2 Shorts

 

 (imdb)

LE SPECTRE ROUGE-(THE RED SPECTRE)-1907-This silent 9 MINUTE short was made in Spain by two directors and was influenced by Georges Melies. A skeletal demon does lots of magical tricks thanks to the use of many optical film tricks. It's crude but clever (hey, it was made over a hundred years ago!) and features great tinted color scenes. Sometimes confused with SATAN S'AMUSE made the same year by the same directing team.

 (imdb)

Il CASO VALDEMAR-1936-Weird, haunting silent short adaptation of the Poe story done in Italy. It might be hard to follow if you're not familiar with the story (I am and still found it a little mind boggling). It's sometimes referred to as the first "gore film" and I can see why in the climax. 26 years later Roger Corman used the same story for the third segment of TALES OF TERROR. It's only 12 minutes, judge for yourself:

https://youtu.be/qz3bw_21K8M?feature=shared 

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Why Can't the Dairy Queen Have Children?

 

 (imdb)

SWIRLEE-2000-Softy (James Lorinz who also directed), a man with an ice cream cone for a head, lives with his friend Tony (David Caruso). He doesn't have many prospects and Tony has a hard time supporting both of them. After a brief encounter dancing with a hooker, Softy visits Don Gelato, a foul mouth gangster who took over Softy's ice cream business. Gelato ridicules Softy and has him beaten up. Softy struggles to get home and some school kids even crowd around him to eat ice cream off his head. He decides to commit suicide by taking a warm bath but Tony saves him. They go and kill Don Gelato and his two friends Don Sorbet and Don Tofutti. 

Lorinz was the star of Frank Henenlotter's FRANKENHOOKER (1990). It was produced by Roy Frumkes (STREET TRASH (1987); which Lorinz also had a role in). Pretty bizarre...

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Short Shorts

 

 (world atlas)

POSSIBLY IN MICHIGAN-1983-This is a strange surreal plot-less musical short with two women being stalked by a weird guy named Arthur. After some incomprehensible scenes they turn the tables on him (???). Weird shit made with funds from The National Endowment for The Arts and The Ohio Arts Council.

MAMMALS-1962-This weird short about two guys in the snowy frozen wilderness has been described as "Waiting for Godot" on ice. Roman Polanski co-wrote and directed it before his first feature film, KNIFE IN THE WATER. Yuk it up. It's Roman Polanski. He's a genius...

 (grepmed.com)

MUCHAUSEN-2013-Very well made short without any dialogue, about mother's (Bonnie Bedelia) obsessive behavior toward her son who is ready to leave home for college. Written and directed by Ali Aster. 

 (getty images)

GRANDMOTHER'S BEDTIME STORY-1979-A tired grandmother fed up with her bratty grandson who won't go to bed, reads him a story about a little princess who won't go to bed and is terrorized by a witch, a goblin, a hunchback and finally a dragon. Weird little gore short by Michael Hitchcock.

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Mammal by They Might Be Giants:

https://youtu.be/14jjo7MtSzE?feature=shared

Trio!

 

 (imdb)

LETHAL VIRUS-2021-Terrible, laughable nonsense about a virus that turns people into cannibalistic zombies ala 28 DAYS LATER and THE CRAZIES. The acting is terrible and the sfx are garbage. Director Daniel Hernandez Torrado should stop...Now!

 themoviedb.org)

ROBOT APOCALYPSE-2021-A bunch of stupid hackers wind up trying to stop a sentient AI that's gained control of the US army's drones. Former mixed martial artist Tito Ortiz is one of the stars, so don't say I didn't warn you. Low budget Sci Fi junk from director Marcus Friendlander.

 (Mubi)

THE MOVIES OF HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS AND THE ORIGINS OF SPLATTER-2022-Great short to the point documentary about Herschell Gordon Lewis and the rise of the gore or splatter films and the movies he made that help start it. It gives a good basic look at his "blood trilogy" and the horror movies that followed. It's a YouTube video created by Ben Simpson on his channel.

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The Bad Things Directors Do...

 

 (youtube)

THE GOOD THINGS DEVILS DO-2020-The weirdo who made this horror shit must have hated women. 

This is about a dumb schoolteacher Melvin (David Rucker lll) who accidentally resurrects a vampire while his home is invaded by a father, Richard (Bill Oberst Jr.), his daughter Mouse (Mary Katherine O'Connell) and sadistic perverted companion Percy (Kane Hodder who must have needed money desperately to have done this). After his wife (Linnea Quigley) is bitten, Melvin and his dysfunctional stepdaughter Caroline (Kelly Wilson Robinson) hide in a bedroom. 

Despite bloody gore, this is a talky emoting piece of crap with characters screaming and cursing. The director Jess Norvisgaard worked on TV shows like “The Biggest Loser” and “LA Ink” before this.

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Not Really a Remake

 

 (imdb)

NIGHT OF THE DEVILS-1972-An amnesic man is found wandering in a forest. A doctor examines him. The man seems to have suffered some kind of trauma. A police inspector investigates. A woman Sdenka (Augustina Belli; later in HOLOCUAST 2000 (1977)) shows up claiming to know him but when he sees her, he goes berserk and has to sedated. She disappears.

Then while confined to a straitjacket, the man has a flashback. When his car breaks down, the guy named Nicola (Gianni Garko; star of the “Sartana” series of westerns in Italy) takes refuge with a strange family who are deathly afraid of the night. This is because a witch has put a curse on the family and one by one, they become a “Wudalaka”, a type of vampire. He also falls in love with Sdenka. Eventually everyone is cursed and Nicola has to fight them off. He goes crazy. Back in the present, at night Sdenka comes to visit him. Is she alive or not? 

Ok Italian-Spanish production with some good vampire attack scenes, it's based on the same story Mario Bava used in the third segment of BLACK SABBATH. It was the second to last film of director Giorgio Ferroni (MILL OF STONE WOMEN (1960)).

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Japan Mad Science

 

 (the moviedb.org)

CYCLOPS-1987-In Japan there are deformed babies being born which doctors have named Cyclops. Most are left to die but one mad scientist thinks they're the beginning of a new level of human being. This deviant medical horror story features extreme and sometimes disgusting gore scenes. At times the acting seems to be comical. Directed by Joji Iida (TOKYO BABYLON 1999 (1993)).

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Blood Drinkers

 (imdb)

VAMPYRES-1975-Two lesbian lover, Fran (Marianne Morris) and Miriam (Anulka), are shot and killed by an unknown assailant. They come back as bloodthirsty vampires who pose as hitchhikers to lure unsuspecting (and horny) men into their manor. Meanwhile, a husband-and-wife artist team, John (Brian Deacon) and Harriet (Sally Faulkner) camp out near the house. Harriet is curious about the pair. Ted (Murray Brown), a guy who picks up the hitchhiking Fran and stays with her a couple of nights, finds a deep cut on his arm. He knows something isn't right but stays there anyway. Although the kill another guy they pick up, Fran lets Ted live and sucks blood from his arm a little at a time until he's too weak to leave. Harriet snoops around and discovers the pair sleeping in a dank basement during the day. There's several bloody death and lesbian scenes but in between there's a lot of not much happening. Sometimes it seems like the duo might not even be traditional vampires but violent killers who just like to drink blood. I also wonder that if they are "real vampires" they may have seen destroyed at the end....

VAMPYRES was notorious upon its release and had trouble with censors but garnered a cult following and a reexamination years later. 

Co-lead vampire Anulka was "Playmate of the Month" in May of 1973. She also appeared in LISTZOMANIA and on British TV. She's also the former daughter in law of Soupy Sales! Co- lead Morris made uncredited roles in a few other movies including CORRUPTION (1968) and IT'S NOT THE SIZE THAT COUNTS (1974)).  Jose' Ramon Larraz, from Spain, directed this in England.  

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Inaction?

 

 (imdb)

MOVIE IN ACTION-1987-An American film crew is making a war movie in Thailand. Out of nowhere,the leading lady Susan (Chantal Mansefield) is kidnapped by a gun toting gang of locals. When the authorities are slow to act, the director (Bo Swenson) decides he and his film crew should rescue her. After they rob the Thailand Army base, a few of them go to Cambodia to rescue Susan. The director seems to think they have a good chance of making it. I don't know why he'd think that. They all seem like a bunch of kooks. The group consists of the lead star (who kind of knows martial arts), the makeup woman, the sfx guy, cameraman and the soundman. There's a big ridiculous shootout at a remote army base and it's revealed the producer of their movie is behind all the shenanigans. 

Pretty outrageous senseless action drama. Director Teddy Lee also used the name Teddy Page as well as the names Ted Johnson, Teddy Chiu, Teddy Chuck and others.

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Searchin'

 

 

 

 (imdb)

SEARCHING FOR JUNGLE HOLOCAUST-2021-This is a documentary about the notorious film by Ruggero Deodato. Director/writer/on screen narrator Calum Waddell (who's made a lot of stuff like this) interviews the lead actor Rolando Bianca and Gregory Snegoff, the voice over actor who dubbed Robert Kernan's voice. Waddell then veers off into meeting the last two surviving "cannibal" actors from Umberto Lenzi's CANNIBAL FEROX (a mother and son). There's also an interview with director Deodato before Waddell ends going on a kind of unrelated political tangent.

 If you'd call JUNGLE HOLOCUAST (also known as LAST CANNIBAL WORLD) a masterpiece then this is for you.

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More Gore

 

 (imdb)

CANNIBAL FEROX-1981-NYC Police Lt. Rizzo (Robert Kerman aka porno star R. Bolla) and Venantonio Venantini) investigate the murder of a junkie. Then three people Rudy (Danilo Mattei), Gloria (Lorraine De Selle) & Pat (Zora Korova) set out to the Amazon so Gloria can prove there is no such thing as cannibalism. After they have trouble with their jeep, they hike in the jungle and discover a decrepit man eating maggots. They meet cocaine traffickers Mike Logan (John Morghen aka Giovanni Radice) and his wounded pal Joe (Walter Lucchini) who were attacked by cannibals. Stupidly Logan kills an Indian girl and Joe reveals in flashback that Logan is lying. Looking for emeralds Logan tortured a young native to death. After Mike and Pat run out on Rudy & Gloria and the dying Joe, the story switches back to NYC for a bit as Lt. Rizzo still investigates the murder which Logan is attached to. Back in the Amazon, Joe dies and locals dine on his intestines. The natives capture all four and Logan is strung up and tortured. His…um…manhood is cut off and eaten. Then his wound is cauterized. Rudy is killed trying to escape. Gloria and Pat are put in a pit and sing "Red River Valley". Logan tries to escape and they cut off his hand. Then the movie's most infamous scene. Pat has hooks jabbed into her breasts and is left to die hanging on a pole. Then the top of Logan's head is lopped off and his brain is eaten. A sympathetic native helps Gloria escape. When he's impaled, Gloria considers suicide but is rescued. Back in NYC, she writes a book, receives her doctorate and still looks traumatized from her ordeal. 

Extreme gore and real animal killings make this real sick. And why did the clowns who made this thing have the explorers/troublemakers being from America? Italian Umberto Lenzi wrote and directed it! 

Radice/Morghen was also in Antonio Margheriti's CANNIBALS IN THE STREETS and Lucio Fulci's THE CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (also with Venantini). I originally saw this in a theater (on 42 street) as MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY.

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Karloff on Live TV

 

 (imdb)

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE-1962-Live presentation by Hallmark of the classic play about the wacky Brewster family. In Brooklyn, the Brewster sisters (Dorothy Stickney & Mildred Natwick) poison lonely old men. They think they're doing a service and have their nutty brother Teddy (Tom Bosley) who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt bury the corpses in the Panama Canal (the basement). Their other nephew Mortimer (Tony Randall), a theater critic in love with Elaine (Dodie Heath), discovers their grisly hobby and plans to have "Teddy" committed after he discovers their latest victim in the window seat. Enter long lost brother Jonathan who thanks to drunken plastic surgeon Dr. Einstein (George Voskovec) resembles Boris Karloff (of course, it's more than a resemblance, the real Karloff plays him). Besides having a body in the trunk of his car, Jonathan also decides it would be the right time to kill Mortimer. 

It's great to see this live TV production (shortened from the play) especially since Karloff was not in the movie version. Randall's Mortimer is a little more subdued than Cary Grant but still holds his own. Czechoslovakian born stage actor George Voskovec had played the mild-mannered Juror #11 in 12 ANGRY MEN (1957).

Directed by George Schaefer who made many TV movies after this.

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Hammer Scream

 

 (imdb)

SCREAM OF FEAR-1961-Wheelchair bound Penny Appleby (Susan Strasberg) comes to live on her father's estate with him and her stepmother Jane (Ann Todd) after the death of Penny's caregiver. Also there is Robert (Ronald Lewis; in MR. SARDONICUS the same year), the chauffeur. Funny thing is dad seems to be away on business and no one knows when he'll be back. Then at night she sees her father's dead body and falls into the pool! Everyone thinks she's hallucinating. Dr. Gerald (Christopher Lee; same year as TERROR OF THE TONGS) is called in to check on her. Although she talks to dad on the phone, she once again sees his dead body. Something's up but who is to blame? 

Nice suspenseful psychological thriller from Hammer Pictures directed by Seth Holt and written by Jimmy Sangster. Lee has said it was “the best film Hammer ever made”.

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It's A Bresee

 

 (fangoria.com)

MAUSOLEUM-1983-A woman Susan (Bobbie Bresee) gets possessed by a demon that killed her mother. Her eyes turn green when she wants to cause mischief like making a drunk's car blow up and carving up the gardener after having sex with him. She turns into a full-fledged demon when she kills her aunt. Her husband (former child evangelist Marjoe Gortner) eventually realizes something is wrong and calls psychiatrist Dr. Andrews (Norman Burton). Their housekeeper Elsie (LaWanda Page from TV's “Sanford & Son”) tries to warn hubby and says, "there's some strange shit going on in this house". Although demon Susan kills hubby, Andrews uses a crown of thorns to send the demon back where it came from. The final scene seems to be making fun of the whole premise. 

Bobbie Bresee was known for taking off her clothes in the few movies she made around this time and for being promoted shamelessly by Forrest J. Ackerman in the pages of the magazine he edited after “Famous Monsters of Filmland'. 

Directed by Michael Dugan. Music by Jaime Mendoza-Nava.

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Never The Dragon Shall Meet

 

 (imdb)

NINJA DRAGON-1986-In Hong Kong, a businessman (Richard Harrison) seeks revenge on a group that killed his partner. Meanwhile two gangs are involved in a turf war. As usual with director Godfrey Ho, this movie has two story lines that never intersect. After the tragic ending of one story, the master ninja fights the red ninja (Paulo Tochi) to the death. Star Harrison played the same character in several other Ho paste up jobs.

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"This is What They Call Fate"

 

 (imdb)

ALONG COMES A TIGER-1977-Miracle Man (Tao Wong aka Don Wong who also produced), a mute Kung-Fu artist seeks revenge on The Black Dragon gang who murdered his father. Along the way he picks up a little kid (Kuang-Lung Chi) who's later captured by the Black Dragon leader (Tommy Lee; also the stunt coordinator). The last line of the movie is spoken by the mute. Directed by Wu Ma who was also an actor.

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Empire Ghouls

 

 (imdb)

GHOULIES ll-1987-In this sequel, mean little monsters, the spawn of Satan, hitch a ride with a traveling circus after a priest fails to kill them. They cause death and destruction. The circus is run by an old guy (Royal Dano) and his nephew Larry (Damon Martin). After the old man is killed, a yuppie co-owner name Hardin (J. Downing) hangs around wanting to close down the circus. With the help of Nicole (Kerry Remsen), a belly dancer and Nigel (Phil Fondacaro), a little person, the nephew conjures up a giant demon that eats the ghoulies. But then they have to contend with the demon. 

Tasteless, useless sequel from Richard Band's Empire Pics filmed in Italy by Band's father Albert (I BURY THE LIVING (1958)). Somehow, 2 more sequels followed.

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Cannibal Camera Work

 

 (imdb)

CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST-1980-After an expedition disappears into The Green Inferno, a jungle in the Amazon rain forest, Prof. Monroe (Robert Kerman) wants to find them and hires a guide named Chaco. After they discover the remains of the missing expedition and Monroe eats some human intestines, the story abruptly cuts back to NY (?) where the professor has returned to civilization and plans to broadcast a film the doomed expedition shot. But before that Monroe interviews many of the victims' relatives. In the found footage, the group butchers a live turtle (worst scene). Their guide dies and they avoid a caiman attack. Then they discover a tribe killing animals and drinking blood. Other animals are killed. Then to get some sensational footage they burn down a hut with women and children in it. They become quite callous and superior and rape a local woman. Then the natives have had enough.

This is pretty much a sickening piece of exploitative bs, made basically to disgust rather than horrify with animal killing, rape, male & female frontal nudity and disembowelment but the found footage scenes are very well done. Better executed than most of the found footage dribble that became well known 20 odd years later. 

The musical score by Riz Ortolani is excellent. Director Ruggero Deodato had made LAST CANNIBAL WORLD in 1977. Top billed Robert Kerman acted on Broadway and TV in the US and was in other Euro productions including Umberto Lenzi's EATEN ALIVE! (1980). He also had a small role in Lenzi's CANNIBAL FEROX (1981). In the late '70's, he used the name “R. Bolla” and appeared in “over 100” porno films. He gave up acting in the mid-'80's but returned in the role of a tugboat captain in Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN (2002). He passed away in 2018.

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Directors Act!

 

 

 

 (imdb)

VIOLENT SHIT: THE MOVIE-2015-This is a kind of Italian remake/sequel to a German series of movies by Andreas Schnaas (who has a small role in this). An Italian cop (director Enzo G. Castellari) and a German cop (Steve Aquilina) investigate the ritual killings that seem to be tied to tectonic serial killer Karl the butcher. Meanwhile the bald pasty-faced Prof. Vassago (Giovanni Lombardo Radice) talks about Attila the Hun. Occasionally a guy in a metal mask kills people. Directors Lucio Fulci and Luigi Cozzi also have small roles. 

 Radice under the name John Morghen is better known for his roles in Italian cannibal films like CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (1980) and CANNIBAL FEROX (1981). This is drawn out garbage with lots of talk and excessively gory in spots. The music is by Claudio Simonetti. This Italian/Germany production was directed by Luigi Pastore.

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Taiwan Ghost Comedy

 

 (imdb)

BUSINESS TRIP TO THE NETHERWORLD-(Dao Yin Jian Chu Cha)-1990-A guy Li Bin (Ching Huang Yang) is killed in a car accident. However, he comes back as a ghost no one can see. At first, he has a hard time believing but he meets Mah Tung who convinces him. 

There are a lot of gags in this comedy ghost story. Unfortunately, many go on too long especially the part where a guy wanders around because he thinks he's invisible. Hopping vampires show up later. The version I saw ended abruptly but I didn't care because it wasn't very good anyway. From Taiwan. Written and directed by Chen-Kuo Chao.

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