HORROR 101 with Dr. AC

Cold in July (2014) d. Jim Mickle (USA)

One hot summer Texas night, professional picture framer Richard Dane (Dexter’s Michael C. Hall) is awoken by the sound of someone breaking into his home. Spooked, the mild-mannered husband and father creeps downstairs and, accidentally firing his pistol, mortally wounds the intruder who turns out to have a criminal record record a mile long. An instant small-town celebrity, Dane is applauded by the local lawman (Nick Damici) for bringing down “a really bad guy.” But when the burglar’s jailbird father (Sam Shepard) comes to town looking for revenge, it sets in motion a mysterious chain of events, revealing that nothing is as it appears to be.

Taking a break from straight-up horror, the team behind such sterling independent efforts as Mulberry St., Stake Land, and We Are What We Are, Mickle and co-screenwriter/actor Damici serve up this excellent adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale’s novel (author of Bubba Ho-Tep), with Hall, Shepard, and a so-good-it’s-scary Don Johnson (yes, that Don Johnson) delivering career-best performances.

Everyone brings their A-game on both sides of the camera, with several longtime collaborators – composer Jeff Grace, cinematographer Ryan Samul, production designer Russell Barnes, costumer Elisabeth Vastola, and makeup man Brian Spears – lending expert support. While one would be hard-pressed to call Cold in July a full-on fright flick, there is an appreciable amount of bloodshed, and a pivotal murder that will bring even the most jaded horrorhound’s feet off the floor – all the more impressive since the act itself takes place off camera.

If there is any complaint to be lodged, it is only that after tweaking and thwarting expectations for the first 80 minutes, the last 20 play out almost exactly as you’d expect they would. The three main characters say they’re going to go do something and then, by god, they go and do it, whereupon credits roll. For a story as twisty and thorny as it has been up until that point, it’s a bit of a disappointment when things go straight. Then again, one could also chalk that up to one more surprise, a devious one indeed.

Bottom line, this is another home run from Mickle and Damici, one that will hopefully garner them some well-deserved mainstream attention (and salaries) for future projects. Artists this talented shouldn’t be scrabbling for funds, but rather given the keys to the kingdom.

Dead Shadows (2012) d. David Cholewa (France)

All right, sports fans, strap on your helmets and get ready for sharp turns ahead. This debut feature from Frenchman Cholewa is a WTF blend of horror, sci-fi, action, apocalypse comedy, creature feature, zombie flick, alien invasion, and all-out crazycakes that sees modern-day Paris ground zero for one big whopper of a comet and shinola hitting the fan in the most exuberant fashion imaginable.

Some things get explained, even more do not, but the damn thing moves at such a relentlessly bonkers pace that the viewers feels as though they are never ahead of the film, but caught up in the whip-neck mayhem right alongside our main character.

Chris (newcomer Fabian Wolfrom) is an introverted, frustrated, and over-caffeinated IT experts who operates from his shambles of an apartment adorned with Escape from New York posters, spying on his hot down-the-hall neighbor (Blandine Marmigère) through his peephole and occasionally menaced by the local thugs loitering outside. (Arrow in the Head honcho John Fallon stars as the lad’s uber-badass neighbor, and if you didn’t love him enough already for his well-informed and nimble wordplay, his supercool presence here proves the man is a multitalented emmereffer.)

However, Chris’ humdrum life gets turned upside down when the aforementioned comet passes by, causing all manner of insanity from madness to mutations to monstrosities. To make matters worse, our hero already has serious issues with celestial skyrockets, since Dad butchered up Mum the night Halley’s Comet came to town back in ’86, resulting in a paralyzing fear of the dark.

If you haven’t gotten the message already, Chelowa and screenwriter Vincent Julé aren’t concerned with anything other than a good time, and that’s how Dead Shadows should be approached: It’s as though the fever dreams of a sixth-grade monster kid hopped up on Sugar Smacks were splattered directly onto the screen. Wolfrom makes for an engaging protagonist, and while the CGI gets a little dodgy at times, the sheer energy of the enterprise earned a lot of goodwill from this particular viewer.

Shout! Factory, already a leader in today’s classic horror revival market, branches out again into the realm of recent releases, following last year’s successful home video issue of Cockneys vs. Zombies. While not packed to the proverbial gills with the retrospective goodies of their older films, we do get a frank and amusing DIY self-conducted 33-min. interview by Cholewa where the director responds to a myriad of questions “posed” via interstitial screens of text. Dead Shadows’ journey from concept to crowd-pleaser is a fairly unique one, and its creator (Chowela came up with the story, then hired Julé to hammer out the screenplay) is clearly an enthusiastic genre fan and a just-as-enterprising businessman.

Other supplemental features include a brief glimpse at the special effects (mostly seeing what was live on set, the CGI artwork, and then seeing it composited into the scene), a deleted scene, and a couple trailers.

Dead Shadows is available for order on DVD and Blu-ray beginning Tuesday, April 29 from Shout! Factory. Pre-orders can be placed HERE.

http://www.shoutfactory.com/product/dead-shadows-0

--Aaron Christensen, HorrorHound Magazine

I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles...

Howdy, folks!

Gamely attempting to catch up to the tail that wags the proverbial dog, and having a fairly good time in so doing. The horror offerings covered during this two-week period represent independents all, ranging from the microbudget to the slightly better funded, from terrific to terrible, and from the Doc’s Midwestern backyard to the far reaches of Australia. Not too shabby.

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

HORROR:

Babysitter Massacre (2013) d. Couto, Henrique (USA) (1st viewing)

My buddy Jason Coffman liked this one a bunch (more than me, to be honest), so I figured I’d let him take the lead here. Pick up what he’s laying down over at Film Monthly.

http://www.filmmonthly.com/film/babysitter-massacre

Happy Camp (2014) d. Anthony, Josh (USA) (1st viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

Proxy (2013) d. Parker, Zack (USA) (1st viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

Return to Nuke 'Em High, Vol. 1 (2013) d. Kaufman, Lloyd (USA) (1st and 2nd viewings)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

WNUF Halloween Special (2013) d. LaMartina, Chris (USA) (1st viewing)

I absolutely loved this slice of throwback goodness from the guys who gave us last year’s surprisingly enjoyable slasher President’s Day. Felix Vasquez from Cinema Crazed gives it the glowing review it deserves and I’m not about to try to improve upon perfection:

http://cinema-crazed.com/blog/2013/11/04/wnuf-halloween-special-2013-limited-edition-vhs/

PATRICK THEN AND NOW

Patrick (1978) d. Franklin, Richard (Australia) (2nd viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

Patrick (2013) d. Hartley, Mark (Australia) (1st viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

CIVILIAN:

Ballast (2008) d. Hammer, Lance (USA) (1st viewing)

Hammer won the Best Director prize at Sundance with his deceptively muted drama about the repercussions a local man’s suicide has on his estranged son (JimMyron Ross) and ex-wife (Tarra Riggs), as well as his twin brother (Micheal J. Smith Sr.). Breathtakingly authentic performances, a thorny narrative, and desolate Mississippi locations make this a marvel to behold, one that has regrettably slipped off the radar along with its creator. Deserving of your time.

Cold in July (2014) d. Mickle, Jim (USA) (1st viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

Fury (1936) d. Lang, Fritz (USA) (1st viewing)

Lang’s first U.S. feature follows Spencer Tracy after he is wrongfully accused of a series of murders and set upon by a vicious small-town lynch mob led by King Kong’s Bruce Cabot. Sylvia Sydney (who received top billing at the time) plays his distraught fiancée, and those who only know her from her later character years (Beetlejuice, Damien: Omen II, and, er, Snowbeast) deserve to check out her turn here as a knockout leading lady.

Limitless (2011) d. Burger, Neil (USA) (1st viewing)

“What if a pill could make you rich and powerful?” Bradley Cooper comes across a stash of trial drugs that boost his intellectual potential, making him smarter, quicker, sexier, etc., but of course, it all comes at a price and supplies are, well, limited. A great what-if scenario from Burger, who gave us the underrated 2006 magician thriller The Illusionist, the hardly seen war drama The Lucky Ones, and the recent superteen epic Divergent. Fine popcorn thriller that gets a little cute (and bloody) in the final reel, but not destructively so.

2014 Totals to date: 70 films, 35 1st time views, 39 horror, 1 cinema

Bled White (2011) d. Jose Carlos Gomez (USA)

These days, the news that an independent filmmaker has made a new low-budget zombie movie is about as shocking as hearing that the sun rose in the east. Like the slashers of old, the walking undead scenario provides ample opportunities for drama between surviving humans, action sequences, gunplay, characters yelling, “Run!” at the top of their lungs, and, of course, gut-ripping, flesh-tearing, blood-splattering gore showcases. Like the requisite pizza and beer that follows moving a friend’s furniture, even the lowest zombie flick offers some modicum of entertainment value; you have to work really hard to screw it up. The challenge is to deliver something tastier than Domino’s, more satisfying than Budweiser. The good news is that Chicagoland director Jose Carlos Gomez (who also wrote, shot, and edited the beast) has done just that with his wintry shambler epic, Bled White.

Against a desolate and rural Midwestern landscape, Gomez serves up relatable and likeable human characters (that most elusive of indie film elements) while paying homage to Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction via onscreen chapter headings and fragmented narratives. We’re introduced to mercenary duo Ed (North Roberts) and Matt (Matthew Prochazka), out hunting down other humans to trade with twisted old couple Sam and Mary (Bruce Spielbauer, Kelli Tidmore) who’ve got their zombified son Victor (Jason Hoskot) chained up in the attic.

Moral dilemmas be damned, these guys plan to survive, and if they have to bump off their fellow neighbors for a couple gallons of gas or cans of fruit cocktail, so be it. The taciturn Ed and his younger sidekick don’t have much else in common – the former is fixated on an old VHS tape housing a corporate in-house educational film (or more precisely “Melissa,” the female star thereof), while the latter seems content to covertly knock boots with the shantytown hotel owner’s slatternly wife (Laura Locascio) and ride the apocalyptic storm out.

For our resident dysfunctional family, things are no less complicated. With their food supply (as well as Victor’s) running ever lower, Mary is torn between leaving the farm to search for sunnier climes or standing by her men, even though her boy is a gurgling skinbag and her spouse is a shell-shocked shadow of his former self.

A third storyline follows Natalie (Colleen Boag) and her boyfriend Joe (Christian Rogala), two young nomads taking shelter in various abandoned structures. These three couples’ paths intersect time and again, offering comfort, pain, death, mercy, companionship, betrayal, and hope – the stuff of which basic human drama is made – all while attempting to elude the constant threat of hungry (and fast!) cannibalistic ghouls on the prowl.

Through the simple acts of providing engaging protagonists, delivering surprising plot twists, and coaxing believable performances from his ensemble, Gomez is already way ahead of the curve. But the young artist also demonstrates genuine cinematic flair through his use of challenging camera moves and angles, as well as leaching the color from nearly every frame except for the occasional flash of red (a balloon, a dress, a shredded corpse).

Borrowing wholesale from Spielberg may not be the most original of approaches, but darned if it doesn’t work. (The nearly wordless balloon sequence is among the most eloquent and poetic viewers are likely to find in the annals of millennial no-budget zombie cinema.)

As for the minimal budget, the Skibofilms production team has certainly mastered the art of stretching a buck. Gomez and his able squad cover a lot of ground, with the myriad of locations making their onscreen world an expansive and exciting one. Tidwell, in addition to her solid thesping, ladles out the goopy goodies as the credited special f/x artist, spilling guts and inking up rotters with abandon (as well as getting behind the camera from time to time). Despite the occasional clunky line read, the assembled cast is more than passable, with Boag and Roberts leading the pack, and composer DC McAuliffe delivers a crunchy soundtrack that both sears and soothes according to the action.

Appropriating established themes and cinematic devices is nothing new, but not many aspiring filmmakers have the chutzpah and know-how to pull it off (for pennies) with such aplomb. Based on his work here, Gomez is clearly a rising talent worth keeping a close eye on.

--Aaron Christensen, HorrorHound Magazine

Demon Resurrection (2008) d. William Hopkins (USA)

Upon hearing of her recent, possibly drug-related hospitalization, a group of concerned friends converge on the isolated Long Island home of Grace (Alexis Golightly) to stage a well-intentioned intervention on her behalf. To their surprise, the source of her ills are not chemical in nature nor are they provided by her mystery lover, the handsome, sensitive long-haired John (Damian Ladd); instead, Grace has recently escaped from the clutches of an evil cult, one that has done some very naughty things to her insides. Yup, with no small nod to Rosemary’s Baby, nefarious occultist Toth (Will McDonald) has orchestrated an enterprise by which a little bouncing Beelzebub is bound to be born, and woe betide those that stand in his way.

After languishing in distribution hell for six long years, writer/ director Hopkin’s DIY dark-arts thriller is finally making its way out into the world, rising from the grave like its bloodthirsty skull-headed antagonists. While not as explicit and adult-oriented as the box art and pre-menu DVD warnings would have us believe, there is an appreciable amount of boobs, blood, and beasts on hand.

Absolutely integral to the plot, I assure you.

However, the fact that viewers have to wait until the 45-minute mark until the latter two B’s show up is a nearly fatal flaw; the excess of talk-talk-talk, broken only by a brief ritual interlude depicting Grace’s demonic deflowering, are likely to have a lot of fans reaching for the remote. Rest assured; once everyone (finally) stops jabbering and the rollercoaster (finally) starts flying down the juicy tracks, this sucker don’t stop, with plenty of eviscerations, lacerations, and latex creations on hand for the film’s target audience.

The relatively unknown cast helps add a certain thrill, since we don’t know who’s going to make it out alive, and indeed, there are more than a few surprises in the order by which the victims messily bite the dust. Sensible “trust me, I’m a doctor” leader Kate (Laurie Miller) quickly takes charge, but when Grace’s oogey offspring makes its impressively gooey entrance, she’s at a loss for this particular brand of husbandry.

The males range from mighty Denton (Bashir Solebo) and macho Mike (Chad Kessler) to the more, er, resourceful Steven (Joe McLean) and Alex (Eli Kranski). Stephanie Roy’s Marcy and Amanda Knox’s Barbara, on the other hand, are there primarily to add to the body count, but when and how they get theirs is half the fun.

On the other side of the fence, independent horror star Joe Zaso (Barricade) lends his imposing frame to the cause as Toth’s assistant – he’s not given much to do except glare and tear Golightly’s top to tatters, but he does it well.

Even more enjoyable than the arterial sprays and ropey intestines strewn about, however, are Hopkins’ lovingly crafted, show-stealing zombie creatures. Direct descendants of Amando de Ossorio’s Knights Templar from Tombs of the Blind Dead and Andrea Bianchi’s Burial Ground: Nights of Terror, these ghastly grinning ghouls aren’t in a hurry to get you, but get you they will – slow and steady skins the face.

They don’t look the least realistic, with their giant skull helmets and painted-on finger-bones, but in these end times of undead fatigue, it’s a bona-fide treat to see something other than regular ol’ grue-slathered humans shambling after their prey. Rubber monster lovers, this is your kinda poison.

The DVD is rich with supplemental features, such as a 30-minute making-of featurette that takes us from the audition process to on-set interviews with the cast. Also showcased are numerous effects shots…that you probably didn’t even know were effects!

Thought that zombie busted through that window, didn’t you? Nope, it’s a separate shot of a shattered pane expertly composited onto the empty frame with the undead’s arm plunging through! That gooey Eraserhead-lite baby puppet? Never on the same set as the lovely ladies it viciously attacks! Those skulls surrounding the archeological dig? All added in post!

These movie magic reveals are tantalizing glimpses behind the microbudget curtain, with many more pointed out during the director’s audio commentary alongside stunt coordinator/co-producer Edward Wheeler. With the seams so well-concealed, one can’t help but come away with an even deeper appreciation for Hopkins’ achievement.

Like Bob Clark’s Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things, the film’s admittedly sluggish start eventually yields to much grander things, and the expansive, seemingly unnecessary amounts of exposition actually do pay off later. So, either put on your patience hat or be prepared to lean on the fast forward button, but stick around for the grand finale – you’ll be glad you did.

Demon Resurrection can be purchased on DVD directly from the filmmakers HERE, or streamed on Amazon HERE

--Aaron Christensen, HorrorHound Magazine

130,000,000 x less expensive than Godzilla (1998). 130,000,000 x more entertaining.

Howdy folks,

Finally started watching a few movies this year, enough so that we could (finally) compile a FV installment based on the one-week totals. Some decent independent flicks paired with two notorious Hollywood bombs (one deserved, one not-so-much) that I didn't feel obliged to give much virtual ink, as well as some fine civilian fare.

And no, you’ll never get me to watch the Emmerich Godzilla EVER again. This was purely an experiment and it hurt. Telling you, this movie-watching stuff – it ain’t for sissies.

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

HORROR:

Battle: Los Angeles (2011) d. Liebesman, Jonathan (USA) (1st viewing)

Black Hawk Down meets District 9. Not sure why this got all the hate, as the “Marines under fire from alien attack” is as valid a storyline as anything else. Sure, it’s more war movie than legit sci-fi/action flick, but who says that’s a bad thing?

Dead Shadows (2012) d. Cholewa, David (France) (1st viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

Demon Resurrection (2008) d. Hopkins, William (USA) (1st viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

Godzilla (1998) d. Emmerich, Roland (USA) (2nd viewing)

Good news? Everyone hated this GINO (Godzilla-In-Name-Only) adaptation so much, Toho took back their franchise and delivered five more amazing G-flicks on their home turf. Bad news? Oh, EVERYTHING ELSE.

JOSE CARLOS GOMEZ: LOCAL HERO

Bled White (2011) d. Gomez, Jose Carlos (USA) (1st viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

Plastic (2012) d. Gomez, Jose Carlos (USA) (1st viewing)

***FULL REVIEW COMING SOON***

CIVILIAN:

Dredd (2012) d. Travis, Pete (USA) (2nd viewing)

First saw this back in early February, watching over someone’s shoulder on a laptop...and it still kinda knocked me out. Flash forward two months where I’m watching it on my pal David Scott Hay’s enormous Blu-ray projector in 3D with Surroundsound. Oh, that’s how it was meant to be seen. Bloody good fun.

Seven Psychopaths (2012) d. McDonagh, Martin (UK) (1st viewing)

The crazy Brit who delivered the goods with In Bruges is back again with another terrific cast in service of another wicked black comedy, this time intertwining failed screenwriter Colin Farrell, dognappers Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken, and gangster Woody Harrelson. This is a curious and wonderful bird, which is probably why mainstream audiences didn’t know what to do with it.

Supercop (aka Police Story 3) (1992) d. Tong, Stanley (Hong Kong) (3rd viewing)

Jackie Chan. Michelle Yeoh. Together. Awesome. I had forgotten how chatty and goofy the first hour is, but the last 20 minutes are pure-and-simple blow-your-mind action greatness.

2014 Totals to date: 79 films, 41 1st time views, 45 horror, 1 cinema

Wasp Woman, The (1995) d. Jim Wynorski (USA)

Janice Starlin (Jennifer Rubin), owner and lead model of Starlin Cosmetics, finds that her looks and company stock have begun to sag a little, leading her investors to suggest that she step down and find a newer, younger model (Maria Ford). Stung by such criticisms (ohoho, so witty), she recruits discredited scientist Dr. Zinthorp (Daniel J. Travanti) to use her as his human guinea pig for an incredibly volatile new serum derived from, you guessed it, wasp hormones.

The results are a mixed bag of buzz, indeed; on the one hand, Janice’s wrinkles and dark circles vanish, leaving her looking a decade younger. On the other, she routinely transforms into a fantastically stupid-looking insectoid creature (with huge knockers, because, well, Jim Wynorski) that kills! Kills!! KILLS!!!

One of several “Roger Corman Presents” installments cranked out by the erstwhile producer for Showtime in the mid-90s, a who-asked-for-this grab bag of remakes that included A Bucket of Blood, Humanoids from the Deep, and Piranha. While not devoid of goofy charms, it’s a pretty generic creature feature that doesn’t improve much on its predecessor except in the way of blood and boobs. (Ford clearly struts her own stuff, but it’s Rubin’s well-utilized body double, according to Mr. Skin, who gets a workout.)

Outside of the godawful morphing effects, the practical wasp-monster effects are enjoyable for their B-movie chutzpah, and the supporting cast (Gerrit Graham, Jay Richardson, the smokin’ hot Melissa Brasselle) all know exactly what kind of movie they’re in and perform their duties with zeal. Not a complete waste of time.

Navy vs. the Night Monsters, The (1966) d. Michael A. Hoey (USA)

From the frozen wastelands of Antarctica comes a tale of botanical terrors inspired equally by The Thing from Another World, The Day of the Triffids, and The Quatermass Xperiment. Unfortunately, this cheapjack adaptation of Murray Leinster’s novel The Monster from Earth’s End is a clunker from start to interminable finish, filled with gratingly unfunny comic interludes, slipshop stock footage, lazy screenwriting, and audaciously clumsy tree creatures that don’t even have the generosity to have a permanent “mean face” stamped onto them like From Hell It Came’s Tabonga monster.

What is that? I have no idea either.

Mamie Van Doren, best known for her pneumatic charms in drive-in classics like High School Confidential and Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women, headlines as the resident nurse on a Navy base where a plane carrying recent flora/fauna samples crash lands, depositing seeds of destruction for all inhabitants on the island...and maybe the WORLD. Anthony Eisley, Billy Gray, Bobby Van, and Edward Faulkner co-star.

Completely gratuitous Van Doren cheesecake shot. Because I deserve it.

Writer/director Hoey, son of stalwart Brit character man Dennis Hoey, complained bitterly (and publicly) about post-production interference from executive producer Jack Broder, who padded the already talky script with 12 additional minutes in order to achieve the 90-minute feature he’d been contracted to deliver as well as the hokey creature feature title. (Hoey wanted to call it "Nightcrawlers.") While I respect Broder’s businessman obligations, shorter could have only been better in this case. That, and less silly looking (or more, for that matter) bark-covered beasts. An uncredited Roger Corman served as producer alongside George Edwards (Queen of Blood, Frogs), and Wyatt Ordung, screenwriter of 1953’s infamous Robot Monster, does time as assistant director.

For a hilarious in-depth look at this slumber-inducing groaner, check out Ken Begg’s exhaustively comprehensive Jabootu write-up HERE. 100% more entertaining that the film itself or your money back.

King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) d. Ishiro Honda (Japan)

After cranking out an array of standalone creature features (Rodan, Mothra, Varan the Unbelievable), Toho revived their reigning daikaiju (giant monster) to do battle against America’s most popular hairy behemoth, marking the first time either had ever been seen in color or widescreen “Tohoscope.” (Kong creator Willis O’Brien’s original idea was to pit the great ape against an opponent devised by Dr. Frankenstein, but Godzilla’s marquee value proved too tempting to pass up.)

Like the previous entries in the series, the film underwent some serious retooling for the overseas market; thanks to this newly scripted footage by Paul Mason and Bruce Howard, U.S. newscasters explain the dumb-dumb plot to viewers via various talking heads, including one who trots out a children’s dinosaur book to illustrate his points!

With soon-to-be series staple screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa serving up plot points like magic berries, electroshock superpowers, and oversized octopi, KKvG has not a serious bone in its body, which could account for its being the most successful G-film ever produced in terms of tickets sold.

Those who decry Godzilla’s lack of gravitas in the ’70s would do well to realize the goofy, juvenile tone was set right here on the big fella’s third screen outing. (Still, scenes of the wildly inappropriate black-faced “natives” are pretty hard to watch today.)

However, longstanding rumors regarding two divergent endings – in which different monsters were declared victorious depending on the country in which it was shown – are apocryphal. (Spoiler: Kong always wins.)

A rowdy, roaring, roasting, rollicking good time for everyone.

Oculus (2013) d. Mike Flanagan (USA)

Following a long stint in a mental institution, Tim (Brenton Thwaites) meets up with his art dealer sister Kaylie (Karen Gillan) to begin his life anew. However, his sibling has no intention of forgetting their past, and the dark forces that shattered their childhood. Seems that the mirror acquired by their father (Rory Cochrane) possesses the ability to warp visual observations and entrap minds, leading to some very twisted and disturbing consequences for the kids and their mother (Katee Sackhoff). Returning to their childhood home and having taken elaborate observational precautions, Kaylie hopes to prove that Tim’s criminal acts – the very ones that ended him up in the booby hatch – were not the results of faulty mental wiring, but rather the influence of the malignant artifact.

Hey, I’ll come clean: prior to looking it up for this review, I wasn’t entirely sure of what an “oculus” really was. Literally “eye” in Latin, it’s a word with a marvelously oogey, sinister sound, one that will be henceforth synonymous with writer/director Flanagan’s smash follow-up to his acclaimed feature debut, Absentia (another Latin phrase meaning “absence”).

If all this high-minded vocabulary hasn’t tipped you off already, the young New England native isn’t shy about delivering smart scares in place of lowbrow gross-outs, and though his nefarious looking glass ultimately proves to be perhaps too omnipotent (come the final credits we realize that the power struggle we’ve been watching is akin to a Pete Sampras vs. Stephen Hawking tennis match), it doesn’t diminish the achievement of what has gone before.

Flanagan and co-writer Jeff Howard keep us on the edge of our proverbial seats, dancing back and forth between timelines and character viewpoints, unveiling some undeniably visceral PG-13 shocks while the assembled actors render uniformly grounded performances. Though the elder cast members are likely familiar to television viewers (Cochrane – CSI Miami, Sackoff – Battlestar Galactica, Gillan – Doctor Who, Thwaites – Home and Away), it is Annalise Basso who makes the strongest impression as the younger version of Gillan's character, courage and terror flickering in constant conflict across her angelic features.

With steadily ratcheting tension, well-cultivated shocks and thrills, and an overwhelming sense of dread and helplessness in the face of overwhelming evil, Flanagan delivers the first great mainstream genre flick of 2014 and the best haunted reflector movie since Mirror Mirror.

Under the Skin (2013) d. Jonathan Glazer (UK)

With buzz growing since its UK release, this screen adaptation of Michael Faber’s novel arrived fully onto my radar via the announcement that it would be gracing the cover of Fangoria magazine’s May issue #332. Now, granted, editor-in-chief Chris Alexander has made some odd choices during his four-year tenure (Nicholas Cage? Gene Simmons?), but knowing that this was “Fango-approved” definitely heightened my interest. However, it also provoked expectations, which can be the enemy of many a filmgoing experience.

Even though its plotline is fundamentally similar to that of 1995’s Species (gorgeous alien female life form seeks to mate with/devour human males), and even though the visual effects are stunning and the body count appreciable, Under the Skin’s deliberate pacing, its somber, almost mournful tone, and the fiercely non-traditional storytelling couldn’t be further from B-movie schlockdom.

Nothing against Fango’s target audience (I’m one, after all), but I imagine that the majority of gorehounds are bound to be nonplussed at the repetitive scenes of Scarlett Johansson driving around endlessly in her van, attempting to locate the right kind of male victim.

Yes, there is quite the selection process – scenes that apparently captured via hidden camera with the comely actress approaching anonymous Scottish lads and striking up conversation as they walked along the street – and when we finally get down to the “attack” scenes, Glazer (Sexy Beast, which I loved; Birth, which I hated) handles them with such nonviolent grace and hypnotic imagery, viewers are left with a sense of rapturous wonder as opposed to cheap, splattery thrills. (However, for Marvel fanboys who’ve been aching for an up-close, unhurried, widescreen look at Black Widow in the altogether, your wishes are granted on numerous occasions, with more-than-ample samplings of the hairier sex as well. )

Harnessing kindred filmmaking spirits Stanley Kubrick, Nicolas Roeg, and David Lynch, the results are confounding, spellbinding, frustrating, haunting, and even inspiring, with Johansson captivating in her every onscreen moment. But be advised: this winding, steep-grade country road occasionally goes in circles; without willingly consenting to go along for the ride, this could be the longest trip you’ve ever been on.

Pan's Labyrinth (2006) d. Guillermo del Toro (Spain)

Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) whose father had died, leaving her and her Mother (Ariadna Gil) all alone. The world was a dark and scary place, with war and death everywhere, and so, to save herself and her child, the Mother remarried a General (Sergi Lopez) to keep them safe. But the General was a selfish and brutal man, who only cared for the Mother as long as she could bear him a son. Once the Mother as with child, the General sent for her to live with him in the forest where he commanded his troops, stamping out the rebels that threatened the Evil King’s power. The Mother was sad, as was Ofelia, but the imaginative young girl had a special gift: she could see and talk to creatures that grown-ups couldn’t see, such as the Faun and the Pale Man (both played brilliantly by expert suit performer Doug Jones). She soon learned from the Faun that she was a Princess with a Destiny to fulfill. And so, her great adventure began....

Upon revisiting del Toro’s metaphorical masterpiece combining dark real-world horror (Franco’s civil war-torn Spain) with children’s fantasy, I was more than a little saddened to realize that this, his last great movie, was released nearly a decade ago. I won’t pretend to know what goes on in the Hollywood hills, much less what went down with Peter Jackson and The Hobbit crew, but it seems clear that whether directing (Cronos, The Devil’s Backbone) or producing (The Orphanage, Biutiful, Julia’s Eyes), the Mexican-born monster kid continues to do his best work in his native language. As diverting and visually imaginative as his Hollywood popcorn efforts like Pacific Rim and the Hellboy movies are, they lack the heart, depth, and intellect of his more “personal” films.

While I understand the graphic violence is important for the story at hand, there were times that I wished that it had been handled less explicitly, in order that the film could be seen by a wider (i.e. younger) audience. But this is a minor, minor quibble for what is an incredible cinematic experience, with astonishing production/set design by Eugenio Caballero and Pilar Revuelta, Guillermo Navarro’s cinematography, and David Marti and Montse Ribe’s breathtaking makeup designs, earning them Oscars in their respective fields.

Though all the actors acquit themselves admirably, special notice must be given to Maribel Verdu (Y Tu Mama Tambien, Blancanieves) as the duplicitous housemaid, Lopez’s human monster, and Baquero, whose guileless central performance anchors the picture.

A unequivocal must-see. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Trust me, I'm a doctor.

Howdy folks,

Well, thanks to the deliciousness that was Movieside’s Sci-Fi Spectacular and the arrival of some potentially interesting genre films hitting theaters – Devil’s Due, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, and I, Frankenstein just weren’t hooking me – I finally made it out to the cinema, sextupling my 2014 theatrical intake in one short week.

Seeing a giant, magic-berry-juice-drinking ape duking it out with Japan’s favorite radioactive lizard on the big screen with a near-capacity crowd in attendance is as close to achieving total consciousness as I ever hope to get (so I've got that going for me, which is nice), and Pan’s Labyrinth was just as rewarding as it was the first time. I also went 4-for-4 with my multiplex excursions, although seriously, AMC, those animated red dots and the little pre-film dumbshows have GOT TO GO. Sooooooooo terrible.

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

HORROR:

King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) d. Honda, Ishiro (Japan) (5th viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

Oculus (2013) d. Flanagan, Mike (USA) (1st viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

Pan's Labyrinth (2006) d. del Toro, Guillermo (Spain) (2nd viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

Patrick (1978) d. Franklin, Richard (Australia) (3rd viewing, Richard Franklin commentary)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

Return to Nuke 'Em High, Vol 1 (2013) d. Kaufman, Lloyd (USA) (3rd viewing, Lloyd Kaufman commentary)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

Under the Skin (2013) d. Glazer, Jonathan (UK) (1st viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

CIVILIAN:

Noah (2014) d. Aronofsky, Darren (USA) (1st viewing)

Rock Monsters?

Raid 2: Berandal, The (2014) d. Evans, Gareth (Indonesia) (1st viewing)

I guess I’ll be the dissenting voice, which is to say that while I agree with most of my noble fellow scribes in that Evans’ follow-up is a superior film overall, with deeper characters, a more epic narrative, and several jaw-dropping action sequences including a car chase/fight that perhaps eclipses any other examples of the form, it isn’t nearly as much balls-out fun as its predecessor. Some have complained that they found The Raid's characters thin, the action repetitive, akin to watching a video game, etc. But for me, that’s the point – it wasn’t a video game, it was real-life, flesh-and-blood people pulling off magic tricks before our very eyes. I’ll definitely be revisiting Berandal, but it will likely be with my thumb on the “chapter select” button, whereas the original I’ll continue to pop in and drop the remote.

Waiting for 'Superman'(2010) d. Guggenheim, Davis (USA) (1st viewing)

Edifying, heartbreaking, inspiring, and frustrating beyond measure, Guggenheim’s examination of the U.S. public school system carries the same sense of time-running-out urgency as his Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth. “Teach your children well.”

2014 Totals to date: 88 films, 46 1st time views, 45 horror, 7 cinema

Time Lapse (2014) d. Bradley King (USA)

Blocked artist Finn (Matt O’Leary), his devoted girlfriend Callie (Danielle Panabaker), and his layabout pal Jasper (George Finn) are all semi-happily co-habitating, enduring the usual challenges of paying rent and finding fulfillment in their everyday twentysomething lives. But when they discover that their recently deceased housing-complex neighbor has been spying on them with an enormous and strange device that spits out Polaroid photos depicting events 24 hours in the future, their humdrum lives are turned upside down, inside out, and back to front as the desire to exploit their newly found toy slowly, inexorably takes hold.

I’m a sucker for a good time-travel yarn; likewise, the “we’ve suddenly got access to a lot of money, now don’t screw it up” (as seen in A Simple Plan or Goodfellas) plot device usually has potential, so it’s no surprise that Time Lapse worked its storytelling charms on me...for the most part. Co-written by director King and producer BP Cooper, the narrative twists and turns are enjoyably gnarly and grow progressively darker as the trio become increasingly obsessed with the next day’s scene as captured through their living room window.

Not wanting to interfere with the time/space continuum (or, more importantly, the newfound gateway to riches via their uncanny knowledge of the next day’s dog racing program), they find themselves struggling to re-create the image shown, an artifice that fills them with mounting dread as the evening photos reveal increasingly sinister, slowly developing snapshots of doom. The result is a cleverly wrought thriller that keeps viewers guessing at every turn.

The chink in the armor, however, is that our three main characters, while played appealingly enough by the more-than-capable actors, are a shallow lot; as such, it’s difficult to maintain identification and interest as they start and continue to make questionable choices. Without getting into spoiler territory, even though most of the troubled triptych’s behavior is justifiable, even believable within the given circumstances, the fact that most of these actions are motivated by greed, laziness, jealousy, and emotional manipulation makes it hard to, well, care. Panabaker, a likeable genre presence from The Crazies remake, the Friday the 13th remake, Piranha 3DD, and Girls Against Boys, seems especially at sea with her thin character. (The fact that she and Harry Potter’s Emma Watson seem to be turning into the same person only adds to the distraction factor.)

That said, the sci-fi trappings and curiosity factor (“Hmmmm, who is that in the photo with Jasper, and what’s he doing in their living room?”) holds our attention throughout (even if a last-minute plot twist feels tacked on and requires the dreaded flashback montage to explain itself), yielding a slight-but-mostly-effective mind-trip.

--Aaron Christensen, HorrorHound Magazine

Waldemar says, "HIDDEN HORROR makes great bedtime reading!"

Howdy, folks,

It's an incredible thing to put something out into the world. You toil away at it in private, tinkering and tweaking, making little compromises, continuing to nudge it in the direction you want it to go. It's never exactly how you envisioned it, but at some point, you finally just say, "Enough."

For HIDDEN HORROR and all its contributors, that day was December 30, 2013, the day we all let go of the string and watched our bloody balloon sail off into parts unknown. We hoped others would love it as much as we did, that they would understand our love for the genre's misfit toys and join in the party. But, of course, there was no guarantee that they would.

So, we watched.

And waited...

And then the reviews started coming in.

And they liked us. They really, really liked us.

Which is pretty darn awesome.

Adding to the outrageously generous pile of stellar notices (previously collected HERE, HERE, and HERE), we happily welcome:

THE GORE SPLATTERED CORNER
http://thegoresplatteredcorner.com/2014/04/12/hidden-horror-a-celebration-of-101-underrated-and-overlooked-fright-flicks-book-review/

FILM DEVIANT
http://www.filmdeviant.com/2014/04/deviant-book-dr-acs-hidden-horror.html

ICONS OF FRIGHT
http://iconsoffright.com/2014/04/19/book-review-hidden-horror/

FORCES OF GEEK
http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2014/04/hidden-horror-celebration-of-101.html

MCBASTARD'S MAUSOLEUM
http://mcbastardsmausoleum.blogspot.com/2014/03/book-review-hidden-horror-celebration.html

HORROR NEWS.NET
http://horrornews.net/84445/book-review-hidden-horror-editor-aaron-christensen/

Additionally, for those of you keeping print alive (YES!), there are lovely write-ups in the latest issues of Fangoria, Rue Morgue, and HorrorHound. (Fango #332 has Under the Skin on the cover, RM #143 has Twin Peaks' Laura Palmer, and HH #46 has The Toxic Avenger.)

As always, thanks to everyone for all of their support and enthusiasm over the past four months. It's been an incredible ride.

Screen cap taken April 24, four months after HH became available for pre-sale. Not too shabby.

HIDDEN HORROR GOES INTERNATIONAL

Well, technically, it's always been international, seeing as how our contributors hail from nearly a dozen different countries, but our liter-scary labor of love made a special appearance at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival last month, with scribes Gert Verbeeck, Steve de Roover, and Sven Soetemans proudly posing with their offspring.

One final reminder: Voting for the 12th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards ends THIS SUNDAY, May 4. If you haven't already, please stop by and let your bloody voice be heard! (Pay special attention to category #11, "Best Horror Book." Wink. Wink wink. Winkity-wink-wink.) http://www.rondoaward.com/

Have a great weekend!

Fool out.

http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Horror-Celebration-Underrated-Overlooked/dp/0991127900

Having traveled over hill, dale, oceans, and international borders over the past couple years, I've become a very big fan of the film festival scene. However, for the second year in a row, The Doc doesn't have to travel any further than his own backyard to get that special slice of pre-release big-screen cinematic goodness. It's time again for the Chicago Critics Film Festival, taking place May 9 - 15 at the historic Music Box Theatre!

Created in 2013 by the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA), with a program that included Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell, Emily Hagins’ Grow Up, Tony Phillips, Katie Aselton’s Black Rock, Jonathan Levine’s All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, Jason Lapeyre & Robert Wilson’s I Declare War, James Ponsoldt’s The Spectacular Now, and the remastered director’s cut of William Friedkin’s Sorcerer, the Chicago Critics Film Festival offers another cornucopia of films comprised of recent festival favorites and as-yet-undistributed works from a wide variety of filmmakers. The CCFF is the ONLY current example of a major film critics group hosting its own festival (Go Chicago!!!), showcasing works from around the globe and from all genres.

For horror fans, this year's lineup features some impressive Windy City debuts, including Housebound (which recently won the Audience Award at Scotland's Dead By Dawn Festival), Bobcat Goldthwait's found-footage Bigfoot flick Willow Creek, Tommy Wirkola's follow-up to his 2009 Nazi zombie hit, Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead, and Elijah Drenner's celebration of the life and career of one of Hollywood's best-loved character actors, That Guy Dick Miller (shown as a double feature with Roger Corman's A Bucket of Blood, one of Miller's rare leading turns).

David Wain, Bobcat Goldthwait, Martin Starr, Jocelyn DeBoer, David Dastmalchian, Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Collin Schiffli and Dick Miller are among the special guests slated to attend.

Festival passes and individual tickets can be acquired by visiting the Music Box box office or online HERE

FILM PASS PRICES
$150 = Full Festival Pass + Closing Night Party (May 9-15)
$100 = Weekend Pass (Fri-Sun – May 9-11)
$75 = Weekday Pass + Closing Night Party (Mon-Thurs – May 12-15)

INDIVIDUAL TICKET PRICES:
$12-$15

To learn more about the Chicago Critics Film Festival, or the individual films, visit http://chicagocriticsfilmfestival.com

Full Schedule below:

Fri, May 9

7:00pm They Came Together (2014) d. David Wain, starring Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Cobie Smulders

9:30pm Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon (2014) d. Mike Myers (yes, that Mike Myers) (documentary)

***12:00am Housebound (2014) d. Gerard Johnstone, starring Morgana O'Reilly, Rima Te Wiata, Glen-Paul Waru

Sat, May 10

1:50pm Chicago Critics Film Festival Shorts Program 1, featuring Cruising Electric, Butter Lamp, Seawolf (pictured), Godka Cirka – Hole In the Sky, Yearbook, The Lion’s Mouth Opens, and Choreography

3:45pm Copenhagen (2013) d. Mark Raso, starring Gethin Anthony, Frederikke Dahl Hansen

5:45pm The One I Love (2014) d. Charlie McDowell, starring Mark Duplass, Elisabeth Moss, Ted Danson

7:45pm Calvary (2014) d. John Michael McDonagh, starring Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd, Kelly Reilly

***9:45pm Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead (2014) d. Tommy Wirkola, starring Vegar Hoel, Orjan Gamst, Martin Starr, Jocelyn DeBoer

12:00am The Congress (2013) d. Ari Folman, starring Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel, Jon Hamm

Sun, May 11

2:45pm 10,000 KM (2013) d. Carlos Marques-Marcet, starring Natalia Tena, David Verdaguer (Spanish with English subtitles)

5:00pm The Overnighters (2014) d. Jesse Moss

***7:00pm That Guy Dick Miller (2014) d. Elijah Drenner (documentary)
A Bucket of Blood (1960) d. Roger Corman, starring Dick Miller, Barboura Morris, Antony Carbone

10:30pm Mood Indigo (2013) d. Michel Gondry, starring Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh

Mon, May 12

5:00pm Chicago Critics Film Festival Shorts Program 2, featuring Peepers, I’m a Mitzvah, Crime Stories: The Series (pictured), The Cut, Notes on Blindness, and Londoners.

7:00pm I Origins (2014) d. Mike Cahill, starring Michael Pitt, Brit Marling, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey

9:30pm Frequencies (2014) d. Darren Paul Fisher, starring Daniel Fraser, Eleanor Wyld, Dylan Llewellyn

Tue, May 13

5:00pm Private Violence (2013) d. Cynthia Hill (documentary)

7:00pm Nick Offerman: American Ham (2014) d. Jordan Vogt-Roberts

9:35pm Starred Up (2014) d. David Mackenzie, starring Jack O'Connell, Rupert Friend, Ben Mendelsohn

Wed, May 14

5:00pm Mystery Road (2013) d. Ivan Sen, starring Aaron Pedersen, Hugo Weaving, Ryan Kwanten

***7:30pm Willow Creek (2013) d. Bobcat Goldthwait, starring Alexie Gilmore, Bryce Johnson

9:45pm El Critico (2013) d. Hernán Gerschun, Rafael Spregelburd, Dolores Fonzi, Blanca Lewin (Spanish with English subtitles)

Thu, May 15

4:45pm I Put a Hit on You (2014) d. Dane Clark / Linsey Stewart, starring Aaron Ashmore, Sara Canning

6:30pm Obvious Child (2014) directed by Gillian Robespierre, starring Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffman

8:30pmAnimals (2014) d. Collin Schiffli, starring David Dastmalchian, Kim Shaw, John Heard

See you at the show!

So, how have those bee pollen supplements have been working out for you....?

Howdy, folks,

In a callback to the good ol’ days, it was Kitley’s Krypt and the Chicago Public Library that dictated the majority of this week’s viewings. Army duties and an impromptu Sunday afternoon Share the Scare session (accompanied by Film Deviant wunderkind Bryan Martinez) served up the frights, while CPL impulse checkouts handled civilian duties.

As always feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

HORROR:

Dream Home (2010) d. Pang, Ho-Cheung (Hong Kong) (2nd viewing)

Awesome Hong Kong body count flick revolves around a young strapped-for-cash lady bent on acquiring a ocean-view apartment, even if it means taking out half of the complex’s residents. This midnight-black comedy/social commentary delivers the goods for slasher fans, in that there are nearly a dozen applause-worthy kill gags. Well executed (pun intended) and worth your time.

Inquisition (1976) d. Naschy, Paul (as Jacinto Molina) (Spain) (2nd viewing)

The Spanish horror star makes his directorial debut with this atmospheric if lugubriously paced shocker about a notorious witch hunter Bernard de Fossey (Naschy) torching and torturing his way through the 16th-century French countryside. Though similar to Witchfinder General, The Devils, and Mark of the Devil in theme (absolute power corrupts absolutely) and onscreen imagery (fetching, oft-nude lasses branded, broken, and burned), the novelty here is that our heroine (Daniela Giordano) that Fossey has his salacious eye on actually does compact with Satan to achieve vengeance against the man who murdered her lover. However, even with this intriguing twist and the requisite beauteous bevy of boobs and blood, it still takes a while for the film to get where it’s going.

Time Lapse (2014) d. King, Bradley (USA) (1st viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

KRYPTIC ARMY APRIL MISSION: THE LEGENDARY ROGER CORMAN

Navy vs. the Night Monsters, The (1966) d. Hoey, Michael A. (USA) (1st viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

Wasp Woman, The (1995) d. Wynorski, Jim (USA) (1st viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

CIVILIAN:

Red Road (2006) d. Arnold, Andrea (UK) (1st viewing)

Terrific Scottish thriller about a woman (Kate Dickie) fixated on the recently released convict (Tony Curran) that murdered her husband and daughter. The fact that she’s employed by an “eye in the sky” offshoot of the police force – monitoring security cameras – only abets her obsession. Creepy and suspenseful, with some seriously strange twists and turns. Winner of the 2006 Cannes Jury Prize.

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) d. Coen, Joel / Coen, Ethan (USA) (1st viewing)

I can understand why people didn’t warm to this tale of an abrasive folk musician in pre-Dylan 60s Manhattan – the guy’s a bit of an insufferable ass. The performances are all fantastic, especially Oscar Isaac as the titular jerktagonist, but ultimately, it’s a little hard to care.

How to Survive a Plague (2012) d. France, David (USA) (1st viewing)

This Oscar-nominated documentary about America’s foot-dragging policy in (not) dealing with the AIDS crisis during the early '80s is so agonizingly frustrating and heartbreaking that the slight glimmer of triumph shown at the end (testimonials from HIV-positive patients who were written off for dead decades ago) almost comes too late to stave off the helplessness. But the tenacity and spirit displayed by these brave souls is a sight to behold, so take your medicine and watch…and then do what you can.

Lady Whirlwind (aka Deep Thrust) (1972) d. Huang, Feng (Hong Kong) (1st viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***

Conan the Destroyer (1984) d. Fleischer, Richard (USA) (1st viewing)

Holy Crom. Cheesier by a long shot, this sequel to the 1982 smash that put Arnold Schwarzenegger on the map boasts a cast wildly diverse in presence and talent. Stiff Wilt Chamberlain stands tall, Grace Jones screams and bugs her eyes, Sarah Douglas sneers majestically, Olivia D’Abo pouts prettily, Mako does his Mako thing, and Tracey Walter seems to forget the first word in “comic relief.” Not as much dumb fun as it should have been, but not a complete failure either.

2014 Totals to date: 98 films, 54 1st time views, 50 horror, 7 cinema

Evilspeak (1981) d. Eric Weston (USA)

Stanley Coopersmith (Clint Howard) doesn’t have it easy. His parents were killed in an automobile accident, he’s a bit on the awkward and overweight side, he’s stuck at a military academy with a bumper crop of sadistic bullying jerkwads, the school authorities all think he’s a whiny sob story, and he’s assigned the most menial tasks conceivable, including mucking out the pigpen and cleaning up the chapel’s cavernous basement. It’s during the latter labor that he stumbles across an ancient book of spells, one which may reveal the power to revive the spirit of fallen 16th-century priest Father Esteban (Richard Moll), renowned for his knowledge of the dark arts and gleeful beheadings.

This version of the classic “underdog turned (demonic) overlord” has developed quite the following over the years, due in no small part to its frequent cable television screenings, as well as the hubbub over the MPAA’s excision of many of its juicer bits in order to acquire an “R” rating and its status as an official BFCC Video Nasty. Its portrayal of a sympathetic loser hews close to that of the 1976 screen adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie, with the tormented finally unleashing the powers of hell upon his/her tormentors in a climactic conflagration of death and destruction.

That said, director Weston is no Brian De Palma; there are very few thrills prior to the final showdown and an excess of watching “Cooperdick” get beaten down time and again. Happily, there’s the mid-film WTF sequence where Charles Tyner’s sexy secretary Lynn Hancock concludes her deliciously gratuitous shower scene entertaining a herd of random ravenous boars in the hallway. That’ll teach her to run off with ornately bejeweled tomes of suspect origin.

The biggest novelty, that of the beleaguered brainiac using an early-model Apple computer to translate and conjure Esteban’s spirit from the land beyond, is downplayed so much that its early-'80s storyline innovation will likely be lost on today’s ubiquitous PC-entrenched viewer. “Well, of course he would use a computer – how else would anyone do anything?” Luckily, our picked-on punk still has to come up with some goodies like human blood and unconsecrated host; I fear that when the inevitable remake comes, he’ll just need to break through a particularly thorny firewall and hotlink a .gif or two to download the demons.

According to Thomas T. Sueyres at Video Junkie, the movie’s various iterations are enough to keep your head spinning like a Georgetown birthday party at the McNeil household. The U.S. theatrical release was cut at the last minute by the distributor, a rush job that resulted in several of the prints going into theaters with the gore scenes still intact. However, most 1983 VHS and cable releases were taken directly from the sloppily edited and neutered 89-minute version. When Anchor Bay released Evilspeak on DVD in the States in 2004, their version reinstated the red stuff, but was still missing a substantial amount of additional footage (some bits containing dialogue, others featuring split-second transition shots). However, their UK release featured the uncut version with all the gore and the extra footage in a two-DVD set.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082346/alternateversions

Shout! Factory now steps up to the plate, and while they don’t offer the full 103+-minute version our tea-loving neighbors to the east enjoy, they come pretty darn close with 97 minutes of chatter, splatter, and piggy-patter in glorious 1080p hi-def. The now-expected generous supplements include a 30-minute “making-of,” which is really just reminiscences with cast members Moll, Hancock, Claude Earl Jones, Loren Lester, and Haywood (What’s Happenin’) Nelson.

There are also three separate interviews with Howard, Joseph Cortese, and Don Stark that are not integrated into the larger program; a little detective work reveals that these were originally conducted for last year’s Code Red DVD release (and it bears mentioning that the quality level is not nearly up to the level of Aine Leicht’s skillfully edited piece. Add to this another interview with SFX master Allan A. Apone, who details several challenges faced on this, his company’s first big project. While the presentation feels a little haphazard, it nevertheless all adds up to over an hour’s worth of fond memories, with all concerned making special notice of what a pleasure it was to be included in a cast of veterans like Tyner, R.G. Armstrong, and Lenny Montana (“Luca Brasi” from The Godfather). Plus, Moll is a hammy riot.

However, what should have been the crown jewel ends up being another notch in Shout! Factory’s growing belt of clunker commentaries as Bill Olsen, President of Code Red, shares the mike with Weston. Now, I realize that S!F had nothing to do with the commentary; it was recorded for CR’s 2013 DVD release and they probably thought, “What the heck? It’s done, we’re including the other interviews as well, let’s move along.” However, one gets the feeling that nobody actually listened to the track, or they would have realized their mistake. It’s a rambling and coarse discourse, with Olsen dissing on Frank Laloggia’s Fear No Evil because that film’s shower scene “had all that gay subtext in it.” He then goes on to call several actors “great big fat guys,” while Weston refers to his star as “looking as though he was made up of spare parts.” No one would crown Clint Howard any beauty contest winner, but that’s just rude.

"My ears are burning, no, BLEEDING over here!"

There are also endless declarations that there is “NO CGI HERE.” We get it, it was 1980, and we applaud Apone’s resourcefulness, but if there were a drinking game attached to every mention of computer-generated imagery, viewers would be dead of alcohol poisoning before the 45-minute mark. Finally, Olsen, who clearly has a speech impediment (“Rance Howard” comes out “Lance Howald”) paired with his thick Noo Yawk accent and penchant for mispronunciations (“Antoon LaVey,” anyone?) probably isn’t the best choice for moderator, especially when he indulges in as many time-consuming tangents as his subject. (“Do you know what happened to that painting of Father Esteban?”) The 10-minute passage where they mourn the loss of a certain Hollywood diner might be edifying to some, but fans of, oh, the movie that we’re watching will be losing their minds (or, more likely, digging out their old Anchor Bay discs to listen to the slightly superior track featuring Weston, Howard, and production assistant Warren Lewis).

Ultimately, this long-anticipated hi-def package is as rough and tumble as the movie itself, but those in a forgiving vein should find plenty to enjoy.

Evilspeak hits Blu-ray Tuesday, May 13 from Shout! Factory and can be pre-ordered HERE:

http://www.shoutfactory.com/product/evilspeak

--Aaron Christensen, HorrorHound Magazine

Final Exam (1981) d. Jimmy Huston (USA)

Released during the thick of the stalk n’ slash heyday, the setting for writer/director Huston’s seemingly standard programmer is that most popular of locales, a college campus, with an assortment of nubile characters trotted out for the slaughter at the hands of a homicidal maniac. However, Final Exam has a few tricks up its sleeve; whether fans will appreciate said deviations from the norm is another question altogether.

I generally try to avoid spoilers when reviewing, but in this case, I believe it’s for the best to manage expectations from the get-go by providing a pertinent tidbit of information. Almost every other slasher flick deals with its antagonist in one of two ways: 1) the identity of the killer is kept secret from the audience in order to preserve the mystery until the big reveal in the final act, or 2) we know who the killer is and are forced to watch him close in on his helpless (and often clueless) prey.

However, the twist of the blade here is that Final Exam’s human monster is a complete cipher. His identity is kept from us throughout – we never find out who this guy in the beaten-up Army fatigues is. He’s just a guy. A big, powerful guy, but with no backstory, no reason for killing, not even a mask to hide his features. He’s just a nameless Ginsu-toting gent who has targeted this particular group of co-eds and doesn’t stop until he has his fateful confrontation with our established Final Girl Courtney (Cecile Bagdadi). No reveal, no answers, no nothing. It’s so crazy, it’s almost revolutionary. And yet, by flagrantly chucking out one of the cardinal rules of slasherdom, unsuspecting viewers are bound to be taken aback, especially since he's not nearly as interesting as the disembodied voice of "Billy" in Bob Clark's Black Christmas.

One can understand Huston’s desire to tweak the established formula, and to emphasize the randomness of violence in our culture. Our resident film geek and big-brained horror fan Radish (Joel L. Rice) explicitly states the film’s subtext: “People are killed every day for no reason.” But rather than allowing us to identify with our everyman killer as Peter Bogdanovich did in Targets, Huston keeps us at an arm’s length – we know he’s there, but we don’t know anything about him. In the meantime, we get to know everything about his victims. There’s no shortage of character development, as nearly 50 minutes go by before anyone hits the bricks. We learn about their lives, loves, challenges, ambitions, affairs, flirtations, animosities, G.P.A.s....

Then, after all that chit-chat, THEY ALL HIT THE BRICKS. And for all their individuality in life, every character dies in a fairly generic fashion. The musclehead jock (Ralph Brown) is flung about like a ragdoll, the brain is outsmarted, the seductress (DeAnna Robbins) can’t flirt her way out of it, etc. If they’re just going to be picked off by the numbers, what is the point in establishing who they are? Especially when our marauding maniac has no personality at all? It’s as though someone stuck a slasher third act onto a co-ed comedy a la Animal House or Porky’s...which might be interesting if it wasn’t billed first and foremost as a slasher. It’s one thing to thwart expectations, but something unusual and/or memorable in its stead would have been appreciated.

There is one pleasantly shocking, show-stopping sequence at around the 15-minute mark involving a gang in a van (you’ll know it when you see it), but one that reveals its toothlessness as the scene plays out. One could argue that the sequence is a commentary on Huston’s commentary, but one could just as easily argue that it’s simply more filler, less thriller.

With these crosses to bear, it’s not surprising that the film has slipped into obscurity over the years, but apparently still has its devotees. Code Red released it to DVD back in late 2008, and now Shout! Factory has ported over those supplemental features while giving the overall presentation a much-appreciated facelift for its Blu-ray debut. These include interviews with Bagdadi, Rice, and Sherry Willis-Burch, all of whom were making their big screen debut with Final Exam, and across the board they express great affection for the experience, their fellow castmates, and the film as a whole. (Willis-Burch only did only other feature, 1986’s bizarre and underrated possession/slasher mashup Killer Party, while Bagdadi left the business altogether. Rice, seen in 1984’s fright flick compendium Terror in the Aisles as a terrified filmgoer, turned to producing TV movies where he has remained quite successful.) The commentary track, also recorded in 2008 with New Beverly Cinema’s Julia Marchese and Darren Miller of Rock World moderating alongside the three featured actors. It’s a genuinely enjoyable track, with lots of laughter and fangirling from Marchese (who emphatically states that Jamie Kennedy's "Randy" character is inspired directly by Radish).

Plus, knowing what I was in for, the movie admittedly went down a lot easier the second time around. Is that a reluctant endorsement for repeat viewings? Perhaps so.

Final Examis available now from Shout! Factory and can be ordered HERE.

http://www.shoutfactory.com/product/final-exam

--Aaron Christensen, HorrorHound Magazine

Cloverfield (2008) d. Matt Reeves (USA)

Produced by J.J. Abrams – who thankfully kept his lens-flare loving hands to himself – this hair-raising, motion sickness-causing creature feature utilizes the “found footage” gimmick (before it was mercilessly beaten into the ground in the wake of Paranormal Activity’s huge success the next year) to follow a handful of hipsters (Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Odette Yustman) as they try to survive a towering interloper’s surprise assault on Manhattan.

Screenwriter Drew Goddard's narrative conceit requires a considerable amount of indulgence as the story progresses – methinks our civilian twentysomethings, especially in the days before the ubiquitous smartphone, would have dropped the camera and ran their asses off looooong ago – but the early fleeting glimpses of the behemoth draw in the viewer in the very best way.

Some critics have complained that Reeves ultimately shows too much of Neville Page’s brilliantly imagined behemoth, but dammit, if you’re going to have a giant monster movie, you gotta show the monster. (That said, the money shot where the gargantuan beastie sneaks up on our heroes in Central Park is a bit much. I mean, really).

Minor nitpicking aside, this is an original, entertaining, post-9/11 spin on the time-honored monster-on-the-loose tale, in that there are no scenes with scientists and military sitting around discussing the creature’s origins and how it can be defeated. By placing everything from a single civilian’s viewpoint, we are literally thrust into the middle of the action given no more information than our main characters at any time.

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