Lisa And The Devil (1974) aka Lisa E Il Diavolo

3 / 5 Sept '10
Tagline: Every corner of the soul is lost to the icy clutch of the supernatural!
Directed by: Mario Bava, Alfredo Leone
Written by: Alberto Cittini, Mario Bava
Actors include: Telly Savalis, Elke Sommer
Genre: Mystery, Horror
Length: 95 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Gee you know, I kind of thought this would be far more interesting than it was. Still credit is due for shooting a visually beautiful film, it's very surreal in nature (but also sort of confusing). I also thought the first half was very uninteresting and dull despite the fact that yes the scenery was lovely. It did pick up for the second half, and Telly Savalas was pretty hilarious and callous, really the reason for tuning in. The plot is about a girl named Lisa who is a lost tourist that ends up in this old mansion with a strange cast of characters. There is something definitely wrong with the people in the house, one guy keeps transforming from a dummy to a human, and shortly after a few people turn up dead. Apparently two edits of this film exist, the one I watched was called "Lisa And The Devil", there is also another called "House Of Exorcism" which apparently changes this into an Exorcism style rip-off with more gratuity. I really wish I'd watched that version instead, then at least something would have been going on rather than what actually was (though I'm sure the version I saw was more elegant). It's not horrible and it did wrap up decently, I just was disappointed and rather bored through most of it unfortunately.

Availability:  on DVD

Tower Of Evil (1972) aka Horror Of Snape Island

3.5 / 5 Sept '10
Tagline: They came, they saw, they died!
Directed by: Jim O'Connolly
Written by: George Baxt, Jim O'Connolly
Actors Include: Bryant Haliday, Jill Haworth, Anna Palk
Genre: Horror
Length: 89 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Well this certainly has some things going for it, in fact I really did debate whether or not to give this a 4.0 or a 3.5, but it has some major problems too so I decided to go lower. First of all it's a rather cheap English production, and the miniatures are laughable, as well the background of water while they were "sailing", I mean come on. It starts out with finding a bunch of gory mutilated corpses on Snape Island, a mainly deserted area with a tower, but they also find a girl alive who stabs a fisherman to death. A group of sex obsessed archeologists wearing tight clothing take up partying on Snape Island to determine what happened, and if the girl was the murderer. They smoke up, drink and sleep around and occasionally hunt for lost treasure on the land. It's actually very entertaining and easy to watch though absurd and very unrealistic. The middle part of the film could have used a bit more violence considering how sensational the beginning was. It is a sleazy amusing little mystery that should please most, though the cheapness may keep a few from enjoying.

Availability:  On DVD

Mill Of The Stone Women (1960) aka Il Mulino Delle Donne Di Pietra aka Drops Of Blood

4 / 5 Sept '10
Tagline: Why do warm-blooded beauties suddenly turn to stone?!
Directed by: Giorgio Ferroni
Written by: Remigio Del Grosso, Giorgio Ferroni
Actors include: Pierre Brice, Scilla Gabel, Wolfgang Preiss
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Length: 90 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
This was one intriguing French/Italian film shot around Amsterdam, I was surprised how atmospheric and creepy they managed to make it. The little details like the statues and clay arms and such everywhere were so neat and interesting. It's sort of like a Mario Bava film, only less budget, definitely very gothic in nature. The plot is rather like a mystery, we meet a strange young lady called Elfie, her Brother keeps her nearly prisoner in their castle. When a young suitor called Hans appears and falls for Elfie, but shortly after he watches her die in front of him. Things get really peculiar when Elfie appears again alive, and her Brother claims she never died. It's also worth mentioning that the Brother maintains a carousel of the macabre featuring some eerie statues. It really is a good story (though some things could use a tad more explaining), and I was surprised with how spooky it actually is, well worth discovering. I'm surprised a bigger deal hasn't been made out of this, really quite a treat as long as you are patient.

Availability:  On DVD

American Nightmare (1983)

3 / 5 Sept '10
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: Don McBrearty
Written by: Steven Blake
Actors include: Lawrence Day, Laura Staley, Neil Dainard
Genre: Horror, Giallo, Thriller
Length: 88 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
So oddly this is a Canadian giallo (though why they called it American Nightmare is beyond me) that has a low budget and some lame acting but it's still very watchable. The plot concerns a maniac who is going around slashing strippers with a razor, one of which is from a prominent family. Her brother comes looking for her and poking around the seedy underbelly of Toronto questioning girls who worked and lived with her. There is even a love story thrown in when the brother falls for one of the stripping roommates...seriously. It does have a fair amount of blood in it, and the mystery comes to an amusing resolution (it's a bit more sordid than one might think). It's just very dry and talky in places, and there are way too many strippers doing way too many dances for my liking, now if you are into that sort of thing you might consider it to be a bonus! As far as this style of film goes, it's definitely not one of the greats but it is worth a viewing for fans I'd say.

Availability:  Not on DVD

Night School (1981) aka Terror Eyes

3.5 / 5 Sept '10
Tagline: A lesson in terror
Directed by: Ken Hughes
Written by: Ruth Avergon
Actors include: Leonard Mann, Rachel Ward, Drew Snyder
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Length: 84 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
I've got to say, for a video nasty and a slasher they did try with this one despite some bad writing and cheapness. If they had Tom Savini working on the effects this could have been wicked, but at least as is they do splatter around a fair bit o' the red stuff. Oh and I should mention, death by merry-go-round & knife oh yes. It's very much set up like a giallo, the mystery is around who is decapitating girls from a night school and leaving their heads in a nautically themed way. The body count is certainly reasonable, as a mystery goes well it's very easy to pick out the responsible person despite the fact that they put some pretty silly red herrings in the plot. It also could have used a little pep in places, but I do give them credit for some absurd things that happen and some interesting places to have shot the film. It should be rewarding for most slasher films as it does have a little extra sparkle, it's just not as shocking or tightly wound as one could hope for is all.

Availability:  Not on DVD

Horrors Of The Black Museum (1959) aka The Crime In The Museum Of Horrors

4 / 5 Sept '10
Tagline: It Actually Puts YOU In The Picture - Can You Stand It?
Directed by: Arthur Crabtree
Written by: Herman Cohen, Aben Kandel
Actors include: Michael Gough, June Cunningham, Graham Curnow
Genre: Horror
Length: 95 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
This definitely has it's high points and it's low points unfortunately, I didn't like it as much as Arthur Crabtree's Fiend Without a Face but it's darned close. This is a film about a murderer who is using rather odd antiques rigged to kill which is absolutely the best part. The beginning sequence with the binoculars was brilliant and one of the best I'd seen in a while. In fact the deaths in general were rather bloody (especially for the time) and shocking which I loved. It also did have a rather amusing sense of humor in several ways, when this movie was on point it was really on. What was the downfall here is too much chatty cop drama, boring as humanly possible and it seems like they try to cram as many words into a sentence as they can. The fact that the cops are nearly speaking in monotone doesn't help matters anyway. I'm impressed they went as far as they did and the absurdity of it was really wonderful, I wish there were more films from this time with this sort of violence. The gimmick used for the release of this film was "Hypnovision", not sure what that means as it wasn't a part of the dvd version I watched. Overall it's well worthwhile for horror fans, this has a little something extra even though parts are admittedly boring.

Availability:  On DVD

Going To Pieces: The Rise & Fall Of The Slasher Film (2006)

3 / 5 Sept '10
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: N/A
Written by: J. Albert Bell, Rachel Belofsky
Actors include: Ed Green, Malek Akkad, Lilyan Chauvin
Genre: Horror, Documentary
Length: 88 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Well, I didn't expect a heck of a lot out of this going into it, I mean I've studied slasher films and seen many of them so I didn't think I would learn much. I was right unfortunately, but it was nice that they had interviews with many of the folks associated with slashers like Sean S. Cunningham, Wes Craven, Tom Savini (the most interesting of the lot) and several others. It does touch upon most of the biggies and it will include clips that will ruin the films for you if you haven't seen them already. Lucky for me only a small few of them that the even put up posters or anything for. The even briefly mention Italian films being an influence but it needed more detail I felt, also mentioning some of the earlier splatter films, particularly those of Herschell Gordon Lewis would have been worthwhile but they weren't touched upon at all. Also going into the later bits with Rob Zombie I didn't care for either but well I think he's a useless hack but I think that is just me, also all the mention of Scream as a savior of the genre to be rather nauseating too.I'm sure this would have been a nice bonus feature for a disc or something but considering I think this was sold separately as well I wouldn't really think it was worthwhile. You'll either have seen everything mentioned, or won't have in which case you'll wish you had so that many good plot points weren't ruined for you.

Availability:  On DVD

The Terminal Man (1974)

3.5 / 5 Sept '10
Tagline: Harry Benson is a brilliant computer scientist. For three minutes a day, he is violently homicidal.
Directed by: Mike Hodges
Written by: Michael Crichton, Mike Hodges
Actors include: George Segal, Joan Hackett, Richard Dysart
Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller
Length: 107 minutes
Banned: Finland

Review:
This was a rather strange adaptation of a Michael Crichton novel (that I've honestly not read) but I likely would after seeing this film. It's sort of trippy sci-fi with some definite lessons crammed into it. Harry Benson is an intelligent man, but from a result of a head trauma he suffers from paranoid delusions and seizures where he becomes extremely violent and attacks people. Doctors have figured out a way to correct this problem by toying with his brain, inserting some chips to shock the patient when the seizures come about. After the surgery Harry is getting frustrated with all of this nonsense and flees the hospital only for things to go from bad to worse. It's a very slow moving and deliberate piece, they could have whittled it down a bit and made a much more interesting movie but as it sits it's still quite worthwhile. The useage of colors (or rather white) and angles in the cinematography were fascinating, probably one of my favorite parts of the film. It also did make a few points and teach me a couple of things and it was very interesting to look at. It's sort of a psychological horror film in several ways, rather dark and depressing, best to watch on a gray or raining evening.

Availability:  On DVD

The Exterminator (1980)

4 / 5 Sept '09
Tagline: A one man army. A new kind of soldier in a new kind of war.
Directed by: James Glickenhaus
Written by: James Glickenhaus
Actors include: Samantha Eggar, Christopher George, Robert Ginty
Genre: Action, Horror
Length: 101 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
This really does start out in an exciting and bloody manner and it manages to keep that pace throughout. The story is about a man who ends up going by the name of "The Exterminator" who was in a torture war situation before escaping. Then in the real world life is pretty ordinary until thugs at his workplace kill his best friend and he vows a violent revenge. From that point on we get some amusing deaths, strange situations and so forth, it's pretty decently paced. The biggest complaint is that the story is strung together inexplicably...I mean one minute we are talking to some fella, next he's hung on a pole or something, it just wasn't well assembled. Still he does use a flame thrower, many guns and this is a violent bloody treat in many ways. It's sort of like an ultraviolent superhero movie made with a lowish budget, some will love others will cringe.

Availability:  on DVD

The Psychopath (1975)

3.5 / 5  Sept '10
Tagline: He's Judge... Jury... Executioner
Directed by: Larry G. Brown
Written by: Larry G. Brown, Walter Dallenbach
Actors include: Tom Basham, Gene Carlson, Gretchen Kanne
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Length: 84 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
This is the kind of film that rarely turns up, it's truly absurd and seems to fail on every level it's trying to achieve but it has tons of camp value. It's a PG film, but surprisingly violent considering though you don't see anything, it's just implied. The plot is about a children's host and puppeteer called Mr. Rabbey who looks like a pedophile but is actually some sort of defender of children. Mr. Rabbey is actually rather slow and creepy and a treat to watch, they don't make psychos like this very often. He really hates child abuse, he hangs out in the playground and hospital to observe abused children and watch parents be cruel to their kids. I hate to say the abuse is funny but in this case it kind of is, it's over the top and it's stereotypical to say the least. Anyhow Rabbey comes to their houses later and kills the Parents who are offenders...one of them he kills by snapping a towel and then running them over with a lawnmower (I'm not kidding...though you don't see the lawnmower bit). Something to see for fans of weirdo '70s films for sure, cheaper than cheap and obviously influenced by Herschell Gordon Lewis what with the ridiculous close-ups of people's eyes, drummer for a soundtrack and general cheapness. It's not the greatest film ever and some gore would have helped it out but it still makes it's point...I think.

Availability:  Not on DVD

The Initiation Of Sarah (1978)

2.5 / 5 Sept '10
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: Robert Day
Written by: Kenette Gfeller, Tom Holland
Actors include: Kay Lenz, Shelley Winters, Tisa Farrow
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Length: 96 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Well this was really a combination of Carrie and Revenge of the Nerds only I really loved both of those films and I thought this one was dull and mundane. It was a made-for-tv (expect no violence and no killing...it's a horror movie, what were they thinking?) about a girl named Sarah with unexplained powers (that are usually used for dunking people in water who piss her off), she belongs to an adoptive family that have a daughter her age called Patty. The sisters go off to college, Patty is beautiful and has a great personality to match, so she gets in the "cool" fraternity. Sarah is an introvert and a brain and frankly a bit strange so she gets into the lamer fraternity that doesn't seem to care about much of anything. Sarah's "den mother" (Shelley Winters) is into witchcraft and wants Sarah for some sort of old initiation (which had someone die in it last time it was performed). See not much is explained, and the payoff is very weak to say the least. Despite the fact that it's tolerable schlock and well acted it's still not really worth bothering with, I kept waiting for something exciting to happen but it never really reached that point. It certainly could have been worse but considering the premise it should have been so much better.

Availability:  Not on DVD