Blood and Lace is a 1970 (released March 1971) American horror film directed by Philip Gilbert from a screenplay by co-producer Gil Lasky (Spider Baby; The Night God Screamed). Co-producer Ed Carlin also handled The Evil (1978) and Superstition (1982). In the US, it was distributed by American International Pictures (AIP).

Cast:

Gloria Grahame (Mansion of the Doomed; The Nesting), Melody Patterson, Len Lesser (Ruby; Grandmother’s House), Vic Tayback (Tales from the Darkside; Beverly Hills Bodysnatchers) and Milton Selzer.

Plot:

After her prostitute mother and her client are beaten to death while they are asleep in bed, teen-aged Ellie Masters is sent to an isolated orphanage run by Mrs. Deere and her handyman. Taking an avid interest in her welfare is detective Calvin Carruthers. Taking almost no interest at all, is social worker Harold Mullins who is completely under Mrs. Deere’s thumb.

A number of unpleasant surprises are in store for Ellie, not the least of which is the fact that Mrs. Deere and her handyman are both brutal sadists, who run the orphanage like a concentration camp and the strong possibility that her mother’s hammer-wielding killer is now stalking her…

Reviews:

“Blood and Lace is one helluva fun movie. It’s got unintentional humour, high camp, a teenage cat fight, a few lashings of gore and a bucketful of sleaze. It’s hard to believe that little kids would have been allowed to sit through this twisted tale that takes in the murder of children, pedophilia and incest! Certainly this isn’t hard-core horror but neither is it a Disney flick, either. Gloria Grahame’s performance is probably better than the movie warrants.” Justin Kerswell, Hysteria Lives!

“Of course, Blood and Lace is not for everybody. It’s acting is amateurish in spots, the story and the character’s behavior push credibility often and the whole business is drive-in trashy. The soundtrack, which comes across as random records being played, is the biggest drawback and could possibly be blamed entirely for this movie missing the appreciation that it deserves.” Kindertrauma

“Blood And Lace swipes beauty tips from Blood Freak, procrastinates with Scream, Baby, Scream, and weeps next to an After School Special. In essence, it’s the greatest thing that Donald F. Glut (I Was A Teenage Movie Maker!) and Brad F. Grinter (you know who he is) never collaborated on. Amateurish yet decently budgeted, it’s all sunshine, sloppy edits, bursts of perversion, and ill-suited orchestral bomps (good stuff) backed up against a 30 minute midriff of talking heads and rehashed details (not so good stuff).” Bleeding Skull!

Cast and Characters:

Gloria Grahame as Mrs.Deere
Melody Patterson as Ellie Masters
Milton Selzer as Mr. Mullins
Len Lesser as Tom Kredge
Vic Tayback as Calvin Carruthers
Terri Messina as Bunch
Ronald Taft as Walter
Dennis Christopher as Pete
Peter Armstrong as Ernest
Maggie Corey as Jennifer
Mary Strawberry as Nurse
Louise Sherrill as Edna Masters
Joe Durkin as Unidentified Man

Choice dialogue:

“I didn’t ask to come to your crummy hospital!”

“All girls tease Bunch, it’s just part of the equipment.”

“Well, evil breeds evil, honey.”

Trailer:

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

‘When the undead can evolve, no-one is safe’

Extinction – formerly known as Welcome to Harmony – is a 2015 Spanish-French-American-Hungarian science-fiction horror film directed by Miguel Ángel Vivas from a screenplay co-written with Alberto Marini. It should not be confused with the found footage dinosaur film with the same title.

Cast:

Matthew Fox, Jeffrey Donovan, Quinn McColgan, Valeria Vereau, Alex Hafner and Clara Lago.

Release:

The film was released on July 31, 2015 in the United States.

Plot:

After a virus turns people into zombies, a small group of survivors seek refuge in a snow-covered town, believing the virus and all of its monstrous creations had died out. But they only discover the infected had adapted to the environment change, for the worse…

Reviews:

“Director Miguel Ángel Vivas tries to add a family-drama twist to an otherwise standard survival story, but the characters aren’t complex enough (and the secrets aren’t explosive enough) to elevate this beyond a basic zombie flick.” Devan Coggan, Entertainment Weekly

“More filmmakers should treat the zombie subgenre as allegorical, the way George A. Romero intended. But Extinction and Maggie both arrive at the same conclusion about fatherhood, thereby confirming it as a cliché rather than a coincidence.” Martin Tsai, Los Angeles Times

“Extinction stumbles in its efforts to evolve beyond a simple, bloody tale of the zombie apocalypse. Its narrative leans toward the untenable side of melodrama and pushes viewers away when it should be pulling them in for a suspenseful finale.” Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

“Director Miguel Angel Vivas (Kidnapped) fails to bring any visual flair to the sluggishly paced proceedings, and the CGI effects prove less than convincing. Fox and Donovan, who did far better work on their respective TV shows Lost and Burn Notice, are unable to breathe much life into their stock characters, with the former seeming particularly uncomfortable in his largely non-action role. Far better is child actress McColgan, delivering a well-rounded, naturalistic performance.” Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter

” …at its best moments competent, at its worst risible and downright silly. It very much feels like it’s trying too hard to be a grand and serious work while at the same time using some of the most hoary and overripe tropes of the genre to make its points. Maybe these cinematic elements can never die as they keep coming back again and again. Maybe that is the central ironic conceit of Extinction.” Jason Gorber, Twitch

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘When tragedy struck, evil followed.’

Tragic Theater is a 2014 Filipino horror film directed by Tikoy Aguiluz from a screenplay by Moviepix Creatives, based on G.M. Coronel’s book of the same name.

The film’s trailer was initially deemed to be ‘X-Rated’ by the Filipino Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) so Viva Films released it uncut on the internet before resubmitting it in a tamer version. The film itself was released on January 8, 2015 by Viva Films.

Cast:

Andi Eigenmann, Christopher De Leon, John Estrada, Lander Vera-Perez
Janna Victoria, Gabe Mercado, Roxanne Barcelo, Josh Padilla. Chloe Dauden, Jovic Monsod.

Plot:

A team of exorcists are sent into an old theater that is rumoured to have been the site of a great tragedy during its construction…

Reviews:

“To his credit, director Tikoy Aguiluz was able to create a creepy atmosphere during the start of the film. But once it reaches the point where Annie’s possession becomes the focus of the film, everything goes down. He tried his best in creating unique scenes that looked weird and unique (but irrelevant all through out).” Certified Ace

“Part of his film’s allure is its blackly comic tendencies: set in the late 90’s, the characters in Tragic Theater are gradually receptive to new technologies like the newly emerging cellular phones and cassette deck, in-car entertainment systems. It is the joke that Aguiluz pulls subtly and well, but the humor in it is the irony of the paranormal at the very rise of modernity.” Armando De La Cruz, Film Police

“There are a lot of novel ideas here coming from Aguiluz, who makes most of the source material’s adherence to Roman Catholic lore to conjure moving images that would at the very least astound if they cannot scare. Unfortunately, those ideas can never gel with the rest of the film’s inadequacies to create a truly fascinating whole.”Francis Joseph Cruz, Rappler.com

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘The dead have come calling’

The Messenger is a 2015 British supernatural mystery horror film directed by David Blair (Mystics) from a screenplay by Andrew Kirk.

The premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on 20 June 2015 and is being distributed by Metrodome.

Cast:

Robert Sheehan (Misfits), Lily Cole, Joely Richardson, Tamzin Merchant, David O’Hara, Deirdre O’Kane, Andrew Tiernan.

Official synopsis:

We all want to believe in life after death and imagine loved ones looking over us, feel their presence in a draft of air, or the faint essence of a familiar smell. It’s what we crave, knowing they wait for us. But Jack isn’t waiting – they won’t leave him alone. Some might call Jack a troubled soul, at odds with the world, unable to conform. If you saw him in the pub – disheveled and drunk, talking to himself – you’d stay well away, think he was disturbed somehow, crazy. But Jack has a sharp mind and a razor wit. It’s not that he doesn’t want to live a normal life, he can’t. They won’t let him…”

Reviews:

“Only a partially successful venture due to a script lacking invention and narrative hooks, The Messenger is nonetheless a showcase for homegrown talent and particularly Robert Sheehan. The movie’s distinctively British feel is also a soothing antidote to all the generic horror mystery fodder that comes from across the pond.” Ben Rawson-Jones, Digital Spy

“Really, The Messenger is another case of wasted potential. Sheehan shows some considerable chops with his performance, but it’s muddled by the fact that his character is such an unlikable jerk. The rest of the cast fare worse due to their flat characters, and the story just phones it in without putting effort into making the proceedings interesting, leaving the items that are interesting hanging or dropped entirely.” Pat Torfe, Bloody Disgusting

“On the whole, The Messenger is beautifully, inventively shot, and has its moments of power and impact. However, rarely do these moments link together to form a coherent or convincing plot, with the conclusion tipping dangerously into the realms of soap opera melodrama. It is Sheehan’s electrifying performance which ties it together, and, as such, the film works best if viewed as a character study rather than a horror or psychological thriller.” Isabelle Milton, The Upcoming

Cast and Characters:

Robert Sheehan as Jack
Lily Cole as Emma
Joely Richardson as Psychiatrist
Tamzin Merchant as Emma
David O’Hara as DCI Keane
Deirdre O’Kane as Mum
Andrew Tiernan as Father
Jack Fox as Mark
Alex Wyndham as Martin
Ali Cook as Geoff

Filming locations:

Peak District, Northern England

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘Enjoy your stay’

Eden Lodge is a 2013 British horror film co-produced, written and directed by Andreas Prodromou (In the Red [short]). The Lost Boys Pictures production also had a working title of Breakdown.

Eden-Lodge

The film was released on DVD in the UK on August 31, 2015 by Signature Entertainment.

Cast:

Georgina Blackledge, Cyd Casados (The Boogeyman), Ivy Corbin, Ellie Dickens, Ben Gardner Gray (Kidulthood), Georgio Costa Houtris, James Killeen, Aggy Kukawka, Garry Mannion.

Plot:

A young family are stranded at the Eden Lodge. The people they meet are being killed one by one. They must fight to save their marriage, their family, and most of all their lives…

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Trailer:

IMDb | Facebook

‘Don’t be afraid of the dark… Be afraid of what’s in the dark’

The Visitant aka Paranormal Encounter is a 2014 American supernatural horror film directed by Jon Binkowski from a screenplay co-written with Stephen DeWoody. It should not be confused with the 2014 short film of the same name by Nicholas Peterson.

Cast:

Michele Feren [Simms], Patty Bender, Stephen DeWoody, Chris Dinger, Ana Eligio, Sallie Glaner, Lauren O’Quinn, Tracy Wiu.

Plot:

Samantha is a middle-aged woman who plays the role of a fortune teller at a local amusement park. But for her, she is a thorough sceptic about paranormal activities and all things supernatural. And she certainly doesn’t believe in ghosts. Having recently suffered a tragic loss she is at a crossroads in her personal and work world as she questions what her future now holds. But one night alone in her house, she is about to learn that there are dark forces that don’t care whether she believes or not, or what her situation she is in…

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“The film looks fantastic, and the soundtrack, filled with chittering industrial rhythms and distorted sitars, sounds like early Coil. The acting is uniformly fine with Sallie Glaners jittery, tormented performance as the original conduit for the malevolent spirit particularly standing out. Binkowski’s concept of hauntings acting like viruses passed on like infections is stimulating and a final red herring is well played.” Bill Burns, HorrorNews.net

“The vast majority of the time is spent with just the lead, Janie Michele Simms. She’s forced to say really silly things and do even sillier things, all while dodging the presumably numerous crew members sprawled around the floor shaking the tables. The biggest surprise? She actually sells it. Not perfectly, of course – she doesn’t have enough support for that – but for her part she’s pretty good.” DepressedPress.com

“On the plus side, there were some scenes that had a creepy film to them. On the minus side, the acting, dialogue, and writing all could have been better, and nothing about the story was unique or unexpected. The end result is a fairly average horror movie.” Bob, Letterboxd.com

Buy: Amazon.com

Trailer:

IMDb | Official site | Facebook

What Have You Done to Solange? – original title: Cosa avete fatto a Solange? – is a 1972 Italian-West German giallo-krimi thriller film directed by Massimo Dallamano (Dorian Gray; What Have They Done to Our Daughters?; The Cursed Medallion) from a screenplay co-written with Bruno Di Geronimo. The film is very loosely based on the Edgar Wallace mystery novel The Clue of the New Pin. It features a score by Ennio Morricone (A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin).

Main cast:

Fabio Testi (Rings of Fear), Karin Baal (Dead Eyes of London; The Monster of Blackwood Castle), Joachim Fuchsberger (The College Girl Murders; The Hand of Power; The Fan/Trance), Cristina Galbó (The House That Screamed; Let Sleeping Corpses Lie), Camille Keaton (I Spit on Your Grave), Günther M. Stoll (The Hunchback of Soho; The Bloodstained Butterfly).

Plot:

A sadistic killer is preying on the girls of St. Mary’s Catholic school. Student Elizabeth witnessed one of the murders, but her hazy recollections of a knife-wielding figure in black do nothing to further the police’s investigations. Why is the killer choosing these young women? And what does it have to do with a girl named Solange?

What-Have-You-Done-to-Solange?-Arrow-Video-Blu-ray-DVD-cover

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

On 14th (UK) and 15th (US) of December 2015, Arrow Video release the film on Blu-ray + DVD with the following features:

Brand new 2K restoration of the film from the original camera negative
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
Original Italian and English soundtracks in mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
Newly translated subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
Brand new audio commentary with critics Alan Jones and Kim Newman
Newly filmed cast interviews
Original Theatrical Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Malleus – http://www.malleusdelic.com (to be revealed)
Booklet featuring brand new writing on the film, illustrated with original stills

Reviews:

“The film offers some truly oddball red herrings, sumptuous ‘scope cinematography (courtesy of Aristide Massaccesi aka Joe D’Amato), cheesy subjective camera shots from the killer’s point of view, Morricone’s classy score (alternating between a sanguine main theme and some atonal jazz pieces), authentic London locations and a truly sordid plot … Solange is a great giallo.” Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

“What Have You Done to Solange? is a fairly accomplished film that should keep even the most hardened of giallo fanatics guessing until the very end and is worth watching. Indeed, the contrast between rural scenery and violent murder creates interesting images of life and death, and the film is not a simple compilation of murders, a trap that some of the more simplistic gialli fall into.” Flickering Myth

” … director/co-writer Massimo Dallamano opted to tell a coherent story and flesh out his characters, so as a result he doesn’t spend much time on nonsense or drawn out kill scenes. It’s got the random misogyny and gratuitous nudity you’d expect (including a hilarious bit where the cop says “The girls are under surveillance” and then Dallamano cuts to a peeping tom watching the girls shower), but if you go in expecting Argento-y kill scenes you might leave disappointed.” Horror Movie a Day

“In the first half of the film themes of innocence and purity are woven into the fabric of the narrative, and are then subverted in an ironic counterpoint at the conclusion. The film is full of little ironies, and it is able to alight on moments that seem inconsequential because of an incredibly patient and careful method of storytelling.” Shaun Anderson, The Celluloid Highway

“The murder scenes are sometimes beautiful and very stylized in their execution, usually from the point of view of the killer and never really shows much of their body, so it could be either male or female. The film is bloodless in a beautiful way, able to show the brutality of each act without getting overly graphic. The female nudity – and there’s quite a bit – also does not feel that graphic, but rather natural and normal for each situation that it shows up in.” The Girl Who Loves Horror

” … one of the few films of this type that deftly combines sleaze, murders with disturbing sexual components, a whodunit plot, gorgeous cinematography, and characters that actually have depth. And unlike some giallo flicks, it actually makes sense in the end. As icing on the cake, the soundtrack to Solange is among Ennio Morricone’s best work for this style of movie.” Horror Fan Zine

Cast and Characters:

Fabio Testi … Enrico ‘Henry’ Rosseni
Karin Baal … Herta Rosseni
Joachim Fuchsberger … Inspector Barth
Cristina Galbó … Elizabeth Seccles (as Christine Galbo)
Camille Keaton … Solange Beauregard
Günther M. Stoll … Professor Bascombe
Claudia Butenuth … Brenda Pilchard
Maria Monti … Mrs. Erickson
Giancarlo Badessi … Mr. Erickson
Pilar Castel … Janet Bryant
Giovanna Di Bernardo … Helen Edmonds
Vittorio Fanfoni … Enrico’s friend
Antonio Casale … Mr. Newton (as Antony Vernon)
Emilia Wolkowicz … Ruth Holden (as Emilia Wolkowich)
Daniele Micheletti … Mr. Bryant
Rainer Penkert … Mr. Leach, the headmaster
Carla Mancini … Susan, girl in Enrico’s class
Antonio Anelli … Father Herbert
Joe D’Amato … CID officer w / The Daily Telegraph (uncredited)

Filming locations:

Shot in London, England, over the course of six weeks in the autumn of 1971.

Trailer:

Previous releases:

When submitted for a UK cinema release as Solange by Meteor Films it was rejected by the BBFC. It was eventually released in the UK on the Redemption video label in 1996 after 2 minutes 15 secs of cuts to edit the bath murder, and heavily reduce shots of nudity and knives between victim’s legs and knees.

The 2002 “uncut” DVD has some scenes in the still and artwork gallery that are not shown in that 2002 video release. These include: more nude shots of Elizabeth’s body (Cristina Galbó); a scene of a topless Solange (Camille Keaton) being visited by the unidentified killer which is very crucial to the plot; the shower scenes are cropped so that the schoolgirls are only shown topless. This does not necessarily mean that those scenes were actually included in the original theatrical release print, so the DVD could be “uncut”.

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Alternate titles:

Das Geheimnis der grünen Stecknadel (Germany)
Solange (UK)
Terror in the Woods (USA)
The School That Couldn’t Scream (USA)
The Secret of the Green Pins (USA)
What Have They Done to Solange? (USA)
What Have You Done to Solange? (UK)
Who Killed Solange?
Who’s Next? (UK)
¿Qué habéis hecho con Solange? (Spain)
Que Fizeram a Solange? (Portugal)
O Que Fizeram a Solange? (Brazil)
¿Qué hicieron con Solange? (Argentina)
¿Qué le han hecho a Solange? (Peru, Venezuela, Colombia)

Wikipedia | IMDb

The Haunted Cinema – original title: 恐怖电影院 aka Kong Bu Dian Ying Yuan – is a 2014 Chinese supernatural horror film directed by Yuan Jie.

The film was released on October 30, 2014. By November 3rd, the film had earned ¥9.22 million at the Chinese box office.

Cast:

Liu Yanxi, Luo Xiang, Wei Xingyu, Yu Miao, Tang Chengjing, Zhang Qiyan, Ren Peng, Jiang Yuxi, Dai Chao.

Plot:

An actress is killed on the set of a horror movie, and her ghost begins to haunt the director, a former lover and her colleagues. In order to get rid of the curse, they organise a midnight movie showing in honour of her memory, not knowing what awaits them in the cinema trap…

Trailer:

Parasyte: Part 1 – originally: 寄生獣 or Kiseijū – is a 2014 Japanese science fiction action horror film directed by Takashi Yamazaki from s screenplay co-written with Ryota Kosawa.

Main cast:

Shota Sometani, Sadao Abe, Eri Fukatsu, Ai Hashimoto and Masahiro Higashide.

The film was released on November 29, 2014 in Japan and took ¥2 billion at the box office. It was followed by Parasyte: Part 2 in 2015.

Plot:

Aliens enter into human brains via ear canal and take control of their bodies. One of the aliens tries to enter into teenager Shinichi Izumi’s brain, but is blocked because of his headphones. Instead, it invades his right hand. Shinichi calls it Migi, which has now an eye and a mouth. Accepting the fact that one would die if another dies, they join forces against other parasites…

Reviews:

” … the parasites’ faces function like virtual Swiss Army knives, splitting at will to reveal any number of sharp blades, whereas Righty is limited to fighting with Shinichi’s fingers. Relying on viscera-rich sound design to patch over any plausibility concerns, Parasyte marks an entertaining new iteration of the body-horror subgenre, as if someone had grafted a very dark high-school comedy onto a David Cronenberg movie.” Peter Debruge, Variety

“Part 1 of the Parasyte movie is essentially “Parasyte for dummies.” If that. It’s the abridged, muted, and emotionally empty shell of what it could have been. The creative changes rob the story of its substance and while it may be cool to see bladed tentacle-headed creatures duke it out, it’s really not worth the mincemeat that is the plot. I cannot even suggest it to people who have never been exposed to the story and are curious.” Toshi Nakamura, Kotaku

“Parasyte waits until the end to kick into gear, finally delivering on the promise of bizarre alien action and global-scale menace promised from the outset. A bloody school slaying leads to an emotionally charged ending as Shinichi is forced to perform a final act that carries a heavy psychological burden. Utilizing his new abilities to contort into a living weapon and going up against similarly powered adversaries the action is ramped up while putting the pieces in place for the concluding chapter.” Christopher O’Keeffe, Twitch

“In Parasyte Part 1, Takashi Yamazaki … made the parasitic creature Migi, appear cartoon-ish, a direct contrast to the dark mood of the film. This made the live action adaptation refreshing and quite entertaining due to the perfect blend of thrills, drama and comedy. Of course, there are certain scenes with special effects that provided the “horror factor” and it would really depend on the viewer’s reaction to it. ” Jed Medina, Psycho Drama

Cast and Characters:

Shota Sometani as Shinichi Izumi
Sadao Abe as Migi
Eri Fukatsu as Ryoko Tamiya
Ai Hashimoto as Satomi Murano
Masahiro Higashide as Hideo Shimada
Nao Omori as Kuramori
Kazuki Kitamura as Tsuyoshi Hirokawa
Pierre Taki as Miki
Hirofumi Arai as Uragami
Jun Kunimura as Lieutenant Hirama
Kimiko Yo as Nobuko Izumi
Tadanobu Asano as Goto

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Official site

‘They were dying to get away for the weekend’

Gore, Quebec is a 2014 Canadian found footage slasher horror film directed by Jean Benoit Lauzon from a screenplay by lead actor Rick Mele.

Plot:

A voiceover announces that the following footage was recovered from the camera of Dave Reynolds, who, in 2011, had left Ontario to spend a weekend in his parents’ cottage in Gore, Quebec with his brother Sean, and their friends.

When Sean and Dave reach the cottage, they find a note informing them that the alarm was tripped a week ago, but that there were no signs of vandalism or theft. A few hours into the group’s partying, Katie stumbles into the cottage bleeding, followed by a man who attacks the others, and turns Dave’s camera off…

Reviews:

“The movie is as impoverished as they come, with a plot recycling just about every kids-in-the-woods horror trope known to man. And yet, that cheap charm is tempered by top notch craft and real, indie energy.” Chris Alexander, Fangoria

“For $7000, this is pure indie filmmaking at its best. There’s some great moments of horror, a couple of incredibly dark jokes, and an unsettling villain. It’s not perfect, but is still one of the better indie horror films out there, and should be seen not only for the success of the film, but the success of the filmmaker for bringing it all together.” William Brownridge, Toronto Film Scene

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Cast and Characters:

Myrthin Stagg as Amanda
Blake Mawson as Mike
Andy Malone as David Edward Reynolds
Kate Elyse Forrest as Katie Farrell
Luke Madigan as The Killer
Jean Benoit Lauzon as Brandon
Kurt Ogilvie as Sean Reynolds
Peri Greig as Stacey
Rick Mele as Colin
Rachel Atherstone as Erin
Rufus Crawford as Nick Gleason

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Facebook | Twitter | Canadian horror

Gods & Monsters

Lurid Trumps are a card game based on the fondly remembered Top Trumps of the 1970’s and 1980’s, themselves based on an even older game called Quartets. The third in a series of four covering the so-called Video Nasties films banned in Britain during the 1980’s, the final two sets will cover the Section 3 films – those which were not banned outright but which could still be seized by local authorities and the owners/sellers tried at magistrates courts.

Produced by UK-based company, Gods & Monsters, Lurid Trumps are a card game playable by two or more players. Each player is dealt an equal number of cards from a shuffled pack, keeping the face of the card shielded from prying eyes. From the dealer’s left, each player in turn reads a category and score from their top card – the highest value wins, the winner taking all the cards played in that hand and placing them at the bottom of their stack. The ultimate winner is the player left with the most cards.

The first two series of Video Nasties Lurid Trumps covered the 72 films banned outright as a result of the Video Recordings Act 1984, which required all home released videos to be assessed and rated by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). The 72 films listed by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) were each given a rating on their respective cards. The categories are:

Gore Score

Gratuitous Sex

Infamy Level

Nasty Rating

Each is given a rating out of 100 – no one card is impossible to beat. With the first two sets having sold out within days (and now commanding absurdly high prices on internet auction sites), Gods & Monsters have now released the penultimate set, covering the murky world of titles classed as “Section 3”. These films were liable to get a conviction under the lesser section three of the Obscene Publication Act:

3. In section 3(5) of the Video Recordings Act 1984 (exempted supplies), for paragraphs (b) and (c) substitute—

“(b)does not, to any significant extent, depict any of the following—

(i)human sexual activity or acts of force or restraint associated with such activity,

(ii)mutilation or torture of, or other acts of gross violence towards, humans or animals, or

(iii)human genital organs or human urinary or excretory functions, and

This would mean the confiscation and destroying of video tapes ordered by a magistrate but were not considered to be capable of getting a conviction at the High Court – though there were examples of guilty pleas at Magistrates Court.

The list of the Section 3 titles is as follows:

Abducted

Aftermath

The Black Room

Blood Lust

Blood Song

The Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll

Brutes and Savages

Cannibal (aka Last Cannibal World)

Cannibals

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

The Child

Death Weekend

Demented

The Demons (Jess Franco)

Don’t Answer the Phone!

Enter the Devil

The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein

The Evil

The Executioner

Final Exam

Foxy Brown

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th Part 2

GBH

Hell Prison

Invasion of the Blood Farmers

The Killing Hour

The Last Horror Film

The Last Hunter

The Love Butcher

The Mad Foxes

Mausoleum

Naked Fist

The New Adventures of Snow White

Night Beast

Night of the Living Dead

Rosemary’s Killer (aka The Prowler)

Savage Terror

Scanners

Scream for Vengeance!

Shogun Assassin

Street Killers

Suicide Cult

Superstition

Suspiria

Terror

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

The Thing

Tomb of the Living Dead

The Toy Box

Werewolf Woman

Wrong Way

Xtro

Zombie Holocaust

Zombies Lake

Zombies -Dawn Of The Dead

As with the previous sets, the cover card will feature a key figure in the history of the Video Nasties saga: following in the footsteps of Mary Whitehouse (Series 1) and former BBFC zealot James Ferman (Series 2), Series 3 will feature Graham Bright, an MP who was particularly outspoken about films he’s never actually seen, going as far to suggest that some of the films had the power to even corrupt innocent dogs who may be watching! Having been made a Sir (British democracy at its finest?), keen dog-protector Bright is now a highly-paid Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner, although he finds it difficult to attend meetings that finish “too late in the evening”…

Embrace of the Vampire is a 2013 American supernatural horror film directed by Carl Bessai from a screenplay by Andrew C. Erin, Alan Mruvka and Sheldon Roper.

It is a remake of the 1995 film of the same name, although reviewers have also noted its similarity to Black Swan. It was released on October 15, 2013 direct to video in the United States by Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Main cast:

Sharon Hinnendael (Nightfall), Kaniehtiio Horn (The Theatre Bizarre), C.C. Sheffield (No Tell Motel), Chelsey Reist, Victor Webster (Wishmaster 4; Ragin’ Cajun Redneck Gators; Fun Size Horror: Volume One), Robert Moloney (Disturbing Behavior; The New Addams Family; Bates Motel), Ryan Kennedy (Blade: The Series; Ogre), Keegan Connor Tracy (Final Destination 2; Bates Motel; Dead Rising: Watchtower), Olivia Cheng, Claire Smithies, Sarah Grey.

Official synopsis:

Charlotte (Sharon Hinnendael) is a timid and sheltered teen who has just left an all-girls Catholic school for a new life at a co-ed university with a fencing scholarship. But an ancient evil has followed her here, tormenting her with disturbing nightmares and tempting her with forbidden desires. It is a hunger that can only be satiated by sensual pleasures of the flesh… and a thirst for blood. It’s a battle for her soul… and one she’s losing. But Charlotte is a fighter. The chaos and torment threatens to unleash her own inner beast, and anyone even close to her may find themselves embracing their own horrific fate…

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Reviews:

” … remake of Embrace of the Vampire may be best enjoyed with the old brain mechanism turned completely off. In spite of its setting in the academic world, this film is hardly an intellectual pursuit, not that very many people might make that mistake to begin with. Certainly Embrace of the Vampireisn’t nearly as bad as it could have been, but it’s hardly an evening at the ballet, either.” J.C. Macek III, Pop Matters

“The acting is fair enough – with Sharon Hinnendael convincingly repressed as Charlotte. It perhaps needed a little tightening in the script, there is nothing definitive but it all felt a little loose and takes a while to get where it is going. That said it hangs together much better than the original film … All in all not bad.” Taliesin Meets the Vampires

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

“If you like b-grade vampire movies, this one’s pretty well done, and it’s definitely a better film than the original. Of course it doesn’t have a naked Alyssa Milano, which was kind of the whole point of the original. But it does have plenty of beautiful naked women who are not Alyssa Milano and quite a bit more horror, violence, and gore than the original, which may be the whole point of this remake.” Mat Brewster, Cinema Sentries

Cast and Characters:

Sharon Hinnendael as Charlotte Hawthorn
Kaniehtiio Horn [as Tiio Horn] as Nicole
C.C. Sheffield as Eliza
Chelsey Reist( [as Chelsey Marie Reist] as Sarah Campbell
Victor Webster as Professor Cole / Stefan
Robert Moloney as Dr. John Duncan
Ryan Kennedy as Chris
Keegan Connor Tracy as Daciana
Olivia Cheng as Kelly
Claire Smithies as Sorina
Sarah Grey as Young Charlotte

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

Alien: Paradise Lost – formerly titled Prometheus 2 – is a forthcoming 2017 science fiction-horror film being directed by Ridley Scott (Alien; Blade Runner; Hannibal) from a screenplay by Jack Paglen (Transcendence), Michael Green (Green Lantern).

The cast announced so far are: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and (in negotiations) Rik Barnett.

In an online interview, Ridley Scott told HeyUGuys.com:

“It’s not going to be Prometheus 2. You know the poem [by John Milton]? It sounds intellectual, but there’s a similarity to it.”

“We’re heading back to why and how and when the [Alien] beast was invented,” he further explained later. “We’ll go back into the back door of the very first Alien.”

IMDb

‘Beware the beast within’

Uncaged is a 2015 American supernatural horror film produced and directed by Daniel Robbins from a screenplay co-written with Mark Rapaport.

The film is released on DVD and digital download on February 2, 2016, via RLJ Entertainment.

Cast:

Gene Jones (Dementia), Ben Getz, Kyle Kirkpatrick, Garrett Hendricks, Zack Weiner, Paulina Singer, Michelle Cameron, Yosef Podolski, Johnny M. Faulkner, Alex Emanuel, Angela Atwood, Brian Patrick Sullivan, Mark Rapaport, Michele Ammon.

Plot:

Orphaned as a child in the wake of a grisly tragedy, Jack was raised alongside his cousin and best friend, Brandon. At age eighteen, however, Jack’s otherwise uneventful life takes a sinister turn when he’s suddenly plagued by a series of bizarre sleepwalking episodes. After repeatedly waking up in the woods naked with no memory of the night before, Jack straps a camera to himself to document his behavior—and discovers a shocking truth: he is the unwitting heir to a monstrous family legacy of savagery, slaughter, and unrelenting horror from which death may be the only escape!

Trailer:

IMDb | Facebook

”They exist on the flesh of the young and beautiful’

The Ghost Galleon – original title: El Buque maldito – is a 1974 Spanish supernatural horror film written and directed by Amando de Ossorio (Tombs of the Blind Dead, Night of the Seagulls, Demon Witch Child).

In the US, the film was released by Sam Sherman’s Independent-International as Horror of the Zombies. It stars Jack Taylor (Night of the Sorcerers), Maria Perschy and Bárbara Rey.

Plot:

A pair of swimsuit models are out in a boat to stage a publicity stunt by appearing to be stranded. They discover a mysterious galleon shrouded in mist and board it. When contact is lost, the wealthy and unscrupulous businessman who sent them out decides to mount his own rescue mission and abducts one of the models’ friends. The abducted girl makes an unsuccessful escape attempt. The businessman and his secretary recruit an eccentric scholar to assist them in their search for the missing models and their boat.

Unfortunately, the phantom galleon carries the coffins of the Knights Templar, eyeless living dead beings who hunt humans by sound…

Reviews:

“The entire first half plays out as a wonderfully suspenseful set piece in which the Blind Dead gradually make themselves known, whilst he even manages a nice little twist at the film’s closing even as he fluffs the ending. Indeed, The Ghost Galleon may not be the best example of a Blind Dead movie, but it’s by no means a major disappointment. ” Anthony Nield, The Digital Fix

“although the essential ingredients of de Ossorio’s tried recipe are present, … here they aren’t as well exploited as the first two movies.” Peter Dendle, Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide

“The Ghost Galleon is a very nicely shot film, and the sequences on the ship are a nice fit with Amando de Ossorio’s taste for the eerie and atmospheric. The Templars themselves look great, although the miniature effects are ridiculous, looking almost as if the ship had been yanked out of a box of Fruity Pebbles and dropped in a bathtub.” Adam Tyner, DVD Talk

“The first hour is somewhat slow, with the running time including posing sessions with the models and a rather incongruous scene in which the megalomaniacal magnate holds the model’s roommate hostage in a dungeon-like chamber … The atmospheric scenes aboard the decrepit galleon (long shots of which obviously are of a model ship, unfortunately) are genuinely creepy and may have been borrowed by John Carpenter for The Fog (1980).” TV Guide

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Cast and Characters:

Maria Perschy as Lillian
Jack Taylor as Howard Tucker
Bárbara Rey as Noemi
Carlos Lemos as Professor Grüber
Manuel de Blas as Sergio
Blanca Estrada as Kathy
Margarita Merino as Lorena Kay

Choice dialogue:

Female photographer: “C’mon Greta, lean back and stick them out.”

Lillian (Maria Perschy): “I think he’s seen too many horror films.”

Trailer (as The Ghost Galleon):

Trailer (as Horror of the Zombies):

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘What if psychosis was a doorway to the paranormal?’

Haunted: 333 is a 2015 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Aash Aaron. The film had working titles Tormented Souls and 333.

Cast:

Meg Foster, Corin Nemec, Courtney Gains, Camryn Grimes, Bill Oberst Jr., Kelly Sullivan, Elizabeth Roberts, J.C. Brandy, Jack Donner, Gwendolyn Edwards, Janna Bossier, Sonny King, Tim Trobec, Banks Boutté.

Plot:

Still traumatised from having witnessed her wealthy parents horrific murder suicide as a child, a romantic reconciliation weekend away for Amy Wisez with her unfaithful boyfriend Robbie Ratcliffe was probably not the best time for her to decide to stop taking her medication.

Finding themselves lost on a dark forest highway the quarrelling couple are reluctantly forced to spend the night at a strange back road honeymooner’s retreat run by the extremely religious Momma McDonald and her dysfunctional offspring Caine and Maryanne.

Immediately Amy’s suspicions that something is not quite right at the eerie getaway are simply dismissed by Robbie as paranoid delusions brought on by her reluctance to take her medication. This forces Amy to face the fact that either the honeymoon lodge they are staying in is haunted, the creepy caretakers are secretly up to something sinister or worst of all…

Filming locations:

Los Angeles, California
Snegoff Ranch, Topanga Canyon, California

Teaser trailer:

IMDb | Twitter

Ludo is a 2015 Bengali Indian horror film directed by Qaushiq Mukherjee and Nikon from a screenplay written by Mukherjee, based on a storyline they both devised.

Cast:

Kamalika Banerjee, Joyraj Bhattacharya, Soumendra Bhattacharya, Ananya Biswas, Ranodeep Bose, Murari Mukherjee, Rii, Subholina Sen, Tillotama Shome

Reviews:

“It follows the classic slasher formula of kids trying to get laid, and instead ending up in pieces all over the place, but it does it in a way that deceptively sidesteps the audience’s expectations, and perhaps offers a bit of a bait and switch.” J Hurtado, Twitch

“Ludo has things to say about India’s still-repressed culture, and its attempts at tying sex into the horror are noticeable even if they’re not all that understandable. One monster devours someone’s innards only to be seen in the next scene smoking a post-cannibalistic cigarette. It’s not very subtle, but it’s also not very conclusive.” Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

“There’s a lot of promise in Ludo that gradually dissolves when the horror elements kick in. By the end, after we’ve seen guts consumed and other hideous acts occur under the mall’s roof, I wasn’t sure what was trying to be said other than “look at how crazy this shit is!” There’s an edginess to their film trying to find balance with the message, but the two never cohesively mesh.” Patrick Cooper, Bloody Disgusting

Trailer:

IMDb

‘Here comes Trog. You’ll laugh at yourself for being so scared… but don’t laugh at Trog.’

Trog is a 1970 British science fiction horror film directed by Freddie Francis (The Vault of Horror; Craze) from a screenplay by Peter Bryan, John Gilling (The Plague of the Zombies), and Aben Kandel.

The project was originally developed by Tony Tenser at Tigon Films then sold to Herman Cohen (I Was a Teenage Werewolf; Horrors of the Black Museum). It stars Joan Crawford (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?; Strait-Jacket), Michael Gough, Bernard Kay, Kim Braden.

The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson’s book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of ‘The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made’.

Plot:

Doctor Brockton (Joan Crawford) discovers that a troglodyte is alive in the caves of the British countryside. She gets the creature to the surface and attempts to train him, but runs into trouble as a few people oppose this, especially a local businessman afraid of negative commercial consequences, Sam Murdock (Michael Gough). Murdock frees the creature, leading to a rampage…

Reviews:

“There is, however, a rudimentary virtue in Trog… in that it proves that Joan Crawford is grimly working at her craft. Unfortunately, the determined lady, who is fetching in a variety of chic pants suits and dresses, has little else going for her.” The New York Times

“Trog is truly ungodly. The performances are rotten, the Trog makeup is so bad it looks, at times, like it will slide right off the actor’s face, and everything proceeds at a snail’s pace to idiotic situations. It’s really sad to see such a huge star [Crawford] be consigned to the Z-grade abyss of films like this. But, hey, a girl’s gotta eat.” Ned Daigle, Bad Movie Night

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

“The worst horror movies are those that don’t understand their own absurdity. Trog!, on the other hand, understands it all too well.” RogerEbert.com

The dinosaur sequence was stock footage from the movie The Animal World (1956)

Cast:

Joan Crawford as Dr. Brockton
Michael Gough as Sam Murdock
Bernard Kay as Inspector Greenham
Kim Braden as Anne Brockton
David Griffin as Malcolm Travers
John Hamill as Cliff
Thorley Walters as Minister
Jack May as Dr. Selbourne
Geoffrey Case as Bill
Simon Lack as Colonel Vickers
David Warbeck as Alan Davis

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Worst Horror Films of All-Time

Strip Mahjong: Battle Royale – original title: Datsui-mâjan batoru rowaiaru – is a 2011 erotic horror thriller directed by Mac P. Forever (as Makku P. Fôevâ) from a screenplay by Ryosuke Oomine.

Plot:

A handful of mysterious Japanese women take part in a deranged web show that makes them strip off their clothes when they lose a round of Mahjong. When there is nothing left to hide, secrets are revealed and they must take their punishment…

Reviews:

” … a film designed to play to an older exploitation trend, but fails in the horror department. I suppose I was anticipating an derivative movie that mirrored something like Red Room, however, this film is really just a drawn out striptease. As long as you know what “kind” of film this is, you’ll be alright. Kato is good for a few laughs as a pretty wacky game show host, beyond that it’s a countdown to full frontal.” HorrorNews.net

“Perhaps if you’re a mahjong fan, watching four women play a few rounds is entertaining, but this film managed to provide me with the unusual experience of being bored with a quartet of naked Japanese women. I can say, unequivocally, that this has never happened before and I truly thought it was impossible.” Francis Rizzo III, DVD Talk

Trailer:

IMDb

Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled is a 2002 American horror film directed by Chris Angel from a screenplay by John Benjamin Martin. It is the third and final sequel to the 1997 film, Wishmaster. It is also known as Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled. It was filmed back-to-back with Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell.

Plot:

An evil genie is released from his prison – an ancient jewel – and must grant three wishes to the person who awakens him, in order to release the race of Djinns from hell and allow them to take over the earth.

Painter Sam (Jason Thompson) and his girlfriend Lisa (Tara Spencer-Nairn) have just moved in together when he has a terrible accident that leaves him paraplegic. Determined to help him, Lisa retains a lawyer, Steven (Michael Trucco), who has a crush on her. Due to his condition, Sam grows ever more distant from Lisa, ruminating on his and Lisa’s inability to have sex and believing that she and Steven are having an affair.

Sensing Sam’s growing distance from Lisa, Steven moves in, awkwardly offering as a gift a jewel he found hidden away in an antique desk. The jewel, unknown to Steven, is the Djinn’s cell. Lisa inadvertently awakens the Djinn, which secretly kills Steven and takes his form. The Djinn/Steven begins making advances on Lisa to trick her into making wishes…

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Cast:

Michael Trucco, Tara Spencer-Nairn, Jason Thompson, Victor Webster, Kimberly Huie and John Novak.

Reviews:

“The Wishmaster himself looks risible. I’m sure I’ve seen his second cousin on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, except that Buffy’s version looked less silly. However I really like the underlying concept, a cheerful mish-mash of Middle Eastern legend and Biblical myth. This thing calls itself a Djinn (a variant transliteration of “Genie”) and grants the traditional three wishes, but in return it wants your soul. It’s the Devil, basically, but in goofier make-up…” Horror Express

“Overlit, filled with gratuitous (and not especially attractive) nudity and thoroughly predictable, this fourth installment in the low-rent Wishmaster series appears designed to be the last. Would that it were so!” TV Guide

“This is indeed a horror version of a Lifetime movie. The Prophecy Fulfilled is packed to the gills with relationship drama, and now even the Djinn is trying to be romantic. Ignoring the demands of his kind to be unleashed, he sets out on an attempt to understand love so he can woo Lisa and legitimately win her heart.” The Movie Network