The Howling
Besides the transformations scenes i don't think this movie has much going on. American Werewolf In London still is the only good werewolf film i've seen.
What Have You Done to Solange?
I do like that this film keeps dodging cliches but sadly the dialogue is kinda crap and the movie is pretty bland overall. It does have good OST like a lot of giallos and it look's nice but it's really not worth watching.
Blood and Black Lace
This is supposedly grandfather of slasher films but it hasn't aged well. Gorehounds are going to be sorely disappointed and it doesn't really offer good suspense either. It does have some Argento style coloring (or more correct would be say that Argento probably took little inspiration from this) but it's not visually interesting enough to warrant a watch. It feels way too long and it get's kinda stupid at the end.
Racketyboy Month of Horror 9: The Axis of Sorta Evil
Re: Racketyboy Month of Horror 9
28. Humanoids from the Deep
Man, fish-men love the ladies. Have you ever wanted to see a bunch of aquatic horrors gore and claw men to death and then forcibly strip and sexually assault women? If so, you should think about talking to someone, but that's what this movie is about.
Basically a small coastal town in California has a new canning company coming in, but the local Native Americans aren't a fan. Racism abounds from the cannery's local henchmen, until dogs get murdered and teenagers disappear. Then the fish-men show up, and they're here to kill all the men and rape all the women! It's kinda like Animal House, only with more violence and gill sex...but the same amount of drinking. Seriously, these guys drink a lot of beer.
Getting past the fact that this movie is basically about rape, there are some other aspects to examine...like namely that the film originally didn't contain so much rape. The director, Barbara Peeters, did a film that showed the men get murdered, yes, but the rape scenes weren't nearly so graphic. But producer Roger Corman was having none of that! He changed the name of the movie from Monster to Humanoids from the Deep and had other directors shoot as many nude scenes and graphic fish rape sequences to really amp up the exploitation. And you know what? The intercut footage really shows. You'll go from suspense to sudden "OH MY GOD THAT FISH-MAN IS DOING THE NASTY WITHOUT HER CONSENT" to suspense at the drop of a hat. The juxtaposition gets weird and messes with the flow.
To top it off, Corman apparently didn't tell Peeters he was doing this, nor actress Ann Turkel, so when they saw the final cut, they had no idea it had happened. The press slammed Peeters for making such an exploitative movie, and she tried to take her name off the film but was unable to do so. This sucks, because I don't know what is Peeters and what isn't, so I am not sure who to praise for what I like. In particular, seeing fish-men rip their way up from the docks and surprise crowds of people at the town fair is awesome. The ongoing story of racism in a small town is also well done, even if only one guy represented an entire tribe of peoples. The heroes also get the snot kicked out of them, so by the end they're all bruised and swollen. It's a good touch to show how beat up they are.
Oh, and I absolutely love the monster designs, which are both kinda campy and slimy gross at the same time. It's like The Creature from the Black Lagoon, but with even more slime, fur, fangs, and the inability to understand the word no. If you liked that movie but need more gore, rape, and going behind the director's back, Humanoids from the Deep is for you!
Re: Racketyboy Month of Horror 9: The Axis of Sorta Evil
The Hooker Cult Murders
AKA The Pyx
Detective Henderson and his partner are tasked with investigating the suspicious death of a young woman seen falling from a high-rise, their only clues to her identity being an upside-down crucifix and a small metal box. During the course of their investigation they find out that the woman is Elizabeth Lucy, a drug-addicted prostitute. In the course of finding out what happened to her, they find themselves wading through a world of prostitution, drugs and the occult.
Despite what the title may suggest, The Hooker Cult Murders does not actually involve a cult of murderous hookers. I know, I was disappointed too. It is instead a crime drama involving an evil satanic cult, and a mysterious cult leader who may or may not be possessed by the devil, thrown in at the end. For the most part, it’s a pretty by-the-book crime piece, until you get to the end and devil worshipers come out to play. Though you do get the feeling something seriously creepy is going on about halfway through when the detective shows up to question some witnesses and finds everyone dead and this at the crime scene:
The cat too?! You monsters!
The entire film takes place over a 48 hour period and is split into two separate 24-hour narratives that the movie shifts between as the story progresses. The first is the detective’s story as he spends the second day discovering how Elizabeth died, and the other is Elizabeth’s story in the 24-hours leading up to her death. There are no telltale scene shifts or title cards to differentiate the two timelines, which may throw a few at first, but the shifts are easy enough to pick up on. It is a rare case of a director showing faith that his audience can follow the plot without having to over explain everything.
For the most part, the movie is pretty bland. There’s really nothing here that stands out from any other crime/horror/thrillers. With perhaps the exception of the cat knifed to a door, all the deaths are pretty mundane, there are no shocking crime twists (at least none that you won’t see coming) and it’s not particularly suspenseful. There isn’t even that much blood in it. There is, however, quite a bit of nudity. But likely not enough to get anybody really excited, just a couple brief flashes and gratuities nip shots. You know, just enough to up the films rating to an R.
Actually, considering the picture quality it’s probably perfectly safe, I’m just an evil tease.
The only real stand-out here is Karen Black’s performance as Elizabeth. Christopher Plummer also pulls in a very solid performance, but it’s Black that really carries the film, as the movie isn’t so much the detective’s story, but Elizabeth’s. Black’s work here could be considered subdued when compared to some of her other performances, but it’s no less excellent. Her character’s backstory is pretty cliche (hooker with a tragic history, but a heart of gold), but that doesn’t keep her from covering the entire spectrum of emotion from vulnerable to courageous wonderfully. With such a mundane plot, she’s really the greatest reason you have to keep watching.
I’d normally talk about picture and sound quality, but the only version I had to work with was the one off of Amazon Prime, and if you can’t tell by those screenshots up there then let me affirm that the picture quality was poor. Like dirt poor. Like crappy VHS got run over by a tractor trailer on the day the video was supposed to be transferred and they couldn’t find another copy, poor. And the sound isn’t much better. It’s garbled, there are VHS artifacts and sometimes the sound goes out completely. But that’s Amazon’s fault, not the movie, so I give the film no blame for that. I will, however, blame the film for a couple instances of choppy editing and some very odd chanting that sounds like the Chipmunks got ahold of some very old versions of Gregorian chants. Believe it or not, that last bit actually works towards the end of the movie, but when it’s in other non-satanic scenes it just sounds weird.
On a separate note, Karen Black also features significantly on the soundtrack, contributing her vocals to several songs sung throughout the film. They’re all folksy, appropriately melancholic little ballads that feel right at home here, but also likely very dated by today’s standards. But it’s still very haunting to realize this woman is singing these mournful tunes as her character goes about her day towards her inevitable end.
You can hear a couple of them here and here.
Although it didn’t fully live up to my expectations (where is my hooker cult!), I still found The Hooker Cult Murders entertaining. The plot is pretty simple, and at close to two hours it feels a bit too long, but it’s still a solidly put together cult crime thriller. There’s a bit of nudity and a bit of blood, but most of the violence happens just off camera. The performances are great and I’m sure the picture and sound are great too…. if I could find a better copy to confirm it instead of the jumbled mess I had to watch. If you like occult films or you like your crime drama with a side of devil worship, than The Hooker Cult Murders might be an under-the-radar film worth looking into. Just try to find it on something other than Prime.
AKA The Pyx
Detective Henderson and his partner are tasked with investigating the suspicious death of a young woman seen falling from a high-rise, their only clues to her identity being an upside-down crucifix and a small metal box. During the course of their investigation they find out that the woman is Elizabeth Lucy, a drug-addicted prostitute. In the course of finding out what happened to her, they find themselves wading through a world of prostitution, drugs and the occult.
Despite what the title may suggest, The Hooker Cult Murders does not actually involve a cult of murderous hookers. I know, I was disappointed too. It is instead a crime drama involving an evil satanic cult, and a mysterious cult leader who may or may not be possessed by the devil, thrown in at the end. For the most part, it’s a pretty by-the-book crime piece, until you get to the end and devil worshipers come out to play. Though you do get the feeling something seriously creepy is going on about halfway through when the detective shows up to question some witnesses and finds everyone dead and this at the crime scene:
The cat too?! You monsters!
The entire film takes place over a 48 hour period and is split into two separate 24-hour narratives that the movie shifts between as the story progresses. The first is the detective’s story as he spends the second day discovering how Elizabeth died, and the other is Elizabeth’s story in the 24-hours leading up to her death. There are no telltale scene shifts or title cards to differentiate the two timelines, which may throw a few at first, but the shifts are easy enough to pick up on. It is a rare case of a director showing faith that his audience can follow the plot without having to over explain everything.
For the most part, the movie is pretty bland. There’s really nothing here that stands out from any other crime/horror/thrillers. With perhaps the exception of the cat knifed to a door, all the deaths are pretty mundane, there are no shocking crime twists (at least none that you won’t see coming) and it’s not particularly suspenseful. There isn’t even that much blood in it. There is, however, quite a bit of nudity. But likely not enough to get anybody really excited, just a couple brief flashes and gratuities nip shots. You know, just enough to up the films rating to an R.
Actually, considering the picture quality it’s probably perfectly safe, I’m just an evil tease.
The only real stand-out here is Karen Black’s performance as Elizabeth. Christopher Plummer also pulls in a very solid performance, but it’s Black that really carries the film, as the movie isn’t so much the detective’s story, but Elizabeth’s. Black’s work here could be considered subdued when compared to some of her other performances, but it’s no less excellent. Her character’s backstory is pretty cliche (hooker with a tragic history, but a heart of gold), but that doesn’t keep her from covering the entire spectrum of emotion from vulnerable to courageous wonderfully. With such a mundane plot, she’s really the greatest reason you have to keep watching.
I’d normally talk about picture and sound quality, but the only version I had to work with was the one off of Amazon Prime, and if you can’t tell by those screenshots up there then let me affirm that the picture quality was poor. Like dirt poor. Like crappy VHS got run over by a tractor trailer on the day the video was supposed to be transferred and they couldn’t find another copy, poor. And the sound isn’t much better. It’s garbled, there are VHS artifacts and sometimes the sound goes out completely. But that’s Amazon’s fault, not the movie, so I give the film no blame for that. I will, however, blame the film for a couple instances of choppy editing and some very odd chanting that sounds like the Chipmunks got ahold of some very old versions of Gregorian chants. Believe it or not, that last bit actually works towards the end of the movie, but when it’s in other non-satanic scenes it just sounds weird.
On a separate note, Karen Black also features significantly on the soundtrack, contributing her vocals to several songs sung throughout the film. They’re all folksy, appropriately melancholic little ballads that feel right at home here, but also likely very dated by today’s standards. But it’s still very haunting to realize this woman is singing these mournful tunes as her character goes about her day towards her inevitable end.
You can hear a couple of them here and here.
Although it didn’t fully live up to my expectations (where is my hooker cult!), I still found The Hooker Cult Murders entertaining. The plot is pretty simple, and at close to two hours it feels a bit too long, but it’s still a solidly put together cult crime thriller. There’s a bit of nudity and a bit of blood, but most of the violence happens just off camera. The performances are great and I’m sure the picture and sound are great too…. if I could find a better copy to confirm it instead of the jumbled mess I had to watch. If you like occult films or you like your crime drama with a side of devil worship, than The Hooker Cult Murders might be an under-the-radar film worth looking into. Just try to find it on something other than Prime.
Re: Racketyboy Month of Horror 9: The Axis of Sorta Evil
Ooh, I'm completely unfamiliar with that movie, but as a Karen Black fan, I'm going to have to put it on my list if I can rustle up something with better video quality.
Tonight I watched Zombieland for the first time. I've been a fan of zombies since I was 12 or 13 or so and saw Night of the Living Dead. But by the time this movie came out, I was COMPLETELY burnt out on zombies. From 2004-2010 they were everywhere and it got really old. Kind of like how unicorns are now. And I was figuring that a lot of the "lol zombies are great" crowd weren't fans of things I liked, like the George Romero movies or Return of the Living Dead, but instead thought it was funny to have rotting people stumbling around eating brains or were a fan of the power-fantasy of being the last person in the world and getting to take whatever you want and shoot zombies/people.
And honestly, Zombieland kind of plays to that crowd, surviving the zombie apocalypse is mostly played for laughs and doesn't seem that bad. It's like the first half of Dawn of the Dead when living in a shopping mall is shown as the most fun experience possible before boredom and disillusionment set in in the second half of the film. This movie isn't trying to make much of a statement, is not even close to being one of my favorite zombie movies, but it entertains and successfully made me chuckle and that's good enough!
I don't think I would have liked this movie that much in 2009, but I can enjoy it now and feel good about that!
Tonight I watched Zombieland for the first time. I've been a fan of zombies since I was 12 or 13 or so and saw Night of the Living Dead. But by the time this movie came out, I was COMPLETELY burnt out on zombies. From 2004-2010 they were everywhere and it got really old. Kind of like how unicorns are now. And I was figuring that a lot of the "lol zombies are great" crowd weren't fans of things I liked, like the George Romero movies or Return of the Living Dead, but instead thought it was funny to have rotting people stumbling around eating brains or were a fan of the power-fantasy of being the last person in the world and getting to take whatever you want and shoot zombies/people.
And honestly, Zombieland kind of plays to that crowd, surviving the zombie apocalypse is mostly played for laughs and doesn't seem that bad. It's like the first half of Dawn of the Dead when living in a shopping mall is shown as the most fun experience possible before boredom and disillusionment set in in the second half of the film. This movie isn't trying to make much of a statement, is not even close to being one of my favorite zombie movies, but it entertains and successfully made me chuckle and that's good enough!
I don't think I would have liked this movie that much in 2009, but I can enjoy it now and feel good about that!
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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: Racketyboy Month of Horror 9: The Axis of Sorta Evil
In honor of Ack’s trip to Italy, my wife and I made a delicious puttanesca, opened a bottle of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, and watched the ridiculously titled...
The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974). It is pretty much a perfect giallo film. Lurid subject matter? Check. Bright colors in almost every beautifully composed frame? Check. Dream-logic semi-coherent plot? Check. High fashion and aggressively modern Italian furniture? Check. Graphic violence? Check. Ridiculously beautiful female leads? Check. Semi-creepy boyfriend played by a handsome actor trying his best to look like a young Marcello Mastoianni? Check. Insane title? Check. It even has black magic and, at the very end, cannibalism. I mean, what more can you ask for really?
Finally, like so many obscure, wonderful horror films, this movie is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
prfsnl_gmr’s Petrifying September Pre-Game of Putresence
prfsnl_gmr’s Horrifyingly Haunted October Horror House
The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974). It is pretty much a perfect giallo film. Lurid subject matter? Check. Bright colors in almost every beautifully composed frame? Check. Dream-logic semi-coherent plot? Check. High fashion and aggressively modern Italian furniture? Check. Graphic violence? Check. Ridiculously beautiful female leads? Check. Semi-creepy boyfriend played by a handsome actor trying his best to look like a young Marcello Mastoianni? Check. Insane title? Check. It even has black magic and, at the very end, cannibalism. I mean, what more can you ask for really?
Finally, like so many obscure, wonderful horror films, this movie is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
prfsnl_gmr’s Petrifying September Pre-Game of Putresence
prfsnl_gmr’s Horrifyingly Haunted October Horror House
Re: Racketyboy Month of Horror 9: The Axis of Sorta Evil
Nemoide wrote:Ooh, I'm completely unfamiliar with that movie, but as a Karen Black fan, I'm going to have to put it on my list if I can rustle up something with better video quality.
It's a really nice film and Black is excellent in it, but yes, try to find a different copy. The film on Amazon literally filled up about 1/4th of my TV screen. That's how much they'd shrunk the picture down to make up for the crappy quality. I had to use the zoom feature to see anything....not that that helped me much.
Re: Racketyboy Month of Horror 9: The Axis of Sorta Evil
Hellraiser 2
Maybe it's because the movie almost putting me to sleep (doubt it) but this one didn't make whole lot of sense. Channar could have been interesting character but half of the movie he just has that stupid expression on his face and doesn't say anything. Cenobites almost aren't even in the movie and they don't do or say much either.
As far as the effects go the movie is mostly good but otherthan that there's not really anything going for it.
Maybe it's because the movie almost putting me to sleep (doubt it) but this one didn't make whole lot of sense. Channar could have been interesting character but half of the movie he just has that stupid expression on his face and doesn't say anything. Cenobites almost aren't even in the movie and they don't do or say much either.
As far as the effects go the movie is mostly good but otherthan that there's not really anything going for it.
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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: Racketyboy Month of Horror 9: The Axis of Sorta Evil
Man...
I really liked Hellraiser 2. It’s not much of a horror film, but the whole thing is just so bonkers. To each his own, I suppose.
I really liked Hellraiser 2. It’s not much of a horror film, but the whole thing is just so bonkers. To each his own, I suppose.
Re: Racketyboy Month of Horror 9: The Axis of Sorta Evil
Same. It's way more campy, but the bigger budget, Labyrinth, monster designs and sets, etc are all amazing.
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noiseredux
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Re: Racketyboy Month of Horror 9: The Axis of Sorta Evil
Personally I vastly prefer the first Hellraiser. I actually think the bigger budget and overly bonkers shit just removes the creepy claustrophobia of the first movie. But, Hellbound does feel like a good bridge between the first movie (which is amazing) and basically all the sequels, which are rather literally just throwaway b-movie horror scripts with Cenobites added in.
