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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Apr 20, 2021 23:02:22 GMT -5
I finished off my Scream Factory 4 Zombie Movie set today with a double feature. The one I started with today is the first film in the set. Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead (2014) This is an Australian zombie movie that IMDB defines as a horror comedy. But it is very light on the comedy. It starts off with two of the main characters talking about what led them to this point. The first guy’s story sounds pretty rough. He had to kill his own brother. Then the protagonist shoots back that this morning he had to kill his wife and child with a nail gun. And that bleakness just permeates the movie. Zombie movies don’t have to be comedies. But if you want to take such a ridiculous concept as a zombie apocalypse and make a stoic film about it, you need to do something to distinguish it. Setting it in Australia doesn’t get us there. If it was that easy New Zealand’s Death Warmed Up from way back in 1985 would’ve been a success instead of another forgettable film bulking up those budget sets. There is a hint of comedy here and there. The mad scientist in particular has some bits played for laughs and has a menacing if derivative look. For a paint by numbers zombie film it doesn’t look bad. But it doesn’t justify its 98 minute running time and it’s easy to get tired of a small group of characters who aren’t particularly original or likable. The ending sets up the possible of a sequel and according to IMDB there was a TV series in the works at some point. But as far as I can tell any further projects died a quiet death. If you want to check out some Australian horror this may be worth a look. But I’m sure you can find much better Australian horror out there.
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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 Apr 21, 2021 2:54:45 GMT -5
Mecanix* *DVD* I really wasn’t in the right frame of mind to watch this one. To properly experience Mecanix you really need to be f***ed up on some good hallucinogenics. I don’t do those but I was still able to enjoy this though. It’s a predominantly silent post apocalyptic tale with stop motion effects right out of a Tool music video. It was very vague, dark, arty and reminded me a lot of the early-1980’s anime Angels Egg (both revolving around an egg, or in this case an embryo), but with the overall presentation you’d expect from Unearthed Films. There was some nasty gore but what interested me more were the stop motion creatures and the tortured noises they made. Those were some things out of nightmares. Not to mention the sepia colouring of the whole film. Definitely f***ed up, and definitely incredible. I don’t do drugs but I’ll probably get all drunk some night and watch this again.
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Post by Jumpin' Jesse Walsh on Apr 21, 2021 19:44:49 GMT -5
My review of Demonia (1990)
Plot: Demonic nuns are resurrected from their centuries-long burial to enact murder and mayhem across Sicily.
Demonia is my first dip into late-period Lucio Fulci, an obscure catalogue of films that most people would a draw a blank on unless you’re incredibly weird and pandemic-worn like I am. By 1990, Fulci’s career was in decline. The era of exploitation filmmaking in which he reigned supreme was over. His waning emotional and physical health were beginning to take a significant toll and often slowed his creative output. Sadly, if Demonia is any indication, it seeped into the quality of his films as well.
It’s exciting to think what Fulci circa 1980 would’ve done with this. The plot — centuries-old nuns return from eternal damnation to shed blood — seems right at home with the “dead don’t stay buried” grandiose of his Gates of Hell trilogy. He absolutely could’ve gone bananas here, fully indulging in dream logic and atmosphere. There are flashes in Demonia of his signature style, notably his penchant for squeezing the most gore he can out of a single death. In an unintentionally hilarious scene, two men are lured into a pit of spikes Mortal Kombat style. In another, a man is easily torn in half like tender soppressata. Even if the photography is shoddy at best, Sicily is a beautiful location. An interesting bit of trivia here is that the film was shot in legit Sicilian catacombs, with little dressing needed by the production team. On a personal note, it brings me back to the trip I took there in college. There are streets and alleyways that remind me of the night I spent stranded in Palermo (don’t worry; I turned out alive).
But while it’s comforting to know Fulci never fully lost “it” even in his later years, the film is bogged down by long, dull stretches where not much happens. When he wasn’t zeroing in on a gory, ridiculous death, Fulci in his prime still gave us something else to draw our attention, such as a zombie wrestling with a shark or a prolonged bat attack. That doesn’t happen at all here. Even our aforementioned nuns from the damned don’t make much of an appearance. With little happening, we’re forced to nakedly endure a plot which already doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and all the accompanying word salad plopping out of the characters’ mouths about it.
Probably not helping matters either is its terrible pair of leads. Former Fulci player Catriona MacColl was asked to play female lead Liza but rejected the offer. It instead went to Meg Register, who clocks in a truly awful performance, full of wide-eyed glares where I can’t tell if she’s terrified or just ate something rotten. When she’s not suffocating the screen, Brett Halsey is a pill as Professor Evans. Reportedly, Halsey rewrote his dialogue from the original script, thought it clearly made no improvement. I’m pretty sure I blacked out every time he spoke, and his speaking chews up a lot of minutes.
The saddest part of Demonia is that it didn’t even get an official theatrical release. It remained on the shelf until the late ‘90s where it was released on VHS in select countries. Now it’s been unceremoniously dumped onto free streaming services to be passed over by wandering eyes on the Internet, completely unaware this is a film by Lucio Fulci. It’s not an embarrassing piece of work by any measure but if you think this is something of a lost treasure, guess again. Much like the nuns in Demonia, there’s a reason it’s been kept buried.
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Apr 22, 2021 10:17:04 GMT -5
It’s one of those rare times when I have most of the day off. So I’m catching up on my horror physical media. So far I watched Ratter (2015) and am about to watch The Manson Family (1997). I made two stacks of horror movies I need to get to: The first stack are things I just got and am most excited about. The second one is stuff I got fairly recently I still need to get to. Any suggestions on which ones I should get to next?
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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 Apr 22, 2021 10:33:33 GMT -5
It’s one of those rare times when I have most of the day off. So I’m catching up on my horror physical media. So far I watched Ratter (2015) and am about to watch The Manson Family (1997). I made two stacks of horror movies I need to get to: The first stack are things I just got and am most excited about. The second one is stuff I got fairly recently I still need to get to. Any suggestions on which ones I should get to next? What’s Pighunt?
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Apr 22, 2021 11:59:56 GMT -5
It’s one of those rare times when I have most of the day off. So I’m catching up on my horror physical media. So far I watched Ratter (2015) and am about to watch The Manson Family (1997). I made two stacks of horror movies I need to get to: The first stack are things I just got and am most excited about. The second one is stuff I got fairly recently I still need to get to. Any suggestions on which ones I should get to next? What’s Pighunt? This one: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_HuntI’m mostly interested in it because it’s one of the Fangoria distributed films. Dead Meat is the other one there I have. I haven’t actually watched either yet. Oddly enough both are under different sub labels. Pig Hunt is from Fangoria Frightfest and Dead Meat is from Fangoria’s Gorezone. For anyone interested, the Fangoria Films Wiki Page has a full list of all the films they produced and/or distributed over the years: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fangoria_Films
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,397
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Apr 22, 2021 12:48:18 GMT -5
That Prom Night looks like the remake,which wasn't horrible. But wasn't great either.
Hard to tell is Pumpkinhead the original? If so watch that.
How did you like The Manson Family? It being a Jim Van Bebber film,and one I waited years to see I enjoyed the hell out of it.
Ended up watching Dead Heat and Deep Red off Joe Bob's Last Drive In yesterday. Forgot how much fun Dead Heat is.
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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 Apr 22, 2021 12:56:48 GMT -5
Dead Meat was great until it ended up having one of the worst endings I’ve ever seen in my life
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,397
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Apr 22, 2021 13:05:42 GMT -5
Dead Meat was great until it ended up having one of the worst endings I’ve ever seen in my life Never seen Dead Meat. But Dead HEAT is good.
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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 Apr 22, 2021 13:08:48 GMT -5
Dead Meat was great until it ended up having one of the worst endings I’ve ever seen in my life Never seen Dead Meat. But Dead HEAT is good. I haven’t seen Dead Meat either, I got it confused with Bad Meat
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Apr 22, 2021 13:37:18 GMT -5
That Prom Night looks like the remake,which wasn't horrible. But wasn't great either. Hard to tell is Pumpkinhead the original? If so watch that. How did you like The Manson Family? It being a Jim Van Bebber film,and one I waited years to see I enjoyed the hell out of it. Ended up watching Dead Heat and Deep Red off Joe Bob's Last Drive In yesterday. Forgot how much fun Dead Heat is. Yep, that’s the remake. I have the original too, but still haven’t seen the remake. I’ve seen Pumpkinhead before but not for at least 20+ years. I’m really excited to rewatch it. I’ll probably do it as my first movie the next day I can watch 2-3 movies. The first one is best for my A picture because at that point I have the energy and excitement to be most invested in it. I loved The Manson Family too! I don’t know what I was expecting, but it exceeded it. It’s a shame the guy who made it, James Van Bebber only made one other proper feature, Deadbeat at Dawn which adamclark52 just covered. As far as I can tell Van Bebber is still alive, but hasn’t directed anything but a short since 2013. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dead Heat, but Deep Red is of course a classic. I’m going to watch Pig Hunt next then a movie that rhymes with Dead Heat, Dead Meat sometime in the next few days since I’ll probably take a nap before work after Pig Hunt.
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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 Apr 22, 2021 14:19:02 GMT -5
That Prom Night looks like the remake,which wasn't horrible. But wasn't great either. Hard to tell is Pumpkinhead the original? If so watch that. How did you like The Manson Family? It being a Jim Van Bebber film,and one I waited years to see I enjoyed the hell out of it. Ended up watching Dead Heat and Deep Red off Joe Bob's Last Drive In yesterday. Forgot how much fun Dead Heat is. Yep, that’s the remake. I have the original too, but still haven’t seen the remake. I’ve seen Pumpkinhead before but not for at least 20+ years. I’m really excited to rewatch it. I’ll probably do it as my first movie the next day I can watch 2-3 movies. The first one is best for my A picture because at that point I have the energy and excitement to be most invested in it. I loved The Manson Family too! I don’t know what I was expecting, but it exceeded it. It’s a shame the guy who made it, James Van Bebber only made one other proper feature, Deadbeat at Dawn which adamclark52 just covered. As far as I can tell Van Bebber is still alive, but hasn’t directed anything but a short since 2013. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dead Heat, but Deep Red is of course a classic. I’m going to watch Pig Hunt next then a movie that rhymes with Dead Heat, Dead Meat sometime in the next few days since I’ll probably take a nap before work after Pig Hunt. Van Bebber acted in a couple of the American Guinea Pig movies as recent as 2017
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,397
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Apr 22, 2021 16:23:14 GMT -5
That Prom Night looks like the remake,which wasn't horrible. But wasn't great either. Hard to tell is Pumpkinhead the original? If so watch that. How did you like The Manson Family? It being a Jim Van Bebber film,and one I waited years to see I enjoyed the hell out of it. Ended up watching Dead Heat and Deep Red off Joe Bob's Last Drive In yesterday. Forgot how much fun Dead Heat is. Yep, that’s the remake. I have the original too, but still haven’t seen the remake. I’ve seen Pumpkinhead before but not for at least 20+ years. I’m really excited to rewatch it. I’ll probably do it as my first movie the next day I can watch 2-3 movies. The first one is best for my A picture because at that point I have the energy and excitement to be most invested in it. I loved The Manson Family too! I don’t know what I was expecting, but it exceeded it. It’s a shame the guy who made it, James Van Bebber only made one other proper feature, Deadbeat at Dawn which adamclark52 just covered. As far as I can tell Van Bebber is still alive, but hasn’t directed anything but a short since 2013. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dead Heat, but Deep Red is of course a classic. I’m going to watch Pig Hunt next then a movie that rhymes with Dead Heat, Dead Meat sometime in the next few days since I’ll probably take a nap before work after Pig Hunt. Van Bebber has issues,which has prevented him from making another film. Last year he swore that if his guy won POTUS he would start on his next film. His guy didn't win. So who knows what Jim is doing. Deadbeat at Dawn,The Manson Family and the short My Sweet Satan are all well made films.
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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 Apr 22, 2021 17:26:35 GMT -5
Yep, that’s the remake. I have the original too, but still haven’t seen the remake. I’ve seen Pumpkinhead before but not for at least 20+ years. I’m really excited to rewatch it. I’ll probably do it as my first movie the next day I can watch 2-3 movies. The first one is best for my A picture because at that point I have the energy and excitement to be most invested in it. I loved The Manson Family too! I don’t know what I was expecting, but it exceeded it. It’s a shame the guy who made it, James Van Bebber only made one other proper feature, Deadbeat at Dawn which adamclark52 just covered. As far as I can tell Van Bebber is still alive, but hasn’t directed anything but a short since 2013. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dead Heat, but Deep Red is of course a classic. I’m going to watch Pig Hunt next then a movie that rhymes with Dead Heat, Dead Meat sometime in the next few days since I’ll probably take a nap before work after Pig Hunt. Van Bebber has issues,which has prevented him from making another film. Last year he swore that if his guy won POTUS he would start on his next film. His guy didn't win. So who knows what Jim is doing. Deadbeat at Dawn,The Manson Family and the short My Sweet Satan are all well made films. My Sweet Satan and a bunch of his other shorts are on the second disc of the Deadbeat at Dawn DVD I got Yes. Deadbeat at Dawn. TWO DISC VERSION!
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,397
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Apr 22, 2021 17:38:50 GMT -5
I saw a pile of his shorts on The Manson Family dvd I got. There is a pile of Van Bebber shorts that are only available on a bootleg VHS. Still trying to get a copy of that.
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Apr 22, 2021 22:39:42 GMT -5
I pulled off my horror triple feature today of Ratter (2015), The Manson Family (1997), and Pig Hunt (2008). I have some thoughts on those, but first here is a look at what I would describe as the sleeper hit of the Scream Factory 4 Film Zombie Collection. Zombie Fight Club (2014) This is a Taiwanese Zombie film that is split into two parts. The first part is heavily George Romero influenced zombie mayhem where several groups of characters throughout Taiwan are either killed or forced to fight off zombies. The second part is the apocalyptic hellhole the world becomes after zombies take over the world. I much prefer the first part of the movie. The wide cast of characters keeps the action moving as we get to see a police force, a drug cartel, a struggling couple, a rapper, and of course schoolgirls deal with the zombie menace. Sometimes these groups mix and along the way there is plenty of splatter, some creative deaths, and light comedy thrown in that is silly without being too ridiculous. Even the CGI that would’ve looked bad even for the 1990s doesn’t detract and is charming in a way. The second part of the movie focuses on one of the characters (I won’t say who) who has established his own little fiefdom during the zombie apocalypse. This is also where the movie gets its name as for entertainment he forces some survivors to battle zombies in an arena. I would’ve been fine with just the first part of the movie, but the second half is where a good amount of the scantily clad women reside. Since there seems to be a quota in Asian horror where movies have to heavily feature scantily clad women, of course this half couldn’t be chucked out. Not that I’m complaining about the quota which these days is probably around 95% of Asian horror movies. I’d heavily recommend this one. It’s baffling to me IMDB rates it 4.0. The second half drags it down a little, but also helps balance it as the most disturbing stuff is saved for the backend.
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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 Apr 23, 2021 1:42:30 GMT -5
Dead and Buried* *DVD* This was a really awesome early-1980’s horror movie that really reminded me of Fulcis work of the time, just not as gory. But still really gory. It was part zombie movie and part...f*** I’m drunk...”village of the DON’T GO TO THAT VILLAGE”. And it had the guy who played Grandpa Joe in the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!
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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 Apr 23, 2021 3:15:55 GMT -5
My review of Demonia (1990) Plot: Demonic nuns are resurrected from their centuries-long burial to enact murder and mayhem across Sicily. Demonia is my first dip into late-period Lucio Fulci, an obscure catalogue of films that most people would a draw a blank on unless you’re incredibly weird and pandemic-worn like I am. By 1990, Fulci’s career was in decline. The era of exploitation filmmaking in which he reigned supreme was over. His waning emotional and physical health were beginning to take a significant toll and often slowed his creative output. Sadly, if Demonia is any indication, it seeped into the quality of his films as well. It’s exciting to think what Fulci circa 1980 would’ve done with this. The plot — centuries-old nuns return from eternal damnation to shed blood — seems right at home with the “dead don’t stay buried” grandiose of his Gates of Hell trilogy. He absolutely could’ve gone bananas here, fully indulging in dream logic and atmosphere. There are flashes in Demonia of his signature style, notably his penchant for squeezing the most gore he can out of a single death. In an unintentionally hilarious scene, two men are lured into a pit of spikes Mortal Kombat style. In another, a man is easily torn in half like tender soppressata. Even if the photography is shoddy at best, Sicily is a beautiful location. An interesting bit of trivia here is that the film was shot in legit Sicilian catacombs, with little dressing needed by the production team. On a personal note, it brings me back to the trip I took there in college. There are streets and alleyways that remind me of the night I spent stranded in Palermo (don’t worry; I turned out alive). But while it’s comforting to know Fulci never fully lost “it” even in his later years, the film is bogged down by long, dull stretches where not much happens. When he wasn’t zeroing in on a gory, ridiculous death, Fulci in his prime still gave us something else to draw our attention, such as a zombie wrestling with a shark or a prolonged bat attack. That doesn’t happen at all here. Even our aforementioned nuns from the damned don’t make much of an appearance. With little happening, we’re forced to nakedly endure a plot which already doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and all the accompanying word salad plopping out of the characters’ mouths about it. Probably not helping matters either is its terrible pair of leads. Former Fulci player Catriona MacColl was asked to play female lead Liza but rejected the offer. It instead went to Meg Register, who clocks in a truly awful performance, full of wide-eyed glares where I can’t tell if she’s terrified or just ate something rotten. When she’s not suffocating the screen, Brett Halsey is a pill as Professor Evans. Reportedly, Halsey rewrote his dialogue from the original script, thought it clearly made no improvement. I’m pretty sure I blacked out every time he spoke, and his speaking chews up a lot of minutes. The saddest part of Demonia is that it didn’t even get an official theatrical release. It remained on the shelf until the late ‘90s where it was released on VHS in select countries. Now it’s been unceremoniously dumped onto free streaming services to be passed over by wandering eyes on the Internet, completely unaware this is a film by Lucio Fulci. It’s not an embarrassing piece of work by any measure but if you think this is something of a lost treasure, guess again. Much like the nuns in Demonia, there’s a reason it’s been kept buried. Yup. Agreed. 110. Demonia* *Tubi* Another disappointing late-career entry in the Fulci database. It could have been awesome. But even without gore there are so many other better religious pieces from that era. Watch the Church, don’t waste your time with this. Watch the Church!
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Apr 23, 2021 9:14:46 GMT -5
Ratter (2015) This movie answers the question, “How can you make a movie starring Ashley Benson with as little effort as possible?” This is a cyber stalking horror movie where Benson plays a newly relocated grad student in New York City. Benson has her fans as she was featured in the TV series Pretty Little Liars. However, my knowledge of her is limited to her being the third most famous girl in Spring Breakers (2012). I can’t knock Benson though. It’s a testament to her charisma and attractiveness that so many people were able to make it through this stinker. It was advertised as a horror movie, but is more psychological thriller. Unfortunately it falls into that trap of lesser psychological thrillers of having so much nothing happen. Having nothing happen can be effective. It can give gravity to a situation or balance a more high energy scene. But here it is just dull and uninteresting. The only focus of the movie is Benson being stalked through various electronic devices. We see what the stalker sees, but throughout most of the film never see the stalker. So it’s essentially a whodunnit. Is it the ex-boyfriend, Red Herring, uh, I mean Alex. The new love interest? Something more unusual like her NYC best friend? I won’t spoil it except to say that the movie has an, “Oh f*** you!” ending. The kind of ending you shout at the screen since the filmmakers aren’t there in person to take the well earned abuse.
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Post by EvenBaldobombHasAJob on Apr 23, 2021 10:17:02 GMT -5
Dead and Buried* *DVD* This was a really awesome early-1980’s horror movie that really reminded me of Fulcis work of the time, just not as gory. But still really gory. It was part zombie movie and part...f*** I’m drunk...”village of the DON’T GO TO THAT VILLAGE”. And it had the guy who played Grandpa Joe in the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! I like to imagine this movie is about what that deadbeat Joe Bucket got up to after Charlie finally had enough of his shit and kicked him out of the chocolate factory.
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