‘Death his religion – blood his lust!’

Guru the Mad Monk is a 1970 American horror film written and directed by low-budget trash auteur Andy Milligan (The Body Beneath; The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here!; The Ghastly Ones; Bloodthirsty Butchers). It was presumably inspired by Hammer Film’s Rasputin, the Mad Monk (1966).

Guru is a mad monk. Guru is the chaplain of an island-bound 15th century prison. As well as providing spiritual guidance, he delivers prisoner punishments, which range from hands being chopped off to execution. Guru, at first, seems nice enough… you know, despite the whole torture and execution thing. He helps Carl (Paul Lieber), a prison guard, save Nadja (Judith Israel) from her punishment. Only Guru’s help doesn’t come free. He asks Carl to rob graves for him. Guru also shelters Olga (Jaqueline Webb) — his mistress, who also happens to be a bloodsucking vampire.

Guru is quick to murder when questions are raised about his dodgy management of his prison and church. When out-of-luck drifters show up looking for the Lord’s help, Guru and Olga swiftly relieve them of their lives after offering a bit of false hope. Yep, Guru is a sick bastard, but I couldn’t help but kind of like him. Guru is played by Neil Flanagan. Flanagan gives a decent performance, but he is a pretty harmless and gentle looking guy.

There are aspects to Guru’s personality that give him a few more layers than your average mad monk. Guru really loves his prison, and his relationship with Olga is fascinating. He genuinely sees himself as a force for good, and when he stabs a drifter to death (in an admittedly hilariously fake scene) he shows a sad remorse.

Best of all is his relationship with Igor (Jack Spencer), the obligatory church hunchback. His treatment of the hunchback is perversely manipulative. But, sadism aside, he needs Igor, and he knows it. Guru lectures the sweetly innocent Igor in a beautifully mad moment: “I can say anything to you, you ignorant bastard, and you just smile… maybe God knew how desolate and forsaken this place was when he gave you to me to talk to… to keep me from going out of my mind. What a beautiful smile, it’s all you really have, isn’t it?” His words are cruel and made me feel rather ill, but there is something oddly touching about the scene. It’s stuff like this that makes Milligan’s films far more interesting that your average exploitation picture.

Guru was shot and cut in the chaotic matter you would expect from Andy Milligan. The camera wobbles around all over the place. The edits are abrupt and without any acknowledgement of continuity. Actors jump between different parts of the set as the shot moves to the next. While not as exhilarating as Milligan’s best, there is still an energy in Guru that is undeniable.

Though the poster screams that Guru is “A GORY TALE OF TERROR!” shot in “BLOOD DRIPPING COLOR”, it is very tame. The film ends in a bluster of poorly executed violence, but other than its manic conclusion there is little bloodletting. There is, however, one extended scene of torture spliced in out of nowhere that is fantastic in its ineptitude. Mannequin hands go flying, ping-pong ball eyes are stabbed, and a head is awkwardly decapitated. It’s great.

Guru, the Mad Monk is not the best starting point for those new to the demented world of Andy Milligan. However, those already well-versed in his sadistic stylings will lap it up. It features the requisite mean-spirited dialogue, entertaining performances, sick and silly acts of depravity (mild though they may be in comparison to his better known works), and a loving relationship between a mad monk and his hunchback.

Dave Jackson, guest reviewer from Mondo Exploito

Availability:

The splendid fellows at US retro label Vinegar Syndrome have been nice enough to make available a high quality download of Guru. It’s free, though tips are appreciated. Or…

Buy Retromedia DVD from Amazon.com

Deadly Strangers is a 1975 film directed by Sidney Hayers (Circus of Horrors, Assault) and starring Hayley Mills (Twisted Nerve), Simon Ward (Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, The Monster Club) and Sterling Hayden (Venom). 

Belle Adams (Mills) has narrowly avoided being raped by a scuzzball lorry driver but runs into travelling salesman Steven Slade (Ward) who is glad of the company and so agrees to get her to her desired destination of Wycombe. Clicking on the radio, in true horror film style, a news announcer warns of a lunatic on the run from the local asylum. After turning off the report before we learn any more details about the escapee, we are soon alerted to the fact that Slade is perhaps not all that he seems – he appears unfamiliar with his own car, struggles to recount personal details and most worryingly, lies to Adams to ensure she misses her train and is stuck with him for the foreseeable future. On the off-chance we have any doubts whatsoever, Ward seems very keen to avoid the numerous roadblocks dotted around the countryside to try and capture the fugitive, blaming his bashfulness on the fact he’s drink-driving (very reassuring).

After spending the night in the car, Stevens awakes to find Adams has vanished and assumes she’s gone for good – in actual fact, she’s just nipped along to the local shop but Steven’s heightened emotions lead him to drive off at high speed alone. Finding herself abandoned, Adams meets the charming American, Malcolm Robarts (Hayden) who, despite his advancing years, manages to woo her into his car with the promise of dinner (and breakfast). Adams has started to suffer occasional flashbacks to sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her drunken uncle. Stevens and Adams are soon reunited but they are trailed by Robarts who seems to be trying to warn one of the pair of some imminent danger. Failing, he contacts the police as we are forced to contemplate that perhaps Adams is not the damsel in distress we had originally assumed…or maybe she is. Or maybe it’s someone else.

The film offers us three very clear options; it’s either Adams, Stevens or an unlikely third who is the escaped lunatic. As we are given the entire film to mull this over, the ending can’t be a surprise of any sort, though it’s handled relatively well. Neither of the leads are particularly likeable – this is fine in terms of Stevens (though he does seem to be channelling the spirit of Michael York, somewhat) as he is the most likely culprit, but Adams is not a character we warm to, even having seen the scenes of her younger self being abused. Her primness (though we are treated to an unlikely nude scene) and the lack of discernible threat throughout the majority of the film leaves the film a rather flat experience.

The introduction of Robarts and one of cinema’s most remarkable beards turns out to be little more than a distraction, offering much but seemingly having a good deal of the role written out mid-way through. The film does reveal a gloriously grotty view of 70’s England, greasy spoon cafes, confused fashions, unconvincing bikers and a hopeless police force all there for us to enjoy. The setting of Weston-Super-Mare, near Bristol, is perfectly unassuming and bland, the every-day community being home to crazy psychopaths being a staple of 70’s British horror and thrillers. The score by Ron Goodwin is unremarkable, a disappointment from a man capable of scores such as Where Eagles Dare and The Day of the Triffids.

Daz Lawrence

Boone Helm (1828 – January 14, 1864) was a mountain man and gunfighter of the American West known as the Kentucky Cannibal. Helm was a serial killer who gained his nickname for his opportunistic and unrepentant proclivity for the consumption of human flesh taken from the bodies of enemies and traveling companions. While this was usually done in survival situations, Helm sometimes took flesh in preparation of being in a survival situation.

Boone Helm was born in Kentucky into what was considered an honest, hard-working and respected family. Helm’s family moved to Missouri when he was still a boy. Helm delighted in demonstrating feats of strength and agility, and would goad men into fights and regale others by throwing his Bowie knife into the ground and retrieving it from a horse at full gallop. In one incident that demonstrates his contempt for authority, Helm, on horseback, rebuffed the sheriff’s attempt to arrest him and walked his horse up the stairs of a courthouse and into the courtroom, while circuit court was in session, and verbally harangued the judge.

Helm married 17-year-old Lucinda Browning in 1848 and soon fathered a daughter. Helm became known for his heavy drinking, riding his horse into the house, and beating his wife. The domestic violence grew to such an extent that Lucinda petitioned for divorce. Helm’s father paid for the costs of the divorce. In return, Boone Helm bankrupted his father and ruined his family’s reputation. Helm then decided to move to California, as many others did, in an attempt to find gold.

He enlisted the help of one Littlebury Shoot (an actual person’s name!) to accompany him but when the younger man attempted to back out of the arrangement, Helm stabbed him in the chest, killing poor Shoot instantly. Helm’s brothers and friends pursued and then captured Helm but his alarming behaviour eventually convinced the group that the authorities would be better to take charge of the situation. Helm was committed to an asylum but managed to escape from his warder when on an ill-advised traipse around the local woods.

Continuing on his way to California, Helm continued to dispatch any man who got in his way, eventually confessing to an assembled bunch of renegades that he had devoured some of the victims:  “Many’s the poor devil I’ve killed, at one time or another… and the time has been that I’ve been obliged to feed on some of ‘em”. A skirmish with some Native Americans led to the group being isolated and adrift in the wilder regions of Oregon during the winter, low on food, provisions and warm clothing. The horses were the first to be sacrificed for both food and their hides but one by one, the party succumbed to the elements, leaving just two; Helm and a man called Burton. In time, Burton elected to shoot himself than suffer the potential indignities that presented themselves – Helm felt otherwise, tucked into one of his dead friend’s legs and put the other under his arm for later.

Helm eventually neared his destination but was still wanted by the law and fled to San Francisco, California. Whilst in California, Helm killed a rancher who had befriended him and taken him in, sheltering him from the vengeance of the law.

Helm then traveled to Oregon and resumed robbing people for a living, frequently murdering them. In 1862 after heavy drinking Helm gunned down an unarmed man named Dutch Fred in a saloon and fled. While on the run, Helm ate another fugitive who had been accompanying him. Captured by the authorities, Helm implored his brother “Old Tex”, one of Helm’s twelve siblings, for assistance. With a considerable amount of money, “Old Tex” paid off all of the witnesses. Unable to convict Helm without witnesses, the authorities released him and he accompanied his brother to Texas. Helm soon reappeared at many of the settlements mentioned before, killing many more men in the process. Finally Helm was apprehended in Montana.

After teaming up with the notorious Henry Plummer and his gang, Helm and four other gang members were captured, arrested, and tried in secret. At trial, Helm kissed the Bible and then proceeded to perjure himself, accusing Jack “Three-Fingered Jack” Garner, Helm’s close friend and fellow gang member of crimes Helm himself had committed. The Montana Vigilantes hanged Helm, Gallager, and other members of the gang in Virginia City, Montana on January 14, 1864 in front of a crowd of six thousand. Upon seeing his friend Gallager hanged, Helm reportedly remarked “Kick away old fellow. My turn next. I’ll be in Hell with you in a minute.”

When the executioner approached Helm, he allegedly exclaimed “Every man for his principles! Hurrah for Jeff Davis (the President of the Confederate States during the Civil War)! Let ‘er rip!” and then jumped off of the hangman’s box before it could be kicked away. Boone Helm is buried in Virginia City’s Boot Hill cemetery – it is unknown exactly how many men he killed and ate.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Solitude is a 2014 American horror film co-directed by Livingston Oden and Taylor Scott Olson from a screenplay they wrote with Jana K. Lensing. It stars Armin Habibovich, Victoria LaChelle, Brent Latchaw, Alex Cotant, Glen Stone,Kelly Lavasseur, Amy Correll and Nicole Kruex.

The film is currently in post-production.

Official synopsis:

Solitude is a horror feature film that takes place over a span of 75 years on a mysterious riverfront piece of land where an ancient evil dwells. The story will be told in six segments, each of them taking place in a different time period and each of them made to look like horror films of when they take place.

In 2014, James Erikson finds an old storage locker filled with journals and newspapers of his family’s history. As he researches it, he finds out about the evil that his family has tried to contain for several generations.

Besides present day, the other segments in this film are as follows:

1939 – Frank Erikson is a scientist doing research in North Dakota when a mysterious monster attacks his research team. This will be reminiscent of classic monster movies of the time period, such as “The Mummy” or “Frankenstein”.

1961 – Frank Erikson returns to the Solitude River to try to destroy the monster once and for all. This segment is influenced by Alfred Hitchcock’s films, as well as B-movies of the 50′s and 60′s.

1977 – The 1977 segment follows Donald Erikson, Frank’s son who is a real estate broker and is planning on building river homes in Solitude, but does not realize what the land holds. It is in the style of supernatural horror films of the 70′s, such as “The Omen” or “The Exorcist”.

1986 – And here’s the slasher! A group of college friends are planning on spending a weekend camping and partying near the Solitude River, not knowing of the evils that dwell there. This segment takes influence from classic 80′s slashers such as the “Friday the 13th” or “Nightmare on Elm Street” series.

1999 – The last segment before present day is going to be found footage, similar to “The Blair Witch Project”. It follows a group of film students who heard the rumours of the deaths near Solitude and are shooting a documentary about them.

Filming locations:

Anoka and St. Cloud, Minnesota; Pollock, South Dakota

IMDb

Sadismo – also known as Mondo Sadismo – is a 1967 American ‘shockumentary’ film produced by Salvatore Billitteri (whose production duties included work on Black Sabbath; Yog: Monster from Space; The Amityville Horror) from a screenplay by ‘Philip Marx’.

The Trans American Films release features narration by Burt Topper, director of Victor Buono starrer The Strangler (1964). The soundtrack was composed by Les Baxter whose work is profiled here.

We can find no director credit so Sadismo its is probably a compilation of footage from previous ‘mondo’ movies? Please comment below if you know more…

IMDb

Image credits: Scenes from the Morgue | Wrong Side of the Art!

El Sombrerón is a fictional character and one of the most famous legends of Guatemala, told in books and a 1950 film. El Sombrerón is also a bogeyman figure in Mexico and is referred to in some Colombian legends.

This character is also known with other names, like Tzipitio, the goblin, and sometimes Tzizimite, his main characteristics are always the same: a short, old-looking man with an opaque face, dressed in black with a thick, shiny belt; he wears a black, large hat and boots that make a lot of noise when he walks. His appearance is in conjunction with a sudden and unlikely cold breeze which soon disappears. A similar legend in El Salvador is called Cipitio, who is a short boy with backward feet, and, of course, a big hat. El Cipito pursues pretty girls and torments them if they reject his advances.

When no-one is around he likes to mount horses and braid their tails and manes – when he cannot find horses, he braids the hair of dogs. He also likes to court young ladies who have long hair and big eyes. When he likes one in particular, he follows her, braids her hair and serenades her with his silver guitar – only the intended female victim can hear the song of El Sombrerón;  his victims become enamoured with his song and stop sleeping and eating, proceeding to waste away. Upon departure from the mortal realm, the El Sombrerón steals their soul to be with him forever.

El Sombrerón appears at dusk with two huge black dogs attached by heavy chains, dragging along a group of mules carrying coal, with whom he travels around the city and its neighbourhoods. When a woman corresponds to his love, he ties the mules to the house’s pole where she lives, unhooks his guitar and starts singing and dancing. Some residents of La Recolección and Parroquia Vieja say he still wanders at nights when there is a full moon.

A particular legend of La Recolección in Guatemala tells of a young woman named Susana; she was a very pretty girl, with long hair and big, hazelnut eyes. One night when there was a full moon, Susana was sitting in the balcony admiring the sky when suddenly, a short character with a big hat and a guitar approached her. Entranced by her beauty, he sang her a song but her parents overheard her stirrings and ordered her inside. Since that day she was unable to sleep as El Sombrerón continued to appear in the house or sang to her from the street. Unable to eat either as every time they served her food, it was contaminated with soil; her parents cut her hair and took it to the local church so that the priest would put holy water on it and prayers were said for her. A few days later the goblin stop bothering her. Culturally, the legend advises teenage girls to preserve the collective values of a society.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

‘Some relationships just won’t die’

Burying the Ex is a 2014 comedy horror film directed by Joe Dante (Piranha – 1978; The Howling; Gremlins and its sequel; The Hole) from a screenplay by Alan Trezza, based on his 2008 short film of the same name. It stars Anton Yelchin, Ashley Greene, Alexandra Daddario, and Oliver Cooper.

This ArtImage Entertainment/Scooty Woop Entertainment/Act 4 Entertainment premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 4, 2014.

Plot teaser:

Max (Anton Yelchin), an all-around nice guy, and his overbearing but incredibly beautiful girlfriend, Evelyn (Ashely Greene). Their relationship takes a nosedive after they decide to move in together and Evelyn turns out to be a controlling, manipulative nightmare.

Max realizes it’s time to call it quits, but there’s just one problem: he’s too afraid to break up with her. Fate steps in when Evelyn is involved in a freak accident and dies, leaving Max single and ready to mingle.

Several weeks later, he has a chance encounter with Olivia (Alexandra Daddario), a cute and spirited girl who just might be his soul mate.

But that same night, Evelyn returns from the grave as a dirt-smeared zombie and she’s determined to live happily ever after with Max …

Reviews:

“There’s just enough blood on screen to keep gore hounds happy without turning off those who came primarily for the comedy or a little romance and the film switches gears between genres with Dante’s customary ease, even if none of it goes particularly deep. Much of the film’s humor is of course derived from death-related puns and wordplay, there are a couple of screwball situations and some of the zombie variations on mainstream-comedy standards are inspired, such as when Evelyn projectile-vomits embalming fluid all over her boyfriend. More contemporary-feeling are the antics of the rotund, often semi-naked womanizer Travis, who bring to mind a cheaper version of Seth Rogen…“Boyd van Hoeij, The Hollywood Reporter

“Along the way are a spare handful of amusing comic riffs (none better than a convoluted digression about a church-rock band called The Christian Slaters) and gross-out gags (none grosser than the oral expulsion of embalming fluid), but at just 89 minutes, there hardly seems enough material to fill the time. Watching two intelligent, attractive women fight to the death (or, well, beyond) over the dubiously worthy prize of Max is about as dramatically compelling as it is socially and sexually progressive.” Guy Lodge, Variety

“Overlit and with TV-show level sets and locations, half the time “Burying the Ex” looks more like an early episode of Buffy than a feature film, let alone one premiering inexplicably on the Lido. With a glut of rom-zom-coms recently, we can’t help but feel that Dante needed to do a little more than blow the dust off of his old bag of tricks in order to give people a reason to seek this one out … What we get here is not a reinvention, nor a reinterpretation, it’s the wholesale reanimation of something that had been buried for a long while. Like the shambling zombie corpse it is, initially we’re glad to see it come back to life, but pretty soon, for all its puns and Val Lewton references, it starts to decompose.” Jessica Kiang, The Playlist

IMDb

‘Three shocking murders did she dream them? …or do them?’

Nightmare is a 1963 (released April 1964) horror/suspense film from Hammer Films, co-financed by Universal International. The film was directed in glorious black and white “Hammercope” by Freddie Francis from a screenplay by producer Jimmy Sangster. It stars David Knight, Moira Redmond, Jennie Linden and Brenda Bruce.

Jennie Linden was an 11th hour casting choice replacing Julie Christie (later in the classic Don’t Look Now) who dropped out to appear in Billy Liar. This was the final film performance of American actor David Knight who subsequently focused on theatre work. It was shot in and around Bray Studios in Berkshire from 17 December 1962 to 31 January 1963 and heavy snow affected most of the location filming.

Plot teaser:

Janet is a teenage student attending boarding school named Hatcher’s School for Young Girls. After a number of nightmares concerning her mother, whom she saw kill her father when she was young, the troubled young woman is sent home to her guardian, Attorney Henry Baxter. At home, she is assigned a nurse. Janet begins having more nightmares this time concerning an unknown woman with a scar and a birthday cake. The dreams get worse and worse. Finally, her guardian brings home his wife, whom Janet has never met. Janet is introduced to the woman at her birthday celebration. The cake and woman from her dreams with the scar appearing at once is enough to make Janet snap. She kills the woman by stabbing her – the same way her mother killed her father. Janet is committed. Meanwhile, her guardian Henry and the nurse, who was disguised to look like the woman with a scar to drive Janet mad, celebrate the loss of Janet. However, the two will not go unpunished…

Reviews:

“A ridiculously manipulate plot by way of Diabolique, over-wrought performances and superb stylish black and white imagery from Freddie Francis and John Wilcox make Nightmare one of the most enjoyable 60s Psycho-influenced thrillers, along with Paranoiac and Dementia 13. Many of the filmic compositiions here are certainly worthy of the supposed Master” Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

It’s not the best of the series but in Redmond and Bruce has two really excellent actresses while Francis and Wilcox go out of their way to provide as many visually exciting ‘boo’ sequences as possible through creative use of the widescreen image. This may be only a low-budget thriller and the twists may be a bit mechanical (if ingenious) but there is a polished sheen to the film that compensates for the basic absurdity of the premise (the plans of the conspirators are full of holes and incredibly unlikely to succeed).” Tipping My Fedora

“It doesn’t push the limits of the horror of personality subgenre (Hitchcock still remains the master) and it has been unfairly overshadowed by the studio’s color monster movies, but it does give the psychological horror film a heavy gothic makeover, throws in some “ghosts,” and petrifies anyone who hates creepy old dolls. Bonus points for the rich use of black and white film.” Steve Habrat, Anti-Film School

“Nightmare, despite all evidence to the contrary, ends up being one of Hammer’s most well-crafted and influential films. It is one of the few horror films that have actually surprised me and kept me guessing right up until the end. I highly recommend it for all fans of classic horror and people of good suspense.” Jenn Dlugos, Classic-Horror.com

“Little of it would work without effective cinematography, which fortunately is first rate. Nightmare’s gaudy use of light and shadow is reminiscent of Ealing’s Dead of Night, even from the opening scene during which an asylum corridor becomes something far more sinister and claustrophobic. It’s yet more effective later in the film, when another character begins to experience the ‘hauntings’ for herself. Though she’s a tougher nut than Janet, she starts to crack, an endless stream of cigarettes reflecting her feeble efforts to keep her mind off the nightmares that are all too real. With each ‘incident’ the camera angles become increasingly bizarre.” The Big Whatsit

Choice dialogue:

“Where does the dream finish and reality begin?”

“Mummy was very ill.”

Cast:

• David Knight as Henry Baxter
• Moira Redmond as Grace Maddox
• Jennie Linden as Janet
• Brenda Bruce as Mary Lewis
• George A. Cooper (Doomwatch; Dracula Has Risen from the Grave) as John
• Clytie Jessop as Woman in White
• Irene Richmond as Mrs. Gibbs
• John Welsh as Doctor
• Timothy Bateson as Barman

Filming locations:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Tipping My Fedora

1920 is a 2008 Indian horror film written and directed by Vikram Bhatt. Filmed in Hindi, the film revolves around the events surrounding a married couple living in a haunted house in the year 1920. The film stars debutant actors Rajneesh Duggal and Adah Sharma as the married couple and was a critical and commercial success. The music of the film is composed by Adnan Sami with lyrics by Sameer.

A sequel 1920: Evil Returns was also released to mixed reviews and commercial success in 2013. After, the success of the first two instalments, the makers have decided to produce the third instalment 1920 London starring Meera Chopra and Diganth.

Plot teaser:

1920: Palampur in India. An architect arrives at a large haveli (manor house). The manager, MK, discusses how the owner of the haveli wishes to have it torn down and have a hotel constructed in its place. Later that night, the architect hears strange sounds, and when he goes out to investigate, he is killed by a mysterious force. It turns out the architect who was engaged before him was killed in a similar manner some time ago.

Another architect, Arjun Singh, is religious (he recites the Hanuman Chalisa every day) and devoted to his family; but he is also in love with Lisa. This meets strong disapproval from his family because Lisa (born of a British father and an Indian mother) is of mixed faith. Arjun decides to marry Lisa anyway. As he travels to Mumbai, his father and his brothers intercept his car, beat him up and try to burn Lisa alive. Arjun fights back and decides to disavow his faith (and thus, his family) for Lisa. He eventually uses logic and becomes an atheist.

The haveli project is handed to Arjun’s firm, and Arjun and Lisa arrive at the haveli soon after. Strange things happen (sounds, objects moving by themselves). Arjun is unaware of the events, but Lisa soon senses a malevolent alien presence. Lisa questions Balwant (the caretaker and servant), but he feigns ignorance. He discusses the matter privately with MK, and earnestly pleads with MK to relieve Arjun and Lisa of the project for it will claim their lives just as it killed the others who came before them. The haveli does not wish to be destroyed, says Balwant, and that is why it reacts to anyone who wants to tear it down, including MK. (Balwant himself is unharmed because he is only acting on orders and does not carry an intent to destroy the haveli.) MK is aware of some evil presence, but he silences Balwant with a fat bribe.

Arjun leaves for Delhi on a business trip. Lisa experiences stronger events, and confides in a local church priest. At Lisa’s request, the priest arrives at the haveli, and immediately senses a strong evil presence in the main hall of thehaveli. Later that evening, in his church rooms, he experiences an evil force, and wakes up to find a Baphomet, drawn in blood…

Reviews:

“Without doubt, 1920 is amongst Vikram Bhatt’s finest works. In fact, it’s after a really long gap that Bhatt seems to be in complete command. Pravin Bhatt’s camera captures the mood splendidly. The beauty of the castle has been captured very well by the DOP. Adnan Sami’s music strikes a chord.” Taran Adarsh, Bollywood Hungama

“The selection of the cast by Vikram Bhatt is superb. His new faces in films — Dugal and Adah Sharma prove their self-confidence. Rajneesh has a talent, so a bright future lies ahead for him. The female lead in Adah Sharma is excellent. Anjori Alagh looks beautiful and leaves an impression in the second hour. Indraneel does well. Raj Zutshi plays the priest’s role very well. Overall, the movie is good as it fulfills its promise of providing enough scare.” SmasHits.com

“Cinematographer Pravin Bhatt spells his enchanting piece of work right throughout the film. The painted backdrops of beautiful locations of Allerton Castle in London are chilling for eyes while on the other end; he brings you the horrifying feel with unique lighting and camera angles. Adnan Sami isn’t so impressive with the songs, but his background score enhances the visual quality…” IndiaGlitz.com

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘They lived by eating human bones… and threatened to consume the world!

Island of Terror is a 1966 British science fiction horror film produced by Planet Film. It was directed by Terence Fisher – he also helmed The Earth Dies Screaming and Night of the Big Heat for Planet – from a screenplay by Edward Mann and Al Ramsen. It stars Peter Cushing, Edward Judd, Carole Gray, Eddie Byrne, Niall MacGinnis and Sam Kydd.

The idea for the film came when Richard Gordon read the Gerry Fernback screenplay The Night the Silicates Came.

The film was released in the US by Universal Studios on a double-bill with The Projected Man.

Plot teaser:

On the remote Petrie’s Island, farmer Ian Bellows goes missing and his wife contacts the police. Constable John Harris goes looking for him and finds him dead in a cave without a single bone in his body. Horrified, Harris swiftly fetches the town physician Dr. Reginald Landers, but Dr. Landers is unable to determine what happened to the dead man’s skeleton. Landers journeys to the mainland to seek the help of a noted London pathologist, Dr. Brian Stanley.

Like Landers, Stanley is unable to even hypothesize what could have happened to Ian Bellows, so both men seek out Dr. David West, an expert on bones and bone diseases. Although Stanley and Landers interrupt West’s dinner date with the wealthy jetsetter Toni Merrill, West is intrigued by the problem and so agrees to accompany the two doctors back to Petrie’s Island to examine the corpse.

In order for them to reach the island that much faster, Merrill offers the use of her father’s private helicopter in exchange for the three men allowing her to come along on the adventure…

Buy Island of Terror on Odeon Entertainment DVD | Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

” …one of the very best monster movies to come out of Great Britain in the 1960’s. Not only do its script and direction give the audience credit for a great deal of B-movie erudition, it isn’t overly protective of its main characters (some surprisingly nasty things happen to some surprisingly important people in this movie), and its monsters, though none too convincingly realized, are an extremely imaginative departure from the mutant lizards and gigantic bugs we’re accustomed to in the genre.” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

“Island of Terror also lacks a great deal of conviction. The scene where Edward Judd is forced to cut off Peter Cushing’s arm to save his life would have had some brutal effect were it not undermined by the sight of Cushing cheerfully sitting up being bandaged in the following scene. The film taps into the peculiar isolationist mentality of 1960s Britain. Unfortunately the menace is too dull to be effective – and Terence Fisher fails to tap into any of the swimming subtexts that manage to make all good science-fiction monsters more than they are.” Moria

Gory hand-chopping moment

“It’s a strangely sedate movie, given its outré subject matter and lurid title, which is probably both a strength and a weakness. Fisher shoots it in naturalistic tones and the actors mostly give restrained performances. Cushing is excellent, as always, though his character often takes a backseat to Edward Judd’s more charismatic scientist character. He does get to lose a hand, though, in probably the film’s tensest moment. And Carole Gray turns in a very likeable performance, even if her character doesn’t get much to do besides scream and be told to wait in the car. Innsmouth Free Press

“Minor genre entry which makes the most of its low budget thanks to first rate direction by Terence Fisher, adequate special effects and attractive cinematography.” Alan Frank, The Science Fiction and Fantasy Handbook

“Exteriors are interesting when we see the overcast skies, the foggy woods, the actors breathing in the midst. Action comes very often compared with other sci-fi horror films of the era. Weird blob sound effects might be overdone, and the coda is too campy, but these are minor flaws.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

Buy Claws & Saucers book from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Buy Masters of Horror Collector’s Edition DVD from Amazon.co.uk

A silicate monster fridge magnet

Cast:

• Peter Cushing as Dr. Brian Stanley
• Edward Judd as Dr. David West
• Carole Gray as Toni Merrill
• Eddie Byrne as Dr. Reginald Landers
• Sam Kydd as Constable John Harris
• Niall MacGinnis as Roger Campbell
• James Caffrey as Peter Argyle
• Liam Gaffney as Ian Bellows
• Roger Heathcote as Dunley
• Keith Bell as Halsey
• Margaret Lacey as Old Woman
• Shay Gorman as Morton
• Peter Forbes-Robertson as Dr. Lawrence Phillips
• Richard Bidlake as Carson
• Joyce Hemson as Mrs. Bellows

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: Black Hole Reviews

Inferno is a 1980 Italian supernatural horror film written and directed by Dario Argento. It stars Leigh McCloskey, Irene Miracle, Eleonora Giorgi, Sacha Pitoeff, Daria Nicolodi, Alida Valli and Veronica Lazar.

The cinematography was by Romano Albani and Keith Emerson composed the film’s thunderous musical score. The story concerns a young man’s investigation into the disappearance of his sister, who had been living in a New York City apartment building that also served as a home for a powerful, centuries-old witch.

A thematic sequel to Suspiria (1977), the film is the second part of Argento’s Three Mothers trilogy. The concluding entry, The Mother of Tears, was released in 2007. All three films are partially derived from the concept of “Our Ladies of Sorrow” (Mater Lachrymarum, Mater Suspiriorum and Mater Tenebrarum) originally devised by Thomas de Quincey in his book Suspiria de Profundis (1845).

Argento invited his mentor, Mario Bava, to provide some of the optical effects, matte paintings and trick shots for the film. Some of the cityscape views seen in Inferno were actually tabletop skyscrapers built by Bava out of milk cartons covered with photographs. The apartment building that Rose lived in was in fact only a partial set built in the studio—it was a few floors high and had to be visually augmented with a small sculpture constructed by Bava. This sculpture was set aflame toward the end of production and served as the burning building seen in the climax.

Bava also provided some second unit direction for the production. Film critic Maitland McDonagh has suggested that Bava had his hand in the celebrated watery ballroom scene, but that sequence was shot in a water tank by Gianlorenzo Battaglia, without any optical effects work at all.Bava’s son, Lamberto Bava, was the film’s assistant director.

Unlike Suspiria, Inferno received a very limited theatrical release and the film was unable to match the box office success of its predecessor. While the initial critical response to the film was mostly negative, its reputation has improved considerably over the years. Film critic Kim Newman has called it “perhaps the most underrated horror movie of the 1980s.” In 2005, the magazine Total Film named Inferno one of the 50 greatest horror films of all time.

Plot teaser:

A sensitive young woman called Rose (Irene Miracle) becomes curious about her gloomy apartment block having found a reference to it in an old book about alchemy called “The Three Mothers”. Her attempts to investigate result in disaster, but not before she manages to write a letter to her brother Mark (Leigh McCloskey), an American music student living in Rome. Mark’s girlfriend Sara (Eleonora Giorgi) sees the letter first and, intrigued, heads for Rome’s central library to look for the book Rose mentioned.

Supernatural forces menace her in the bowels of the building, and on her return home she and a neighbour (Gabriele Lavia) are murdered by an unseen knife-wielding figure. Traumatised by his girlfriend’s death, and worried for his sister’s safety, Mark travels to New York, however she finds that Rose has gone missing. In the course of his investigations he meets Rose’s friend the Countess Elise (Daria Nicolodi), a rich neurotic who lives in the same block, and a neighbouring antique dealer, the bad tempered Kazanian (Sacha Pitoeff), from whom Rose bought the book. Neither are much help, and soon Mark too is beset by occult forces. To survive he must attempt to decode a riddle pointing to an ancient evil hidden somewhere close by…

Review:

If Dario Argento’s Suspiria had some critics backing off with their hands over their ears, its 1980 follow-up Inferno bamboozled them altogether. Taking the daring colour extravagance and shrieking rock music of Suspiria down just a few notches, and selecting a cast from areas as diverse as TV soap opera Dallas (Leigh McCloskey) and art-house classic Last Year in Marienbad (Sacha Pitoeff), Argento plunged deep into his most avant-garde cinematic labyrinth.

The story, though watchable separately to Suspiria, is linked to its sister film by references to the opium-derived writings of 19th Century decadent Thomas De Quincey. One piece in particular, from the collection of essays “Suspiria de Profundis”, provided the Italian director with a few tantalizing fragments on which to base his occult mysteries. “Levana and Our Ladies of Sorrow” told of the dominion of three female spirits, Mater Lachrymarum, Mater Suspiriorum and Mater Tenebrarum. Argento eagerly adopted these manifestations and begins Inferno with a voice-over that relishes their names as a litany of evil.

On first viewing Inferno is complicated to the point of incomprehensibility. The storyline is gossamer-thin yet tangled, dissolving away as one tries to put a finger on its labyrinth of mysteries. The process of searching for clues is itself the theme of the film, so that the quests conducted by the protagonist and the viewer become enmeshed. “What’s that, a riddle? I’m not good at riddles,” snaps one of Inferno’s gallery of grotesques.

Viewers with a low tolerance for confusion and mystery may feel the same; Inferno communicates vital information with casual misdirection, while lingering enigmatically on facets that prove to be little more than weird, picturesque non-sequiturs. It requires our engagement beyond the level of narrative comprehension yet teases with the suggestion of codes to be deciphered and connections to be made.

Argento, who suffered heavily with viral hepatitis during the shoot, took his fevered fascination with the occult to greater lengths here than Suspiria. The dominant theme this time is alchemy, not witchcraft, but nevertheless both films share the mystic’s mistrust of language. (“Wherever we have spoken openly we have actually said nothing. But where we have written something in code and in pictures we have concealed the truth,” attests the genuine alchemical grimoire “Rosarium philosophorum”, published in 1550.)

In both Suspiria and Inferno the protagonists find language inadequate and obstructive, whereas the breakthroughs are invariably conducted in silence. Meanwhile, language is subject to a barrage of distortion. Inferno’s Mark, who is trying to solve the mystery of his sister’s disappearance in a rambling old New York apartment block, discovers little of value by quizzing the other occupants, and finds simple verbal exchanges fraught with frustratingly opaque significance. Sharing a lift with a nurse, he tries to make small-talk about his study of musicology, only to have the chit-chat go askew when she persists in hearing the word as ‘toxicology’. Another inhabitant communicates from room to room by means of a network of air vents permeating the building – her voice, which at first seems to come from nowhere, drifts in and out of audibility as it is wafted by capricious air currents.

Buy Inferno on Arrow Video Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk

Elsewhere, telephone calls are broken up by static, a mute character struggles to pass on a secret message by scratching with his fingernail, and an attempted seduction is pointillised by a loud classical record switching on and off, fitfully in synch with a flickering power failure. Even the clearly heard lines sound like the efforts of aliens to fake the English language: “He says it’s his heart. We must give him some heart medicine,” announces a gargoyle-faced woman when Mark suffers a mysterious collapse.

Mystics believe that truth can be heard “more freely, distinctly or clearly [...] with a silent speech or without speech in the illustrations of the mysteries, both in the riddles presented with figures and in words” (C. Horlacher, “Kern und Stern der vornehmsten Chymisch-Philosophischen Schrifften”, 1707). This is a theme to be found in both Suspiria and Inferno.

During the films’ respective climaxes Suspiria’s heroine Suzy and Inferno’s Mark advance along the route to knowledge in silence (although Suzy has her every move accompanied by a raging score from Goblin and Mark rides pillion with prog-rocker Keith Emerson’s ‘switched-on Verdi’ ).

Mark in particular, in a film filled with music, makes a breakthrough discovery by looking in silence at a drawing of the building where his sister disappeared, and by quietly observing an ant disappearing into a tiny hole between the floorboards of her old room. Compelled by sudden insight to excavate the floor at this point, he discovers a secret complex of tunnels striated between the ceilings and floors, which lead to impossible spaces between. These fantasias of colour and shadow lead to the building’s dark heart, and the film’s fiery conclusion.

Inferno sits in the middle of the most intense and inventive period of Argento’s career, and in many ways can be seen as the high watermark of Italian horror. Revelling in the creative freedom afforded by the massive success of Suspiria, Argento was free to explore his vision without restraint: the result is the most daringly avant-garde horror film ever to emerge from his native country.

Stephen Thrower, Horrorpedia

Offline reading:

Dario Argento: The Man, The Myths & The Magic by Alan Jones (FAB Press) – Buy from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Dario Argento by James Gracey (Kamera Books) – Buy from Amazon.co.uk

‘Evil lives within you’

The Taking of Deborah Logan – original title: The Taking – is a 2014 American horror film directed by Adam Robitel (actor/editor on 2001 Maniacs films) from a screenplay he co-wrote with Gavin Heffernan and produced by Bryan Singer (Trick ‘r Treat and the X-Men films). It stars Jill Larson, Michelle Ang, Ryan Cutrona, Anne Bedian, Brett Gentile, Jeremy DeCarlos, Tonya Bludsworth, and Julianne Taylor.

Plot teaser:

Mia Medina (Michelle Ang) has finally found the perfect subject for her PhD thesis film on Alzheimer’s disease. For the next few months, cameras will record the everyday life of mother Deborah Logan (Jill Larson) and her daughter, Sarah (Anne Ramsay).

But as the days progress, strange things begin to happen around Deborah that are not consistent with any findings about Alzheimer’s. It becomes apparent that there’s something besides Alzheimer’s that has taken control of Deborah’s life. It’s an evil that is far worse than the debilitating disease with which she was first diagnosed…

IMDb

Hallmark Releasing was a Boston-based American film distribution company. With a pointedly provocative approach, Hallmark’s first major success was with German import Mark of the Devil (1970) which was picked up for US showing with an April 1972 promo that included come-ons such as “Positively the most horrifying film ever made” and “Rated V for Violence”, while vomit bags were given free to the audience upon admission. They subsequently came up with the oft-repeated phrase: “It’s only a movie!”

Hallmark developed from the rapidly-growing Esquire Theaters (“a chain of about a hundred screens” according to David Konow in Reel Terror: The Scary, Bloody, Gory, Hundred-Year History of Classic Horror Films). Hallmark was owned by three partners: Steve Minasian, Phil Scuderi and Robert Barsamain.

Vomit bags were back for Amando de Ossorio directed Spanish import Tombs of the Blind Dead and although this was also “most horrifying film ever made”, it was not “positively” this time.

In August 1972, Hallmark distributed The Last House on the Left, Wes Craven’s breakthrough ultra-shocking sex ‘n’ violence combo that showcased power tool carnage before it became world famous via a certain Texas Chain Saw Massacre a couple of years later.

Clearly on a roll of ballyhoo and bloodshed, the company then promoted Mario Bava’s land grab proto-slasher A Bay of Blood in May 1972 with the rather more outré title Twitch of the Death Nerve. Punters were advised that they must receive a warning “face-to-face!”

In January 1973 the hucksters released Italian import Slaughter Hotel (1971) with the crude sensationalist tag line “See the slashing massacre of 8 innocent nurses!’ Subtlety was not a Hallmark trademark. Not to be out done, American International Pictures (AIP) handled the wider release of both this – retitled Asylum Erotica – and the aforementioned Last House on the Left, plus a number of other Hallmark pick-ups.

Originally entitled The Forgotten, S.F Brownrigg’s previously overlooked 1973 offering became Don’t Look in the Basement and The Snake Pit. But by any title “it’s only a movie”…

At some point in the later 1970s Hallmark seems to have either become known as Newport or at least partnered with a distribution company of this name. If we find out more we will update this entry. In the meantime, Hallmark/Newport re-released Massimo Dallamano’s 1971 What Have You Done to Solange? as The School That Couldn’t Scream.

A 1977/78 release House by the Hill seems to be a retitling of Charles Manson cash-in The Cult (1971) but as Temple of Schlock states this is not clear, as yet.

Hallmark later financed Friday the 13th (1980) which was subsequently distributed by Hollywood studio Paramount in a ground-breaking move that showed easy $$$’s were more important to the majors since Jaws had shown that exploitation and horror were such big business. According to David Konow’s aforementioned book: “Betsy Palmer remembered two of the Hallmark partners who “were like the men in black… these strange men lurking around the set… all they told us was that these were the moneymen from Boston.”

The men in black… who knew it’s “only a movie!”

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

The Profondo Rosso Store named after Argento’s 1975 classic film, was founded by director Dario Argento in 1989 and is managed by his longtime partner Luigi Cozzi (director of The Killer Must Strike Again; Contamination, Paganini Horror) who works regularly at the store. It is a horror themed merchandise shop located at Via dei Gracchi 260, Rome, Italy (near the Vatican). Cozzi has written several of the books on sale.

Luigi Cozzi at work

The shop holds regular signings with genre favourites and has the added bonus of hosting the ‘Museo degli Orrori di Dario Argento’ in the downstairs basement. This is a small audio guided tour of props from films such as Demons, Two Evil Eyes, Phenomena, Opera and The Church. Five Euros gets you in. Pray to get out…

Rob Zombie and chums meet Luigi Cozzi

Store site | Facebook

Lamberto Bava signs

Don’t visit on a Sunday, the store is closed. On any other day it is open from 10.30 till 13.00, then from 16.30 until 20.00 post siesta.

Vintage Profondo Rosso Store:

WH

Territories (original title: Territoires) is a 2010 Franco – Canadian horror film co-written and directed by Olivier Abbou and starring Roc LaFortune, Michael Mando and Cristina Rosato.

Plot teaser:

Five friends returning from a marriage in Canada return home to the United States. Not far from the border, two customs officers stop them to check their identity. Suspicious, they take their time especially with Jalil, a man of Arab origin. The situation worsens when a customs officer finds a small bag of marijuana in the luggage. Then things degenerate rapidly: a customs officer grabs the little dog that’s part of the group and slits open its belly to be sure it’s not a mule. When Gab makes a move, he’s shot. The customs officer orders the surviving friends to undress and put on orange coveralls. Gradually, it dawns on the four tourists that they are in the hands of former torturers from Guantanamo…

Buy Territories on DVD from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Reviews:

“Territories isn’t as violent as you might expect, and it even manages to throw in some unsettlingly cruel humour, but it is a deeply upsetting experience that transcends simple ‘torture porn’ pigeonholing as well as predictable politicized posturing. A difficult watch but a worthwhile one.” Eye For Film

“Horror fans will delight in a handful of impressive gore scenes by make-up artist C.J. Goldman (Orphan), captured with handheld verve by cinematographer Karim Hussain (Hobo with a Shotgun). But Territories is ultimately less about the bloodletting than about revealing torture (and torture porn) to be a by-product of Bush-era extremism – an idea that seems worn out following Hostel and its many rehashes.” Hollywood Reporter

“The film is beautifully shot and the acting is fantastic all around. A creepy tension slowly builds and once it has taken hold it doesn’t let go. I found the final act of the film unrelenting and at times surreal. This is a film that stands very clear of others and will grip you to the very end. It will also leave you with something to think about for a long time afterwards.” Screen Jabber

IMDb

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Belgian Poster

Killer Fish – also Killerfish – is a 1978 Italian-French-Brazilian horror movie directed by Antonio Margheriti and starring Lee Majors, James Franciscus and Karen Black. Killer Fish is a Carlo Ponti  Filmar do Brasil production from I.T.C. Entertainment, released by Associated Film Distribution, and presented by Sir Lew Grade.

Plot teaser:

Death, deception and nature have gone wild, as piranhas protect a stolen emerald cache. Paul Diller (James Franciscus) is the mastermind of a multi-million dollar jewel heist. The team, including Robert Lasky (Lee Majors) and his girlfriend, Kate Neville (Karen Black), steal the gems and hurl them to the bottom of Brazil’s deepest lake, which is then filled with deadly man-eating piranha. Soon, all members of the team are pitted against each other in a deadly battle of wits and a deadly battle against piranhas!

Buy Killer Fish on Blu-ray from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“Despite the lukewarm premise and goofy script, Killer Fish still manages to be a pretty entertaining little b-movie. Majors is great as the slicker than grease tough guy ladies man and Karen Black is equally as good as the weird looking sex pot criminal chick. The true stars of this movie though are Margheriti’s miniature sets, all of which blow up really nicely and/or flood when the dam inevitably breaks later in the film. These miniatures share the spotlight with some quality plastic fish (some of which are very obviously on wires) that attack anyone who gets near the jewels.” Rock! Shock! Pop! 

“Margheriti packs the film with a lot of miniature work and explosions that are more effective than models seen in later Italian productions. At times the piranhas seem like an afterthought amidst the destruction. It’s easily digestible Saturday afternoon entertainment.” Italian Film Review

“It may not be a good movie — it’s really inept—but it’s friendly, like Mr. Majors’s quizzical squint, which is, I’m told by people who watch more televison than I do, what Mr. Majors does best. Everyone, in fact, carries on gamely, as people do at a picnic when it rains. Miss Berenson, who looks more and more like Ann Dvorak with very thin eyebrows, maintains a kind of resolute availability, always ready to talk to someone who feels low or lonely. Miss Black makes the mistake of attempting to act, and thus comes across as the party-bore, the person who attempts to steer conversation to important topics when everyone else is interested in gossip.” The New York Times

Locations:

Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

IMDb | Wikipedia

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The First Power is a 1990 American horror film/neo-noir, directed by Robert Resnikoff and starring Lou Diamond Phillips, Tracy Griffith, Jeff Kober and Mykelti Williamson.

Plot teaser:

A young man, Patrick Channing, born out of an incestuous relationship and having endured an emotionally, psychologically scarring childhood, gives in to the dark side of Satanic forces and becomes a weapon of evil. He kills with such ferocity that he becomes the main target of the L.A.P.D. Detective Russell Logan – a specialist in catching serial killers – who engages in a battle of wits with Channing. It appears that the killer can’t be stopped, but Logan has a few tricks of his own to match Channing’s-“First Power”…

Musician Nick Cave was considered for the bad guy/Patrick Nanning role. Cave, who was touring the US at the time, did audition for the role, but later said he was glad he had not been awarded the part.

During filming, numerous press materials listed the title as Transit – because of the killer’s ability to jump between bodies as a way of moving around the city. Orion, the film’s US distributor, decided in post-production to re-title the film The First Power so potential audience members would be more aware of its supernatural/horror elements.

Buy The First Power on Blu-ray from Amazon.com

Reviews:

“The First Power is one of my top “guilty pleasure” films. Sure, with a tighter script to back it up, it could’ve been more than just fun Swiss Cheese, but I still manage to have a Merry Dead-Mas with it every time. If you’re looking for a somewhat silly, yet dark, opus that offers a string of inventive chases, easy scares, a badass killer that jumps in slow motion a lot and a Lou Diamond Phillips that just can’t get stop getting a beating…YOU JUST HIT PAY DIRT!”  Arrow in the Head

“There is some pretty amazing stuntwork going on in here and though they were ridiculous, I think they had a big part in why I ended up liking this so much. You know, it’s your standard late 80’s early 90’s supernatural thriller/detective story about a cop chasing a serial killer, only they throw in some insane stuntwork out of nowhere that serves no real purpose in moving the story along, but looks great on screen. Sometimes, depending on your taste or mood, it can be enough. In this case, for me it was.” robotGEEK’S Cult Cinema

“The First Power is a good old occult thriller mixed with a nineties cop-movie. Lou Diamond Phillips might look very young, but he’s good and handles the action and drama well – and shows of his hairless chest a couple of times. But Jeff Kober steals every scene he’s in as usual, and that’s fine with me. He makes even the most boring movies a little bit better.” Ninja Dixon

Wikipedia | IMDb

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The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a 2014 American horror film remake of the Charles B. Pierce 1976 film of the same name produced by Blumhouse in conjunction with resurrected Orion Pictures.

Directed by first-timer Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, the film picks up sixty-five years after a masked serial killer terrorized the small town of Texarkana, when the “moonlight murders” begin again. Produced by Ryan Murphy and Jason Blum, The Town That Dreaded Sundown stars Addison Timlin, Gary Cole and Spencer Treat Clark. Release date is October 16, 2014.

‘Out of the darkness comes a new kind of blood lust’

Werewolf Rising is a 2014 American horror film written and directed by BC Furtney (New Terminal Hotel; Do Not Disturb) and starring Bill Oberst Jr. (Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies; Krampus: The Christmas Devil; Circus of the Dead), Brian Berry (Razorteeth; Monster Movie; HalloweeNight), Melissa Carnell (Boggy Creek; Humans versus Zombies), Matt Copko (Devil’s Prey; Harvest Moon), Irena Murphy, Danielle Lozeau (The Black Water Vampire; Tales of the Wicked Unseen) and Taylor Horneman.

Plot teaser:

Emma is a country girl who left for the big city only to return years later with big problems. And when she returns to her childhood home deep in the Arkansas mountains for some well needed rest, relaxation, and soul searching, her problems have only just begun. A bloodthirsty werewolf emerges from the woods to lay siege to the area, ravaging anything in its path and revealing a sinister underworld that most never knew existed. With a full moon hanging over the area, Emma is plunged into a fight not only for her life, but for her very soul…

Buy Werewolf Rising on DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews

“The annoying thing about all this is that as you watch the film, you can see moments of potential. The odd atmospheric shot hints at what might have been, while the central concept, tying werewolves, family dysfunction and addiction together has potential to go somewhere. But frankly, Furtney needs another writer on board, because this film feels very much like a series of undeveloped ideas. As it is, this is rather dull stuff that I can’t in all honesty suggest that even the committed werewolf movie fan should bother with.” David Flint, Strange Things Are Happening

“Briskly paced, cerebrally unchallenging and unafraid of revelling in its merging of cheap effects with grisly splatter, Werewolf Rising turned out to be much more fun than I’d anticipated.” Sex Gore Mutants

“So yeah, this film is a turd. If it’s not the boring-ass drama part with werewolves thrown in as an afterthought, it’s the crappy werewolf effects, the rip-off score, or the crappier acting.” Bloody Disgusting

IMDb

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“To Serve Man” is a 1962 episode of the television series The Twilight Zone. The episode is one of the best remembered from the series.

The story is based on the 1950 short story “To Serve Man”, written by Damon Knight and was adapted for the small screen by Rod Serling, the series’ creator, himself, as was often the case. The title is a play on the verb serve, which has a dual meaning of “to assist” and “to provide as a meal.” The episode is one of the few instances in the series wherein an actor breaks the fourth wall and addresses the viewing audience at the episode’s end.

Rod Serling’s traditional to-camera introduction sets the scene:

“Respectfully submitted for your perusal – a Kanamit. Height: a little over nine feet. Weight: in the neighborhood of three hundred and fifty pounds. Origin: unknown. Motives? Therein hangs the tale, for in just a moment, we’re going to ask you to shake hands, figuratively, with a Christopher Columbus from another galaxy and another time. This is the Twilight Zone”.

It is the present day and Earth has been visited by the Kanamits, an alien race seemingly only created for one purpose – to help others, in this case, Mankind. With their advanced technology, they reveal they have previously visited other worlds to solve their problems and are now here to do the same: specifically, they have a quick solution to world famine, cheap and clean energy sources and the ability to create force fields between territories, essentially ending all wars. Continuing to address the assembled United Nations, they apparently ask for nothing in return, sending alarm bells ringing for some, offering hope for many.

The visitors mistakenly leave behind an item after the address, a book written in an unknown language. After some time, the title is cracked: ‘To Serve Man’. This is enough for huge numbers of people, including decoder Michael Chambers (Lloyd Bochner, also in The Dunwich Horror, Amazing Mr No Legs) to book their flights on Kanamit ships to journey to their home world and, presumably, Utopia. Meanwhile, Chambers’ assistant, Patty (Susan Cummings, Swamp Women) continues to try to translate the rest of the text and, alas just as the space craft is blasting-off, discovers there was a rather elementary misunderstanding in the book’s title. Chambers, addressing the television audience, bemoans his fate – Rod Serling concludes in typical manner:

“The recollections of one Michael Chambers with appropriate flashbacks and soliloquy. Or more simply stated, the evolution of man. The cycle of going from dust to dessert. The metamorphosis from being the ruler of a planet to an ingredient in someone’s soup. It’s tonight’s bill of fare from The Twilight Zone”.

The episode is best remembered for the distinctive appearance of the Kanamits, their spokesman played by Richard Kiel (Eegah; James Bond baddie Jaws, The Humanoid) in a very early screen role and the shocking reveal at the end of the episode, which has been much mimicked since. The original story was by Damon Knight, best known for his science fiction work and was written in 1950 – it can be found in the collection “The Best of Damon Knight”. The aliens in the story differ completely from those created by Serling resembling pigs in the original text. Serling created a slightly docile-appearing creature, partly due to their communication being by thought than actual speech, and partly due to their heavy eye-lids and huge domed craniums. Decked in flowing robes and on the frame of the 7’2″ Kiel, the effect was the perfect balance of veiled benevolent/malevolent, with no further clues given to the audience.

There is a slight prat-fall with Serling’s version, the decoding of the alien runes being surely impossible; Knight allows for a modest Kanamit/human dictionary to allow conversation to allow for the eventual translation. Whether to double meaning of ‘to serve’ would survive is another matter entirely.

The full-size lower portion of the Kanamits’ transport spaceship is the adapted version, with retractable stairway, of the saucer-shaped United Planets Cruiser C-57D, seen in the MGM film Forbidden Planet (1956). The ship used for the episode is also seen on the episode “Third from the Sun”, and shots of the ship or stairway also appear in the episodes “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”, “Hocus-Pocus and Frisby”, “The Invaders”, and “Death Ship”.

Stock footage from the film The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) was also used in the episode for the shots of the Kanamit spaceship arriving in New York City (although landmarks of Washington, DC, are seen).

The Kanamit ship seen taking off near the end of the episode is the distinctive Ray Harryhausen-animated ship from the film Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956).

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia.