Pinwheel is a 2017 American horror film directed by Daniel C. Dahlstrom from a screenplay co-written with Darren O’Brien. The Cineriot Films production stars Darren O’Brien, Julie Dawson and Jeff Soloman.
A decade after her mother’s gruesome murder, young actress Riley Canterbury (Julie Dawson) is informed that her father is missing, so she leaves Los Angeles to return to her home town.
Staying with her Uncle Jacob (Jeff Solomon), Riley hooks up with old friend Eric (Darren O’Brien) while the investigation continues. Her uncle has rented a room to Jonathan (Buck Biestek), a writer delving into the mystery of the “cursed carnival” that was based in the local town…
Main cast:
Julie Dawson, Ox Baker, Ashley Tramonte, Jami Tennille, Greg Nutcher, Ashley Couture, Jeffrey Alan Solomon, David Gere, Mark Resnik, Marisa Hunter, Nicole Bardis, Darren O’Brien, Gunther Grambo, Nicolette Vincelli, Raymond Fitzsimmons.
The Glass Coffin aka El ataúd de cristal – is a 2016 Spanish horror thriller directed by Haritz Zubillaga (shorts: The Devil on Your Back; She’s Lost Control) from a screenplay co-written with Aitor Eneriz. The Basque Films production stars Paola Bontempi.
Dressed for the occasion with an elegant evening dress, Amanda enters on a luxurious limousine waiting in front of her house. Suddenly the windows are tinted black, Amanda’s cell phone is disabled and she cannot open any of the doors…
The film has been shown at Sitges, Horrorant and Málaga festivals and is being screened in London at the Horror Channel FrightFest on 25 August 2017. A Japanese DVD release is scheduled for 2 September 2017.
Child of Satan aka Neron is a 2016 American horror film directed by Mitesh Kumar Patel and Sam Son. It stars Eric Roberts, Kacey Clarke [Barnfield] and Caite Upton.
After a freak accident during her baby shower, Allison, a dedicated nurse, is rushed to the hospital. After the premature birth of her son Neron, strange events emerge: illusions, vivid dreams, and unexplained killings.
The events are linked back to Neron as Allison is taken by sudden premonitions that reveal the victims of her son’s next choice. Reverend Jones (Eric Roberts) recognizes an evil power in Neron and tries to free the boy by all means possible…
“This is in fact arguably the single worst film I’ve had to sit through in my long reviewing tenure not just here at Blu-ray.com, but other internet sites […] I should probably add a caveat that Child of Satan was so relentlessly bad that I may in fact have gone into some kind of beta state while watching it and cannot completely recall all of the events I was forced to witness.” Jeffrey Kauffman, Blu-ray.com
Main cast:
Eric Roberts (Evil Exhumed; Sorority Slaughterhouse; Amityville Death House; et al), Kacey Clarke [Barnfield] (Clash of the Dead; I Spit on Your Grave 2; Roadkill; et al), Caite Upton, Mykel Shannon Jenkins, Yves Bright, James Martin Kelly, Raymond Forchion, Meg Wolf, Sophia Santi, Gregor Manns, Skoti Collins, Ashley Cordelia, Kirk Bovill, Bianca Desai, Concetta D’Agnese.
Devil’s Gate is a 2017 Canadian/American science fiction horror film directed by Clay Staub (second unit director on The Thing and Dawn of the Dead) from a screenplay co-written with Peter Aperlo. The Caramel Film/Mednick Productions stars Milo Ventimiglia, Bridget Regan and Amanda Schull.
In the small town of Devil’s Gate, North Dakota, a local woman (Regan) and her son have gone missing . While all indicators point to husband Jackson Pritchard (Ventimiglia) as the prime suspect, pushy outsider FBI agent Daria Francis instinctively feels something else is going on in this incestuous hamlet and together with deputy Colt Salter goes to investigate. And indeed they do track down Pritchard, a man caged in unrelenting darkness and despair. But nothing is what it seems…
The film has been shown at the Tribeca and Newport Beach festivals and will be screened in London at the Horror Channel FrightFest on 27 August 2017.
Reviews [contains spoilers]:
“Devil’s Gate is not a one-trick pony where the whole story is supported by a few twists. It thoroughly explores and tells a story with purposeful, sentient characters, while nodding thoughtfully to the genres that inspired it. If twisting, genre-bending films make you squeal with joy, then put Devil’s Gate on your list of must-see movies this year.” Laura Nadler, SciFi4Me
“Devil’s Gate was probably the truest midnight movie programmed at this year’s Tribeca. There are some wonderfully goopey practical monster effects, which are nicely complimented by the attitude-drenched dialogue. Basically, they convince us it is a real hassle to find yourself under siege from slimy demonic creatures. Amanda Schull really helps elevate Gate a notch or two.” Joe Bendel, J.B. Spins
“Feeling a lot like the recently released, and far more entertaining, The Void, Devil’s Gate simply rehashes a plotline we’ve seen many times before but doesn’t add anything of value to it. Eye-rollingly cheesy dialogue combined with a story that starts off strong but eventually loses momentum combine to create a forgettable sci-fi horror experience that has some solid effects but little else.” Adam Patterson, Film Pulse
Main cast:
Milo Ventimiglia (Kiss of the Damned; Pathology; Cursed), Bridget Regan, Amanda Schull, Javier Botet, Shawn Ashmore, Jonathan Frakes, Spencer Drever, Adam Hurtig, Beverly Ndukwu, Sarah Constible, Will Woytowich, Scott Johnson, Jean-François Ferland, Jan Skene.
The Bat is a 1959 American murder mystery film written and directed by playwright Crane Wilbur (screenplay for Mysterious Island; The Mad Magician; House of Wax; storyline for The Amazing Mr. X). It stars Vincent Price, Agnes Moorehead and Gavin Gordon.
It is the fourth film adaptation of the story, which began as a 1908 novel The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart, which she later adapted (with Avery Hopwood) into the 1920 play The Bat.
In the US, The Bat was distributed by Allied Artists on a double-bill with the British Hammer film The Mummy.
Cornelia Van Gorder (Agnes Moorehead) is a mystery author who lives in a town terrorised by a mysterious murderer known only as “The Bat” who is said to be a man with no face.
The Bat enters Van Gorder’s rented house, The Oaks, and releases a bat, which bites van Gorder’s maid Lizzy (Lenita Lane). With Lizzy in a panic, fearing she may now have contracted “the rabies”, an outbreak of which local papers have reported, Van Gorder calls her doctor, Dr Malcolm Wells (Vincent Price), who is conducting research on bats…
Reviews:
” …the cast virtually drips with greasepaint conjuring up the atmosphere of an intimate stage with a killer lurking just beyond the curtain. Such an approach proved mild in a decade filled with an increasing reliance on rampaging aliens and sinister ghouls, but time has been kind to the film… Nathaniel Thompson, Turner Classic Movies
“Crane Wilbur’s direction is fairly static, although he does make effective visual use of the deep dark shadows that are part and parcel of these “old dark house” stories. He also gives his cast free rein, allowing Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead to take the performing ball and run away with it. They’re frequently over-the-top and occasionally campy…” Craig Butler, AllMovie
” …The Bat isn’t really scary as much as it’s “charming” […] The Bat is a great time waster, a film that will put a smile on the face of those who may remember it from days gone by…” Don Sumner, Horrorfreak News
” …Crane Wilbur, the scenarist-director, keeps the plot perking and the bodies falling (seven), with some amusing touches along the way. Finally, and fortunately, there is Agnes Moorehead’s good, snappy performance.” Howard Thompson, The New York Times, December 17, 1958
“Worth watching for fans of Morehead, Price, or The Bat Whispers. But I felt the whole thing should have been freakier and jazzier, and not so stately and professional.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers
Verónica is a 2017 Mexican psychological thriller directed by Carlos Algara and Alejandro Martinez-Beltran from a screenplay by Carlos Algara and Tomas Nepomuceno. It stars Olga Segura, Sofía Garza and Arcelia Ramírez.
A reclusive female psychologist who has stopped practicing medicine, decides against her better judgment to take the case of disturbed Verónica de la Serna, a young woman whose previous therapist has mysteriously disappeared.
As a condition of their cure agreement, the intrigued psychologist requires Verónica to stay with her in her remote country house for the duration of the treatment. However, Verónica proves to be a stubborn patient trying to outsmart her doctor every chance she gets…
The film has been shown at the Guadalajara and Fantaspoa festivals and will be screened in London at the Horror Channel FrightFest on 25 August 2017.
Choice dialogue:
Verónica de la Serna: “We all hide things, even from ourselves.”
Verónica de la Serna: “Just because you close your eyes it doesn’t mean the world ceases to exist.”
Where the Skin Lies is a 2017 British horror thriller film directed by Michaël Boucherie from a screenplay co-written with David Boucherie. The Signwriter Films/Animal Tank production stars Tristan Beint, Amelia Bennett and Simon Rivers.
Six friends, bound together by a traumatic experience, travel up to the Scottish Lowlands for a relaxing reunion weekend. Soon a number of mysterious and horrifying events start to expose the cracks in their relationships.
One by one they discover, through their tattoos, that trust runs but skin-deep and as day turns into night, not everyone will survive the ‘Game of Death’ they are forced to play…
Monsters – aka Yi zhong and 异种 – is a 2015 Chinese horror film directed by Guo Hua from a screenplay co-written with Yung Huang and Ping Yi. It stars Liu Qing, Zhou Haodong, Wu Yanyan, Zhao Qianzi, Yu Zijian, Shang Hong, Li Wenjie and Luo Xuan.
Jia Ying, a real estate sales manager, is mean, indifferent and still single. After her last clients have gone, she realises that she has left her mobile in the office. Thus, she is the only person in the building when it suddenly collapses and the elevator she is in crashes down the life shaft.
Injured and bleeding, Jia finds that her personal phone does not work. But she does find a battered work phone that connects. Unfortunately, the person that answers provides strange answers to her frantic calls. Worse still, there is a monster lurking in the dark…
‘They paid to be scared. They didn’t know how much it would cost them.’
Ruin Me is a 2017 American slasher horror film directed by Preston DeFrancis, making his feature debut, from a screenplay co-written with Trysta A. Bissett. The Terror Weekend Productions film stars Marcienne Dwyer, Matt Dellapina and Chris Hill.
Every Halloween, more extreme haunted attractions open for business, each promising even more thrills. Some have taken this to a whole new level. Welcome to Slasher Sleepout: The Ultimate Horror Movie Experience. It’s part camping trip, part haunted house, and part escape room, all rolled into one extreme 36-hour event.
Six strangers are hooded, dropped in the middle of the woods, and must navigate increasingly strange and dangerous mysteries. Alexandra (Marcienne Dwyer), the only participant who has never even seen a horror film, reluctantly tags along with her boyfriend. One by one, the other campers meet grisly fates, and Alex must unravel the mystery of who’s responsible if she wants to have any hope of survival…
Ruin Me will make its world premiere in London at the Horror Channel FrightFest on 26 August 2017.
Main cast:
Marcienne Dwyer (Dracula: The Impaler), Matt Dellapina, Chris Hill, Eva Hamilton, John Odom, Sam Ashdown, Cameron Gordon, Rocky Rector (Return of the Dead), Tom Harryman, Alex Galick, Trenton Colbert, Traver Johnson, Jerry Maxwell, Tim Taylor.
The End? – aka In un giorno la fine [“In One Day the End”] – is a 2017 Italian horror film written and directed by Daniele Misischia. Produced by the Manetti Bros, directors of Paura 3D (2012), it stars Euridice Axén, Claudio Camilli and Benedetta Cimatti.
Claudio Verona is a young and cynical businessman; one day he gets locked in his work elevator before an important meeting with a client. This annoying obstacle soon turns into a nightmare, as a deadly virus outside has begun to infect and transform people into flesh-eating zombies.
Claudio has to get out of the claustrophobic lift space, although it seems that the elevator may well be the safest place in the city…
3rd Night is a 2017 Australian horror film written and directed by Adam Graveley. It stars Jesse McGinn, Robert Hartburn and Bruce Denny.
A young couple decides to move to an Australian orchard surrounded by natural bushland to escape the madness of modern life. However, they soon get the feeling their property is being watched by someone with sinister intentions.
The couple then find out their house has a past history and that after terrorising his victims for a couple of days the unknown watcher always kills his victims on the 3rd night. Time is running out…
Main cast:
Jesse McGinn, Robert Hartburn, Bruce Denny, Connor Gosatti, Rose McKenna, Dan Williamson, Jenelle Altinier, Audrey Degenaar, Keala Kern.
American Guinea Pig: Sacrifice is a 2017 Italian horror film directed by Poison Rouge (actress in Phantasmagoria; House of Flesh Mannequins) from a screenplay by Samuel Marolla. Produced by Domiziano Cristopharo and Matteo Cassiano, it stars Roberto Scorza and Flora Giannattasio.
The special effects makeup effects were provided by Athanasius Pernath (Dark Waves; Phantasmagoria; Hyde’s Secret Nightmare).
Haunted by the death of his father and other psychological traumas, Daniel (Roberto Scorza) returns to the home where he was raised. Faced with intense emotional scars, as well as physical — which are realized by the years of self-harm depicted by the cuttings adorning his body — he enters the bathroom to begin a journey of self-exploration, self-mutilation and quite possibly, self-enlightenment.
Prepared only with three white candles and some crude instruments, Daniel attempts to beckon the embrace of the Goddess Ishtar (Flora Giannattasio) to assist him on his self-illumination.
“The overall special effects were pretty impressive. There are a few gore gags that didn’t stand up to the up close scrutiny but in the grand scheme of things, those are small flotsam and jetsam in a very large ocean of gruesome goodness. The only pretty big critique I have for the entire production is the voice of the narrator […] It is very strange and off-putting.” Greg Baty, Cinesploitation
“This entry into the American Guinea Pig mythos is both wholly appropriate and saluted. First time director Poison Rouge is kicking ass and taking names and American Guinea Pig: Sacrifice should now be a model for future gore filmmakers of how things are done. American Guinea Pig: Sacrifice delivers the death and dismemberment.” Chris Mayo, Severed Cinema
“There are a couple scenes where you think you are going to get a stereotypical torture scene, and they take it to the most extreme and disturbing level available. The scenes of violent depravity are also done in up-close and personal fashion. It is this stylistic decision that also makes this some of the most realistic gore I have ever seen. It is clear and crisp, forcing the audience to work hard to find a flaw in the effects work.” Steven Paul, Beneath the Underground
Fanged Up is a 2017 British comedy horror film directed by Christian James (Stalled; Freak Out) from a screenplay written by Nick Nevern, Daniel O’Reilly and Dan Palmer. It stars Daniel O’Reilly, Lauren Socha and Steven Berkoff.
A wrongfully arrested lovable rogue (Daniel O’Reilly) is thrown into a high-security prison for the weekend when his blood group is revealed to be very rare.
Once incarcerated in the slammer, it seems there’s no way out alive as the warden is a top-level bloodsucker, the guards are his pet zombies and the inmates are their unwilling victims…
Fanged Up will have its world premiere in London at the Horror Channel FrightFest on 25 August 2017.
Main cast:
Daniel O’Reilly, Lauren Socha, Steven Berkoff, Lucy Pinder, Terry Stone, Vas Blackwood, Stephen Marcus, Ian Reddington, Roland Manookian, Ewen MacIntosh, Stu Bennett, Joe Egan, Amber Doig-Thorne, Danielle Harold, Darren Luckin, Adam Oakley, Arron Crascall, Huw Samuel, Chris R. Wright.
‘Cursed by a voodoo hoodoo on a howling zombie hunt!’
Zombies on Broadway is a 1945 American horror comedy film directed by Gordon Douglas (Them!; Spooky Hooky) from a screenplay by Robert Kent and Lawrence Kimble. The film stars RKO’s Abbott and Costello imitators, Alan Carney and Wally Brown, plus Anne Jeffreys and Bela Lugosi.
Zombies on Broadway was profitable for RKO, therefore the studio re-united Brown, Carney, Anne Jeffreys and Bela Lugosi for Genius at Work (1945).
Apparently fragile British sensibilities to horror lore decreed that the UK title was changed to Loonies on Broadway.
New York: Jerry Miles and Mike Strager are employed as Broadway press agents. Their latest idea is to hire a “genuine zombie” for the opening of The Zombie Hut, a new cabaret nightclub owned by gangster Ace Miller that will open the following Friday the 13th.
The press agents’ plan is to dress a former boxer up as a zombie, figuring no one will know the difference. However, Ace’s nemesis, a Walter Winchell type radio celebrity is friends with the boxer and vows he will publicly humiliate Ace Miller if a real zombie is not at the opening of the club.
Ace threatens the hapless duo with death unless they produce a real zombie. They discover a lead from a museum curator that a mysterious Professor Renault lives on the Caribbean island of San Sebastian and has been creating zombies. Ace’s henchmen, force the boys onto a tramp steamer sailing to the Virgin Islands with orders to bring back a real zombie…
Reviews:
The comedy gags are well placed, and dutifully timed. More to the point, Brown and Carney are an amusing duo, and do their best not to irritate with their antics. Lugosi is a sport, delivering another mad scientist performance with just the right dose of feisty zeal. And Darby Jones (from Val Lewton’s 1943 I Walked with a Zombie) turns in another memorable zombie routine.” The Terror Trap
“The dialogue and gags are dreadfully unfunny, including some rather racist humor that was outdated in 1945. The only truly funny scene involves Lugosi, the monkey, and a chest of drawers reminiscent of the Three Stooges. Even a good supporting cast (Leonard, Ian Wolfe, Frank Jenks) can’t save this one.” Gary Loggins, Cracked Rear Viewer
“True, a lot of the comic patter falls flat and there are those cringe-inducing moments of racial stereotypes played for comedy that were typical of its era – the nervous black janitor, superstitious natives, etc. But even with all of those handicaps, it’s not as bad as its reputation.” Jeff Stafford, Cinema Sojourns
” …the only real entertainment value to be had in Zombies on Broadway, apart from spotting connections to I Walked With a Zombie, is derived from the scenes involving the little monkey, who clearly believes he’s working on a much better film than everyone else.” Arnold T. Blumberg, Zombiemania: 80 Movies to Die For
“Brown and Carney aren’t funny, and it’s sad to see Lugosi outwitted by a pack of morons.” Peter Dendle, The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia
Choice dialogue:
Professor Paul Renault: “Oh, what is wrong? What is wrong? How can the natives do with their silly voodoo what I cannot accomplish with my scientific means?”
Professor Paul Renault: “Have them dig a couple of graves for themselves, in case this experiment fails.”
Grotbags is a British television series about a fictional witch called Grotbags, who was a popular fixture on children’s TV during the 1980s and early 1990s.
A character sculpted very much in the mould of the traditional pantomime villain, Grotbags was always played by actress and singer Carol Lee Scott in a costume comprising distinctive vivid green makeup and a witch’s cape and hat.
Thewitchcharacter Grotbags originally appeared in Rod Hull’s Emu’s World. In 1991, Grotbags was given her own spin-offs series after Emu’s World was axed by Central Television.
The Grotbags series was created by puppeteer Richard Coombs and Carol Lee Scott around an idea of a puppet series. The scripts for the series were written by Bob Hescott and directed by Colin Clews.
Each episode rotated around Grotbags and her minions at cobweb-filled Gloomy Fortress, and their day-to-day lives. The series, which also featured the characters Croc (a crocodile), tin butler Robot Redford and manservant Grovel, featured panto-style singing and dancing and spawned the catchphrase: “There’s somebody at the door!”
After news that Grotbags star Carol Lee Scott had died on 3 July 2017, fans commented on Twitter.
One wrote: “Rest in peace Grotbags. You made my early years awesome. I was so scared of you!”
Another said: “Daleks. Zelda. Skeletor. Nothing – NOTHING – terrified me quite like Grotbags. Bravo! #RIPCarolLeeScott.”
Principal characters:
Grotbags, the cantankerous witch
Colin the Bat: a stupid bat who cannot fly very well
Doris the Dodo: the last dodo, rescued by Grotbags from a desert island
Norman Nettle: a grumpy nettle plant
Grumble: Grotbags’ cauldron
Lumpy: a gremlin who lives in Grumble
Posted in tribute to actress Carol Lee Scott, who died on 3 July 2017.
Cannibal Holocaust is a 1980 Italian cannibal film directed by Ruggero Deodato (The Washing Machine; Dial: Help: House on the Edge of the Park) from a story and screenplay by Gianfranco Clerici (The New York Ripper; The Antichrist). It was filmed in the Amazonian rainforest with real indigenous tribes interacting with American and Italian actors and follows on from the director and writer team’s Last Cannibal World (1976). It stars Robert Kerman, Francesca Ciardi, Perry Pirkanen, although no actors are acknowledged in the opening credits.
‘For the sake of authenticity some sequences have been retained in their entirety’
Led by New York-based anthropologist Harold Monroe (Kerman), a team is assembled to search for a missing film crew who had ventured deep into the Amazonian rainforest to film a documentary about tribes still practising cannibalism.
Assisted by local guides, Monroe ventures into the unknown and meets with members of the local Yacumo tribe who it seems were greatly upset by the film-makers whom he is seeking. Later meeting with the warring Yanomamö and Shamatari tribes, he gains the trust of the former by immersing himself in their culture, only to find the best they can do to help him find his friends is show him a pile of bones and some film cans.
After securing the tapes by taking part in a rather unpleasant cannibalistic ceremony, he returns to New York to try to piece together what has happened. We learn that the documentary, titled ‘The Last Road To Hell’, though veiled under the pretence of being a thoughtful study of ancient rites and culture, is an appalling catalogue of brutality on the part of the Americans to stage footage for maximum effect back home.
The final reels show a sudden turn in events, after molesting a female member of the tribe, they later find her ritually impaled as a punishment for ‘her’ crimes. However, she isn’t the only one to face trial, the cannibals seeking to avenge her fate by hunting down the film crew in merciless fashion. As the final reel finishes, Monroe wonders aloud, just “who the real cannibals are”?
Review:
Though, quite rightly, hailed as the benchmark and indeed the last word on the cannibal subgenre, Cannibal Holocaust was far from the first venture into jungle brutality. The Richard Harris-starring A Man Called Horse (1970) had appeared a decade earlier and, even as a mainstream feature, alerted directors to the potential for shocking but fact-based films as serious money-makers, though earlier explorations in the pseudo-documentary field, classed as ‘mondo films’, beginning with Franco Prosperi and Gualtiero Jacopetti’s 1962 film Mondo Cane (A Dog’s World), had seen many film-makers cutting their teeth using sometimes outrageously exploitative footage.
With the success of Last Cannibal World and the backing of German investors, Deodato and his producers, Franco Palaggi and Franco Di Nunzio (who also produced Deodato’s grimy, relentless House at the Edge of the Park) scouted South America for suitable locations, eventually settling on Leticia in southern most Columbia, despite the remoteness meaning that getting there involved arduous trekking and boat trips.
Armed with a screenplay by the prolific Italian writer Gianfranco Clerici (The New York Ripper, The Antichrist, Last Cannibal World) they assembled a largely unknown cast but one that spoke English, both establishing a certain amount of credibility in terms of their background and making the film more saleable to foreign markets.
By far the most famous name was Robert Kerman who had made quite a name for himself in the adult film industry using the pseudonym R. Bolla. Continuing to act, though hampered by his former hardcore career, he has since appeared in Cannibal Ferox and even a minor part in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (2002).
The only other member of the cast to have had any sort of career not completely overshadowed by their role in Cannibal Holocaust is the Italian/Uruguayan Luca Barbareschi, who entered politics as part of Silvio Berlusconi’s government in 2008 and gained more notoriety in a filmed exchange with a journalist which resulted in the reporter being knocked out by Barbareschi.
Though Deodato has claimed that the shocking, visceral nature of the film and its dynamics are a commentary of events in Italy during the early 1970’s when the Red Brigade launched terrorist attacks in an attempt to bring about a revolutionary state through a destabilised country, this echoes slightly of many of his retrospective assertions about the film to paper over accusations over his allegedly tyrannical methods of direction.
What is clear is his adoption of cinéma vérité techniques which used methods including provocation and staged scenarios in order to portray a ‘truth’ and realism to their films; these has already proved popular and successful in the mondo films of the 1960’s and 1971’s. The pops and crackles on the viewed footage (filmed on 16mm to add to the authenticity) in New York and the scratched frames add a genuinely convincing edge to the action.
Adding to the documentary feel is the oft-discussed violence and cruelty inflicted upon animals in the film, ranging from shrew-like fluffy creatures (actually a coati), a large spider, two monkeys (the lopping off of the head required two takes), a tethered wild pig and perhaps most notoriously, a turtle that suffers a protracted death for no other reason than to prompt revulsion and disgust from the audience.
Deodato’s views have mellowed significantly over the years, indifference changing to ‘but the locals ate them afterwards’ to complete rejection, re-editing the film to excise the footage in 2011. Recollections from the cast, particularly Kerman who objected throughout the the animal deaths (and also Perry Pirkanen, who apparently cried after the turtle scene, a strange paradox considering his apparent on-screen glee). Viewed over thirty years later, these scenes are still amongst the strongest and most stomach-churning in the whole of the horror genre.
There have long been rumours that the coitus scene between Yorke and Ciardi was not simulated, Ciardi already having been admonished by Deodato for her ‘prudishness’ in not wanting to bare her breasts. Real or not, it is another example of the blurring between fact and fiction that permeates the whole film.
Deodato was also accused of underpaying his actors (and not paying the locals at all), as well as dictatorial behaviour throughout the shoot, upsetting and alienating most of the cast at one stage or another. The cast had a clause in their contract which stated that they were to give no interviews nor make any appearances regarding the film for a year after its release, so as to create the impression that they had indeed been slaughtered in the film. This backfired badly (or depending on your viewpoint, worked magnificently) as the authorities, convinced by the animal sequences and incredibly realistic gore, arrested Deodato on counts of not only obscenity but also murder.
In order to prove his innocence, the very much alive actors were gathered together to appear in a television program whilst many of the scenes had to be explained in great detail to convince the court that no-one was killed during the filming. The most iconic image in the film, that of the raped cannibal girl having been impaled on the wooden spike was revealed to be an actress sat on an obscured bicycle seat with a small piece of wood held between her teeth. It must be said that all the scenes of death and violence within the film remain as incredibly convincing and impressive as the day they were first screened.
The controversy did no harm to the film’s success, taking an alleged $5 million in the first ten days of release alone. Commercial video releases also did a roaring trade, the UK Go Video release being a mainstay of homely video libraries for 2-3 years before the video recordings act declared it prosecutable to rent or sell. It was also banned in many other countries, including Germany, Australia and New Zealand, but bucked the trend in Japan where it became the second biggest grossing film in the year of its release.
The film’s soundtrack was composed entirely by Italian composer Riz Ortolani, whom Deodato specifically requested because of Ortolani’s work in Mondo Cane, particularly the film’s main theme, “Ti guarderò nel cuore” (also known as “More”). Ortolani was (and still is) known for his rather romantic, sweeping scores, full of large string sections of plaintive melodies. His work on Cannibal Holocaust, perhaps surprisingly, is no different, the main theme being achingly beautiful, a reflection of the stunning settings but a counterpoint to the horrific violence portrayed.
The score has become a classic of the genre and helped to elevate Ortolani to the upper echelons of Italian soundtrack composers, his work having since being used by directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Nicolas Winding Refn.
Buy Republic of Music vinyl soundtrack: Amazon.co.uk
Though the cannibal subgenre ran out of steam in the mid-80’s, the influence of Cannibal Holocaust is still felt today, the found-footage theme being used in the likes of The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity, whilst also inspiring directors like Eli Roth — whose jungle-set The Green Inferno is an obvious homage — to forge their own careers.
Rather like many of the zombie films of the 1970’s and 1980’s, many films have passed themselves off as sequels to the original film but despite interest from Deodato in his own follow-up, set in an American city, slated to be titled simply Cannibals, this has yet to happen and the film remains as a stand-alone beacon of depravity, gut-churning set-pieces and one of the great achievements of horror cinema.
Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia
Grindhouse Releasing issued a Blu-ray in the USA on July 1, 2014, packed with extras:
Three Disc Deluxe Edition – 2 Blu-rays + CD
New hi-definition digital restoration of the original director’s cut
Spectacular digital stereo re-mix and original mono mix
Two feature-length commentary tracks – with director Ruggero Deodato and star Robert Kerman, and with stars Carl Yorke and Francesca Ciardi
New in-depth interviews with Ruggero Deodato, Francesca Ciardi, assistant director/co-star Salvo Basile (shot in Columbia!) and cameraman Roberto Forges Davazati
Classic interviews with Robert Kerman, Carl Yorke and Oscar-nominated composer Riz Ortolani
Extensive still galleries and theatrical trailers from around the world
CD – original soundtrack album by Riz Ortolani newly remastered in stunning 24bit/96khz sound from the original studio master tapes
Glossy 24-page booklet containing liner notes by director Eli Roth, legendary horror journalist Chas. Balun, Euro-music expert Gergely Hubai and Italian exploitation film authority Martin Biene
Reversible cover with original art by notorious illustrator Rick Melton
Beautiful embossed slipcover
Nine Easter eggs – including the Grindhouse Releasing theatrical re-release premiere and Necrophagia music video directed by Jim VanBebber
Diane is a 2017 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Michael Mongillo (Silent Hill: The Unauthorized Trailer; The Wind), based on a storyline by Matt Giannini. The Mean Time production stars Jason Alan Smith, Carlee Avers and Margaret Rose Champagne.
Steve’s lingering injuries and regret from the war in Afghanistan plunge him into a soulless routine until the dead body of a beautiful singer, Diane, is dumped in his backyard. Steve takes a digital photo of her before reporting the murder to the police and soon he becomes obsessed with the dead girl’s image.
Now the prime suspect, Steve is scrutinised by the police, hassled by Diane’s widower, and attacked by self-righteous neighbors. Before long, the malevolent ghost of Diane begins to work a dark spell that leads Steve to strange and startling revelations…
Commenting on the film, director Michael Mongillo told Fangoria‘s Michael Gingold:
” …when writing and directing it, I never found myself pulling from cinematic influences. The photographic essays of Roland Barthes and the more frightening illustrations of Edward Gorey were bigger inspirations than any specific film or cinematic reference point. I find myself describing it in literary terms: To me, it’s Stephen King meets Elmore Leonard.
For me, the goal, in addition to producing something entertaining, is to create honest work about the human condition. Diane is a supernatural thriller, yes, but it’s not really. I read somewhere recently that ghost stories are all actually tales of atonement, and that’s Diane in a nutshell.”
Main cast:
Jason Alan Smith (Don’t Sleep; Before I Wake; Big Bad Wolf), Carlee Avers (Jekyll; Are You Scared?), Margaret Rose Champagne (Troma’s Monster Kill; Bikini Bloodbath Shakespeare; Rudyard Kipling’s Mark of the Beast), Dick Boland (Bikini Bloodbath Christmas; Bikini Bloodbath Car Wash), Jim Thalman, Doug Tompos, Ryan Barry McCarthy, Davis Mikaels, Kathy Searle, Sewell Whitney, Kathrine Barnes, Bob Bannon, Daniel F. Patterson.
Beast Beneath – aka The Wrath – is a 2007 American horror film directed by Julian Higgins (Poker Run) from a screenplay co-written with Bertie Higgins. It stars Kristina Morales, Daniel Bonjour and Bertie Higgins.
The film is erroneously listed twice on IMDb as both The Wrath and Beast Beneath. In the UK, it received a DVD release in 2010 as Wolfman.
A large ranch, in the area now known as Griffith Park in Los Angeles, belonged to Don Antonio Feliz in 1861. The Don’s best friend and a greedy attorney stole the property by orchestrating an illegal will at the Don’s deathbed.
After unsuccessfully contesting the will in court, the Don’s blind niece, Petranilla, invokes a curse that remains to the present day…
Two young lovers are horribly mutilated and murdered in Griffith Park. Meanwhile, Angelina Feliz, a descendant of the Don, finds a map showing a hidden treasure underneath the park. Unfortunately, it seems that a terrifying creature guards the treasure deep in a cave. Those who come close to the cave [Bronson Cave] meet an untimely, bloody death…
“Monster movies often live or die by their titular terrors – suffice to say that the less we see of this particular hairy scary, the better […] Even so, if you’re feeling less than discriminating and are in the mood to watch a modern day ghost tale with a lycanthropic spin, plus a dollop of Southern Californian history on the side, this just might serve the turn.” Aaron Christensen, Horror 101
” …the prosthetics work is okay. The creature isn’t spectacular but it isn’t painful to look at. Kind of an interesting beast, visually speaking. It isn’t really utilized very well, and all of the killing scenes look like gentle nuzzles […] The rest of my issues lie within the dialogue. It’s really bad.” Rooster Illusion Reviews
Main cast:
Kristina Morales, Daniel Bonjour, Bertie Higgins, Roy Vongtama, Joel Bryant, Kurt Sinclair, Eddie Hedges, Tom Hippler, J.D. Rudometkin, Luis Fernandez-Gil, Tenelle Cadogan, Francisco Javier Gomez, Rhett Nadolny, Jessica Barbery, Bill Devlin.
My name is Bret McCormick. Less than a year ago, at my 58th birthday party, my collaborator E.R. Bills became fascinated by the table conversation – reminiscences of bygone days in the bottom-of-the-barrel film industry of Dallas, Texas. “This needs to be a book!” he exclaimed. “It’s got historical significance!” My other good friend, Glen Coburn (of Bloodsuckers from Outer Space fame) and I laughed it off. But in the following weeks, E.R. persisted in encouraging me to put the history of Texas’ schlock filmmakers into print.
After my crash and burn from the cloudy skies of my schlockdom twenty years before, I wanted nothing to do with the movie biz. Most of my memories seemed to be bad ones. I was disappointed and for years I did not even watch movies. When people brought the subject of cinema up, I excused myself from the conversation as politely as possible. It took me many years to get enough distance from the betrayals of past partners and distributors to take a more philosophical approach.
However, in October of 2017, I plan to release my book, Texas Schlock: B-Movie Sci-Fi and Horror from the Lone Star State. In some ways, writing the book has been cathartic, an exorcism of old demons. Hell, I can even laugh about those days now.
Let’s step back first. I graduated from Brooks Institute in 1980. Always a fanboy, I began contacting the old school B-movie Texan directors I knew of and gathering interviews for a proposed book. This was by way of staying at least peripherally involved in the business while I figured out how to go about making a film of my own. Over the years I became friends with some venerable schlockmeisters; guys like Larry Buchanan, S.F. Brownrigg, Larry Stouffer and Russ Marker.
Larry Buchanan
Larry was an early influence on me. When my best friend Herb Hays and I were shooting 8mm monster flicks on the east side of Fort Worth, we saw his movies on late night TV and reveled in the fact that the guy had been able to secure financing for stuff like It’s Alive! When Herb’s dad told us the guy was from Dallas, we felt encouraged. With a 16mm camera and some actors we believed we could outdo Buchanan. And we fully intended to!
Brownie was the closest thing to a real mentor that I ever had in the movie business. I spent countless hours drinking with him in Dallas spots like The Wild Turkey, picking his brain, gleaning what I could from his wealth of production experience.
Over the years Brownie gave advice and rented me equipment to use in my own productions. We never seized on the right combination of financing and enthusiasm that would have enabled us to work on a film together, but he was a huge influence on my career.
I got onto Bob through Mary Church, the lady who’d been production manager on his 1982 directorial debut Mongrel.
Though I tried many times over the years to establish contact with this very talented man, it just wasn’t in the cards. Sadly, he passed away in the early 2000s. His influence on indie horror lives on in a big way!
Larry Stouffer
I was a big fan of Horror High! When I learned the guy who’d directed that movie was appearing in a play at White Rock Lake, I waylaid him and tried to get him to agree to an interview. As I myself would later become, Larry was very bitter about the disappointments he’d experienced in movie production. In no uncertain terms, he told me to f*ck off.
A few years later, we worked together at Allied Film and Video in Las Colinas. Gradually, Larry warmed up to me and we spent a great deal of time on breaks talking about movies. He was particularly interested in screenwriting and went on to teach that at a school in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
While I was struggling to get my first project off the ground, a western movie town opened up south of Dallas. Some of my friends visited the place and told me the old guy running it was none other than Russ Marker, director of The Yesterday Machine and scripter of Night Fright(1967). I met Russ and chatted with him on a couple of occasions. His son, Gary Kennamer, wrote the screenplay for my fourth feature film, Highway to Hell.
The book I’ve written provides a lot of information on these guys that has never before appeared in print.
Pot Zombies (2005)
In addition, I have chapters on Justin Powers (Pot Zombies), Jacob Grim and Sal Hernandez (Dreadtime Stories; The Roommate), Jess Sherman and Mike Minton (CreepTales), Harold P. Warren (Manos: The Hands of Fate), Pat Boyette (The Dungeon of Harrow), Glen Coburn (Bloodsuckers from Outer Space)and others.
It’s the sort of book I would have loved to discover as a young fan. Who am I kidding? I’d buy this kind of book now if I happened onto it.
I’m grateful to Adrian J Smith of Horrorpedia and others in the fan community for expressing interest in and showing support for Texas Schlock: B-movie Sci-Fi and Horror from the Lone Star State.
Alien: Reign of Man is a 2017 American science fiction horror film directed by Justin Price (Forsaken; Dark Moon Rising; The Cloth). Deanna Grace Congo, Torrei Hart (But Deliver Us from Evil), Khu (The 13th Friday; Dark Moon Rising; The Cloth), and Cameron White star.
Stranded on a distant planet, a desperate team must fight aliens and activate a machine meant to restore Earth to a time before its downfall…
The film is released on VOD on August 1, 2017, and DVD November 14, 2017.
