Puppet Killer is a 2017 Canadian horror film produced and directed by Lisa Ovies (producer of 7 Demons TV series) from a screenplay co-written with Kevin Mosley. Richard Harmon, Aleks Paunovic and Lisa Durupt star.

While celebrating Christmas at a cabin in the woods, a group of high school students are stalked by a psychotic killer obsessed with horror movie icons…

Main cast:

Richard Harmon (Slumber; The Hollow; Grave Encounters 2; et al), Aleks Paunovic (War for the Planet of the Apes; Van Helsing; iZombie; Dead Rising: Watchtower), Lisa Durupt, Johannah Newmarch (The Hollow Child; Dead of Night; Tales from the Darkside [2015]), Beverley Elliott, Geoff Gustafson, Sage Brocklebank.

IMDb

Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars is an upcoming 2017 Japanese/American animated science fiction horror film directed by Shinji Aramaki and Masaru Matsumoto from a screenplay by Edward Neumeier (RoboCop; Starship Troopers movies). It features the voices of Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer and DeRay Davis.

The movie is the fifth entry in the Starship Troopers franchise and a sequel to Starship Troopers: Invasion (2012, also animated).

General Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) is demoted and relocated to a satellite station on Mars, while the Federation moves to attack the home planet of the bugs. However, Mars just so happens to be the target of a secret bug attack at the same time and it falls to Rico and a group of new recruits to keep the planet safe while the Federation’s fleet is far out of reach…

Development and news of the animated film, made to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the release of the first film, happened rather discreetly. The film is released by Sony on August 21, 2017, for one-night only, via Fathom Events.

Meanwhile, a proposed remake/reboot of the original 1997 film has been announced for 2018/19.

Cast and characters:

• Casper Van Dien as General Johnny Rico
• Dina Meyer as Isabelle “Dizzy” Flores
• DeRay Davis as One-Oh-One

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘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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Temple is a 2017 Japanese/American supernatural horror film directed by Michael Barrett – making his feature debut – from a screenplay by Simon Barrett (Blair Witch; The Guest; You’re Next; A Horrible Way to Die; et al). Logan Huffman, Brandon Sklenar and Natalia Warner star.

Three Americans on a trip to Japan are fascinated by a haunted temple, and, despite warnings from the local villagers, decide to spend a night there…

Filming is apparently completed and so we assume the movie is in post-production.

Main cast:

Logan Huffman (Monster Party; Final Girl; V), Brandon Sklenar (The Last Room), Natalia Warner.

Filming locations:

Tokyo, Japan

IMDb | Image credits: Bloody Disgusting

‘Soon the first snow will come and then he will kill again’

The Snowman is an upcoming British psychological thriller film directed by Tomas Alfredson from a screenplay by Matthew Michael Carnahan and Hossein Amini, based on the novel of the same name by Jo Nesbø. The film stars Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Val Kilmer, Toby Jones, J. K. Simmons and Chloë Sevigny.

Detective Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender) investigates the disappearance of a woman whose pink scarf is found wrapped around an ominous-looking snowman…

Principal photography began on 18 January 2016 in Norway. The film will be released by Universal Pictures on 20 October 2017.

Cast:

• Michael Fassbender as Detective Harry Hole (Alien: Covenant; Blood Creek; Eden Lake)
• Rebecca Ferguson as Katrine Bratt (Drowning Ghost)
• Chloë Sevigny (Lizzie; #Horror; American Horror Story)
• Charlotte Gainsbourg as Rakel
• J. K. Simmons as Arve Stop
• Val Kilmer (Twixt: The Thaw; The Island of Dr. Moreau)
• Sofia Helin
• James D’Arcy
• Toby Jones as Gert Rafto (Morgan; Berberian Sound Studio; The Mist; et al)
• Jamie Clayton as Edda
• Anne Reid
• Jakob Oftebro as Superintendent Skarre

Filming locations:

Bergen, Drammen, Notodden, Oslo and Rjukan, Norway

Wikipedia | IMDb | Official website

‘We dare you to look into’

Doctor Blood’s Coffin is a 1960 British horror film directed by Canadian Sidney J. Furie (The Entity; The Snake Woman) from a screenplay by James Kelly (What the Peeper Saw; The Beast in the Cellar) and Peter Miller, based on an original story and screenplay by Nathan Juran (The Boy Who Cried Werewolf; The Brain from Planet Arous; 20 Million Miles to Earth). Kieron Moore, Hazel Court and Ian Hunter star.

Buxton Orr (Corridors of Blood; Fiend Without a Face; The Haunted Strangler) provided the film’s emphatic soundtrack score; arranged by Hammer regular Peter Martell.

Future director Nicolas Roeg (The Witches; Don’t Look Now) served as a camera operator.

Buy UK DVD: Amazon.co.uk

The Caralan production began shooting on 7 June 1960 and was awarded an ‘X’ certificate by the BBFC, following cuts, on 31 October 1960. Director Sidney J. Furie shot The Snake Woman almost back-to-back.

Having been reprimanded for his unethical medical experiments in Vienna, young doctor Peter Blood (Kieron Moore) reluctantly returns to stay with his father – the local general practitioner – in the Cornish village where he grew up.

However, he continues his nefarious attempts to bring the dead back to life. His early subject is the deceased husband of Linda Parker (Hazel Court), a nurse he is strongly attracted to.

Hidden away in a tin mine, the aptly-named Blood conducts his gruesome experiments using South American poison curare (also used in The Crimes of the Black Cat) to remove living, beating hearts from undeserving people in order to bring the deserving dead back to life…

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

Reviews:

“If you’ve ever wanted to see a half-hearted Frankenstein rehash where the monster is traded in for tepid romance until the very end, Doctor Blood’s Coffin is the movie for you. While it’s handsomely shot and adequately acted, you’re better off sticking with any of the Hammer films that certainly inspired this […] Despite the modest star power attached to it, this one has remained obscure for a reason.” Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror!

“For the most part, Furie seems content to allow the visuals to unfold onscreen without the need to build tension and, like the victims, the film struggles to overcome an inherent lethargy; there is simply too much talk and not enough action. The few interesting set-pieces which could have pepped things up are allowed to slide into tedium.”John Hamilton, X-Cert: The British Independent Horror Film 1951 – 1970

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

“The lush color cinematography is eye-popping but that doesn’t disguise the fact that Doctor Blood’s Coffin is one heck of a dull, lifeless, and boring flick.  The doctor spends most of the movie traipsing around abandoned mine shafts…” Mitch Lovell, The Video Vacuum

“The film’s sub-Frankenstein shenanigans are clearly modelled on Hammer’s success in this area, but carry none of the baroque flamboyance of Hammer’s approach. They also carry none of Hammer’s relative subtlety, with the debate regarding morality and science given to us in crashingly literal terms […] What sinks the film completely is Kieron Moore’s charisma-free performance as Peter Blood.” Jonathan Rigby, English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema 

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

“It isn’t until the final four minutes of the film that a brown, flaky-skinned man with decaying cheeks (he doesn’t look half bad) rises and attacks the leads. It’s all pretty lame stuff.” Glenn Kay, Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide

“The no-nonsense direction, the total nonsense dialogue, the luminous, airy, panoramic vistas and the sharp, bright colour photography make this quite a tonic for horror fans wanting to take a break from an excess of bleak, gritty, unrelentingly downbeat fare – in fact, it’s just what the doctor ordered.” Mike Hodges, The Shrieking Sixties

Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

“The result, though rich in curare, flashing scalpels, decayed flesh and the Cornish, lacks style, suspense and imagination and will scarcely satisfy the most naive necrophiliac” The Monthly Film Bulletin

“Though dated and watery in most respects, this British biomedical horror by Canadian director Furie offers the first glimpse of the modern screen zombie – decayed and violent, rather than simply pale and aloof.” Peter Dendle, The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia

Cast and characters:

• Kieron Moore as Dr. Peter Blood (The Day of the Triffids)
• Hazel Court as Nurse Linda Parker (The Masque of the Red Death; The Raven; The Premature Burial; et al)
• Ian Hunter as Dr. Robert Blood, Peter’s Father (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [1941]; Tower of London)
• Kenneth J. Warren as Sergeant Cook (The Creeping Flesh; Demons of the Mind; I, Monster)
• Gerald Lawson as Mr. G. F. Morton (Mystery and Imagination; The Mummy; The Revenge of Frankenstein)
• Fred Johnson as Tregaye (Scream of Fear; The City of the Dead; The Brides of Dracula; The Curse of Frankenstein)
• Paul Hardtmuth as Professor Luckman (The Curse of Frankenstein; The Strange World of Planet X)
• Paul Stockman as Steve Parker, Linda’s Husband (Vampire Academy; The Skull; Konga)
• Andy Alston as George Beale, Tunnel Expert (The City of the Dead)
• Ruth Lee as Girl [uncredited] (The Couch)
• John Ronane as Hanson [uncredited] (The Spiral Staircase [1975]; Journey to the Unknown; Mystery and Imagination)

Filming locations:

Nettlefold [later Walton] Film Studios, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, UK
Zennor and the Carn Galver tin mine near St. Just, Cornwall, UK

Trivia:

The film was initially titled Face of Evil.

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

‘Get ripped apart on Spring Break’

Lake Fear 2 – aka – Lake Fear 2: The Swamp is a 2016 American horror film directed by Ben Wilder based on a screenplay co-written with Ashley Billington, Sean Therrien and Jesus Roldan. Sydney Ray, Nicholas Kolasinski and Peter Pontone star. ‘Scream Queen’ Linnea Quigley has a cameo role.

It’s March in South Florida. The beach towns are flush with young people looking for action and excitement. For one unlucky group of thrill-seeking spring breakers, their adventure leads to the black waters of the Florida Everglades – a place with mosquitoes the size of birds, snakes as long as school busses and tens of thousands of flesh-ripping alligators.

However, beyond the scope of the traditional predators famous for keeping the glades wild is another phenomenon – one with two legs and an insatiable thirst for killing…

Reviews:

“1. None of the characters were likable, they were tiresome and extremely cliched (the jock, the promiscuous female, the stoner and the hillbilly etc.) 2. The movie seemed to go in one direction then go in another then it just ended up ludicrously – I felt they must have hired, fired, hired, fired and hired writers to continue with the screenplay/plot from where the last writer left off.” y2hero, Amazon.co.uk

Main cast:

Sydney Ray, Nicholas Kolasinski, Peter Pontone, Robert Futrell, Camisha Luellen, Brenda Osorno, Lauren Ashleigh, Nicholas Hoats, Elissa George, Jordan Gaddy, Benjamin Paden, Tony Slade, Gerald Motes, Linnea Quigley, Shawn Rees.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Filming locations:

Fort Lauderdale and Weston, Florida, USA

Trivia:

The film was originally titled The Everglades Killings. Lake Fear 2 appears to be a distribution title intended to imply it is a sequel to Lake Fear (2014), although there appears to be no connection.

IMDb | Official site

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Night Feeder is a 1988 American horror film directed by Jim Whiteaker from a screenplay by Linnea Due and Shelley Singer.

Fear chokes the free-wheeling underbelly of San Francisco’s punk scene as a killer stalks the night to feed an unspeakable appetite. Community suspicion focuses on Disease, a new wave band (played by real-life band The Nuns) that is tainted by groupie deaths allegedly induced by the drug DZS, and on “The Creeper” a misshapen outcast from the bowels of the city.

A writer probes the gruesome murders and the story hits close to home, as the web of death devours neighbours, friends, and lovers…

The shot-on-video production was only apparently available anywhere on a Polish Delta Video Distribution VHS release until Bleeding Skull! Video released it on DVD in 2017.

Reviews:

“For all of the movie’s ridiculous wrongs, its most glaring misstep among VHS-shot oddities is most unexpected: having ambition. Yes, freshman (and still that today) feature director Jim Whiteaker remains constrained by underfunding, yet proceeds with Linnea Due and Shelley Singer’s whodunit-procedural script as if it were slated for airing on PBS’ Mystery!“ Rod Lott, Flick Attack

” …not tongue-in-cheek or well-made enough to be actually witty or stylish. It’s just mildly snarky in serving up turgid doses of blood and breasts (if you don’t think those things can be dull in themselves, then this movie will be a revelation for you), with lots of talky boredom between.” Ofumalow, IMDb

IMDb | Image credits: Just screenshots

‘When you drive by a graveyard, don’t ever forget…’

Hold Your Breath – stylized as #HoldYourBreath – is a 2012 American supernatural horror film directed by Jared Cohn (The Domicile; Devil’s Domain; Little Dead Rotting Hood; 12/12/12) from a screenplay by Geoff Meed and Kenny Zinn. Katrina Bowden, Randy Wayne and Erin Marie Hogan star.

1956: Van Hausen, a serial killer with a German accent, is executed in the electric chair with some of his victims’ family members watching. He breaks free and manages to kill one of the officers before another officer finally puts him on the chair.

Present day, a group of friends are taking a road trip including Jerry (Katrina Bowden), Johnny (Randy Wayne), Jerry’s sister Samantha (Lisa Younger), Kyle (Seth Cassell), Natasha (Erin Marie Hogan), Heath (Jordan Pratt-Thatcher) and Tony (Brad Slaughter).

While driving near a cemetery Jerry starts to freak out and tells everyone to hold their breath saying that evil spirits can possess them if they don’t. Everyone does except Kyle who is smoking pot, Unfortunately, this allows the spirit of Van Hausen to possess him…

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

” …the film is still a fun watch, despite some moronic characters. Is having sex in a morgue really a good idea? The film’s ending stands out for offering some interesting suspense, while the film’s supernatural rules ground the film in a dramatic reality. Hold Your Breath is a popcorn movie that will entertain most horror fans.” Michael Allen, 28 Days Later Analysis

“When the characters are possessed the only sign seems to be a strangely sinister smile just before they do anything bad […] I have no problem with cliché ridden slasher films that simply deliver what they set out to do but here the story is too confused and the action too laboured to really satisfy.” John Townsend, HorrorNews.net

“Have people gouge out eyes is something that looks rather nice with the practical effects, the blood looked good. I think that if they kept up with those effects then it would have been an awesome movie. The CG is where this falls apart. There is a woman who gets ripped in half would have been an awesome scene except that the CG looked bad.” Adam Livingston, Oh the Terror

“Fortunately, the cast seems to at least #enjoy the roller coaster of #fear and the opportunity, for many of them, to #portray both #heroes and #villains in the same movie. The end result is a #decentHorrorromp that may not be #original but that is at least a little more than a useless #timekiller. That’s about all one can #askfor with #TheAsylum.” Martin Leibman, Blu-ray.com

” …boy howdy is this film packed to the brim with twists and turns. Also major props for a sex scene within the first twenty minutes featuring a couple going at it on a morgue table. Twisted fun stuff fills the 90 minutes running time, sh*t gets nasty fast. Even a few sequences had this gorehound wincing… two words: car battery.” Rob Sibley, Cinema Head Cheese

“Hold Your Breath can’t decide if it wants to exist in the 80’s or 2010’s, let alone if it wants to be a comedy or a horror flick. When all these collide it results in instances of hilarity, boredom and stupidity. With characters changing their stances in every new situation, nothing can be guessed by the audience, and everything feels made-up on the spot.” Trevor Andersen, Move Mavs

“Terrible story, script, acting… oh! Gratuitous nudity! Don’t worry kids, there’s plenty! Whether it be the love scene where we see Erin Marie Hogan wearing some weird butt thong belt outfit or Lisa Younger be tied up (topless, of course) to a tree and cut in half with barbed wire, there’s boobs a plenty! Wait, is it aplenty? Who gives a shit.” The Wolfman Cometh

Choice dialogue:

McBride [Steve Hanks]: “Kid, you’re about as confused as a baby in a titty bar!”

Cast and characters:

• Katrina Bowden as Jerry (Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil; Piranha 3DD)
• Randy Wayne as Johnny
• Erin Marie Hogan as Natasha
• Keith Allan as Van Hausen
• Steve Hanks as McBride
• Joshua Michael Allen as Young McBride
• Brad Slaughter as Tony
• Seth Cassell as Kyle
• Darin Cooper as Warden Wilkes
• Jordan-Pratt Thatcher as Heath
• Lisa Younger as Samantha

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘Hell hath no fury like a demon scorned’

Nocturne is a 2016 American supernatural horror film directed by Stephen Shimek (Dudes & Dragons; The Maze; Dragon Hunter) from a screenplay co-written with Katy Baldwin and Kristi Shimek. Clare Niederpruem, Darien Willardson and Melanie Stone star.

Jo (Clare Niederpruem) has something to hide from her past. Her unsuspecting friends perform a late night seance ritual that opens a gateway to Hell. Dirty secrets are revealed and an uninvited guest joins the party. Now, Jo is forced to confront her mistakes as her friends try to escape a supernatural spirit…

In the US, the film is released on DVD by Monarch Home Entertainment on July 25, 2017.

Buy: Amazon.com

Main cast:

Clare Niederpruem (Zombie Hunter; Vamp U; The Maze), Darien Willardson, Melanie Stone (Mythica: The Necromancer; Be My Frankenstein), Colton Tran (Spook), Jake Stormoen, Corey Sondrup.

IMDb | Official site

The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh – Italian: Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh – is a 1971 Italian/Spanish giallo murder mystery film directed by Sergio Martino (The Great Alligator; Torso; All the Colours of the Dark) from a screenplay by Vittorio Caronia, Ernesto Gastaldi and Eduardo Brochero, based on a storyline by the latter.

The letter “h” was apparently added to the name “Ward” when an Italian woman named Mrs. Ward threatened legal action over the original title’s potentially damaging her good name. The film was released as Blade of the Ripper in the United States, and is also known as Next! or The Next Victim.

In Vienna, Julie Wardh, a mentally fragile American socialite and heiress to the Wardh’s retailing fortune, becomes the victim of a secret conspiracy between her husband, her ex-boyfriend, and her new lover, who plot to kill her and frame it as either the work of a random serial killer who’s been stalking the city, or a suicide.

Her husband, a financier, hopes to collect the life insurance money to pay off debts. In return for his help in the scheme, Julie’s lover has Julie’s husband dispatch his cousin so that he can become the sole heir to a fortune that they’ve inherited jointly.

Julie’s eccentric ex-lover, a sadist and struggling photographer who keeps exotic pets, is interested only in the money so he can begin a new life overseas, but he’s shot dead in a double cross before he can enjoy his ill-gotten gains. The random serial killer also meets his death when one of his victims fights back, endangering the elaborate scheme. Will Julie succumb to this dastardly betrayal by those closest to her, or will the conspiracy founder?

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“Ernesto Gastaldi’s fills his script to the brim with beautiful people doing terrible things to each other to create a plot overflowing with twists, brutal murders, and a hefty dollop of kinky sex. The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh is short on sympathetic characters and often strays from believability during its overheated finale, but fans of the genre won’t care because Martino keeps the film stylized in the extreme.” Donald Guarisco, AllMovie

“Fenech is great as the confused Julie who can’t keep her eyes and hands off her new boyfriend George. Rassimov suits the part of her sadistic ex Jean like a glove, and her surreal dreams of their violent relationship are great. The classic gloved stalking killer theme works well, and as usual Martino bring his tricks to the table.” Jason Meredith, Cinezilla

“With many twists and clever plot devices, there’s a sufficient level of suspense that helps the colorful film maintain its entertainment value. Martino delivers an intriguing travelogue of exotic locations and alluring imagery, which depicts the characters as the superficial jet setters without any cares. Blending the intense music of Nora Orlandi with arty and erotic visuals, the film has a very misogynistic edge to it, with beautiful women (often nude) being slayed in gory fashion.” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

“This has everything you could ever want from the genre: beautiful Eurobabes being menaced by a homicidal killer in classic giallo garb, liberal steals from Hitchcock (given a delirious reworking, naturally), sex, nudity and suspense, a suitably velvety soundtrack (courtesy of Nora Orlandi) and so many twists it’ll leave you gasping for air! Next! also marked Edwige Fenech’s ordination as the Queen of the giallo…” Justin Kerswell, Hysteria Lives!

“The story is consistently engaging and the characters prove to be interesting, even if they emerge as a pretty unsavoury lot on the whole. Martino captures the “swinging jet-set” feel of earlier gialli by Umberto Lenzi but mercifully does not spend too much time on vapid party scenes and the like. Things take a pretty grim turn pretty much right off the bat, and the assorted plot twists are expertly spaced out so as not to overwhelm the viewer.”Troy Howarth, So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

“Screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi (Torso) offers many twists and turns along the way to the end, a red-herring laced whodunit, you definitely won’t see this ending sneak up on you, that’s for certain, this one is right up there with Sidney Lumet’s shocker Deathtrap (1982)! A stylish giallo laced with pulse-pounding eroticism, sexualized violence and dizzying cinematography, it just doesn’t get much better than this, a top-tier thriller from start to finish.” Ken Kastenhuber, McBastard’s Mausoleum

Cast and characters:

• Edwige Fenech… Julie Wardh (Hostel: Part II; The Case of the Bloody Iris; Strip Nude for Your Killer)
• George Hilton … George Corro (All the Colours of the Dark)
• Conchita Airoldi … Carol Brandt [as Cristina Airoldi]
• Ivan Rassimov … Jean
• Manuel Gil … Dr. Harbe [as Maurice Gillas Pou]
• Carlo Alighiero … Commissioner
• Alberto de Mendoza … Neil Wardh
• Marella Corbi … Victim who escaped from the killer
• Miguel del Castillo … Medico Spagnolo
• Luis de Tejada … The Inspector
• Pouchi … Victim in the shower [as Pouchie]

Wikipedia | IMDb

Image credits: Project Deadpost | VHS Collector

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‘Farm-to-table manslaughter’

Scarecrowd – originally titled The Musk – is a 2015 Italian/American science fiction horror film written and directed by George Nevada (Jack the St. Ripper). The Melting Pictures production stars Fabrizio Occhipinti, Gabrielle Bergère and Antony Ferry.

After coming coming into contact with a radioactive meteorite, Farmer Tony Maio turns into a fierce mutant. Disguised as a scarecrow in order to hide his appearance, he starts to kill people to satisfy his bloodlust…

Scarecrowd is released on DVD by SRS Cinema on November 21, 2017.

Buy: Amazon.com

Reviews:

“Coming in at around 75 minutes and with little (especially conversational) dialogue, the film is delightfully bad in just the right way and can firmly be placed in schlocky 80s horror territory with a clear comic book (and fumetti) influence complementing the B-movie nature of the film. Going further however it was a nice surprise to see that writer and director George Nevada manages to insert genuine moments of emotion towards the end of the film…” Cosi Perversa

Main cast:

Fabrizio Occhipinti, Gabrielle Bergère, Antony Ferry, Ruby Miller, Frances Williams, Danny Willis, Raphael Willis.

Filming locations:

Foggia and Anagni, Frosinone Province, Latium, Italy
Red Rocks Park, Jefferson County, Colorado, USA

Trivia:

The film is reported to have cost just $40,000

IMDb

Image credit: Cosi Perversa

‘Help is on the way’

The Summoner is a 2017 British horror short film written and directed by James Secker and produced by Rob Yeomans. It stars Adam McNab, Mhairi Calvey, Alexandra Hansler, Kate Marie Davies and Mike Carr.

It is 1980-something, and a rather scruffy, deep throated British man, receives a curt phone request to come clean a house. Apparently, the neighbourhood has been harboring haunted spirits or… demons? That part is unclear. But The Summoner (Adam McNab) is just doing his job. An ordinary day in his ghostbusting daily routine.

The most obvious influence in this horror short is, well… Ghostbusters. For a brief moment, I figured it was just the effects: kitschy pink lasers that will obliterate the ghosts, night vision goggles that allow the wearer to see neon green figures lurking around, and the minimal anti-ghost gear that he can afford in order to battle these awfully terrorizing ghouls (note major sarcasm here).

Now for my favourite piece. The terrible clichés. “Are we going to do this the easy way? Or are we going to do this the hard way?” Ummm, I choose Easy! Easy of course meaning, this is a 20 minutes long short – see the oxymoron there? The actual demons are more like an ode to George A. Romero, and a timely reference, bearing in mind The King of the Zombies unfortunate passing.

I will mention the brief love story, because it was just that… brief. The Summoner misses his deceased wife. Very much. And thankfully, he can still see her spirit through those magical goggles of his. But that was the only magical part of this ridiculousness. I do appreciate the homage to the rotary phone though! Ah, memories.

Meredith Brown, Horrorpedia

John Heard in Locusts (2005)

John Heard (March 7, 1945 – July 21, 2017) was an American film and television actor. He was best known for his roles in films such as Cutter’s Way, After Hours, Big, Beaches, Awakenings, Rambling Rose, The Pelican Brief, My Fellow Americans, Snake Eyes, and Animal Factory. He also famously played the weary father in Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

On television, John Heard’s many appearances included particularly notable roles on The Sopranos (for which he received an Emmy nomination) and later on Battlestar Galactica as Commander Barry Garner.

John Heard’s horror roles began in 1982 with Paul Schrader’s erotically-charged remake of Cat People – in which he is drawn to Nastassja Kinski’s character Irena. He played a lab technician in indie psycho thriller Too Scared to Scream (apparently made in 1982 but unreleased until 1985). Heard then co-starred in cult sci-fi monster movie C.H.U.D. (1984). In 1985 he was a death row inmate who apparently found a portal to another dimension in Tales from the Darkside episode ‘Ring Around the Redhead’.

In 1995, Heard played Montresor in a re-enactment of ‘The Cask of Amontillado for the ‘Edgar Allan Poe: Terror of the Soul’ episode of American Masters. Also in 1995, he took a trip into terrifying space for The Outer Limits episode ‘Dark Matters’.

Ten years later, Heard’s next genre-related appearance was when he faced a deadly swarm of bioengineered insects in TV movie Locusts: Day of Destruction.

He made a cameo appearance as a former alcoholic in the tense, nasty and recommended morality movie Would You Rather (2012), soon followed by a playful role as another man battling a drink problem in the first Sharknado outing – in which he fights off a shark with a bar stool!

He was in The Lizzie Borden Chronicles mini-series (2015) and made one of his final movie appearances in the soon-to-be-released modern vampire tale Living Among Us (2017).

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘Don’t bother locking the door. They’re already inside.’

Cabin 28 is a 2017 British horror film produced and directed by Andrew Jones (Werewolves of the Third Reich; The Toymaker; The Amityville Asylum; et al) from a screenplay by John Klyza (Silent Night, Bloody Night 2: Revival; Invitation to Die; Cheerleader Camp: To the Death). The North Bank Entertainment production stars Terri Dwyer, Gareth Lawrence and Brendee Green.

The film is loosely based upon the unsolved true life Keddie Murders that took place in 1981 and allegedly also inspired The Strangers horror movie (2008).

On April 11th 1981, Sue Sharp and her family are enjoying their stay at cabin 28 in the peaceful holiday resort of Keddie. However, a day of fun at the remote getaway turns into a heart stopping nightmare as nightfall brings masked strangers to the cabin.

A brutal battle for survival leaves several members of the family dead and one missing. An extensive police investigation follows but no-one is convicted of the crime. Now, over thirty years later, cabin 28 finally gives up its deadly secret…

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Main cast:

Terri Dwyer (The Apostate: Call of the Revenant; Wraith), Gareth Lawrence (Werewolves of the Third Reich; Bunny the Killer Thing; Vampire Resurrection), Brendee Green (Hannibal), Lee Bane, Derek Nelson, Jason Homewood, Harriet Rees, Sean Rhys-James, Lucas Bradwell, Alexander Bradwell, Jevan White, Ryan Michaels, Linny Bushey.

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Trailer Park Shark is a 2017 American action horror film written and directed by Griff Furst (Atomic Shark; Swamp Shark; Starve; Ghost Shark; et al). Tara Reid, Thomas Ian Nicholas and Dennis Haskins star.

A tropical storm floods Soggy Meadows trailer park and forces a hungry shark upriver…

The film will debut on the Syfy channel on August 2, 2017, as part of their Sharknado Week.

Main cast:

Tara Reid (Party Bus to Hell; Sharknado films; Charlie’s Farm), Thomas Ian Nicholas (Living Among Us; Halloween: Resurrection), Dennis Haskins (Revamped; Dismembered), Carrie Lazar, David Kallaway, Ritchie Montgomery, Rob Mello, Clint James, Ali Eagle, Lani Sarem, Isaiah LaBorde, Josh Whites, Elise Berggreen, Lulu Jovovich, Sophie Howell.

IMDb

‘Your blood runs cold… your heart jumps into your throat.’

Too Scared to Scream is a 1982 American psycho thriller film directed by actor Tony Lo Bianco from a screenplay by Neal F. Barbera, based on a story by Glenn Leopold. Starring Mike Connors (who also produced), Anne Archer and Ian McShane.

The film is known for its cameo line-up that includes actors such as John Heard, Maureen O’Sullivan and Murray Hamilton. The title song “I’ll Be There” was sung by Charles Aznavour.

The police investigate a string of deaths that occur in a high rise apartment building in New York City. The affable night doorman is a strong suspect…

Reviews:

“Too Scared to Scream comes across like a slightly demented TV movie but with the added benefits of some surprisingly gratuitous nudity, a fair bit of sleaze, a mountain of cheese and even a little gore  thrown in too just to round things off nicely (I really can’t imagine this movie still sits on any of the star’s CVs though). So there’s plenty here to keep you entertained…” Hysteria Lives!

“My only guess as to how people passed this up is that it’s not much of a slasher and the leads aren’t anything like the dead teenagers of the era. Mike Connors was TV’s Mannix and Ian McShane was a nobody at the time (an terrific nobody). It’s also not particularly scary, which—granted—is a problem. But McShane is totally bonkers here…” Miles Lemaire, CHUD.com

“You just have to handle the well-intended yet uninspiring bridges. Minimal blood, Too Scared to Scream brings out some cheese and sleaze anyhow, with the sugar daddies, breasts and rather silly end. Leaving us with shockingly stylish Psycho-similar pieces…” Josh G., Oh, the Horror!

” …director Tony Lo Bianco builds some adequate suspense and throws in some smelly red herrings.” John Stanley, Creature Features

Choice dialogue:

Cynthia Oberman, the cleaner [Victoria Bass]: “You’re a sour-faced, down in the mouth, lowlife motherf*cker. Excuse the expression.”

Vincent Hardwick [Ian McShane]: “I have no friends lieutenant, I take my solace in my books.”

Cast and characters:

• Mike Connors as Lt. Alex Dinardo
• Anne Archer as Kate Bridges
• Ian McShane as Vincent Hardwick (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides; American Horror Story; The Ballad of Tam Lin)
• John Heard as Sid (Cat People; C.H.U.D.; Would You Rather; Sharknado)
• Leon Isaac Kennedy as Frank
• Maureen O’Sullivan as Inez Hardwick
• Val Avery as Dr. Richards
• Carrie Nye as Graziella (Creepshow; Screaming Skull [1973])
• Murray Hamilton as Jack Oberman (Jaws and 2; The Boston Strangler; Seconds)
• Marty Dudek as Butch
• Sully Boyar as Sydney Blume (The Entity)
• Rony Clanton as Barker
• Beeson Carroll as Barry Moyer
• Victoria Bass as Cynthia Oberman, a cleaner
• Dick Boccelli as Benny
• Harry Madsen as Lyman
• Gaetano Lisi as Guard
• John Ring as Irishman
• Chet Doherty as Edward
• Phyllis Hyman as Herself

Trivia:

The film was originally known as The Doorman.

Wikipedia | IMDb

Empire of the Sharks is a 2017 American science fiction action horror film written and directed by Mark Atkins (Planet of the Sharks; Sand Sharks; Evil Eyes; et al). John Savage, Jack Amstrong and Ashley de Lange star.

In the future, most of Earth is covered by water. The only land left is controlled by a lone warlord and his army of ever-vigilant, hyper-intelligent sharks. The humans are forced to pay tribute to the warlord, and the unlucky ones are caged up and kept as food for the shark army.

However, when two friends risk their lives to rescue a trapped prisoner, those imprisoned decide to rise against their captor and his legion of bloodthirsty sharks…

The film will premiere on the Syfy channel on August 5, 2017, as part of their Sharknado Week with a VOD and DVD release to follow on September 5, 2017.

Main cast: 

John Savage (Dead South; Tales of Halloween; Demon Legacy; et al), Jack Amstrong, Ashley de Lange, Jonathan Pienaar, Thandi Sebe, Camilla Waldman, Leandie du Randt, Tapiwa Musvosvi, Tauriq Jenkins, Joe Vaz, Tshamano Sebe, Sandi Schultz, Royston Stoffels, Mélodie Abad, Philip Tan.

Filming locations:

South Africa

IMDb

‘Room for every nightmare… A nightmare in every room’

House of the Long Shadows is a 1982 [released 1983] British comedic horror film directed by Pete Walker (House of Mortal Sin; Frightmare; House of Whipcord) and produced by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus for their Cannon Group.

The film is notable because four iconic horror film stars, Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and John Carradine are together in one feature, however it was poorly received by critics and filmgoers. The screenplay by Michael Armstrong (Screamtime; The Black Panther; Mark of the Devil) is based on the 1913 novel Seven Keys to Baldpate by Earl Derr Biggers.

Kenneth Magee, a young American writer, bets $20,000 that he can write a Wuthering Heights-style novel in twenty-four hours. To get in the mood for the undertaking, he goes to a deserted Welsh manor house.

Upon his arrival, however, Magee discovers that the manor is not as empty as he was told. Still there are Lord Grisbane and his daughter, Victoria, who have been maintaining the mansion on their own.

As the stormy night progresses, more people come to the mansion, including Lord Grisbane’s sons Lionel and Sebastian, Magee’s publisher’s secretary, Mary Norton, and Corrigan, a potential buyer of the property.

After much coaxing, the Grisbanes reveal that they are here to release their brother, Roderick, who was imprisoned in his room for forty years because he seduced a village girl when he was fourteen and killed her when he found out she was pregnant. When they go to release him, they find the room empty and conclude that he broke out recently by breaking the bars in front of the window…

Reviews:

“Until 10 minutes from the end, House of the Long Shadows is a fantastic film – and not just because of the awesome cast. Unfortunately the ludicrous ending, followed by another ending, followed by another one, ruin the previous 90 minutes utterly.” British Horror Films

“Director Walker, probably England’s most recognized exploitation filmmaker, delivers his most toned-down picture in terms of pure sensationalism and onscreen gore (though the film does deliver several gruesome – albeit PG level – moments) but his style properly fits the ghastly candlelit uncoverings of decades-old betrayal, homicide and perversion…” DVD Drive-In

“The set-up is sort of hokey, and Arnaz is playing it like he’s in a completely different, and much more shouty, movie, but it’s a really fun premise and features some great, whodunit-style murders, especially once a vacationing English couple show up as well. You probably know the outcome early on, but it’s fun watching it get there.” Kyle Andersen, Nerdist

“The plot is utterly trite and was recycled from a 100 plus year old English stage production. Walker never manages to get his picture in stride and as a result the tone is constantly changing from a mystery or thriller to some sort of half-assed tongue in cheek comedy. The ending is a dreadful cop-out…”Christopher Challis, Rare Horror

” …major surprise, and disappointment, is that the film should waste these Grand Old Icons on an entirely superfluous remake of Seven keys to Baldpate […] “Armstrong and Walker display an appalling contempt for the audience.” Kim Newman, Monthly Film Bulletin

“Some of the staging in the last reel is luridly effective and the stars essay their respective roles with gusto, but none of this is compensation for the fact that the story is a con trick which held considerable appeal for audiences in 1913 but was felt to be arcane and annoying by the more sophisticated filmgoers of 1983.” Denis Meikle, Merchant of Menace: The Life and Films of Vincent Price

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

“Shadows is horrendously slow, marred further by shoddy production values. …and the horror greats are sadly wasted with inadequately scripted parts.” Video Movies

“… In Long Shadows the ‘fearsome foursome’ all get short-changed – as did audiences. The reviewers saved their sharpest knives for Desi Arnaz, Jr., who doesn’t give the impression here that he’s capable of reading (much less writing) a book in 24 hours.” Tom Weaver, John Carradine: The Films

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

Choice dialogue:

Kenneth Magee [Desi Arnaz, Jr.]: “As long as they don’t bother me they can perform a black mass down there and an orgy. I don’t wanna know.”

Lionel Grisbane [Vincent Price]: “Like all of us, locked in the past forever.”

Cast and characters:

• Vincent Price as Lionel Grisbane
• Christopher Lee as Corrigan/Roderick Grisbane
• Peter Cushing as Sebastian Grisbane
• Desi Arnaz, Jr. as Kenneth Magee
• John Carradine as Lord Elijah Grisbane
• Sheila Keith as Victoria Grisbane (Dr. Terrible’s House of Horrible; The Comeback; House of Mortal Sin; House of Whipcord; Frightmare)
• Julie Peasgood as Mary Norton (The Snarling)
• Richard Todd as Sam Allyson (Asylum; Dorian Gray)
• Louise English as Diane Caulder
• Richard Hunter as Andrew Caulder
• Norman Rossington as Station Master (Death Line)

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

Filming locations:

Rotherfield Park, East Tisted, East Hampshire, England, UK

Wikipedia | IMDb

American Gothic: Sixty Years of Horror Cinema is a British book by Jonathan Rigby, originally published in 2007 by Reynold and Hearn. A revised, expanded reprint is being published by Signum Books in October 2017.

American Gothic presents an in-depth survey of the early years of the American horror film — ranging from the birth of cinema and the silent era to the mid-1950s. Jonathan Rigby examines a great many of the seminal films, including Cat People, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Dracula, The Fly, Frankenstein, Freaks, House of Wax, The Invisible Man, and She.

Rigby also considers the genre’s great actors and directors — Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Vincent Price, to name but a few. This is the genre as it flourished from Universal’s early-thirties cycle and which culminated in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 masterpiece Psycho, a film that forever changed and expanded the possibilities of horror cinema.

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

Related:

English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema

Euro Gothic: Classics of Continental Horror Cinema