Breakout

 

BREAKOUT FROM OPPRESSION-1982-Fonda Chiu (Fonda Lyn aka Hsiao-Fen lu), a young woman who is haunted by her time in prison (and a murder she didn't commit) gets a job on a newspaper. Her boss Simon (Alan Tam) falls in love with her but two female co-workers don't treat her too nice. After several bizarre incidents it seems one co-worker, Simon's former lover Sheena (Lona Chang), is seeking revenge (her father was the guy Fonda was accused of killing) while taking care of her invalid grandmother. She's also killed the president of the company. Sheena attacks Simon and ties him up in the basement. He really freaks out when he discovers the president's maggot covered body. Everyone thinks Fonda is behind it.

 Eventually Fonda and Sheena have it out and a beheading ends the conflict. Simon escapes and stands by Fonda. This Taiwanese production is director Karen Yang's only credit. Geoffrey Ho is credited a production designer. Also known as EXPOSED TO DANGER. 

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Lake Shit

"Sick minds make sick movies"....me




LAKE DEAD-2007-This begins with an old man getting shot in the head. Two sisters inherit a hotel from their grandfather. Sister number one is a foul mouthed drunken whore. Sister number two is nice and married to a construction worker. Their estranged father warns them not to go because granddad was a bad man. Slutty sis goes to the hotel herself and winds up being dunked in the lake and weighted down by a cinder block. Then nice sis and hubby take some friends up there (the more victims, the merrier). The place is run by Gloria (Pat McNeeley) a too cheerful lady who denies knowing anything about slutty sis so you know right away she's part of whatever nonsense is going to happen. The idiots decide to go camping. The stupidest part is when hubby goes for a swim underwater. He keeps his eyes closed and doesn't see slutty sis's body.  After one couple has sex two long haired dweebs attack them. The duo later go after the whole group but they escape. They ran afoul of the local redneck sheriff who's in on the plot which has to do with some hillbillys who want the married sister to help continue the hick inbred mentally deficient bloodline. 

Rape, torture and incest also figure in the screwed up plot. The "twist ending" in this HILLS HAVE EYES inspired garbage is given away early when hubby instead of killing one of the long haired geeks only knocks him out.

As of this writing director George Bessudo has made only one other movie. (keep your fingers crossed)

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Child Bride

CHILD BRIDE-1938-A school teacher Miss Carol (Diana Durrell) tries to stop child marriages among “mountain people” in her old rural hillbilly burg. But the main focus is on Jennie (Shirley Mills ) a 12 year old girl who's father (George Humpreys) is a moonshiner but likes the teacher. One night a bunch of inbred idiots kidnap Carol with the intent of tar and feathering her because she preaches again them “marrying young uns”. Fortunately Jennie's dad and his moonshining buddies Angelo (Angelo Rossitto) and Happy (Al Bannon) save her. He seems ok but later he gets drunk and thinks his wife is fooling around with his sleazy partner Jake so he beats her. Pa winds up dead so Jake (Warner Richmond) blackmails Jennie's ma into letting him marry Jennie! 

Carol also has a district attorney boyfriend who tries to get pass a law prohibiting the marriages. When he talks to the governor he addresses him as “your excellency”. Though promoted as “educational” (and thus avoiding most censors) this exploitation film is kind of bizarre and depraved especially the marriage ceremony. And then the happy couple get ready for their wedding night! Whew! Fortunately a well placed bullet put into Jake stops that before it even starts and the Jennie and Freddie go home together.

One character uses a very racist line that I won't repeat here. The most notorious scene is when Jennie takes off her clothes (and is topless for a minute) and swims nude in a lake! 

This was the last film directed by Harry Revier who had made LASH OF THE PENTENTIES and several silent Tarzan movies. A 1945 reissue was “presented” by Kroger Babb. With the exception of Mills (who was later in THE GRAPES OF WRATH), Richmond and Rossitto most of the rest of the cast never made another movie!

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Creature

CREATURE-2011-Three obnoxious couples heading for New Orleans take a detour and wind up being terrorized by some insane hillbillies while a swamp creature (who was once a man) prowls around killing. It's later revealed that one of the guys on the road trip is actually part of clan and is leading the others to a spot so the inbred crackers can perform a blood sacrifice. This is sort of a rip-off of Rob Zombie's HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES and in the movie's only highlight Sid Haig plays a character similar to his "Capt. Spauding" in 1000!

There's nudity and gore but there's also a lot of yelling and the ending is ridiculous. It's the only movie (so far) directed by Fred Andrews, a TV production designer.

Thanks for reading! (Thanks Tony for getting me this too!)

Hyped and Not Hyped

28 DAYS LATER-2002-Strange modern zombie tale by Danny Boyle, director of TRAIN-SPOTTING could never live up to it’s critical hype yet it’s sad to say 28 just isn’t a very good horror film. It borrows from dozens of others (mostly post Romero Euro-cannibal stuff) and there’s too much talk and the herky-jerky digital camera work is a cheat and might give you a headache.

Jim (Irish actor Cillian Murphy) awakens from a coma 28 days after a bunch of stupid animal activists free some rabid “rage” infected monkeys. The results are a ghost town like England now terrorized by rampaging red-eyed zombies (called “The Infected”) who vomit blood while killing. Jim meets Selena (Naomie Harris) who fills him in on what’s happening (after she kills her partner when he becomes infected). They eventually meet up with Frank (Brendan Gleeson who was in A.I. and GANGS OF NEW YORK around the same time) and his young daughter Hannah (Megan Burns). Together they decide to travel in Frank’s cab to find the source of a radio message being broadcast by the army. Christopher Eccleston (also in Boyle’s SHALLOW GRAVE and later was the first "new" Doctor Who) is the army major who wants to keep the population going. Screenwriter Alex Garland wrote the novel “The Beach” which was made into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio.



WRONG TURN-Regency-2003-This is probably the best “recycled ‘70’s teenagers being terrorized by psychos” nonsense in a long while. Considering the junk that is passed off as entertainment in theaters these days I’m surprised it didn’t get a better release. It’s not original but it’s well made, bloody and a little suspenseful in spots.

After two cars crash the occupants try to find help and run into a trio of deformed, cackling backwoods killers. They kill in various ways but the remaining two stars (Desmond Harrington who was the mini-series TAKEN and the DRAGNET TV remake around this time) and Eliza Dushku (from TV’s BUFFY and ANGEL) get revenge in a fiery finale. Also with Jeremy Sisto (from TV’s SIX FEET UNDER and ANGEL EYES).

The well-done SFX are by (co-producer) Stan Winston! Alan McElroy’s (HALLOWEEN 4, LEFT BEHIND, BALLISTIC) cliched script throws in a little soemthing from every movie THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE to JEEPERS CREEPERS but it actually works up until the final scene, which is too expected! Director Rob Schmidt made the non-horror SATURN in 1999 and the thriller CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN SUBURBIA in 2000.

WT seems to have inspired the 9 minute FRESH MEAT: THE WOUNDS OF “WRONG TURN”….

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