Father Fritz

 

 (imdb)

JAWS OF SATAN-1981-In a small Alabama town, Evelyn, a modern-day witch (Diana Douglas) tells a disillusioned priest Father Tom (Fritz Weaver), the devil is after him. Meanwhile, a satanic snake slithers around killing people. A local doctor (Gretchen Corbett) calls in a herpetologist (Jon Korkes, a terrible actor) to look at some toxic corpses. The priest consults his monsignor (Norman Lloyd) who clues him in on what's happening. A crazy cursed druid is to blame, an ancestor of Tom's. 

The whole story is kind of murky and there are some unintentional laughs. This is one of the few feature films directed by Bob Claver, a busy TV director. It also features Christina Applegate from TV's “Married With Children” in her first role.

Thanks for reading!

Step Right Up!

 

 (imdb)

STEPS FROM HELL-1990-Some vampire demon Vlad (Bernardo Rosa) is searching for a gateway. The tale seems to be told in flashback by a writer to his would-be research assistant. They both act like they'd rather be someplace else. After his father is killed, a priest (Ron O'Dell) goes looking for Vlad, whose chief henchman is a huge black transvestite. He has a funny fight with a black couple in the woods. Later he and a ghoul girl attack some guys in a van and eat one of them. One guy who escapes beats up the huge guy with terrible martial arts moves but is killed anyway. Then later suddenly the big guy is chasing a woman. She beats him with a stick and stabs him but the undead woman grabs her. Later the priest fights Vlad in a good vs. evil finale in slow motion. Beelzebub shows up at the end too. 

The date on the film is 1990 but it looks like some washed out regional release made in the early '70's with bright lighting that suddenly goes dark, outrageously bad acting (most of the actors seem in a coma), too much talk and all the voices seem to be slowed down somewhat. Writer/director James Adam Tucker was also an actor (He played a cop on John Waters' HAIRSPRAY).

Thanks for reading!

"Stepping High" by Eddie Murray:

https://youtu.be/gT_VKzw18S8?si=x-DaJoAtd5ZRLZgy

Bram Stoker?

 

 (imdb)

BRAM STOKER'S SHADOWBUILDER-1998-A weird priest with a gun (Michael Rooker) battles a shadow demon who wants a kid in a small town. Bugs sting a deputy to death, an old man axes his wife, dogs turn on their master, fun stuff like that. The town lunatic (Tony Todd) helps out. The script and acting are pretty bad.

 The script is based on the story “The Shadow Builder” by Bram Stoker from a short story collection “Under The Sunset”, published in 1881 and of course it's nothing like this movie. Director Jamie Dixon did visual effects for other movies.

Illustration from Stoker's original story

(classic-literature.com.uk)

Thanks for reading!

 

  

                                 

Go Back

 

 (imdb)

BACK FROM HELL-1993-Father Aaron Pike visits his old friend Jack to hear his confession. Jack is hold up in some attic. Two detectives who followed Pike enter the building one by one and are killed by Jack. Then Jack says they are going to talk to the devil. He says some pray and one of the dead detectives comes back to life and starts ranting in a weird voice. A hand comes out of a Bible and tries to kill the priest. Later the duo fights some hooded characters. It seems Jack sold his soul to the devil. 

While not unentertaining, BFH is very incompetent with terrible acting, bad lighting, direction and gratuitous scenes of gore and blood spurting. It's unintentionally funny most of the time but its real drawback is some of the scenes go on too long. This was the first movie for director Matt Jaissle (he's made a few more since) who also plays “maniac with an ax”.

Thanks for reading!

Nun From Hell

  (IMDB)

THE NUN-2018-A priest, Father Burke (Damian Birchir) and a young nun Irene (Taissa Farmiga) go to Romania to investigate the suicide of a nun at an abbey there. Local yokel Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet) who found the body takes them there. They meet the abbess (Gabrielle Downy) who seems evil and tells them to come back tomorrow. Later the priest relates a tale of an exorcism he did years before. Then after he sees a figure vomiting a snake he's buried alive. Irene finds him and in a scene reminiscent of Fuchi's THE GATES OF HELL,  digs him out. Meanwhile Frenchie survives a demon attack and learns that many horrible things are happening in town including the suicide of a 12 yr old girl. Later Irene meets Sister Ouana (Ingrid Bisu) who relates how a duke opened up a gateway to hell. Fortunately The Church interceded and using the blood of Christ sealed the gate. Later crazy things happen and Irene has lots of visions. A decrepit nun attacks them. When Frenchie rejoins them, the trio must close the gate to Hell using some more of Christ's blood. Irene becomes possessed for a while and several demonic nuns attack. 

The three succeed in their quest but 20 years later The Warrens (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) from THE CONJURING “universe” are telling about the demonic possession case of Maurice aka Frenchie. Besides Fuchi, parts of this also reminded me of THE SENTINEL.There's lots of false scares and some scenes and dialogue make no sense. Director Corin Hardy made videos and shorts earlier and one other horror movie THE HALLOW.

Thanks for reading!