Social Media Post Latin American Horror Double Feature

 One of my social media posts on The Banshee site. For some reason, I can't share directly from there. The Banshee is an awesome site devoted to horror in all forms.

This week’s tour of Latin America Horror cinema visits Paraguay and Brazil for two ghostly narratives from the morgue.

Morgue, 2019 Paraguay - Written and directed by Hugo Cardozo, Morgue reveals the tale of security guard Diego’s (Pablo Martinez) first night patrolling the morgue. The film provides a couple of solid jump scares but becomes mired in the shadowy areas of its environment about halfway through. There is no connection established between Diego’s guilt over accidentally killing a man and the supernatural torment he experiences. This robs the audience of watching any sort of resolution or redemption on his behalf. Morgue is available for rental on Amazon and for free on Tubi.

The Nightshifter (Morto Não Fala), 2019, Brazil - Another tale of a fellow who works in the morgue whose wrong decisions literally come back to haunt him. Dennison Ramalho directs the film from his script co-written with Cláudia Jouvin and based on a novel by Marco de Castro. Hardworking morgue attendant Stênio (Daniel de Oliveira) devotes his nights to casually conversing with the lifeless people he meets at work. When he uses secrets revealed by the corpses for revenge, he unleashes a furious phantom, calling for its own vengeance. The Nightshifter is currently streaming on Shudder and Amazon

Violation - Film Review on The Banshee

Starting out as a tense reunion between two sisters, Violation quickly blows past any expectations the viewer may have and charges into the uncharted areas of the abject.

Check it out here!

Ad Lib - Short Film Review on The Banshee!

Joseph Catté's award-winning short Ad Lib is a fantasy thriller that uses music and karaoke to tell the story of Max and Julie's troubled relationship. Everything is not as it seems and the world beyond the colorful songs is dark and dangerous and has plenty of surprises. Check out our film review here:

https://www.grimoireofhorror.com/the-banshee/ad-lib-short-2022-short-film-review/

Big Doin's

 I got an article published at another site today! For those that are interested, you can read it here.

I take a crack at reviewing classic blaxploitation horror film Sugar Hill. 

Let me know what you think

Nothing brings a family together better than the holidays. Unless it is a deranged alien bent on destroying eveything. That will united even the most dysfunctional familys.

 

Read Time:2 Minute, 50 Second

Shocktoberfest 2021, Yuletide Edition

What do you do if you are into horror films but none of your family is, yet they insist you put together a list of holiday favorite movies because you are also the designated AV and IT guy? You can apply yourself to coming up with a bunch of family favorites guaranteed to warm their hearts or do such a terrible job that they will ask nothing of you ever again.

This situation does not warrant compromise. Either everyone will gather with cups of warm cocoa in their best Christmas sweaters and chuckle at the hijinks of whatever nightmarishly wholesome story of family bonding they settled on while you sit off to the side in your Nightmare on Elm Street —Dream Warriors hoodie, praying for a zombie apocalypse, or they glare with hatred at you as they pack up their still wrapped presents and leave.

SHOCKTOBERFEST 2021 FINAL EDITION -SLASHTASTIC!

Jason and Me

How I caught air in the theater.

Slashers were once unwelcome companions on my horror movie journey. The stories about the deaths of obnoxious teenagers seemed more like pointless exercises in sadism than genuine horror. But they would do in a pinch. When I was a freshman in college, my girlfriend and I went to see Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. It was hard to keep my opinion quiet about how awful the movie was. Everything from the terrible choices the characters made to the predictable jump-scares were cause for complaint. Most irritating was the scene where Trish Jarvis (Kimberly Beck) returns to the dark basement where she just witnessed Jason kill Rob (E. Erick Anderson). What was she thinking? Rob was dead and Jason was still lurking in the dark. When she turned to run back up the stairs, I whispered to my date, “Watch, he is going to grab her!”

Watching a good scary movie can be a real physical experience. Releasing intense emotions causes an equal release of energy. As my prediction came true and Jason grabbed Trish, my words were lost in the loud scream that came out instead and  I vaulted over the divider and onto my girlfriend’s lap.

Obviously, there was much to learn about the power slashers.

SHOCKTOBERFEST 2021 - WEEK 3 - IT'S HENENLOTTER WEEK!

HENENLOTTER WEEK!

Everything Old is New Again

For the third edition of this year’s Shocktoberfest, I found a link between a contemporary film and a filmmaker rooted The Golden Age of Exploitation.

James Wan, a modern filmmaker whose hits include The Conjuring, Saw, and Insidious, heads in a new direction with his latest film, Malignant. The movie has been making waves in the horror community since its release. Stephen King himself extolled it in a tweet, heaping the highest praise on it. While looking forward, Wan's film rely's on the dirty DNA of Frank Henenlotter’s gory masterpiece, Basket Case.

SHOCKTOBERFEST 2021 WEEK TWO, THE PIZZA RITUAL

 

The Hoolihan and Big Chuck Show cast – Bob “Hoolihan” Wells, “Little” John Rinaldi, and “Big Chuck” Shodowski

Ever since I was old enough to stay up late and use the stove by myself, Friday nights were all about eating frozen pizzas and watching horror movies on TV. Before the Internet and VCRs, I was limited to the choices of whatever the local stations had on hand. Right after the nightly news, The Hoolihan and Big Chuck Show would start its weekly program of movies, silly skits, and PSAs for activities in Cleveland. Eventually, my parents bought a VCR, and the local video stores expanded my access to horror movies.

Now, nearly four decades later, I celebrate my love of horror movies and frozen pizzas whenever I can. Here is the lineup from my latest Friday Night Pizza and Horror Movies ritual:

SHOCKTOBERFEST 2021, WEEK ONE!

 

Let’s get this party started! Time for this year’s round of Shocktoberfest mini-reviews!

I believe that horror can save us. Horror makes sense of the chaotic, unpredictable modern world. It provides solace to our stressed and grieving hearts. Horror paints vibrant colors over darkened existences. Horror helps us discover the best in all of us.

The stories themselves bring these changes. Discovering the strange and unusual helps us to bond with others. It encourages trust-building, attachment, vulnerability, and empathy. Empathy is the capacity to understand and even feel what another person is experiencing. To paraphrase The Prayer For Peace, also known as the Prayer of Saint Francis, it is better to understand than to be understood*. Embracing the unknown brings us knowledge.

Of course, in horror, everything becomes subverted and twisted. A wily serial killer may use empathy to get closer to their victim. In the first Shocktoberfest 2021 movie, failing to understand can be a lethal thing.

Have the lambs stopped screaming yet?

[Fantaspoa Fest] CEMETERY OF LOST SOULS IS A BLOODY, MYSTICAL HISTORY LESSON

Cipriano (Renato Chocair)

 CEMETERY OF LOST SOULS

Directed by Rodrigo Aragão
Written by Rodrigo Aragão
Starring Renato Chocair, Allana Lopes, Diego Garcias, Caio Macedo, Clarissa Pinhei

Evil can’t be controlled

Introduction

The present is formed by history and battles started hundreds of years ago are still waging on. Brazilian writer-director Rodrigo Aragão’s newest film, O Cemitério das Almas Perdidas (The Cemetery of Lost Souls, 2021) is an engrossing and dark fantasy that uses the fight between the shamanism of Brazil’s indigenous people and the staid, oppressive and exploitative Catholicism of the Portuguese colonists. The movie opens with a dedication to José Mojica Marins, Brazil’s most well-known horror icon: Zé de Caixão/Coffin Joe. AragãoIs is telling the audience to prepare themselves for a history lesson through the lens of horror.

[Review] WITNESS INFECTION (2021) SERVES UP A FRESH DISH FROM CINEMATIC LEFTOVERS

Director: Andy Palmer
Writers: Carlos Alazraqui, Jill-Michele Melean (as Jill-Michele Meleán)
Stars: Robert Belushi, Jill-Michele Melean, Vince Donvito, Errin Hayes, Bret Ernst, Monique Coleman

“Always leave one in the head!”

 -- Serrelli Family Motto

“It smells like death in here.”

Witness Infection (2021) is like a delicious repast made from leftovers. While the ingredients are familiar, mobster movies, rom-coms, zombie invasion films, they get mixed together into a unique dish. Occasionally the meal devolves  into an overcooked, tasteless mess by relying on overused stereotypes, this liberally spiced gangster-zombie-romcom is saved by a quick witted, funny script and over-the top gore. There are plenty laughs, thrills and even a little pathos to balance it all out. Some viewers may left hungry  for more substance, over all, it is a fun meal to feast on. 

When Clemenza schools Michael on the art of cooking for 20 in The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola forever linked together Italian families and food in cinema. Director Andy Palmer and co-writers Carlos Alazraqui and Jill-Michele Melean continue that tradition with a skilled cast of veteran comedy actors to create a movie about food, family, and the intestines that tie them together.

BATHED IN BLOOD

A Legacy of Brutality

Many fans of the horror genre are curious about the bizarre, the violent, and above all, the bloody and frightening. The prospect of a journey into the abject, that terrifying place where there are no boundaries and everything is hostile and alien, is an irresistible draw to us.   History is one of many resources available to help satisfy that curiosity.  Its frightful stories of monstrous men and women captivate our imaginations. One such pair who have left an indelible mark on public consciousness appeared in Eastern Europe along the bridge of the 15th and 16th centuries and their impact is strongly felt today!

[REVIEW] LUCKY (2020): A DARK AND HORRIFYING REFLECTION OF OUR OWN WORLD

 LUCKY (2020)

Director: Natasha Kermani
Writer: Brea Grant 
Stars: Brea Grant, Hunter C. Smith, Kausar Mohammed, Dhruv Uday Singh, Yasmine Al-Bustami

“ I am not lucky I just work really really hard”

The Brea Grant Appreciation Society will come to order

People who are obsessed with horror movies are also obsessed with the people that make them. Many horror fans keep lists of favorite personalities such as Stephen King,  John Carpenter and George Romero to name a few. After watching the excellent 12 Hour Shift, I added the name Brea Grant to my list. Ms Grant is a thought-provoking writer and innovative director. In addition to writing and directing, she is also an exceptional actress, having appeared in several notable films and TV series. The year 2021 is starting out to be a big year for her as well. March of this year will feature the release of two new projects that she has been intimately involved with; she stars in Jill Gevargizian’s The Stylist, and she wrote and starred in director Natasha Kermani’s Lucky (2020).

[REVIEW]FRIG YOU, GOLDEN GLOBES! IT’S PSYCHO GOREMAN (2020)

PSYCHO GOREMAN

Director: Steven Kostanski
Writer: Steven Kostanski
Stars: Steven Vlahos, Matthew Ninaber, Kristen MacCulloch, Nita-Josee Hanna, Owen Myre, Alexis Kara Hancey, Timothy Paul McCarthy

Psycho Goreman: The horrors you have just witnessed cannot be unseen. Your young minds will carry this until it consumes you in a miserable death.
Mimi: Cool.

On February 3rd, 2021, the Hollywood Foreign Press announced their nominees for the 78th Golden Globe awards, to spotlight excellence in film and television. I would like to address what I consider to be a grievous error of omission on their part. Their failure to nominate Stephen Kostanski’s Psycho Goreman (2020) as Best Intergalactic Feature is an unbelievable oversight and needs to be addressed!

[REVIEW] 'HUNTER HUNTER' GOES AFTER THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME

 Starring: Camille Sullivan, Summer H. Howell, Devon Sawa, Nick Stahl
Director: Shawn Linden
Writer: Shawn Linden

“We bring our problems to them, they bring their problems to us.” - Joseph

---

THE ELEMENTS OF FICTION

Shawn Linden's (The Good Lie) third film, Hunter Hunter (2020) presents the viewer with a complex roadmap to navigate towards a shocking conclusion which firmly places it in the subgenre of Canuxploitation.  Linden takes his time to flense the skin and fat from his story to expose the bones and sinew before laying out the beating heart of  his thriller. The main characters, the Mersault family,  journey through many types of conflicts which drive the rising action and leads to a shocking climax and bloody resolution.

 

The Mersault family struggles with many different types of conflict as they live in their chosen setting, a cabin deep in the woods with minimal human contact. Joseph (Devon Sawa, Final Destination, Idle Hands), Anne (Camille Sullivan, A Dog's Way Home), and their tweener daughter, Renee (Summer H. Howell, Cult of Chucky), live off the grid. They make a simple, bare bones life as hunters and trappers. Their primitive existence is initially upset the return of a wolf that eats their traps the discovery that there is not enough money to buy supplies for the coming winter.

 

Revisiting The Dunwich Horror

Child of Dunwich rise
You have your fathers’ eyes
Child of Dunwich rise
End the world that you despise
     -Electric Wizard, “Dunwich,” Witchcult Today

Return to Dunwich

One of the most looked-forward-to horror movies of 2020 was Richard Stanley’s Color Out of Space. It was Stanley’s return to directing after 1992’s Dust Devil. There was much excitement about what the talented filmmaker would do with a work based on one of horror’s most beloved, and problematic authors–Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Upon release, the movie quickly was lauded as one of the year’s best movies. The reasons for its success are many, but Stanley’s unique envisioning of the story and his reverence for the source material were among the largest. Not surprisingly, the moviegoing public is anxiously expecting what he will do next.

Early in 2020, Stanley announced plans to make a Lovecraft trilogy. He had begun writing a script for The Dunwich Horror, based on Lovecraft’s story, first published in Weird Tales magazine in April 1929. This was exciting news for me because watching Daniel Haller’s The Dunwich Horror (1970) on late night television was my introduction to Lovecraft’s eldritch New England with its caches of forbidden knowledge, occult practitioners, and transdimensional monsters. I had been thinking about watching it again and now had a reason. With a new version coming soon, it was time to revisit spooky, aged Dunwich, Massachusetts to refresh myself on what devilry the Whateley clan did to earn their place in the hallowed halls of horror.

2020 YEAR END REVIEW

La Llorona

Holy shitballs has 2020 been a wild ride! But I believe we all learned a lot this year. Sadly, most of that probably falls under the “Good to Know” category rather than the “Good News” category. Who knew we would all end the year with Christmas lists that include day pajamas? Or be faced with the unsettling discovery that behind the burled, polished hardwood exterior of our system of checks and balances is the maggot laden, decomposing, hungry-for-your-brain zombie of despotism? Or just how easily many of our nation’s most beloved ideals could be subverted and perverted, used to attack the very principles they were established to protect?
But lets talk about the movies. Here is my first ever end of the year wrap up of favorite films from the last few years. I made an effort to concentrate on movies that I haven’t written about previously because everyone already knows that Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria is my favorite film. No, I mean Mandy, or was that Midsommer? Or…

I have been using the tools at Trakt to record what I watch and rate. My profile (please feel free to follow me!) is here: https://trakt.tv/users/mcubed1220

[LISTS] SHOCKTOBERFEST 2020 SIXTH AND FINAL EDITION

 

David Kajganich, screenwriter of Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria spoke on The Gaylords of Darkness Podcast about there being two kinds of horror: Rigorous and less rigorous horror. To me, that defines the movies I watch once or twice and forget about and the ones that I rewatch many times because they offer plenty to ponder. For this edition, I mixed in some less rigorous films and reveled in their easy-going charms!

[LISTS] SHOCKTOBERFEST 2020 FIFTH EDITION

Dear Past-Mike,

So much has happened in the world since you wrote to me in mid-September! Suffice it to say that life is still overwhelming, and our limbic systems are overburdened. The effects of long-term exposure to stress can lead to real changes in brain functionality and behavior. People can exhibit bizarre behavior and may become more susceptible to addiction and depression. Lucky for us, we have been dealing with those issues successfully for quite a while!

SHOCKTOBERFEST 2020 FOURTH EDITION, A ROUGH TRANSITION TO THE MODERN ERA

Add caption

This week’s edition of Shocktoberfest 2020 is about old world horrors under the modern world’s electric lights. A Bay of Blood, which I wrote about last week, is an apt milestone to delineate between the dignified, gloomy gothic horror films set in the past and the newer, present-day, violent, and gory horror films that began to push them aside. Viewers began to lose interest in watching movies set in the previous century and began to crave movies set in a more familiar world – the one they were living in now. 

[FANTASIA FEST REVIEW] ’12 HOUR SHIFT’ IS A GRUESOME COMEDY OF ERRORS

12 HOUR SHIFT (2020)

Directed & Written by Brea Grant
Stars: Angela Bettis, David Arquette, Chloe Farnworth, Mick Foley

Lucky you got family checks on you.

12 Hour Shift is a true gem of a movie! Writer-director Brea Grant’s ode to the fucked-up-ness of life in Arkansas in 1999, 12 Hour Shift (2020), was the movie I was most looking forward to watching at this year’s virtual Fantasia Fest. The acting, the story, the music, and the attention to fine detail made watching this long-anticipated movie a treat!. Like a master storyteller, Grant splays out her characters like a group of spinning quarters whirling around a tabletop. They ricochet off of each other in unpredictable ways, fall over or sail over the table’s edge.

[LISTS] SHOCKTOBERFEST 2020, THIRD EDITION

 

Dear Future-Mike,

I am writing this on September 18th, 2020 just after I found out that Ruth Bader Ginsburg is dead. For the first time, I am considering giving up and letting hopelessness take over. I keep thinking of a social media post about trauma survivors  who watch the same movies and shows over and over. It is because they find comfort in the familiarity of the experience. Revisiting favorite shows and movies is a powerful antidote against the unpredictability of life. Pattern recognition for humans, where we examine the data,  looking for the reassurances that we will survive the present.

[LISTS] SHOCKTOBERFEST 2020, SECOND EDITION

 

[LISTS] SHOCKTOBERFEST 2020, FIRST EDITION

This week I revisited a film that after 50 years still gives me nightmares. I was surprised to find some curious links between it, modern horror films, and today's news cycle. Like Ripley tells the xenomorph in Alien 3, "You've been in my life so long, I can't remember anything else,"  I can't remember my life before images from George Romero's Night of the Living Dead started making started making an impression.  In fact, it was so powerful that I first viewed it subconsciously during my nighttime slumbers years before I was able to actually watch it. The world also said goodbye to Diana Rigg this week. This was perfect reason to watch her and Vincent Price ham it up in Douglas Hickox's Theater of Blood, a thriller-chiller of Shakespearean proportions.

[LISTS] SHOCKTOBERFEST 2020, FIRST EDITION

 

[LISTS] SHOCKTOBERFEST 2020, FIRST EDITION

My first nightmare - Lon Chaney

Where did my love of horror come from? As near as I can tell, it is probably hard-coded into my DNA. I am certain that there is a specific gene sequence that is related to a passion for the macabre and ghastly. As a small child, maybe even as young as 5 or six, my dreams became populated with images that I would later recognize as monsters from movies. In the first dream I can remember, I was trapped in the dark, spooky side of our basement when a frightening creature lunged at me from behind the furnace. Later on, I would find a picture of that monster in a book on movies at the local public library. It was none other than the great Lon Chaney Sr. from London After Midnight that pursued me into the dark and damned spaces of imagination that I call home. In order to celebrate that first panic run into nightmare territory, here are the first week’s movies from my yearly Shocktoberfest! 

[REVIEW] THE BEACH HOUSE (2019)

In the midst of an extinction level event, The Beach House reminds us of how fragile human life really is.

THE BEACH HOUSE

Starring:  Liana Liberato, Noah Le Gros, Jake Weber, Maryann Nagel

Written & Directed by: Jeffery A. Brown

“You should be thankful you have all the time to do what you want” -Jane

Writer and director Jeffery A. Brown’s first feature film, The Beach House (2019) takes four characters in the midst of pivotal, personal journeys and exposes them to the cosmic horror of a deadly force from the primeval ocean floor. Two couples are brought together at the titular beach house by chance. While soon-to-graduate Emily (Liana Liberato) is pondering grad school programs, her boyfriend, Randall (Noah Le Gros), is pressuring her to join him on his quest for a life of “vacation all the time.” The go to Randall's family's beach house to discuss their future together. They discover they are sharing the house with Mitch (Jake Weber) and Jane (Maryann Nagel), an older, married couple with their own major issues. Jane is gravely ill, possibly dying, while Mitch struggles to care for her and is  drinking heavily. 

[REVIEW] ‘RELIC’ TRAPS VIEWERS IN A DARK MAZE OF A FAMILY’S DEEPEST FEARS

Natalie Erica James’ first feature film is a slow-burn, emotional drama about the horrors of ageing parents and hidden family histories.

RELIC (2020)

Starring: Bella Heathcote, Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin
Writers: Natalie Erika James, Christian White
Director: Natalie Erika James

A JOURNEY INTO THE DARK

Australian writer/director Natalie Erika James’ first feature film, Relic (2020), traps viewers in the terrifying, dark maze. Her inspiration began while she was visiting family in Japan. There she saw a sign outside a temple promising “the key to paradise” could be found inside. Following the signs led her to a basement labyrinth where she quickly got lost in the dark. After groping her way to freedom, James noted that the experience had changed her being, “Everything seemed brighter, sharper. I felt buoyed by my small, private achievement for the rest of the day.” (MovieMaker Magazine)

TEENAGE FURY

Brigette

Ginger Snaps (2000)
Director: John Fawcett
Writers: Karen Walton (written by and story), John Fawcett (story)
Stars: Emily Perkins, Katharine Isabelle, Kris Lemche

Hard Candy (2005)
Director: David Slade
Writer: Brian Nelson
Stars: Patrick Wilson, Ellen Page, Sandra Oh

Jennifer's Body (2009)
Director: Karyn Kusama
Writer: Diablo Cody
Stars: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Adam Brody

Many modern, female-centered, coming-of-age horror movies share common roots with ancient Grecian dramas wherein individuals act as stand-ins for greater societal concepts. Coming-of-age stories feature an essential turning point that allows the protagonist to display their progress towards maturity. Needy, Haley, and Brigette, the protagonists of Jennifer’s Body, Hard Candy and Ginger Snaps, reach that point and beyond as they display characteristics similar to the stages of development the ancient Greeks went through on their evolution toward a legal system that was fair to all, as fifth century BC playwright Aeschylus illustrated in his play cycle The Oresteia. The three plays, Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides, symbolically tell the tale of Ancient Greece's coming-of-age via the conversion from lawlessness and vigilantism to a legal code that applied to all and was enforced by the government, not individuals. This progression is mirrored by the adolescent girls' transition from the chaotic powerlessness of childhood to the responsibility that comes with the agency of adulthood.

TWIN TALES OF TAGALOG TERROR, 2020 EDITION

]

Kulay Dugo ang Gabi (1694 ) -  Released as The Blood Drinkers (USA) or The Vampire People (USA)

Staring: Ronald Remy, Amalia Fuentes, Eddie Fernandez, Eva Montes
Produced: Cirio H. Santiago, Premiere Studios in Manila, dist by Hemisphere Pictures in US
Written: Cesar Amigo (screenplay), Rico Bello Omagap (story)
Directed: Gerardo de Leon, Eddie Romero

Brides of Blood (1968)
Staring: Kent Taylor, Beverly Powers (as Beverly Hills), John Ashley,Eva Darren
Produced:Kane W. Lynn (Hemisphere Pictures)
Written: Cesar Amigo
Directed: Gerardo de Leon, Eddie Romero

I am grateful to have a group of friends who love unusual movies. We often have movie nights to watch some pretty far out films like Liquid Sky, I Drink Your Blood, and recently, we had an unplanned Russ Meyer double feature - Faster PussyCat and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. One of my favorite movie nights was a double bill of The Blood Drinkers (1964) and Brides of Blood (1969), two Filipino horror films we dubbed as TWIN TALES OF TAGALOG TERROR! These movies shown together tell a story about the influence of not just the political climate in the Philippine Island in the 1960s  but also how American filmmakers radically changed the industry in both countries. Together they represent the calm before a giant typhoon that would sweep back across the Pacific Ocean to the drive-ins and grindhouse theaters of The United States.

MONSTROUS FEMALE FEAR : THE POWER OF SADY BOYLE'S 'DEAD BLONDES' AND DAVID CRONENBERG'S 'RABID'

I am a horror film fanatic. I love how they are both exciting and thought-provoking, as well as their capacity to be so weird! Having spent so much of my life watching, enjoying, analyzing, and discussing horror films, my worldview has been undeniably influenced by them. Last year, I set myself to the task of reading more, not only to broaden my understanding of the world I live in, but also to seek understanding of the world through the eyes of others. So, when the Faculty of Horror podcast recommended Sady Doyle’s Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy, and the Fear of Female Power, my interest was piqued.

VINEGAR SYNDROME’S BLOOD MANIA AND POINT OF TERROR SET RIPS THE SCREAMS RIGHT OUT OF YOUR THROAT!

Maria De Aragon

VINEGAR SYNDROME’S BLOOD MANIA AND POINT OF TERROR SET RIPS THE SCREAMS RIGHT OUT OF YOUR THROAT!

BLOOD MANIA / POINT OF TERROR

Blood Mania

Starring: Peter Carpenter, Maria De Aragon, Vicki Peters, Alex Rocco, Leslie Simms
Written by: Peter Carpenter, Tony Crechales, Toby Sacher
Directed by: Robert Vincent O’Neil

Point of Terror

Starring: Peter Carpenter, Dyanne Thorne, Lory Hansen, Leslie Simms, Joel Martson
Written by: Peter Carpenter, Ernest A. Charles, Tony Crechales, Chris Marconi
Directed by: Alex Nicol

“We’re very young souls. Very young and evil.”
“Yes, very evil…You’ll probably live to be a hundred and ten.”
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
“Only the good die young.”

Currently, going to the movies is a single-film event but it was not always that way. My dad told me that when he was a kid during the Depression (I am that old), going to a picture show meant featurettes, a newsreel, and two movies, sometimes even singing, all for a dime! When I was a child in the 1960s and 1970s, that sort of thing was long gone. But drive-ins will always have double bills where a current feature is coupled with the return of something from last year or the year before, that were thematically linked (Stallone/Schwarzenegger pairing of Raw Deal and Cobra in 1986 taught me everything I needed to know about being a man.). Sometimes they were odd pairings, such as the Mel Brooks comedy Young Frankenstein and psychological slasher Toolbox Murders double feature that I convinced a friend from church to get his dad to take us to see. Mr. D. lasted about 7 minutes into the The Toolbox Murders before pulling the plug on the evening.

Sometime during the mid 1970s, a horror triple feature of Blood Mania (1970), Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972), and the 1974 Vincent Price meta-horror film Madhouse made the drive-in rounds. I was around ten or 11 at that time, so there was no way to see it. But the TV spot was filled with enough weirdness to fuel my imagination for decades. Replete with the most brain bending bizarre images: undead monks crawling from graves, frightening monsters gathered in a living room, and all the distorted shadows and shapes that can be derived from descending a spiral staircase in the dark, I felt a need to go to those places and explore their environments. While Tombs of the Blind Dead and Madhouse are better known, it was Blood Mania that packed the most punch.

VOLITION(2019) ASKS HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO CHANGE THE FUTURE?

VOLITION (2019)

Director: Tony Dean Smith
Writers: Tony Dean Smith, Ryan W. Smith
Stars: Adrian Glynn McMorran, Magda Apanowicz, John Cassini,Frank Cassini, Aleks Paunovic, Bill Marchant
"Our choices don't matter, life happens beyond our control."
Volition-the faculty or power of using one's will.

I give most of my movie attention to films that fall under the “blood soaked orgy of terror” category. But I love a well written, fast paced story with great characters and plenty of action plus interesting ideas to play with. The trailer for director and writers siblings Tony Dean Smith and Ryan W. Smith, aka The Smith Brothers, for Volition(2020) promised all that and I had to check it out.

BLACK CHRISTMAS (2019) RUINS CHRISTMAS IN JUST THE RIGHT WAY

BLACK CHRISTMAS (2019) RUINS CHRISTMAS IN JUST THE RIGHT WAY

Starring: Imogen Poots, Aleyse Shannon, Lily Donoghue, Brittany O’Grady, Caleb Eberhardt, Cary Elwes
Written by: Sophia Takal, April Wolfe
Directed by: Sophia Takal

<SPOILERS AHEAD>

For my 55th birthday, I went to see one of the most divisive horror films since 2015’s It Follows. The division falls sharply along gender lines as the male viewers search for new ways to express their displeasure and the females champion its clear-eyed take on the difficulties of modern life. What has created this intense, boys versus girls shouting match on social media? It is director-writer Sophia Takal & co-screenwriter April Wolfe’s reimagining the 1974 slasher film Black Christmas as a polemic on toxic masculinity and female oppression. Due to its transgressive nature and unsubtle/over-the-top presentation, Black Christmas has ruined Christmas for many horror fans!

CHAD CRAWFORD KINKLE'S FAITH OF THE FATHERS

CHAD CRAWFORD KINKLE'S FAITH OF THE FATHERS

Humanity has been gifted with a drive to create understanding and meaning. There is possibly even a biological mechanism behind that drive: One half of our brain records raw experience, while the other half draws lines around the elements, giving them borders and definition. This applies not just to concrete experiences but also abstract concepts, such as “What is beyond the stars?” or “Where did we come from?” Historically, whenever societies have formed, they sought to answer these harder, more abstract questions by creating a religion that is a reverential and a highly symbolic practice with a connection to an otherworldly source of power and wisdom.

[REVIEW] RED LETTER DAY (2019) WAS "UNDELIVERABLE"

[REVIEW] RED LETTER DAY (2019) WAS "UNDELIVERABLE"

Starring: Dawn Van de Schoot, Hailey Foss, Kaeleb Zain Gartner
Writer: Cameron Macgowan
Director: Cameron Macgowan
Studio: Awkward Silencio, RLD Productions

"Do we have to have another discussion about consent?"

Synopsis: The Edwards family, Mom Melanie, daughter Madison and son Timothy (Dawn Van de Schoot, Hailey Foss, and Kaeleb Zain Gartner) are settling into their new home. The kids complain that the new neighborhood is boring, not realizing that today is going to be a red-letter day in the worst possible way. A shadowy group called "The Unknown" has delivered a series of Red-Letters to the community pitting neighbors against each other based on their conflicting social media personas. In order to survive, the Edwards must be prepared to do what ever it takes to stay alive as they realize their new home is anything but boring.

Marla Mae (2018)

Marla Mae (2018)

Starring: Lisa van Dam-Bates, Travis Johnny Ware, Katie Hemming, Jason Stange
Written: Lisa van Dam-Bates
Directed by: Lisa van Dam-Bates

Lisa van Dam-Bates is the super-human triple threat behind medical shocker Marla Mae (2018). Writing, directing and starring in a movie would be beyond the powers of most ordinary mortals. I will barely get through writing this paragraph without needing to call my therapist. I was drawn to this movie by the fact Dam-Bates seemed to have so much control over her movie. I know it may seem unfair to say that this movie is more interesting because it was written and directed by a woman, after all, no-one goes to see Martin Scorcese films because he is a guy, but to me it is a numbers game. My opinion is that there are too few female voices in horror, especially ones that have so much control over their vision, to ignore a movie like this. Judging by its subject matter, it is easy to think that the subtext of Marla Mae is something extremely personal to most women: getting adequate and affordable healthcare from a system that doesn't appear to respect or pretend to understand women.

Shocktoberfest 2019 Final Edition

Shocktoberfest 2019 Final Edition

The Mask

Shocktoberfest 2019 Final Edition

What a long strange trip it was! We begin our Doris Day a Day a thon this weekend. Being married comes with some perks, but it is also duties. My non horror movie loving wife knows this is important to me, so she was willing to do without my presence for the last six weeks, but now it is time to show my appreciation to my greatest obsession, her. Let's get right to it.

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #6

Dream Home

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #6

So far, there has been a paucity of films from the Asiatic Region in this year's Shocktoberfest. This week's selections attempted to correct that omission. While none of this week's movies are considered Asian Extreme Horror, some of them are pretty close. Caveat emptor!

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #5

Crimes of Passion

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #5

Week off from work - Yay Fall Break! Obviously, I spent plenty of time watching films this week. There are some new films, some old favorites and also three movies that I consider to be modern stand outs in the horror genre.

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #4

2001:  A Space Odyssey

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #4

Seven more movies for Week 4! One first-time view, but numbers 25, 28, 30 & 31 were watched so long ago it was like seeing them as new. It was a treat to see them with what felt like new eyes.  Oh hey, I switched the list order in a way that makes more sense.

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #3

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #3

Illness came to my house this week and also a certain amount of horror film fatigue set in. Much time was spent tracking down lesser known films and re-watching some neglected films. I also realized that I picked a weird way to list my weekly choices! As a bonus, this week's post has some appropriate music to celebrate the  addition of Electric Wizard to my list of favorite bands.

Schocktoberfest 2019 Update #2

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #2

Week Two has been all about the new films. Five of the 7 were first time views. But I also visited some old favorites!

Incident in a Ghostland (2018) [New World French Extremity]

New French Extremity darling Pascal Laugier’s 2018 film Incident in a Ghostland presents thematic  continuance of some elements introduced in his 2008 film Martyrs. Both films feature violent attacks on a family and focus heavily on the killing, torture and abuse of young females, including children and teenagers, and the long lasting effects trauma.

Schocktoberfest 2019 Update

The Night Sitter

 A popular thing to do in the horror movie loving community is to share pre-Halloween movie lists. Not much of a planner, I am putting out my list as I watch it. So far, I am one week in with nine movies watched. Six of them were first watches, and 5 can be considered as releases.  Submitted for your approval,  a brief review of  Shockoberfest 2019 celebrations:

Shocktoberfest 2019 Begins! Rabid (1977) [Cronenberg]

This is not the first time David Cronenberg’s 1977 film  Rabid has been reviewed at the Insomniac Theater. When I wrote about it in 2010, it was as a pre-AIDS metaphor for the devastation of a sexually transmitted epidemic. This time around, I tried to look at it from a different perspective.

Twenty First Century Horror Standouts (Another list of... Post)

Reddit user ScarletBegonias79 posted a list of the top horror films of the 2010s and asked users for theirs. I decided to expand mine into a blog post.