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Post by DSR on Dec 11, 2020 5:34:04 GMT -5
335. Messiah of Evil *DVD* I’ve watched so much off-the-wall, brutal, extreme stuff the last few weeks that going back to a 1970’s giallo-ish horror seems almost boring. Or maybe it’s just my realizing that I don’t really like giallo made this bore me. This did have some cool stuff. The albino man was really f***ing cool. The mood and atmosphere of the whole movie was really good but it never delivered. A lack of gore, a lack of nudity. I think it may have even been rated PG-13 and I’m wondering now what made me decide to buy the DVD? If it had of been a part of one of those multi-movie sets I sometimes buy I’d probably have enjoyed it more than having spent $16 on this. It seems like everybody who posts in this thread watched and reviewed MESSIAH OF EVIL this year. I've got a copy (on one of those multi-movie packs), seems like I ought to give it a go here pretty soon so I'm not left out.
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adamclark52
El Dandy
I'm one with the Force; the Force is with me
Posts: 8,139
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Post by adamclark52 on Dec 12, 2020 3:14:58 GMT -5
House *Amazon Prime* I have some trailers of this on some other DVDs and they made this seem a lot scarier than it was. It was an entertaining haunted house “am I crazy” movie but nothing insane. At all. And I’m insane. I need insanity.
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Dec 12, 2020 11:01:56 GMT -5
An exciting couple of days for horror for me Yesterday I did a triple feature. The first two movies kind of stunk. The Monkey’s Paw (2013) and Beneath (2013). They’re Chiller made and released through Scream Factory. Honestly probably the worst things I’ve seen on a Scream Factory disc. But then... I watched Deep Red (1975). Damn I love Dario Argento! It got me in the mood to go on a whole Argento kick for the first time in a long time. Anyone have any recommendations for cheap DVD printings of his movies? I don’t care about the packaging or special features as long as they have the films in the most complete form with good picture quality. Right now I only have Deep Red and The Cat o’ Nine Tales handy. I must rectify this! Anyway, I was all set to watch The Cat o’ Nine Tales this morning. But then... My complete Tales from the Crypt box set arrived! I plan on doing a leisurely rewatch. Might take me until 2022 even but plan on going in order. I watched two episodes so far and think I’ll go for a third. Man I love this show!
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,471
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Dec 13, 2020 0:21:28 GMT -5
For Argento you should be able to find Stendhal Syndrome fairly cheap on DVD. Avoid the Troma release. Find the one from Blue Underground.
Also his Phantom of the Opera shouldn't be expensive. It gets shit on but it isn't horrible.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,471
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Dec 13, 2020 19:32:04 GMT -5
Violent Shit
Seen much worst SOV movies. This is just a bit over a hour of dude in overhauls wandering the countryside till he runs into someone and kills them graphicly with his ever present meat cleaver.
It's in German with English subs but you don't really have to pay attention to the subs.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,471
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Dec 13, 2020 21:03:13 GMT -5
Started Violent Shit II. But was on the pier and a storm is heading this way. Saw half of it and it is way way better than Violent Shit 1.
Decided to watch Night Killer AKA Dont open the door 3. This film made by the director of Troll 2,has a killer in Freddy like mask. That runs around punching people thru the stomach.
It's easy to find on youtube. Sure there is a version you can rent or buy,but scroll down a bit and there is a free vesion.
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adamclark52
El Dandy
I'm one with the Force; the Force is with me
Posts: 8,139
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Post by adamclark52 on Dec 15, 2020 4:27:41 GMT -5
Rika: Zombie Killer *DVD* This was actually really good. Zombies. Nothing out of the ordinary. But of all the eastern Asian horror movies I’ve watched the last few months it may have been the best overall. It had me laughing, it had some decent gore, the story was good AND...boobs. Some of the others had one or two of those but lacked in the others. The only weird thing was the Japanese audio track was very poorly mixed.
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Dec 15, 2020 8:44:32 GMT -5
Already finished season 1 in my Tales from the Crypt rewatch and making my way through season 2. Just finished the first disc yesterday. Jeffrey Tambor looked just as disgusting as I remembered him in his episode
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Dec 15, 2020 11:33:15 GMT -5
Rika: Zombie Killer *DVD* This was actually really good. Zombies. Nothing out of the ordinary. But of all the eastern Asian horror movies I’ve watched the last few months it may have been the best overall. It had me laughing, it had some decent gore, the story was good AND...boobs. Some of the others had one or two of those but lacked in the others. The only weird thing was the Japanese audio track was very poorly mixed. I really got to check out more of these Asian horror movies with a female lead. There are SOOOO many of them. And it helps a good amount sound absolutely insane. So far I have Tomie: Replay, Tomie: Rebirth, Gun Woman, Psycho Gothic Lolita and some others in my physical media collection that I need to get to. I was tempted to watch some back in October, but may do a weeklong thing at some point when I have time. Hopefully before next October
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adamclark52
El Dandy
I'm one with the Force; the Force is with me
Posts: 8,139
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Post by adamclark52 on Dec 15, 2020 17:42:22 GMT -5
Rika: Zombie Killer *DVD* This was actually really good. Zombies. Nothing out of the ordinary. But of all the eastern Asian horror movies I’ve watched the last few months it may have been the best overall. It had me laughing, it had some decent gore, the story was good AND...boobs. Some of the others had one or two of those but lacked in the others. The only weird thing was the Japanese audio track was very poorly mixed. I really got to check out more of these Asian horror movies with a female lead. There are SOOOO many of them. And it helps a good amount sound absolutely insane. So far I have Tomie: Replay, Tomie: Rebirth, Gun Woman, Psycho Gothic Lolita and some others in my physical media collection that I need to get to. I was tempted to watch some back in October, but may do a weeklong thing at some point when I have time. Hopefully before next October I won’t lie; I watch these movies primarily because I have a thing for Asian girls. But they do the strong female heroine thing so much better than American movies and don’t wave flags about jt
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Post by DSR on Dec 15, 2020 22:50:13 GMT -5
MESSIAH OF EVIL (1973) was co-written and co-directed by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz (this same duo brought as HOWARD THE DUCK over a decade later). The film is about Arletty, a young woman who receives a disturbing letter from her estranged father and goes out in search of him (despite the letter imploring her to stay away for her own good). Arletty travels to the small town of Point Dune, where she meets with a parade of eccentric characters.
Arletty takes a shine to a sorta-creepy/sorta-charming young man named Thom, who is travelling with his two girlfriends. Thom is fascinated by the local legend of the Blood Moon. We in the audience won't know what the Blood Moon is all about for most of the film's runtime, but we will learn that the Point Dune townspeople will behave ever stranger as the Moon changes color. The locals were plenty damn strange to begin with, but that will change from general weirdness to zombie-like behavior. Though they don't seem mindless, more like they're mind-controlled. As though a supernatural force is controlling them. And if Arletty and Thom stay in Point Dune too long, they just might wind up falling under the power of the Blood Moon themselves!
As has been mentioned when everyone else reviewed this film, MESSIAH OF EVIL operates on surrealist nightmare logic. Arletty, Thom, and Thom's girlfriends wind up viewing the bizarre behavior of others for much of the film's run-time, but explanations are rarely presented. Even once the end credits roll, the viewer will be left with unanswered questions. I'm perfectly okay with that, but others might not be.
MESSIAH does have a lot going for it, though, as those bizarre characters are quite memorable, like a rambling homeless man played by Elisha Cook Jr. (of HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL fame) or a rat-eating albino man! Also memorable are creepy set-pieces in a grocery store and a movie theater where the zombified citizens chase down and attack innocent people. And finally, Arletty's father made his living as an artist, and when Arletty takes up residence at his apartment, there are moody paintings all over the walls: high-contrast images of faces that have a haunting quality to them. Those paintings and other visuals stick with you after the film has ended.
Blood-letting is kept to a minimum, and despite main characters involved in a sexually liberated lifestyle, there's no nudity. But this film is dripping with atmosphere and great visuals. My one real gripe is that the film's ending is abrupt and anti-climactic. Though, according to KAMALARAMBO's review, investors pulled out of the project before it was really completed. So there's only so much that could be done.
I found the film highly enjoyable. Add me to the list of folks who feel this obscure gem deserves a bigger following.
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Post by DSR on Dec 16, 2020 1:56:21 GMT -5
I'm double-posting, but it's been a while since I've reviewed anything, so deal with it.
THE BURNING MOON (1992) is a low-budget gore flick from Germany, the brain-child of writer/director/special effects man Olaf Ittenbach. In the film, a drug-addicted slacker teen is forced to babysit his little sister while their parents go out for the night. After shooting up and seeing the moon on fire, the older brother reads his sister two bedtime stories.
The first story, "Julia's Love" is about a young woman excited to go on a date with a handsome man, unaware that that man is psychotic and recently escaped from a psychiatric clinic. She finds out the truth about her date from a news report while he's elsewhere and she quickly makes a run for it. Unfortunately, Julia left her wallet in the man's car, and he decides to pay her a visit...with deadly intent!
The second story, "The Purity" tells of a middle-aged man who spends his days preaching the Word of the Lord to a devoted congregation and his nights committing rapes, murders, and Satanic rituals. The townsfolk point the finger of blame instead on a lonely farmer who also lives in town. One of those townspeople decides enough is enough and murders the farmer. Later that night, the farmer is risen from the dead to enact bloody justice upon his killer...either that, or the killer has a nightmare vision of Hell and his own unending torment when he gets there for killing an innocent man. Honestly, it's kinda hard to tell.
This SOV anthology is infamous for it's high gore quotient, with bloody beating, dismemberment, decapitation, disembowelment, head explosion, a woman forced to eat another person's eyeball (and a neat shot of the eye sliding down her esophagus), and even a man being ripped in half long-ways! All of the disgusting set-pieces are carried off well by Ittenbach, ensuring a grotesque viewing experience.
It won't necessarily be a fun viewing experience, though. Usually people talk about over-the-top gore movies in celebratory tones (a "gore-fest" implies a festival, after all). While the gore is abundant and the Making Of footage added for Intervision's DVD release shows the filmmakers laughing and having a good time between takes, the film itself is fairly downbeat. I'd say there's two scenes that could be considered funny, and one of them doesn't seem like it was designed to be. Maybe my sense of humor just doesn't gel with this flick, I dunno. The gore special effects are impressive as hell, I'll say that, though.
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Post by Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! on Dec 16, 2020 8:31:09 GMT -5
So, changing gears a moment, I started reading some Wrath James White short fiction this week. I was expecting another Deadite Press splatter writer in the vein of Edward Lee or Bryan Smith. And that stuff's all here but this is a different beast entirely. This is some of that Chuck Palahniuk "This is going to be tense and it will stay with you days after reading it" stuff. Kinda sorta also reminds me of a literary version of Pig Destroyer, if that makes any sense. Dude is a master of psychologically terrorizing his readers. You're never going to read this and think "ok this is a little TOO silly" or "ok this is a bit of a try-hard" the way you might with some of his contemporaries. If you haven't checked him out already I can't recommend him enough. Fair warning, though, this is absolutely not for the faint of heart, I can't undersell it enough.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,471
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Dec 16, 2020 12:58:50 GMT -5
Was going thru an old box of books. Found Succulent Prey,a Wrath James White novel. Read this years ago and been wanting to re-read it.
I wish White would write more novels. But since Leisure Fiction died too many of the horror fiction writers have went back to chapbooks,novellas and short stories.
For those that have never heard of WJW imagine if say Ed Lee and Jack Ketchum had a kid that they raised watching nothing by gore films.
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Post by Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! on Dec 16, 2020 15:09:24 GMT -5
Was going thru an old box of books. Found Succulent Prey,a Wrath James White novel. Read this years ago and been wanting to re-read it. I wish White would write more novels. But since Leisure Fiction died too many of the horror fiction writers have went back to chapbooks,novellas and short stories. For those that have never heard of WJW imagine if say Ed Lee and Jack Ketchum had a kid that they raised watching nothing by gore films. Deadite press is putting out some really good stuff but it's mostly all short fiction and it can get a little samey if you read a lot of it.
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Post by DSR on Dec 17, 2020 1:54:42 GMT -5
THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH (1959) is a Hammer Films production, made shortly after the company burst onto the horror film landscape with its take on the Frankenstein and Dracula mythos. This film, set in Paris in the year 1890, stars Anton Diffring as the titular man, a Dr. Georges Bonnet. He's a doctor and a sculptor who appears to be in his late 30s, but is in fact over 100 years old! He maintains his youthful appearance with regular transplants of a parathyroid gland, an experimental procedure he concocted along with a colleague 70 years ago.
That colleague never underwent the same procedure, so now he is becoming to old to perform the surgery. If Georges doesn't have the procedure performed, he will reach the appropriate appearance for his age all at once, and suffer every illness that this procedure also prevented him from experiencing throughout his century of life! In desperation, Georges turns to Dr. Pierre Gerrard (Christopher Lee!) to perform the surgery and keep him going. This proves an uneasy alliance, as Georges and Pierre are both in love with the same woman (Hazel Court). She's blissfully unaware of Georges condition, and when Pierre tries to tell her the Georges is actually a monster (some of those glands he's had transplanted weren't from already deceased or willing donors), she refuses to believe him because of his obvious jealousy. But the longer Georges goes without the operation, the more desperate, deranged, even deadly he'll become!
The primary trio of Diffring, Lee, and Court are all splendid actors, and this story has potential, but the film is overly dialogue-heavy. There's only a handful of scenes involving action. Set designs and costuming are great, but the direction is very static. I spent a lot of the film's runtime looking at other things and simply listening to the dialogue, and I didn't really miss anything. I can see why this is a largely forgotten and/or unmentioned entry in the Hammer canon.
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adamclark52
El Dandy
I'm one with the Force; the Force is with me
Posts: 8,139
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Post by adamclark52 on Dec 17, 2020 4:57:30 GMT -5
340. Brain Damage *Tubi* This is one I’ve wanted to see for a while but DVD prices were way too much than I wanted to shell out. But thanks to this f***in’ Tubi (Commercial break) service I was able to catch it. And it honestly would have been worth some of the lower prices I saw it for online. It was a really f***ing fun movie; made by the guy that did Basketcase but with Frankenhooker in mind. Even sharing (Commercial break) some of the cast. The gore wasn’t too high but it was just enjoyably weird and special. And I was able to find another movie that my favourite pornogrind band Last Days of Humanity sampled on their Sound of Rotting Fluids Sloshing Around You Coffin album, on the song ‘A Reeking Pile of Septic Fluid’. +1000
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Dec 17, 2020 9:16:31 GMT -5
THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH (1959) is a Hammer Films production, made shortly after the company burst onto the horror film landscape with its take on the Frankenstein and Dracula mythos. This film, set in Paris in the year 1890, stars Anton Diffring as the titular man, a Dr. Georges Bonnet. He's a doctor and a sculptor who appears to be in his late 30s, but is in fact over 100 years old! He maintains his youthful appearance with regular transplants of a parathyroid gland, an experimental procedure he concocted along with a colleague 70 years ago. That colleague never underwent the same procedure, so now he is becoming to old to perform the surgery. If Georges doesn't have the procedure performed, he will reach the appropriate appearance for his age all at once, and suffer every illness that this procedure also prevented him from experiencing throughout his century of life! In desperation, Georges turns to Dr. Pierre Gerrard (Christopher Lee!) to perform the surgery and keep him going. This proves an uneasy alliance, as Georges and Pierre are both in love with the same woman (Hazel Court). She's blissfully unaware of Georges condition, and when Pierre tries to tell her the Georges is actually a monster (some of those glands he's had transplanted weren't from already deceased or willing donors), she refuses to believe him because of his obvious jealousy. But the longer Georges goes without the operation, the more desperate, deranged, even deadly he'll become! The primary trio of Diffring, Lee, and Court are all splendid actors, and this story has potential, but the film is overly dialogue-heavy. There's only a handful of scenes involving action. Set designs and costuming are great, but the direction is very static. I spent a lot of the film's runtime looking at other things and simply listening to the dialogue, and I didn't really miss anything. I can see why this is a largely forgotten and/or unmentioned entry in the Hammer canon. I have this one on DVD and Blu-ray! I actually suggest the DVD version over the Blu-ray. You can get it in a three movie set along with The Skull and The Deadly Bees. The Blu-ray version has multiple films too but it’s just The Skull and The Man Who Could Cheat Death (no Deadly Bees). The Skull is probably my favorite of the three
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Post by DSR on Dec 17, 2020 10:14:24 GMT -5
THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH (1959) is a Hammer Films production, made shortly after the company burst onto the horror film landscape with its take on the Frankenstein and Dracula mythos. This film, set in Paris in the year 1890, stars Anton Diffring as the titular man, a Dr. Georges Bonnet. He's a doctor and a sculptor who appears to be in his late 30s, but is in fact over 100 years old! He maintains his youthful appearance with regular transplants of a parathyroid gland, an experimental procedure he concocted along with a colleague 70 years ago. That colleague never underwent the same procedure, so now he is becoming to old to perform the surgery. If Georges doesn't have the procedure performed, he will reach the appropriate appearance for his age all at once, and suffer every illness that this procedure also prevented him from experiencing throughout his century of life! In desperation, Georges turns to Dr. Pierre Gerrard (Christopher Lee!) to perform the surgery and keep him going. This proves an uneasy alliance, as Georges and Pierre are both in love with the same woman (Hazel Court). She's blissfully unaware of Georges condition, and when Pierre tries to tell her the Georges is actually a monster (some of those glands he's had transplanted weren't from already deceased or willing donors), she refuses to believe him because of his obvious jealousy. But the longer Georges goes without the operation, the more desperate, deranged, even deadly he'll become! The primary trio of Diffring, Lee, and Court are all splendid actors, and this story has potential, but the film is overly dialogue-heavy. There's only a handful of scenes involving action. Set designs and costuming are great, but the direction is very static. I spent a lot of the film's runtime looking at other things and simply listening to the dialogue, and I didn't really miss anything. I can see why this is a largely forgotten and/or unmentioned entry in the Hammer canon. I have this one on DVD and Blu-ray! I actually suggest the DVD version over the Blu-ray. You can get it in a three movie set along with The Skull and The Deadly Bees. The Blu-ray version has multiple films too but it’s just The Skull and The Man Who Could Cheat Death (no Deadly Bees). The Skull is probably my favorite of the three I did know about the 3-pack DVD, but I found this flick by itself at my local Family Dollar for 2 bucks in one of those paper sleeves they sell DVDs in. Which...you could do a lot worse for a 2 buck movie. And I have.
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Dec 17, 2020 10:19:34 GMT -5
I have this one on DVD and Blu-ray! I actually suggest the DVD version over the Blu-ray. You can get it in a three movie set along with The Skull and The Deadly Bees. The Blu-ray version has multiple films too but it’s just The Skull and The Man Who Could Cheat Death (no Deadly Bees). The Skull is probably my favorite of the three I did know about the 3-pack DVD, but I found this flick by itself at my local Family Dollar for 2 bucks in one of those paper sleeves they sell DVDs in. Which...you could do a lot worse for a 2 buck movie. And I have. Haha I actually went to Family Dollar yesterday to pick up some gift bags...of course I couldn’t help but browse their small DVD collection. They had one of those 20 Film Mills Creek collections for $6. I passed on it though as at this point it would just be stacking my mountain of unwatched physical media
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