed to elsewhere. Abbot Hayes recruits these bodies to be part of his zombie horde and attack the town to stop the new car dealership from going ahead...

This film should have been renamed a Cure for Insomnia, every time I watched this film I always fall asleep. The first 15 minutes or so are fairly good until Tom Savini's character is killed off!

The plot is all over, I always felt that when I did watch it I must have missed something that happened earlier in the film but never seem to find what it is I've missed on any repeat viewings I have tried.

The acting is terrible bar Savini's as I really thought the film was going to be good especially with how the first 15 or so minutes went!

There is a connection to the Romero films and not just because Tom Savini is in it. It was produced by John Russo who was involved in Night of the Living Dead. Around the time this film was made he has did an anniversary edition of Night of the Living Dead with newly added scenes (which are god awful) and that Children was supposed to be a sequel of sorts to this.

Bill Hinzman did the cinematography on this, Bill best being known for the main zombie in Night of the Living Dead. The film also has Sam Nicotero who was the uncle of Greg who was in Day of the Dead and also does special effects in other movies and currently involved with the Walking Dead TV show.

I do know the director Tor Ramsey, made a post on IMDB apologising for the film and let everyone know that from start to finish it was a nightmare to work on. A lot of the problems came from the writer of the film, Karen Wolf who wrote a piss poor script that a few directors and other writers walked off the project and then she became a bit of a diva with not wanting any chances to the script and would bully staff to get her own way. From what I read in Ramsey's apology it sounded like a right nightmare to work on.

This ended up being a straight to video release, if it had hit the big screen it would have flopped massively. I wouldn't even recommend this film to anyone, even if they enjoy bad movies and definitely don't recommend the anniversary edition of Night of the Living Dead as there is an actor in it who is so over the top not even Hollyoaks would take the fucker on!

Cannibal Holocaust, 1980

Harold Monroe, an anthropologist and professor at New York University is asked to go to South America to find a film crew that have gone missing while on an expedition to film some indigenous tribes that are believed to be cannibals in the Amazon Forest.

The first part of the movie is Monroe, travelling through the Amazon and meeting up with the tribe who know about the film crew to which Monroe is inform they are all dead and that they had caused trouble when they were there. After gaining their trust and in one scene where he himself eats part of a human hand, he recovers the film crew’s camera and film cans which he takes back to New York with him.

Monroe returns to New York and hands the film to the TV company who ask him if he would like to help with the broadcasting of what they have put together from the footage. Monroe says he will, only if he can see the raw footage beforehand. He is shown an earlier documentary made by the crew before they disappeared entitled the Last Road to Hell, to which he is told by one of the executives some scenes were staged to make them more exciting.

Upon watching the raw footage, Monroe is disgusted as the film crew purposely antagonises the tribe into a frenzy of violence towards them which leads to them capturing their own deaths on film....

Cannibal Holocaust is one of the better known video nasties and one that definitely warranted being on the list! 

The film nearly got director Ruggero Deodato jail time as Italian authorities has thought it was an actual snuff movie.

When making the film he has made a contract with the film crew in the movie that for a year after the release of the movie they could not star in anything else to make it believable that they had died. This was quickly undone when they had to be brought to caught to prove that they were alive!

Also think what also made it believable was some of the special effects, especially the famous impaled tribes girl scene. The special effects team had to show the court how this scene was achieved, which was having the tribes girl sit on bicycle seat and they hold in her mouth some balsa wood to make it look like she was impaled!

A big problem I think for a lot of people is the brutal animal deaths that happen in the film, some clearly done for the sake of it. Robert Kerman who played Monroe says in an interview he was very much against this and threatened to knock the shit out of Deodato for it. Deodato later did say he wished he never did these things in the movie and on the blu ray from Grind House Releasing you can have the option to watch with or without the animal cruelty.

One thing that made me laugh is even though it is a very violent film in parts, Deodato said if he knew Robert Kerman was a porn star (he had did a few adult films as well as plays and normal films) he wouldn't have hired him. I just find it silly that as a director who made a lot of films with blood and guts etc... someone who did adult films sort of offended him!

Cannibal Holocaust still, in my eyes, holds up to be a brutal film which some would find hard to watch. Though in these days of the internet people have access to a lot of more real life violence that has been filmed and shared, to quote Monroe in the final minutes of Cannibal Holocaust, "I wonder who the real cannibals are..."

Torture Dungeon, 1970

The plot for this film is slightly wild, the Duke of Norwich is killing and torturing anyone in his way of gaining the throne of England. One of the heirs is pregnant by her brother, another is a bumbling idiot who the duke marries off to a local girl who is later found to be a long lost princess?!

There is also a bizarre moment the duke who has been having his way with his hunchback servant, tells his other servant he has also been seeing that he is not a homosexual, or asexual but a trisexual! Which leads him to having a threesome with them both!

Torture Dungeon, I found to be a bit of a torture to watch. Even though it is on 80 minutes it felt a lot longer. I know a lot of Andy Milligan films are really low budget and campy affairs and this one isn't any different! While it does have some bloody scenes, the torture dungeon only appears maybe twice in the film! Most the murders happen away and outside from the Castle.

It is supposed to be a period horror but from the sets you can tell it's more likely been a rush job of trying to make it look medieval, I'm sure in one scene I saw electrical wires coming out of a wall!

I probably won't be in rush to watch this again anytime soon. It is an interestingly odd feature but may only appeal to hardcore Milligan fans!

Thriller – A Cruel Picture, 1973

Madeline, played by Christina Lindberg is a young girl who as a child was assaulted by a transient man. The trauma from this has left her mute. Her parents one day send her to Stockholm to see a specialist in hopes that one day she will be able to speak and live a more normal life.

Instead of getting on the bus she is charmed by a man called Tony who offers her a ride to where she is going. They spend an evening together and end up back at Tony's where he eventually drugs her with heroin and lets her know she will now be working for him as a prostitute to pay for her new addiction.

To not arouse any suspicion from Madeline's parents, Tony writes to them pretending to be her and that she is no longer coming home and that she hates them to which both her parents get so distraught over what they believe are their daughters hateful words that they commit suicide.

Madeline forced to work attacks her first client and leaves marks on his face to which Tony then punishes her by removing her eye to teach her a lesson. She makes a friend in another woman forced to sell herself as she is also addicted to heroin and that she plans to save what money they are allowed to keep, to  go to a clinic in Switzerland to get clean. This is short lived as she is eventually killed by Tony, and this sets Madeline up to plan her escape.

She slowly starts to save her money while continuing to see clients.

With the money she saves she starts taking driving lessons, self-defence and shooting lessons, while also getting a contact in the city centre to supply her with heroin so she has a bigger supply to help herself rather than rely on Tony's supply.

Once she is ready, she goes after all her client's one by one getting her revenge until the big showdown with Tony.

Thriller is probably one of the big underground exploitation films from the 1970’s and is a fairly decent movie despite the rough and raw storyline. The Swedish name is Thriller – en grym film and has the titles A Cruel Picture and They Call Her One Eye.

It is quite notorious for the scene where Madeline has her eye taken from her, rumours claim that a real eyeball from a cadaver was used. There is a story that the producers of the film also took out a big insurance policy of star Christina Lindberg as instead of using blank ammunition, live ammunition was used for the action scenes! She was also really injecting herself but with a saline solution in the drug taking scenes.

There are two versions of the film out, one at 104 mins and the other at 107 mins which has the hardcore inserts, it was released in the states in a cut form of 82 mins. The inserts don't really add to the film in my opinion, film is already grim enough without them, though these were added after the film was completed as director, Bo Arne Vibenius took advantage of Scandinavian law at the time that made all pornography legal so hired a couple to film a couple of scenes.

I did hear of a story that years after this film was out, Christina went to France to do another movie and that the director wanted her to do a real sex scene as they believed she had done this in Thriller, and she had to tell them that it was not her in them scenes. 

I think Bo Arne Vibenius may have done something similar with hardcore inserts with his other film, Breaking Point. Though I've not seen that so can't confirm.

He did try to stop Synapse's DVD release of this film years back claiming they didn't have the rights for the film. However, this failed as Synapse provided him with all the paperwork to prove they did and released two versions of it; Limited Edition (Red cover - title A Cruel Picture) which is the full uncut version and a Vengeance Edition, version without the hardcore inserts (Yellow cover - title They Call Her One Eye). I think there had been rumours that Bo was working on a blu ray release, but I doubt anything will come of it.

I really like this film, some bits I could have done without but it's definitely not a film for everyone. Mean it lives up to it's Swedish title of  "en grym film".

The Sinful Dwarf, 1973

The Sinful Dwarf is a grim exploitation film from Denmark, also know in Denmark as Dværgen and has the alternative name Abducted Bride in America.

In it a young married couple move into a boarding house ran by Olaf (Torben Bille) and his mother. Unbeknownst to the married couple that Olaf and his mother are running a brothel hidden within the boarding house.

They also smuggle heroin and use some of it to keep the girls they have addicted and to prevent them from running away. They soon take a liking to the new girl and plot to kidnap her while also getting her husband to help unknowingly smuggle their drugs for them.

The Sinful Dwarf is a bit of a rough film to watch because of its content, while also being a bit of a wild film with Olaf being childlike and playful but hiding his more devious side, hence being labelled the Sinful Dwarf. 

Torben Bille who plays Olaf was apparently in his day the sole dwarf actor in all of Denmark! I've also read that prior to doing more adult films he was a star of a children's TV show, though not seen any proof to this. He passed away at 47 in 1993 so we may never know if that was true or not.

There is a blu ray release of this movie from Severin Films which has the XXX cut of it which is only about 4 or 5 minutes longer but includes the hardcore inserts which I don't think are necessary to this film though others may disagree.

Severin did I believe try to track down people who were involved in this film but it proved difficult, either they were dead or used aliases. They did talk to someone who knew a bit about it but they stopped communicating when they saw the fake documentary about the Sinful Dwarf destroying their lives and decided he didn't want to be involved! Though again not sure how true this is.

I would say it is a film you may probably watch once and that maybe enough but it lingers in your head in a what the hell did I watch kinda way.

Zombie 5: Killing Birds, 1988

 We start off with a flashback scene where a young solider, Fred returns from Vietnam to go see his wife and child. Unfortunately, he discovers her in bed with another man, to which he ends up killing both but sparing his child. He is nearly caught by friends (family members) who have come to see them to which he adds to the massacre. While cleaning up the mess Fred is attacked by one the falcons they have in the house (the house has a lot of birds!) who gouges his eyes out making him blind.

We last see him going into hospital blinded and having given his son away to social services.

Twenty years later a group of college students go off to investigate sightings of a rare woodpecker that is considered nearly extinct. It turns out that one of the few known people to have seen it is Fred and so they seek him out to find out more information from him.

This however beings to unlock the vengeful spirits of Fred's victims and throws the group into a nightmare of a situation they try to escape from...

Zombie 5: Killing Birds, has a few titles, Zombi 5, Killing Birds and was under the title Zombie Flesheaters 4 here in the UK. Not an exact sequel to any of the other films in the series, though to be fair none of them were sequels to each other!

Killing Birds could also be misleading as none of the birds in the movie kill anyone and the zombies could be seen more as demons as they are all after one person in particular.

I did enjoy the film; it wasn't as bad as many people have made out to be. I do think they may have used most the budget to hire Robert Vaughn to be the main star in the film! Mean as a later Italian horror film it is not going to stand out as one of the best but if you want a bit of a cheesy horror this film has it. 

With it being filmed in America, it was probably aimed more for the horror market there. I know the cinema in Italy wasn't as big as it was due to more channels becoming available via cable etc, so more films were being produced for television rather than the big screen.

Some great gore and practical effects with one scene reminding me a bit of Anthrophagous which made sense to me later when one of the directors of this film is Aristide Massaccesi, a.k.a. Joe D'Amato!

Claudio Lattanzi is also listed as the director of this film, there seems to be a bit of a question who filmed what though it seems no one who worked on the film can remember!

There are two blu rays of this film out at the moment, one on Vinegar Syndrome in the States and the other on 88 Films here in the UK.