‘You haven’t got a prayer.’

The Unholy is a 1988 American supernatural horror film directed by Camilo Vila from a screenplay by Philip Yordan (Cataclysm) and Fernando Fonseca. It stars Ben Cross, Ned Beatty and features Trevor Howard in his final role.

New Orleans: Having miraculously survived a fall from a seventeen storey building, Father Michael (Ben Cross) is appointed pastor of St. Agnes church, which has been closed for three years following the mysterious deaths of his predecessors.

Father Michael attempts to find out why he has become the ‘Chosen One’ while resisting a powerful demon who takes the form of a seemingly irresistible beautiful woman…

The film is released for the first time on Blu-ray on June 27, 2017 as part of Lionsgate’s new Vestron Video Collector’s Series line.

Buy: Amazon.com

• Audio Commentary with director Camilo Vila
• Isolated Score Selections and Audio Interview with Composer Roger Bellon
• Audio Interview with Production Designer and Co-Writer Fernando Fonseca, Featuring Isolated Selections from His Unused Score
• ”Sins of the Father” with Ben Cross
• Demons in the Flesh: The Monsters of The Unholy
• ”Prayer Offerings” with Fernando Fonseca
• Original Ending Featuring Optional Audio Commentary with Producer Mathew Hayden
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots
• Radio Spots
• Original Storyboard Gallery
• Still Gallery

Reviews:

“Whether you see the cruet as half empty or half full, The Unholy remains an intriguing curiosity due to its unusual evolution and unique position as a time capsule of late 1980s horror. Even undercut by hokey creatures, divergent dialogue, and a mishmash of myriad pieces, the gravitas of its cast and guts to go all in on ill-advised gambles sees the film holding up well enough three decades later, all things considered.” Ian Sedensky, Culture Crypt

“The Unholy embraces 1980s style and aesthetic – including colorful lighting from cinematographer Henry Vargas and an electronic score by Roger Bellon (Waxwork) – but its structure largely resembles that of religious horror films such as The Exorcist and The Omen. Struggling to find its footing between two styles, the film has the overt sexuality and gore of the ‘80s without the sense of fun commonly associated with the decade…” Alex DiVincenzo, Broke Horror Fan

“The practical effects work and creature creations that are employed in the last half of the film are sufficiently icky if never particularly terrifying (the two mini-demons that accompany the main demon are pretty goofy, but still kind of cool in their own strange way) and there’s a fair amount of gore and nudity on display. This keeps the picture’s exploitation content reasonably high.” Ian Jane, Rock! Shop! Pop!

“Vila leans into purely visual filmmaking, summoning up frenzied lighting and Jigoku-esque montages of Hell’s torments. If only the rest of the film could live up to this sort of potential instead of wasting just about everything, from its impressive cast to a New Orleans locale that’s rarely exploited. By the end, The Unholy feels less like an Exorcist rip-off and more like a half-hearted stab at cashing in on the previous year’s much superior Angel Heart.” Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror!

Cast and characters:

• Ben Cross – Father Michael
• Ned Beatty – Lieutenant Stern (Repossessed; Exorcist II: The Heretic; Deliverance)
• William Russ – Luke
• Jill Carroll – Millie
• Hal Holbrook – Archbishop Mosely (Creepshow; The Fog; Rituals)
• Trevor Howard – Father Silva (Craze; Persecution; The Night Visitor)
• Claudia Robinson – Teresa
• Nicole Fortier – Demon
• Peter Frechette – Claude

Trivia:

SFX creator Bob Keen (Hellraiser) was hired to add additional gore after production wrapped.

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: Wrong Side of the Art!

‘Scream all you want… no one believes it’s real’

Talon Falls is a 2017 American horror film written, edited, co-produced and directed by Joshua Shreve. Morgan Wiggins, Jordyn Rudolph, Brad Bell and Ryan Rudolph star.

Four teenagers on a road trip decide to take a detour and find themselves at a haunted house Halloween scream park deep in the woods of southern Kentucky.

After witnessing an assortment of torture and gore, they start wondering if what they are experiencing isn’t a little too realistic. Before they know it, each one of them is captured and made part of the horrific attraction they originally thought was all gruesome fun and games…

Talon Falls is released on DVD in the US by Lost Empire on October 13, 2017.

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The Beautiful, the Bloody, and the Bare is a 1964 American nudie cutie horror film written and directed by Sande N. Johnsen. The Esquire Picture stars Jack Lowe, Tom Signorelli (Alice, Sweet Alice; Rosemary’s Baby) and Mai Dey.

Unnerved after a trip to Northern Italy, Pete Abbott becomes a New York nudie photographer. Trouble is, the colour red sometimes so upsets him that he starts killing his models!

Buy DVD: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

” …you have to sit through 32 minutes of women posing endlessly for the artist’s canvas and photographer’s camera and inane banter and narration before Pete goes cuckoo. Even when the blood starts flowing, it’s nothing as fascinating as H.G. Lewis’ Blood Feast, shot the previous year. There are still moments of interest to be found in this snoozefest…” Casey Scott, DVD Drive-In

“Narration skirts around the plot, but finds solace in the leisure activities of nude models. Monotonous? At times. Charming? Always. Quite simply, The Beautiful is Barry Mahon’s nude revue coming to terms with the gore revolution. Imagine Color Me Blood Red talking shop with The Beast That Killed Women in a beatnik diner.” Joseph A. Ziemba, Bleeding Skull!

” …the killer ends up all bloody in the end, and all the girls in the cast take their clothes off.  So that’s the good news.  The bad news is that the movie is boring as Hell because it’s more or less 50 minutes of nude modeling (in a chair, on a couch, in a bubble bath, etc.) and 15 minutes of murdering.” Mitch Lovell, The Video Vacuum

Filming locations:

New York City, New York, USA

IMDb | Image credits: Just Screenshots | Wrong Side of the Art!

‘You won’t believe your eyes… until he rips them from their sockets!’

Goblin is a 1993 American horror film directed by Todd Sheets from a screenplay co-written with Jerry Angell; it stars Mike Hellman, Bobby Westrick and Charles Monroe.

A newlywed couple move into their new house. What they don’t realize is that the previous owner of the house raised a monstrous creature from the depths of hell! Now it’s coming back to make up for lost time. The Goblin, set free from its dark prison within the earth, lays waste to the Missouri countryside, hungry to mangle or kill anything or anyone in its path. The young people, trapped inside the house, are pushed to the nightmarish extremes, forced to retaliate…or become the next victim of…the Goblin!

Reviews:

Luckily, Goblin is less like Sheets’ Zombie Bloodbath and more like his Nightmare Asylum. It’s still derivative, plain, and disorganized. But it could only have escaped from Todd Sheet’s brain, and with his particular set of idiosyncrasies. Other people were making zombie movies in their basements during the early 1990s. No-one else was making a movie that featured a goblin puncturing someone’s eyeball with a power drill…” Joseph A. Ziemba, Bleeding Skull!

“The kills start to feel like an amateurish Toolbox Murders as the killer applies one tool after another to different parts of their bodies, including a drill to the eye, a poker up the butt, and a scythe up the genitals. The disemboweling is gleefully over-the-top but I found myself so bored I was wondering whether they reuse the same bucket of guts for every person or maintain gory hygiene.” The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre

Usual rules don’t really apply to Goblin and films of its ilk–they’re objectively bad by technical standards, but many of them still manage to perfectly accomplish what they set out to do; Goblin isn’t quite one of these, but if you’re the type of person who enjoys a goblin that resembles a shaggy hobo (a “hobogoblin?”) ripping people apart for an hour, you’ll probably have some fun with it.” Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror!

Trivia:

Not to be confused with the 2010 TV movie of the same title.

IMDb

‘Prime candidates for murder!’

Three on a Meathook – aka 3 on a Meathook – is a 1972 [released 1973] American horror film written and directed by William Girdler (Abby, Day of the Animals, The Manitou). The scenario was loosely based on the real-life story of serial killer Ed Gein. It stars Charles Kissinger, James Pickett, and Sherry Steiner

Pat Patterson (director of The Body Shop aka Doctor Gore, in 1973) supplied the gory makeup effects.

Review:

A very 1970s exploitation movie obviously patterned after Psycho to the extent of lifting structural tricks (a long prologue introducing not one but four women who get killed off in one bloody night to make way for different central characters, a lengthy post-climax psychiatric explanation and a cut to the killer catatonic in a strait-jacket with a voice-over), and other gambits (a post-murder “God, what have I done?” bit from outside the house, a twist in the ending involving a mother who is here a reverse Mrs Bates: supposedly dead and buried but actually alive and eating people!) from the Hitchcock film.

Written, directed and with music by William Girdler, it is also one of those thrown-together off-Hollywood efforts that scatters its gore effects – all very H.G. Lewis (Blood Feast; The Gore Gore Girls), though there’s a neat decapitation stunt with the actress’s head pinned to a wall as the body falls away – sparingly into a film that otherwise dawdles in its hippie-inflected, counterculture way (note the secondary character’s soliloquy about a young husband’s Vietnam draft notice ‘they sent him an invitation to die in one of their wars and a month later they sent me a telegram saying he had done so’) in vaguely tedious fashion.

After the chicks, notable for their bikini pale patches in nude scenes, on a rural break stay the night at a farmhouse and get massacred, we follow sensitive hulk Billy (Charles Kissinger), who is told by his farmer Dad (James Pickett) that he’s the killer but never remembers his crimes, as he goes to the big city to forget – taking in a rerun of The Graduate – and getting blind drunk in a bar where the band American Xpress are playing. He hooks up with free ‘n’ easy bartender Sherry Steiner and they have an idyllic day of wandering together, that leads to an invitation for Sherry and her widowed friend to go to the farm.

Incredibly, Billy works out that he’s not the killer, but never seems worried about who is and whether the guests will be in danger (Dad takes a pickaxe to the blonde). After a bit of wandering around the farm, Sherry finds three new nude girls hung on meathooks in the veal pens and Dad hacking away at a leg in the kitchen, whereupon mad Mom shows up and gets the accidental chop. Then Billy gets into a suit to hear the shrink explain everything he’s been too dim to puzzle out.

Overall, Three on a Meathook is notable for its lack of urgency, with very few sudden spurts of over-in-a-flash action and horror between fuzzy aimlessness.

Kim Newman, guest reviewer [official website]

Buy Video Dungeon book: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

Other reviews:

“Three on a Meathook banks on a seething climax, lots of tan-line nudity, and a swell twist ending. It almost works. Although the film wallows in a cold, distant regionality that cushions the dated shortcomings (merciless wah-wah pedal wanks, montage padding), it’s still restricted by technical poops.” Bleeding Skull

“It shamelessly throws up a mixture of gratuitous nudity, nasty murders and even finds time for some groovy music. The film revels in its hick psycho-boy meets hippie bar-chick romantic sub-plot before climaxing with a gore soaked twist ending.” Hysteria Lives

“Director William Girdler does a fine job with all the gory exploitation goodies. He delivers on the blood and dismemberment and shows more than a fair share of female flesh. While the film tends to drag during Billy’s courtship of the waitress, there’s enough of the red stuff to go around to make up for it.” Mitch Lovell, The Video Vacuum

Buy on DVD with Flesh Feast: Amazon.com

“It’s a film with two great bookends and nearly nothing in between, filled with more padding than a shoe store and more bad music than a Waffle House jukebox. This is a case where the prototype is much less satisfying than its more accomplished contemporaries like Deranged and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” Brett Gallman, Oh-the-Horror

“With really fake-looking gore effects and mostly bad acting (there are even a few instances where the screen just goes blank for no reason), Three on a Meathook has one of those great grindhouse titles that is better than the actual movie.” Cinema Knife Fight

” …displays a few redeeming qualities which would have been nice had Girdler hung onto later in the game. Such as a primitive enthusiasm … Some of the camera angles, while not “arty” in the pretentious and rather abrasive sense, show a good college try at making the most of an economically bankrupt situation, and a well-chosen cast demonstrates more talent than is generally associated with such a miniscule budget.” Dave Szurek, Temple of Schlock

“Includes the usual Girdler trademarks: splashy gore (courtesy of Pat Patterson), endless padding, and mind-numbingly bad rock music.” Brian Albright, Regional Horror Films, 1958-1990: A State-by-State Guide with Interviews (McFarland, 2012)

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

“Outside the decapitation gag and a nicely-shot “discovery” moment of revelation with three corpses on the aforementioned meat-hooks, however, the film feels flat and remote, as if we’re watching the whole thing from a distance. This approach actually diminishes the sense of horror, rather than augmenting it. John Kenneth Muir, Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV

“This is an odd character study-cum-slasher mix, with perhaps slightly too much of the former. Still, the abrupt killings are efficiently done (a fun beheading, a nice quick jab stick in the bathtub) and Girdler’s low budget definitely contributes to the grisly mood.” The Terror Trap

Release:

The film was distributed theatrically in the United States in 1973 by Studio 1 Productions. It was released on VHS by Regal Video, Inc. and then via Video Treasures.

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘First they dance, then they kill!’

Stripperland – also known as Stripper Zombieland – is a 2011 comedy horror film directed by Sean Skelding from a screenplay by Brad McCray and Shawn Justice. It is a parody of Zombieland.

The film stars Ben Sheppard, Maren McGuire, Ileana Herrin, Jamison Challeen, Daniel Baldwin, Linnea Quigley, Boyd Banks,  Thom Bray, Lloyd Kaufman, Hank Cartwright and Brad McCray.

Reviews:

“I’d like less time spent lazily rehashing scenes from Zombieland, especially since the original material is so much better than the direct spoofing. The message about treating sex workers like actual people should have been handled more subtly, woven less obtrusively into the fabric of the film. And at the same time, Skelding shouldn’t have shied away from having some of the zombies take their damn clothes off, since that tends to subliminally undermine his contention that there’s no shame in what strippers do for a living.” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

“It does have some original things going on as well, as they end up battling a mad scientist and find themselves at a mall briefly (in a pretty cool nod to Dawn of the Dead), Overall there is enough here to make fans and non-fans of Zombieland both happy. There is plenty of over the top gore and violence here to keep gorehounds happy as well.” Todd Martin, HorrorNews.net

“Stripperland seems to try to diffuse comparisons to Zombieland with pointed asides to the original’s flaws, like the bizarre scarcity of Twinkies, but there’s no comparison beyond unflattering imitation. Stripperland is a meandering film that wanders slowly from one vignette to the next, many of them little more than a pause for a celebrity cameo.” William Bibbiani, Crave

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

“I laughed many times throughout, sometimes at the film but other with it. It knows exactly what it is, but is a little bit desperate in getting there. It doesn’t have quite enough jokes or plot to fill the whole film so there are overly-long scenes and random dullness, but if you don’t go in expecting genius, you might have a good time.” Stuart Taylor, Shouting at Cows

IMDb | Facebook | Related: Strippers vs. Werewolves | Zombie Strippers

Massacre Up North is a 2001 Canadian slasher horror film starring, written, directed and by Paul Stoichevesk [as Paul Stoichevski].

The film also features Kieran Hart, Lorn Eisen, Labe Kagan, Allison Leigha Taylor, David Franklyn-Ratchford, Tony Sciara.

Press release:

Shivers Entertainment is a brand spanking new Canadian-based film distribution company. From Victoria, British Columbia and developed by long time exploitation film fan Brenin Barrow, the first major release for Shivers Ent. is the truly disturbing Canuxploitation film Massacre Up North!

This shot-on-video slasher is one of the bloodiest titles to ever be produced in Canada. Full of gore, terror and nudity, Massacre Up North involves one man’s deadly trail of destruction, in small town Canada.

Shivers Entertainment will be re-launching this title, 15 years after its original release. This time, Shivers will release Massacre Up North with a very limited VHS copy; only 70 copies will be available.

As well, this will be the film’s first DVD launch and it will host a new, bloodier cover than the original.”

Official synopsis:

“After a camping accident leaves him disfigured and tormented by classmates, Leslie Rejick only has one thing on his mind: It’s Time to Even The Score! With a hardware store chock-full of deadly tools at his disposal, he leaves behind a merciless path of death and destruction in a small Canadian town.

A pair of inept city detectives, determined to track down the killer, enlist the help of eccentric local coroner Patrick. But, Patrick holds a secret of his own, and he ultimately leads the detectives head-on into a bizarre, bloody battle with the psychotic killer…

Reviews:

“This cheap and juvenile attempt at psychological horror suffers from abominable acting, poor special effects, criminal over length, the drab work of the aptly-named video-grapher, Geoff Bland, and the kind of lazy, misanthropic world view, masquerading as a cry for tolerance, that can only be formed after years of living in the comfort of your parents’ basement.” Caelum Vatnsdal, They Came from Within

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca

“Massacre Up North is not a good film. It’s quite awful, but it is spectacularly good at being awful and is a fun film to watch with friends if you want something to rip on while pounding drinks. There’s a high amount of impressive gore and Stoichevesk is kind enough to toss in quite a few nude scenes, so it ain’t all bad.” Ain’t It Cool News

IMDb | Shivers Entertainment

‘A twisted mind is a terrible thing to waste.’

The Hackers is a 1987 American splatter horror film written [as J. Samuels] and directed John Duncan (Black River Monster).

The Camelot Studios production was released in 1988 and stars Howard Coburn, Dale Caughel, Steve Pricharo and Michelle Rank.

Marcie, a young woman, is offered the chance to stay a few weeks at a country estate while the family that own the place are on a trip away.

Meanwhile, Pa Hacker and his two simpleton sons are on a killing spree in the local vicinity. When the Hackers arrive on the scene to do some repair work, a terrifying chain of events takes place with a shocking ending…

Buy DVD from Camelot Studios

Reviews:

“Compared to other SOV efforts from this time, this has decent acting from the leads (some of the “victims” on the other hand… whew!), a minimum of flubbed lines, a high enough body count and enough cheap bloody moments to please fans of this stuff. There’s even a silly theme song (“Just slash ’em, bash ’em, trash ’em! Throw another corpse in the pile!”). A few of the scenes are half-baked and seem unfinished.” The Bloody Pit of Horror

“The Hackers is basically a poor man’s Mother’s Day. Think about that for a minute, let it marinate, are you really sure you want to watch a movie that wishes it was as good as… Charles Kaufman’s Mother’s Day? Yeah, I didn’t think so.” Hollie Horror, Letterboxd.com

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca

“There really aren’t any characters to root for either, because the Hackers are antagonists, and the girl is rushed into the story so fast it’s impossible to see her as a likable character. The gore effects were much better than I expected, though. There are a few pretty good severed heads and other forms of machete mayhem on display, but nothing too gutsy.” James Oxyer, Obscure Cinema 101

Cast and characters:

Howard Coburn – Pa Hacker
Dale Caughel – Arnie Hacker
Steve Prichard – Eldon Hacker
Michelle Rank – Marcie
David Duncan – Hitchhiker 1
Laura Forbis – Hitchhiker 2
Bruce Phillips – Gardner
Rick Robbins – Mr. Anderson
Mareena Henry – Mrs. Anderson
Jill Sutter – Bridge Girl
Larry Sieter – Fisherman
Ralph Dove – Bar Heckler
Bruce Parraghi – Store Manager
Dave Hall – Detective Hall
John Hurley – Policeman
Denise Ferris – Angelia
Ann Alexander – Bar Waitress
Chuck Mabe – 1st Hunter
John Duncan – 2nd Hunter

Filming locations:

Croswell and Lexington, Michigan, USA

IMDb | Camelot Studios website

‘What you don’t see will kill you’

Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead is a 2009 American horror film directed by Declan O’Brien (Rock Monster; Sharktopus; Joy Ride 3: Roadkill) from a screenplay by Connor James Delaney. It is the third instalment in the Wrong Turn film series.

The film stars Janet Montgomery (The Hills Run Red; Dead Cert; Black Swan; Salem), Tom Frederic, Chucky Venn, Tamer Hassan and Louis Cliffe.

Plot:

Alex (Janet Montgomery) and her friends Trey (Jack Gordon), Sophie (Louise Cliffe) and Brent (Charley Speed) go into the woods of West Virginia on a rafting trip. As they are camping, Alex’s friends are killed by Three Finger.

Two days later, a group of prisoners are being transferred to a distant prison. While driving, their bus is rammed by Three Finger’s truck and crashes in the woods, forcing them to continue on foot…

Buy: Amazon.com

Reviews:

“The saddest thing about it is that at its core is a potentially interesting story. Cops teaming up with criminals and regular folks against a common enemy – sound like Assault on Precinct 13 a bit? … Instead we get the umpteenth journey through the woods, without any of the class of the original or splatter-y fun of the sequel.” Bloody Disgusting

“There is toplessness (of a hilariously gratuitous variety) within two minutes of the film’s opening, and a legion of gory deaths to follow – but there is also, alas, little here that we have not seen before … Yet amid all its man-traps, macho posturing and monetary moralising, this is an overfamiliar exercise in by-numbers filmmaking that always seems merely to be coasting on auto-pilot.” Anton Bitel, Eye for Film

“While there’s some creativity in the methods of death, the filmmakers decide to overload their gags with CGI gore, a strategy that pisses me off as I see it used more frequently in low-budget horror films … If gore is where you hope to make your name, divert some cash into the practical props line item.” David Johnson, DVD Verdict

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

“It features a cast of actors who have a lot of episodes of The Bill on their CVs and has what appears to be a public park in Belgrade standing in for America. It’s dark. Presumably they thought the audience would be too drunk to notice. Its really, really dreadful.” Max Renn Blog

Cast and characters:

• Tom Frederic as Nate Wilson
• Janet Montgomery as Alex
• Gil Kolirin as Floyd
• Christian Contreras as William Juarez
• Jake Curran as Crawford
• Tom McKay as Brandon
• Chucky Venn as Walter
• Tamer Hassan as Carlos Chavez
• Louise Cliffe as Sophie
• Jack Gordon as Trey
• Charley Speed as Brent
• Borislav Petrov as Three Toes
• Borislav Iliev as Three Finger
• Mike Straub as Preslow
• Bill Moody as Sheriff Calvin Carver
• Emma Clifford as Deputy Ally Lane
• Mac McDonald as Warden Ladew
• Todd Jensen as U.S. Marshal
• Vlado Mihailov as U.S. Marshal Davis

Filming locations:

Sofia, Bulgaria

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘This legend is real.’

Chupacabra: Dark Seas – aka Chupacabra Terror – is a 2005 American horror film directed by John Shepphird (Jersey Shore Shark Attack) from a screenplay co-written with Steve Jankowski (who also plays Admiral Williams). The film is a Regent Entertainment production for the Syfy television channel.

Main cast:

John Rhys-Davies (Beasts; Anacondas: Trail of Blood; The Half Dead), Giancarlo Esposito (Bones), Dylan Neal (Vampire Bats; Locusts; Ice Road Terror), Chelan Simmons (It; Monster Island; Snakehead Terror), Paula Shaw (The Centerfold Girls; Freddy vs. Jason; iZombie) and David Millbern (The Slumber Party Massacre;  Ice Spiders; The Nurse).

Plot:

Dr. Peña (Esposito), a cryptozoologist, manages to capture El Chupacabra on a remote Caribbean island and smuggles it aboard the cruise ship Regent Queen, commanded by Captain Randolph (Rhys-Davies) with the assistance of his young daughter, and ship fitness instructor, Jenny (Simmons). The Regent Queen has been experiencing a rash of burglaries, and Federal Marshal Lance Thompson (Neal) is brought on board to investigate.

Unfortunately, crew members sneak into the cargo hold on their break; their curiosity getting the better of them, they accidentally unlock the container holding the creature. It kills them and escapes into the ship…

Reviews:

“First, it was actually paced pretty well. I watch a lot of bad movies where I can’t wait for the credits to roll, but despite its subject matter and dialogue, I remained relatively interested in the film. Maybe it’s just because I think cryptozoology and cryptids, in general, are pretty cool, but seeing someone talk about it somewhat intelligently, despite being in a film called Chupacabra Terror, was surprising.” The Wolfman Cometh

“Where drive-in horror movies of the 1950s were either moderately creepy or sublimely ridiculous, this schlocker misses out by relying on cheap thrills and parodistic laughs … The gore may satisfy die-hard monster mashers, but the cheesy-looking creature isn’t fit to touch the gills of the Creature from the Black Lagoon.” Robert Pardi, TV Guide

Cast and characters:

• John Rhys-Davies as Captain Randolph
• Dylan Neal as Lance Thompson
• Chelan Simmons as Jenny Randolph
• Giancarlo Esposito as Dr. Peña
• Paula Shaw as Millie Hartman
• David Millbern as Rick McGraw
• Luke Darnell as Ensign Peters
• Mark Viniello as El Chupacabra

Buy ‘Nights of Terror’ DVD: Amazon.com

Filming locations:

The Turks and Caicos Islands

Release:

In the US, the film was released on DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on May 3, 2005.

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: The Wolfman Cometh

‘The tuition isn’t all that will kill you.’

Murder University is a 2012 American horror feature film directed by Richard Griffin (Flesh for the Inferno; Dr. Frankenstein’s Wax Museum of the Hungry Dead; The Disco Exorcist) from a screenplay by Lenny Schwartz (Scary Little F*ckers; Normal).

The movie stars Jamie Dufalt, Michael Thurber, Samantha Acampora, Rich Tretheway, Juicy K. Thunder, David Adams Murphy, Dave Almeida.

1983: A series of brutal, cult-like murders are taking place at a New England college.

Josh Greene, a shy freshman, is the lone survivor of a series of murders that are reminiscent of a similar string of killings some twenty years prior. As he seeks to uncover the secret behind the attacks, he is joined by Detective Forrester, who was instrumental in halting the bloodshed before, and his daughter Meg, who had barely escaped being a victim previously…

Reviews:

“Griffin and screenwriter Lenny Schwartz have a real gift for comedy and the cast deliver every line with a perfect deadpan, loved it. The music’s great, a burping 80’s synth score with shrieking stingers and droning atmosphere. There’s also a cool 50’s flashback scene featuring a trio performing a ditty about the pinko commie threat, sweet, followed by some sex, gore and humor in short order.” McBastard’s Mausoleum

“The wanton nudity and over the top gore are strangely, refreshingly comedic at a time when more polished, sterilised films are prevalent from the studio system … Murder University is a typical example of a good idea that just hasn’t either been thought through well enough, or not conveyed adequately to the screen.” John Townsend, HorrorNews.net

“Throughout, the acting is better than average. This isn’t a genuine slasher movie containing nothing but gruesome murders. Sure, you have that but there is also a good story with plenty of humour, jokes and music, terrible as the latter may be. The characters are also three-dimensional with even the bad guys coming across as real people. This is because the script is reasonable and the actors are not cardboard cut-outs.” Rod MacDonald, SF Crowsnest

“Murder University would be a good slasher/giallo tribute if it stuck to BEING a slasher/giallo tribute. It has a good slasher storyline, likable characters, passable effects, a bit of good comedy, and plenty of sex, blood, and nudity. However, the tangents the script takes into weirder, more out-of-place comedy cause a wildly inconsistent tone and actually overshadow the few moments where the jokes work!” Mike, Horrorfreak News

Filming locations:

Pawtucket, Rhode Island, USA

Related:

Final Exam – USA, 1981

Graduation Day – USA, 1981

Splatter University – USA, 1982

‘Til death do us part.’

Honeymoon Horror is a 1982 American slasher horror film written and directed by Harry Preston (Blood of the Wolf Girl) from a story by L.L. ‘Jack’ Carney. It stars Paul Iwanski, Bob Wagner, Cheryl Black.

This was one of the first direct-to-video films purchased by Sony Home Video and released to the fledgling video rental market. It allegedly made $22 million for Sony who bought it for $50,000 from the Texas filmmakers.

‘Imagine every newlywed’s fantasy, a rustic secluded lover’s paradise- Honeymoon Island. What starts as a weekend of love, turns into a nightmare of blood and terror for three young innocent couples.

What lurks in the shadows of Honeymoon Lodge? Is it the caretaker, or perhaps something more fiendish and deadly? Honeymoon Island, where newlyweds joined in holy matrimony spend their wedding night screaming in terror!’

Reviews:

“Honeymoon Horror is a poorly put together movie but looks much better here than in the most common print available. Preston has said that the production was so awkward that most of his ideas were devoured by the lack of budget and the film does look shoddy and cheap. For a slice of regional filmmaking with a cool maniac though, it at least deserves to be seen.” A Slash Above

“Sure, it does have its fun moments, but as a whole, it’s just way too talky to do anyone any good. The thought of a Honeymoon-themed slasher on an island is nice, yet the filmmakers load the movie up with mostly boring and forgettable characters, bad writing, little gore, no surprises, and hardly any redeeming qualities.” James Oxyer, Obscure Cinema 101

” … even with the slow pace, I was never really bored. The horrid dialogue kept me laughing throughout; I particularly liked the guy who told his wife he had to go practice his weightlifting on their wedding night (which in any other movie would result in the now isolated man being clubbed to death with his own barbells, but not Honeymoon Horror!” Brian W. Collins, Horror Movie a Day

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

“There are some good kills throughout the film, however, and they are pretty gory. Sadly though, many of them are off screen and you only see the aftermath. The killer himself is pretty cool looking, in all of his charred up glory, but has been done many times before and since. Sadly, there’s no real whodunit factor in the movie as you know damn well who it is the entire time.” Ronnie Angel, Slashed Dreams

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca

“Honeymoon Horror is helplessly bogged down with talky scenes and nudity, not to mention absurd characters, particularly the Cockney maid (!). When it actually shows up, the gore is pretty plentiful and the special effects not too bad, but the cast is uniformly awful.” Jim Harper, Legacy of Blood

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Main cast:

Paul Iwanski, Bob Wagner, Cheryl Black, Philip Thompson, James Caskey, Bill Pecchi, Jerry Meagher, William Clarke, Margi Curry, Mary Lou Wittman, Leslie McKinley, Kathy Johnson.

Filming locations: 

Austin Patio Dude Ranch in Grapevine, Texas, USA

IMDb

Death by Umbrella! The 100 Weirdest Horror Movie Weapons is a 2016 book by Christopher Lombardo and Jeff Kirschner published by BearManor Media.

Press release:

“As horror movies have become more extreme, even the tools of the tree surgeon have be-come passé. Besides, why risk industrial deaf-ness dispatching virgins with a chainsaw?

Death by Umbrella! The 100 Weirdest Horror Movie Weapons is a fun-filled romp through the world of gore ordinances. Hosts of The Really Awful Movies Podcast, Christopher Lombardo and Jeff Kirschner, explore a variety of very odd weapons that have helped people meet their maker in horror films.

These include being fatally skewered by mounted deer antlers, death by exercise machines, curling irons, and ears of corn, laceration by avant-garde sculptures, bludgeoning into the beyond by pogo sticks, and even lethal basketballs thrown at high velocity (!)

A must for horror fans, the book also features some really cool (and gory) illustrations, plus a foreword by Troma legend Lloyd Kaufman.”

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

‘Babes of the night, with a different appetite!’

Cannibal Hookers is a 1987 American horror film written, co-produced and directed by Donald Farmer (Demon Queen; Red Lips; Shark Exorcist).

The film stars Amy Waddell, Annette Munro, Sheila Best [aka Tara the Southern Belle], Tommy Carrano, Richard Liberty (The Crazies; Day of the Dead), Matt Borlenghi, Drew Godderis (Evil Spawn), Sky Nicholas (Fatal Pulse), Katina Garner (Hack-O-Lantern), Marya Gant (A Polish vampire in Burbank) and Gary J. Levinson. Eric Caidin, owner of the Hollywood Book and Poster shop has a cameo role.

As a sorority initiation for Zama Gata Bata (“the sleaziest sorority on campus”), two female college students must to pose as prostitutes and each pick up a client and bring them back to the house. However, when the young women return they discover the sorority sisters are actually part of a cannibal cult…

Reviews:

“Oy ve. Where shall I even begin describing this exercise in cheap gore, cheap T&A contributed by ladies who certainly look their parts and camcorder production values? Let’s just say I had more fun making the screen caps than I did actually watching the movie.” The Bloody Pit of Horror

“Good and bad are sticky concepts when you’re down at the bottom of the cinematic heap, as we are here. What it is, is a bloke with no money and a bit of a sense of humour just making something happen.” Mark Longden, International Syndicate of Cult Film Critics

“Farmer does Demon Queen again, but less dreamy, less weird, more broad and dumb and “market-friendly,” complete with desperately tasteless jokes and a hip soundtrack full of watery quasi-punk rock. Maybe a skosh better than the similar Night of the Living Babes (if only because Farmer does seem to want to take the horror elements seriously when they belatedly show up) but still wholly dismal and depressing.” Steve Carlson, Letterboxd.com

Buy DVD: Amazon.com

“The sound is terrible, one girl keeps looking at the camera, and the FX consist of blood and boobs.” Michael J. Weldon, The Psychotronic Video Guide

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

“The acting is atrocious, the premise is idiotic, the blood and gore effects are a joke, and the entire thing looks like it was filmed with someone’s uncle’s video camera that was ordinarily used to shoot home movies. It looks a lot like a really bad 80’s p*rno flick instead of a horror film and it is just painfully bad in general.” Todd Martin, Horror News

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Release:

Originally issued in the US on VHS by Camp Video, it was released as an Eden Entertainment DVD on October 31, 2000 with the cover title I Will Dance on Your Grave: Cannibal Hookers.

Trivia:

Footage from Curse of the Screaming Dead can be seen on a TV set.

Image credits: The Bloody Pit of Horror | International Syndicate of Cult Film Critics |  VHS Collector

‘Only the blood of drug addicts can satisfy its thirst!’

Blood Freak is a 1972 American horror feature film, produced and directed by Brad F. Grinter (who also appears on screen as a narrator) and actor Steve Hawkes. It is “the world’s only turkey-monster-anti-drug-pro-Jesus gore film!”

A biker comes upon a girl with a flat tire and offers her a ride home. He winds up at a drug party with the girl’s sister, then follows her to a turkey farm owned by her father, a mad scientist.

The father turns the biker into a giant turkey monster who goes after drug dealers….

Reviews:

“Peerless, disturbed, and completely stupid, it’s a glorification of all things crooked and perplexing in 70s exploitation films. The sheer concept (and series of events) baffles endlessly, making Grinter and friends’ seeming sincerity a trivial footnote.” Joseph A Ziemba, Bleeding Skull

“If you threw a Ron Ormond pro-Christian message flick, a nauseating H.G. Lewis gorefest, and an anti-pot PSA into a blender, Blood Freak would eventually pour into your glass. Sure, it’s an often-quoted cliche by now, but this movie is like nothing you’ve ever seen before! The acting’s appalling (Chesty Morgan deserves an Oscar compared to these people!), the production values ludicrously cheap, and the script is intensely stupid.” Casey Scott, DVD Drive-In

“What is this movie, then? Bad monster flick? Anti-drug scare film? Christian exploitation cinema? Low-budget mishmash or bad ideas? In truth, Blood Freak is all that and more. A bastard offspring of Herschel Gordon Lewis (and I must say some of the blood and gore effects in this film, particularly one where a guy gets his leg sawed off, are surprisingly effective given the utter incompetence of everything else on display) and Ron Ormond, Blood Freak is unlike anything else that’s ever been made—or ever will be made.” Trash Film Guru

This VHS sleeve utilises artwork for Jesus Franco’s Devil Hunter (1980)

“The acting, makeup and rock music soundtrack are all wonderfully horrible.” Michael Weldon, The Psychotronic Video Guide

“The question of how seriously this was intended lingers, though they don’t look self-aware enough to be implementing much savvy, leaving Blood Freak an endurance test, but a damned weird, at times hilarious, one.” Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image

“Are you a cinema masochist? Do you enjoy your C-movies chock full of atrocious acting, ludicrous plotting, and bargain basement production values? Do you demand your horror sleaze be punctuated by bumbling sex, little sophistication, and tons of hokey symbolism? Then this bird’s for you!” The Terror Trap

“What were Hawkes and Grinter thinking? With the pro-Christian elements, one has to wonder if they were really trying to put a positive message in this movie, while trying to make something “commercial”. But did they really think a movie with such poor production values could be commercial? That turkey head mask will have viewers screaming with laughter, not simply screaming.” The Unknown Movies

“This one belongs in the ‘so terrible it’s hilarious’ genre […] Contains some gore, 70s outfits, some female flesh, Christian preaching, and editing and dialog that would make Ed Wood cringe.” The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre

” … one of the most bizarre, inexplicable and confusing films ever made.” Brian Albright, Regional Horror Films, 1958 – 1990

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

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The post Blood Freak – USA, 1972 appeared first on HORRORPEDIA.

Trivial Pursuit Horror Movie Edition is a 2018 game by USAopoly that allows players to test their knowledge of 100 years of horror via 600 questions on cards.

Question categories include: Monster, Gore/Disturbing, Psychological, Paranormal, Slasher, and International.

• Test your knowledge of 100 years of class horror films
• Experience the thrill of your favorite psychological thrillers, epic monsters, and paranormal events
• 600 riveting questions about the following categories: Monster, Gore/Disturbing/ Psychological,Paranormal, Slasher, and International
• Includes 100 cards, Die, Wedge Packaging and Rules
• 2+ players
• Ages 17+
• 60 minutes play time

Trivial Pursuit Horror Movie Edition is available at Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

The post Trivial Pursuit Horror Movie Edition – game appeared first on HORRORPEDIA.

Tom Savini has announced that he is compiling a “gigantic coffee table photo biography”.

Simply titled Savini, it that will doubtless showcase his legendary make-up special effects work on horror movies such as:

• Dawn of the Dead (1978)
• Friday the 13th (1980)
• Maniac (1980)
• The Burning (1981)
• The Prowler (1981)
  
• Creepshow (1982)
• Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
• Day of the Dead (1985)
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
• Two Evil Eyes (1990)

The book’s publication date has you to be announced but we will be watching closely…

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The post Tom Savini’s coffee table biography book is coming appeared first on HORRORPEDIA.

Tom Savini has announced that he is compiling a “gigantic coffee table photo biography”. Simply titled Savini, it that will doubtless showcase his legendary make-up special effects work on horror movies such as: Dawn of the Dead (1978) Friday the 13th (1980) Maniac (1980) The Burning (1981) The Prowler (1981) Creepshow (1982) Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) Day of the Dead...

Source

Return to Splatter Farm is a 2020 American horror feature film and a very belated sequel to the 1987 shot-on-video movie Splatter Farm.

Plot:

Thirty years after the infamous ‘Death Farm’ murders in rural Pennsylvania, serial killing is in season once more. A young woman and her friends descend upon the farm to party after discovering that she has inherited the land. But soon after, the strange occurrences and brutal murders begin again…

Writer-director Mark Polonia (Amityville Island; Sharkenstein; Bigfoot vs. Zombies; Feeders; et al) has commented:

“It took thirty-three years to return to the farm, but it was worth the wait. This is a film that honours the original classic and my brother John and Todd’s vision while moving the story and surviving Jeremy into the 21st century.”

Release:

Wild Eye Releasing will distribute Return to Splatter Farm on Digital and DVD in November 2020.

Reviews [click links to read more]:

There are no reviews of Return to Splatter Farm available at the time of posting; please bookmark this website and return again for a range of independent, aggregated reviews.

Source: Horror Society

The post Return to Splatter Farm (2020) preview with trailer appeared first on MOVIES and MANIA.