December 31st, 2014 - The Phantom of the Opera (1943)

My wife and I have a lovely tradition (or at least I'm trying to make it one - 4 years is a tradition, right?) where we watch a horror movie on New Year's Eve. She's not too into the horror genre and is decidedly against the blood and guts, so I have to choose wisely about which movies to watch. So far, we've checked out The Cat o' Nine Tails, Detention, Pan's Labyrinth, and now Phantom of the Opera. I think the Phantom was her favorite so far, in that it's pretty far from a horror film and very Old Hollywood (huge cast, big set pieces, broad comedy). It was a little disappointing to me personally, having recently become enamored with Dario Argento's insane take on the tale. But still, it was an enjoyable time on the couch.

Here, the phantom is played by Claude Rains - also The Invisible Man! - we get to know a little about him in his pre-phantom days. He is a violinist at the famed Paris Opera House, and is struck by some sort of nerve issue that limits his ability to perform. He is secretly obsessed with the understudy Opera singer Christine DuBois (Susanna Foster), and is anonymously funding her obscenely expensive singing lessons with the best Opera teacher in Paris. Now that he can no longer make money playing the violin, he attempts to sell a sonata that he has written. When he brings it to the publishing house, he (mistakenly?) thinks they are going to steal it from him and freaks out. He gets acid in his face for his troubles (and murders two people in his rage) and the Phantom is born.

December 30th, 2014 - Sea of Dust (2008)

Well... I don't have all that much to say about Sea of Dust, other than the fact that it isn't very good. There are a couple of "wait...what... What?!?" moments of unintentional humor, and some comically poor acting. But unfortunately the majority of it misses "so bad it's good," and instead finds itself firmly in the "so bad" category.

What I could make of the story? It's a long time ago (early 1800's maybe?), and a young doctor's apprentice named Stefan is traveling to the town of Heidelberg. His boss, a respected doctor, was called to the town because some strange random acts of violence are occurring more and more frequently - before the credits even start, we see a woman running around, screaming and perhaps being chased. Then her head explodes. Some sort of religious entity named Prester John exists in a dream realm, but is somehow able to control people in our realm. I think. And Prester John is getting stronger... Stefan and the town doctor try to get to the bottom of things. Meanwhile, in our subplot, Stefan is in love with a fair maiden who lives with her wealthy father on a big estate outside of Heidelberg. The father thinks Stefan is no good, and forbids him from ever coming back. But Stefan senses something evil is afoot at the estate, and goes back to save her. Does the evil Prester John have anything to do with the nefarious goings-on at the estate? Guess!

December 29th, 2014 - Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)

Well, it's nice they didn't end things on a super shitty note. Since New Line Cinema was affectionately known as "The House that Freddy Built," I'm glad that the powers that be saw fit to put a better cap on the Elm Street series than the really, really bad Freddy's Dead. I can't say if it was financially motivated or not, but I'd like to think that they did it out of respect for Mr. Krueger. While New Nightmare isn't anything special, it's a big step up in just about every aspect from parts 4-6. (I would entertain arguments about part 4 though.) I also think that it was probably a necessity for Wes Craven to bring us Scream - New Nightmare plays as a sort of test run for how to present the meta-horror ideas that are prominent in that film.

New Nightmare is about Heather Lagenkamp, the lead actress from parts 1 and 3. She's playing herself here in the "real world," where all six previous films exist as just that - films. The ten year anniversary of the original Elm Street is coming up, so she's invited to appear on a talk show with Robert Englund (also himself) to talk about the franchise. Since they'll do anything for a buck, New Line executives ask her if she's interested in being in a new sequel - Craven is working on a new script and she's slated to be the star. She passes on it... but maybe the movie won't let her?

December 28th, 2014 - Revelation Trail (2013)

Big time thanks to Family Video in Worthington, MN. I end up in Worthington several times a year visiting in the in-laws. (It's got about 13,000 people - a smallish-town, at least by my Twin Cities, MN standards.) The one place I MUST stop at is Family Video... really one of the last video stores I even know of. I just get all nostalgic about video stores, you know? It sounds cheesy, but they represent a simpler time to me. I mean, what could be simpler than being six and trying to decide which tape to rent - the cartoon or pro-wrestling? So, if you ever see me getting misty in Family Video, I apologize.

December 27th, 2014 - Messiah of Evil (1973)

Messiah of Evil is not only a fantastic title/untaken metal band name, it's also a pretty damned good weirdo 70s faux-zombie flick. It was another vacation movie for me (find it at archive.org under its alternate title Dead People) so my notes are pretty scarce. But what I remember through the haze of Christmas scotch was pretty excellent.

It starts with a random scene of a guy running away from someone accompanied by a jazzy songstress singing about "holding onto love," and then has his throat slit by a teenage girl. It doesn't make a lot of sense. And having seen the whole movie, looking back... it doesn't make a lot of sense. (A continuing theme throughout the film.) After the title sequence, we cut to a long white hallway with a woman walking towards us - we learn from her minute-and-a-half monologue that she knows of some shady goings on in Point Dune and is now confined to an asylum. You can tell by the hazy visuals, weird music, and the long drawn out shot (as well as the crazy shit that she's saying) that Messiah of Evil will not be a very conventional film.

December 26th, 2014 - Ghosts of Hanley House (1968)

Another vacation watch on a tablet, another reason to be thankful for archive.org. I downloaded this spooky haunted house tale and checked it out late at night at a relative's house. And really, this was a good way to do it. The movie starts off pretty creepily, and being in a dark, strange house amped up the tension for me. There was honestly a couple of times where I'd see movement out of the corner of my eye and my heart would skip a beat - after a few minutes I figured out that passing car lights do funny things on the walls in that house. So that helped make a pretty mediocre haunted house flick a little bit better. So if you are going to see it - go into a stranger's house to do so.

December 25th, 2014 - Silent Night, Bloody Night (1972)

Merry Christmas everyone! What better way to celebrate than with a slow-burn early 70s horror flick that looks like it was lifted from a VHS tape? One that has only tenuous ties to Christmas at best? Actually, it was a pretty darn good way to wile away the afternoon hours - Silent Night, Bloody Night is a pretty slow but ultimately entertaining little murder mystery, with a strong and legitimately disturbing climax/explanation (which I won't ruin - but will also make this kind of short).

Really, you could place this at any time of year and it would still be an effective chiller - you'd just have to lose the creepy choral versions of "Silent Night" and you'd be good to go. The story starts with a voiceover from Diane Adams (Mary Woronov), telling the tale of the old Butler house, which local-lore has pegged as cursed and/or haunted. It used to be owned by the wealthy Wilfred Butler, who was killed in 1950 by being "accidentally" burned to death. (This scene is actually pretty well done and sets a good tone for the film - a nice, long, quiet shot of the house, until a man bursts out of the door, screaming and engulfed in flames.) In his will, he passes the house down to his only surviving relative, his grandson Jeffrey. But the will states that the house is to be kept exactly as it is - "standing untouched as a reminder to the world of it's inhumanity and cruelty." Um... okay.  As the film goes on, you start to learn a little more about why Mr. Butler would have felt that way, but it seems like a pretty harsh thing to say in your will.

December 24th, 2014 - Saint Nick (2010)

Saint Nick is a Christmas-ish flick that has been lurking around in my Neflix queue for a really long time. I'm always in the mood for a killer Santa film around the holiday season, although in the past I've opted for Rare Exports and Christmas Evil. This one is about St. Nicholas Day - which I'm pretty sure we don't care about here in the US - although I don't go to church or anything so who knows? There's no "St. Nicholas Day Savings Spectacular!" sales though, so I assume it doesn't exist here. So even though it isn't a Christmas film proper I was pretty excited. A Santa-ish guy slaughters naughty kids? And anyone else who gets in his way? Sign me up!

Sadly, I was pretty let down. I don't know if it was my anti-Christmas mood (I'm sort of a scrooge), but it didn't sit well with me. It's decently made - there are some solid deaths with creative gore (too much of it CGI sadly) and a decent mean streak - but ultimately the whole thing is kind of hollow. There's this corny semi-comedic tone that kind of ruins everything - the jokes rarely land and it muddles anything that could be considered scary or tense. And I don't know if it's meant to be scary - it's more like a zom-com with a wintry twist (St. Nick has helpers that are basically zombie pirates). But ultimately, the most damning flaw is a really, really poor English dubbing job. It's so distracting that it made it difficult to enjoy the film on its own merits. I would have loved to see it in Dutch with subtitles, because just about everyone in this version sounds like a complete doofus.

December 23rd, 2014 - Werewolves on Wheels (1971)

I came across Werewolves on Wheels while doing some imdb research for Count Yorga, Vampire. Actress Donna Anders was in it as one of Yorga's victims, and I was curious to see what else she was in. For obvious reasons Werewolves on Wheels was a title that jumped out at me immediately. How could you not be into a biker/werewolf mash-up? Although having seen it now, it is a bit of a misleading title... yes, there are technically werewolves and there are certainly wheels, but it's less a werewolf-biker movie and more a biker-gang-runs-afoul-of-satanic-monk movie, with werewolves. But that would be harder to get into a succinct title, I suppose.

Anyways, it's about a biker gang called "The Devil's Advocates" that does the usual biker-gang stuff - they ride around the countryside, drinking and doing drugs, and generally causing havoc at whatever restaurant or store they happen to come across. I haven't seen a lot of movies from the biker boom of the 60s and 70s, but I found it hard to get behind these guys. They don't really have a destination or even a goal; they're are just sort of nomadic and go around being assholes to random people. Which wouldn't be as much of a problem if there was something unique or interesting about them. Luckily for us, after a few scenes of biker shenanigans they run across a group of satanic monks, which keeps things exciting.

December 22nd, 2014 - The Babadook (2014)

If you've made it to this blog for some reason, you're probably a horror movie fan. (Or one of my parents.) And if you're reading this anywhere near 2014, you've probably heard a lot of good things about The Babadook. And what you've heard is probably true - it's a really solid, well-made, well-acted film. I really enjoyed it, and I know I've been seeing it turn up on a lot of Best Of 2014 lists. I've noticed it's been getting a lot of love in the non-horror circles as well, so it doesn't surprise me that it's been getting some flak in horror circles (usually along the lines of "it's not that scary and nothing happens") - I guess the backlash is inevitable nowadays. And honestly, I get where the criticism is coming from. It's not redefining any genre, and really it's more of a drama with a hard undertone of dread than an outright horror film. But if you go into it knowing that it's not trying to be extreme or push any boundaries, it'd be hard to not at least admire the craftsmanship behind it, even if you don't latch onto the dramatic parts. But if the drama stuff works for you (like it did for me), it's pretty damned great.

December 21st, 2014 - Neon Maniacs (1986)

Neon Maniacs is one of those 80's flicks that is kind of underwhelming but is weird enough to be enjoyable. Watching it, I would have assumed that it was a straight to VHS deal, although I'm seeing release dates on imdb, so who knows. It doesn't help (or totally helps, depending on your appreciation for this sort of stuff) that it feels like a sequel to a movie that was never produced - or at the very least it's missing an act or a reel or something. There are some pretty big gaps in the plot - especially as it pertains to the titular maniacs (who are definitely not neon in any way, shape, or form). You see, we never figure out just what they are. There is an unhelpful voiceover in the very opening of the film, which is basically just saying "beware of the neon maniacs." Then, this weird book is found by a random guy, and underneath the book is a bunch of trading cards with pictures of these humanoid mutant things dressed as various characters (a samurai, and old knight, etc.). It turns out these are artist renderings of the maniacs that we see a bit later in the film. The guy is anonymously murdered with an ax, and then the cards (I guess) come to life?

December 20th, 2014 - An American Terror (2014)

It's hard to delve too deeply into writing about An American Terror without ruining what makes it really good. So I won't. I'll just pass on what you can gather from the preview. But I'm glad I knew next to nothing about it going in - I read a quick, very positive blurb on the excellent weekly "AICN Horror" column on aintitcool.com (thanks Ambush Bug) and decided to check it out before reading anything else. So, it you're inclined to enjoy low(ish) budget horror and are thick skinned as it pertains to controversial topics in horror movies, check it out!

On youtube, the preview for this is listed as "An American Terror (School Shooting Horror Film)." And yeah, it's about 3 high school outcasts who plan a to shoot a bunch of their fellow students at The Big Dance. Going in cold, I didn't know about this angle and thought it was a pretty ballsy move. I've been wrestling with two questions since I watched it:  

December 19th, 2014 - The Comeback (1978)

Nick Cooper (Jack Jones) is a multi-platinum selling recording artist - he sings the kind of stuff that really could have have only been popular in the 1970's - low tempo, schmaltzy, highly orchestrated pop music (sample lyric: "she waited until I slept to cry"). He is recently divorced and only just now getting back to London and recording music after a six year hiatus - according to his manager, his ex-wife made him relocate to LA, where he got sucked into the celebrity lifestyle and hit a creative wall. His manager has rented out an old house for him to not only clear his mind, but to also start work on his titular comeback. It is a huge stately mansion (the type you could get lost in), and comes complete with two hired hands - the more-than-a-little creepy Mr. and Mrs. B. Nick begins to have trouble sleeping in the house, hears strange noises, and eventually begins to see apparitions in the late-night hours. Is Nick starting to crack under the pressure of making music again? Or is something more sinister afoot?

December 18th, 2014 - The Blood Beast Terror (1968)

Sometimes, I almost give movies a pass based on their oldness and/or their Britishness. I am easily charmed by late 60's/early 70's films in general, and when you add a dose of British accents in there it's usually a winning (enough) formula for me. And for most of the runtime I thought The Blood Beast Terror was headed in that direction - nothing special, but passable. But after the truly uninspired and anti-climactic finale, I sadly have to frown on it.

It's about police inspector Quennell (Peter Cushing!) in 19th century England, trying to solve the case of a string of recent murders. Several young men have turned up dead, drained of blood and with strange gashes on their face. The few survivors/witnesses have rambled on about seeing some sort of crazy bird or giant winged beast, but they are quickly written off as hysterical. Quennell enlists the help of Dr. Carl Mallinger, a respected professor and bug expert. Mallinger claims to know nothing, but Quennell's spider sense goes a-tingling. After another murder, Mallinger and his daughter skip town, and Quennell follows them, hoping to put an end to The Blood Beast Terror.

December 17th, 2014 - The Head (1959)

The Head is probably the darkest "Head in a Pan" movie I've ever seen. I've always gotten the idea that these things are going to be campy (a la The Brain that Wouldn't Die). But here, the head of brilliant scientist Dr. Abel (I think that was his name?) just wants people to kill him, because he hates being alive as just a head. It's pretty depressing, and towards the end he proclaims "I'm just so tired" like some elderly person waiting to die. Happy Holidays!

But the medical acts against nature are two-fold in this film. Before any head in a pan business, the mad genius Dr. Brandt (I think - I need to start writing down names in my notes) has joined forces with Dr. Abel. They are looking into the science behind organ transplants (at the time this was made, a scientific reality for only 5 years - and only then with a kidney). Dr. Abel in particular has a lot on the line, for he has a heart condition that will surely be fatal if he does not get a transplant. And Dr. Abel has also invented a "z-serum" that will keep these organs living and viable - in fact, he was able to keep a dog's head alive for months! (We don't see this, thankfully.) He is also looking to help out his good friend Irene, and hunchbacked nurse who desperately wants her deformity fixed. Really, both the good Dr. Abel and the evil Dr. Brandt are the kind of doctors that just like to mess around surgically and see what they can do. The big difference? Dr. Abel only does this with consent and within the bounds of nature. Dr. Brandt? Not so much.

December 16th, 2014 - Beneath (2013)

I really wanted to like Beneath - I always try to go into any movie with an open mind. I think it's always best to give a movie the benefit of the doubt - if you go in looking for something to not like, chances are you'll find it. And in creature features, there's usually lots of things to not like. To watch them on a regular basis, you have to love them, warts and all. That being said, I was a little thrown at first that our creature in Beneath was not some crazy cryptid or mutated beast, but just a really big fish. But after I thought about it, it's a refreshing concept - everyone is (still) trying to one up Jaws with super-intelligent sharks, or sharks crossed with other animals, or Ghost Sharks. I thought it was admirable that Beneath got back to the basics with a big, simple thing that is pretty much just after a meal.

And all the (practical!) fish stuff is super-awesome! But unfortunately, the non-giant fish stuff is far from it. The victims that are stranded on the boat (which starts about 15 minutes in and takes up the rest of the movie) are kind of annoying - the acting is pretty bad and the motivations of their characters seem pretty inconsistent. So while I was really digging things for 30-40 minutes, it's just a slow, steady decline once you get settled in.

December 15th, 2014 - Long Weekend (1978)

Long Weekend is an Australian movie that I knew very little about, but when Netflix algorithms recommended it to me (calling it a "classic" in the process) I was intrigued. When I saw the cover with a giant bird attacking and the tagline "Their crime was against nature... and nature found them guilty!" I was sold. The little I read about it made it seem like it dealt with a lot of man vs. the environment themes, and I expected a Day of the Animals style situation (where all forms of nature just go berserk and attack our characters). But that's not really the case here. Yeah, there are some animal attacks, but this is really more of a psychological thriller than anything. There are definitely points where you begin to wonder how much of the action takes place in the physical world, and how much of it is just symbolic of our leading couple's inner turmoil.

December 14th, 2014 - Road Hell (2011)

Avoid at all costs. I want to be done with thinking about Road Hell, and kind of want to stop this entry here. But the show must go on.

Road Hell is an anthology - our main wraparound story is about a bickering couple (an asshole business man and his pill-popping "Real Housewives of Jersey Shore"-esque wife) who end up in a hotel... imdb says a "horrific accident" led them there, but I thought maybe she had to go to the bathroom. Despite walking in on the super janky guy working at the front desk screwing an inflatable sheep, they decide to stay there. I reckon out of spite - for each other and for the audience. From this stupid, stupid set-up, they witness 3 tales of terror... one on the hotel TV, one that manifests in the middle of the room out of nowhere, and a third that I don't even care anymore.

December 13th, 2014 - Demons of the Mind (1972)

Demons of the Mind is a serviceable but mostly forgettable Hammer production - I guess it would technically be a psychological thriller, although more in the respect that it deals with madness rather than anything that is psychologically thrilling to the audience. The scary bits are about one of two things: (1) Someone is killing blonde women or (2) A crazy family that is crazy. It doesn't actively mess with *your* mind, like I kind of expect from a psychological thriller. The film is just kind of there - other than an exuberant lead performance from Robert Hardy as the Baron, there just isn't that much to get worked up about.

December 12th, 2014 - Apartment 143 (2011)

I think that it's hard to overestimate the influence the Paranormal Activity series has had on horror films, especially the indies. It was such a huge hit, and made on such a tiny budget, that it's been copied time and time and time again. I think Apartment 143 is legally safe from any sort of lawsuit, but man - it really takes a lot of its queues from the PA series. The scares may be a little bit different, but a lot of the DNA is there. Honestly, you could change a little bit about the backstory and I'd say this would be a pretty serviceable spinoff - it's certainly better than part 4, anyways.

Apartment 143 is basically Paranormal Activity with professional paranormal investigators thrown in the mix. The investigators have an impressive array of equipment (way better than the guys on Ghost Adventures, anyways) - cameras mounted in all of the rooms, crazy infrared devices, geiger counter looking things, multiple computers - these folks are very well funded. They've even got something so fancy that they had to have it pixelated in the final cut! I guess the idea is that it is proprietary technology - so fancy and innovative that they don't want anyone stealing their ideas. Although I like to think it was just a cardboard box in real life. The majority of the action is edited together from the static cameras placed throughout the house, although some footage comes from the handheld cameras the crew carries around.

December 11th, 2014 - The White Gorilla (1945)

The White Gorilla is really, really bad. I'm not sure if there is a genre name for movies that just recycle footage from other movies and then add some new stuff, but if this is any indication (along with the also really, really bad Vampire Men of the Lost Planet) it's not the best way to make a quality motion picture.

Although it shouldn't have been a surprise - I didn't really expect it to be good. There's bound to be some stinkers on the 50 Tales of Terror Budget set. Honestly, the only reason I really watched it is that I got the idea in my head that I should watch the entire 50 movie set, a disc at a time, in order. So I've got that to look forward to. This was on the same disc as The Long Hair of Death, and clocked in at a (seemingly) watchable 62 minutes, so I figured it should be easy pickings. Plus, who doesn't like guys in gorilla suits? Sadly, I didn't know what I was getting into.

December 10th, 2014 - Feast (2005)

I've been hearing about Feast for a long while now. I know I'm late to the party on this - one friend of mine has probably recommended it to me a half-dozen times over the last five years. And really, it's right in my wheelhouse - it's a semi-goofy, gruesome, and above all fun monster flick. Feast is laugh-out-loud funny at times, and has more than a few surprises up it's sleeve for the creature feature fan.

December 9th, 2014 - The Long Hair of Death (1964)

The Long Hair of Death is a gothic Italian joint that takes place in the Middle Ages - the fifteenth century, if you can read the text on the terrible transfer, that is. The story kicks off with a witch being burned to death for the crime of murder. Interestingly, not at the stake - they put her in a small house made of twigs and set that on fire. Before she burns, her oldest daughter Helen (Barbara Steele) begs the ruling Count Humboldt to let her live - she has proof that someone from the Count's inner circle had actually committed the crime! The Count agrees, but only if she sleeps with him first. Classy. While he's busy forcing himself on Helen, they burn her mother to death anyways. Before she burns to death, she casts her last curse on Count Humboldt, his family, and the people of the town. Also bearing witness to this whole thing is Helen's younger sister Elizabeth. Shortly thereafter, Helen in thrown into the river and killed by Count Humboldt, who is still concerned with the curse put forth by Helen's mom.

December 8th, 2014 - Fields of the Dead (2014)

Fields of the Dead is an okay little ghost story - one that I could never get behind 100%, but I almost want to give it credit for what it doesn't do. So many of these low budget haunting flicks depend far too much on editing tricks/jolty visuals/etc. - it was nice to see one that was actually relatively straightforward for a change. And it would have been *really* easy to go found footage with this - they are out in an old barn/cornfield doing research for our main guy's thesis project. Just say you're documenting the research and - BANG! - found footage horror movie 65218-C. And while the effects aren't grand by any means, they never try anything too outlandish. I've given some movies a hard time for trying things that are clearly out of their range (be it budgetary/skill-level/whatever). So I think I kind of have to give Fields of the Dead credit for knowing when to say when.

Now, that's not exactly high praise; there is still some kind of stupid stuff and it really isn't all that scary/suspenseful, but it goes down easy. Sometimes that is all you need.

December 7th, 2014 - Brain Damage (1988)

Frank Henenlotter's 1998 drug-use fable Brain Damage is a really fun watch. It's got a good blend of horror and comedy, along with a couple of really graphic effects scenes. Is gross-out horror-comedy a sub-genre? I think there are enough Troma films out there to say yes, and Brain Damage fits in with those. And not to trash on Troma, but Brain Damage just feels a little more sophisticated, like it's got a little more on it's mind.

December 6th, 2014 - Mr. Jones (2013)

not the best title screen

It's not a horror-centric recreation of the 1998 hit song... though there are numerous crows in it. (Between today and yesterday, I'm in a contest with myself for lamest blog-introductions...) What it is: an okay found-footage/mockumentary style flick about a couple that move into an isolated house in the woods and stumble across the work of an "artist" named Mr. Jones. He's an enigmatic recluse whose (really kind of awesome) scarecrow-style pieces not only have immense value in the art world, but also a kind of cult following. Some people think he's just an artist, and some people say he's an otherworldly figure whose art is keeping order between the real world and the dream world. (Kind of like what I think about Tommy Wiseau.) It's a unique story, but there are some issues that drag it down from pretty good to just okay.

December 5th, 2014 - Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

It's a good thing that "Freddy's Dead" is right there in the title. Because after this terrible entry, he'd be dead to me anyways. Lame introductions aside, this is a really terrible movie, and it's pretty obvious by this point that the Elm Street series is out of steam. They make a semi-logical move by expanding Freddy's backstory a bit - we learned about his parentage in part 5; so here we get glimpses into his childhood as well as his pre-burnt adult life. We learn that he was not only married but also reproduced, and that his child would be old enough to star in one of these movies now...

Usually, once you get to the the origins of a character in a sequel, you're pretty much just treading water. But in Freddy's Dead Krueger's pre-glove life is the best part of the film. Not that these parts are great (or even that good) by any means... it's just that the bulk of the film focusing on our dreaming teenagers is so bad that it makes any breather a welcome change of pace.

December 4th, 2014 - The Sacrament (2013)

The Sacrament was way more intense than I expected it to be. I more or less knew the general idea behind it (3 reporters from Vice go to a secretive religious commune to do a story on it) and that it was a Ti West joint, a director whose name isn't necessarily equated with tense thrill-ride type films. But I've always been a fan of his slow-burn style, and was excited to see what he did with the found footage/mockumentry aesthetic. In my experience, these FF types of movies tend to be more visceral in their scares - you're seeing some monster or whatever first-hand. The "you are there-ness" of it is what gives it much of punch. And The Sacrament definitely has that - you witness some truly nasty things uncomfortably close up. But what I wasn't expecting was the psychological side of it. This film really goes to some dark and disturbing places. I watched it a few days ago and it's definitely been rattling around in my head ever since.

December 3rd, 2014 - The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (1971)

The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave was an okay watch. I felt like the overall story was decent (in a disjointed, Italian-horror way), it moved along at a reasonable pace, and had some good twists and turns. There are a couple of big things that make it fall on just the "not recommendable" side of things, but it's mostly okay.

Big thing 1 - Our main character Allan (Anthony Steffen) is essentially a serial killer. I think we're supposed to feel bad for him because of the trauma he experienced after the death of his wife (the titular Evelyn). By the end, he's almost portrayed as a hero/martyr, but when we first meet him he's bringing a prostitute to his isolated castle and then proceeds to murder her. And once he gets married, he beats his wife. Hard to get behind this guy.

December 2nd, 2014 - Condemned to Live (1935)

Condemned to Live starts off promisingly. A bedridden woman and two men are trapped in a cave with some freaky drumming going on outside. The woman is clearly very fearful and in a lot of pain, and tells the man (her husband) "I can't stand it... If you love me, kill me. Kill me now." Wow. To which he responds "remember Martha - you have another life to think of besides your own," implying she's pregnant! Heavy by today's standards - even more so in the 1930's, I'm sure. They are hiding from "the natives," although they feel they'll be safe in the cave, as it is rumored to be home to vampire bats. On queue, a big bat swoops (i.e. gently lowers into the frame) and attacks her. I'm always partial to old bat-related special effects, but this scene is legitimately the best part of the film. From this point on, it's just a kind of talky and pretty bland murder mystery, although it does end up going to a bit darker places than I was expecting in the finale.

December 1st, 2014 - Chopping Mall (1986)

I can't possibly sum up the story or tone of Chopping Mall any better than the back of the box (I watched this on an old VHS I bought many years ago from a Video Update going-out-of-business sale):

Some people will kill for a bargain... and at the Park Plaza Mall, they do! Here, you can shop till you drop... dead!

High tech robots equipped with state-of-the-art security devices have been recruited as the new mechanical "night watchmen" for the Park Plaza Mall. When a jolting bolt of lightning short circuits the main computer control, the robots turn into "killbots"... on the loose after unsuspecting shoppers! Four couples are trying to make it after-hours in a mattress store. They make it alright - in the morgue!

At Park Plaza, you can save on everything but your life! [a bunch of people in the movie] (the stars) slash their prices and their customers!