Interesting thoughts on Hellraiser Inferno, Ack. I've heard basically what you said, it's a massive left turn...but not totally for the worst. Maybe I'll check it out. I'm pretty sure all the movies after that though are straight to video, so I have no plans going further.
I got some laughs out of Hellraiser 3 and 4. I remember 3 having a really gruesome and funny bar scene, then towards the end when TV's and sewer tops were exploding in the city it was full on comedy. I thought I was watching another Elm Street movie. As for 4, I actually dug it for the most part. Some more cool cenobites designs, Pinhead channels his inner Freddy even more, and well... if anything it was better than Jason X to me.
So I haven't seen both The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable since they came out. hate to say, I didn't really care for them another time around almost 20 years later. They're fine films and Bruce acts his ass off in these for once, but yeah. Even beyond the fact that once you kind of know the one trick to the films, the "scary" scenes in The Sixth Sense just aren't that great and Unbreakable was just really slow. I guess sure, Unbreakable is a cool departure for the super hero norm, but eh.
Also watched Pandorum last week. It was solid fun and had a lot of Dead Space vibes which I liked. Unfortunately, like a lot of horror or sci-fi films... the "monsters" in this were basically just vicious ugly orc/white humans. That's extremely boring and kind of brings down the fun to me, so that's my biggest complaint. All in all it kind of felt like a more serious and better Event Horizon, but your mileage may vary. Loved those Dead Space vibes though.
Month of Horror 8: The Hellworld Gospel Resurrection Legacy
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noiseredux
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Re: Month of Horror 8: The Hellworld Gospel Resurrection Leg
I like it more than The Sixth Sense. Bruce and the concept is awesome. Just didn't blow me away like it did in 2000. lol
Re: Month of Horror 8: The Hellworld Gospel Resurrection Leg
Blood Salvage
AKA Mad Jake
Jake Pruit and his two mentally challenged sons have a lucrative towing business: They run people off the road, imprison them and then sell their organs on the black market. Lately though, Jake has become obsessed with a wheelchair-bound beauty queen named April Evans. Jake is convinced he can fix her. So when the mobility challenged beauty queen shows up at a local pageant, Jake puts his plan into motion, running her RV off the road and kidnapping the family. With April the only family member not in line for the chopping block, it now falls on her to try to get her family out of this situation. But with limited mobility, and three deranged rednecks and their pet alligator running around, that's going to be easier said than done.
Blood Salvage is an interesting combination of Misery and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, only less serious. Jake and his family are doing horrific things to the people they trap, but some of the situations and acting are so over the top that it negates some of the more terrifying situations. I wouldn’t out right call it a comedy, but there is enough intentional humor to make it not feel too heavy.
The movie is also rife in the familiar hixploitation (is that what it’s called? I think that’s what it’s called) sub genre. At it’s heart, the plot can be boiled down to the street-smart city slicker versus the idiot rednecks. Except in this case, Jake’s not as dumb as all the bible thumping he starts the film off with might lead you to assume. You have to be at least a little smart to keep an underground, black market organ farm going for as long as he has, after all. And that’s not even going into the skill necessary to remove the organs of his victims and keep them alive, sans already removed organs, until he can find a use for what’s left of their fleshy bits. Yeah, Jake is no dummy.
Unfortunately for him though, neither is April.
Although she does start off by being very annoying.
The lack of credit the viewer might give Jake is pretty much equal to the lack of credit Jake gives April. April starts off by being a bit whiney and annoying. Perhaps understandable, since she just lost the local pageant. But she grows into her ‘final girl’ role quite admirably. Despite her lack of mobility, which the movie does not shy away from pointing out, she proves to be clever, resourceful and persistent. Very admirable traits when dealing with a bunch of psycho rednecks. She also gets points for being the only member in her family not suffering from ‘horror victim head trauma’. She is the lone voice of pessimism who immediately pegs mild-mannered Jake as the lying crazy-pants he is. She ends up being the only one who refuses to willing go into his house, while everyone else is easily tricked into going inside. And even after she ends up all alone, she refuses to go down without a fight. It’s the film’s way of trying to show us that our heroine is full of spunk.
High powered, lead-filled spunk
What the film is not full of, surprisingly, is blood. For a movie with Blood in the title, it is shocking lacking in the substance. Considering the nature of the film, we do see blood, guts and human parts, but it’s not nearly as much as one would expect. It does, however, make up for this with a fire, a car chase, an explosion and some very creepy imagery of Jake’s many half-living victims that he has strung up and tied down in the barn.
Okay, so not all of them are 'half-living'
Good news! Elvis is alive! Now for the bad news….
As for the performances, they were actually pretty damn good. There are some solid performances here. Danny Nelson, especially, is on point as Jake, flipping effortlessly between mild-mannered workman, to preacher, to creepy as all-hell. It was all much better than I expected, so I was pleasantly surprised. Even Evander Holyfield didn’t suck.
Though why he agreed to help finance
the film is anyone’s guess.
So Blood Salvage actually turned out to be kinda fun. It’s a nice mix of campy, crazy and creepy, but it’s not funny enough for me to truly consider it a comedy. While it’s got some fun scenes and some surprisingly decent effects, it also suffers from some pacing issues and some character and religious cliches that sort of drag it down. But it’s still a fun B movie for those looking for something a little more off-beat.
Sadly, it doesn’t look like Blood Salvage ever got a DVD or Bluray release, so those interested are going to either have to watch it on Youtube or track down a VHS copy.
AKA Mad Jake
Jake Pruit and his two mentally challenged sons have a lucrative towing business: They run people off the road, imprison them and then sell their organs on the black market. Lately though, Jake has become obsessed with a wheelchair-bound beauty queen named April Evans. Jake is convinced he can fix her. So when the mobility challenged beauty queen shows up at a local pageant, Jake puts his plan into motion, running her RV off the road and kidnapping the family. With April the only family member not in line for the chopping block, it now falls on her to try to get her family out of this situation. But with limited mobility, and three deranged rednecks and their pet alligator running around, that's going to be easier said than done.
Blood Salvage is an interesting combination of Misery and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, only less serious. Jake and his family are doing horrific things to the people they trap, but some of the situations and acting are so over the top that it negates some of the more terrifying situations. I wouldn’t out right call it a comedy, but there is enough intentional humor to make it not feel too heavy.
The movie is also rife in the familiar hixploitation (is that what it’s called? I think that’s what it’s called) sub genre. At it’s heart, the plot can be boiled down to the street-smart city slicker versus the idiot rednecks. Except in this case, Jake’s not as dumb as all the bible thumping he starts the film off with might lead you to assume. You have to be at least a little smart to keep an underground, black market organ farm going for as long as he has, after all. And that’s not even going into the skill necessary to remove the organs of his victims and keep them alive, sans already removed organs, until he can find a use for what’s left of their fleshy bits. Yeah, Jake is no dummy.
Unfortunately for him though, neither is April.
Although she does start off by being very annoying.
The lack of credit the viewer might give Jake is pretty much equal to the lack of credit Jake gives April. April starts off by being a bit whiney and annoying. Perhaps understandable, since she just lost the local pageant. But she grows into her ‘final girl’ role quite admirably. Despite her lack of mobility, which the movie does not shy away from pointing out, she proves to be clever, resourceful and persistent. Very admirable traits when dealing with a bunch of psycho rednecks. She also gets points for being the only member in her family not suffering from ‘horror victim head trauma’. She is the lone voice of pessimism who immediately pegs mild-mannered Jake as the lying crazy-pants he is. She ends up being the only one who refuses to willing go into his house, while everyone else is easily tricked into going inside. And even after she ends up all alone, she refuses to go down without a fight. It’s the film’s way of trying to show us that our heroine is full of spunk.
High powered, lead-filled spunk
What the film is not full of, surprisingly, is blood. For a movie with Blood in the title, it is shocking lacking in the substance. Considering the nature of the film, we do see blood, guts and human parts, but it’s not nearly as much as one would expect. It does, however, make up for this with a fire, a car chase, an explosion and some very creepy imagery of Jake’s many half-living victims that he has strung up and tied down in the barn.
Okay, so not all of them are 'half-living'
Good news! Elvis is alive! Now for the bad news….
As for the performances, they were actually pretty damn good. There are some solid performances here. Danny Nelson, especially, is on point as Jake, flipping effortlessly between mild-mannered workman, to preacher, to creepy as all-hell. It was all much better than I expected, so I was pleasantly surprised. Even Evander Holyfield didn’t suck.
Though why he agreed to help finance
the film is anyone’s guess.
So Blood Salvage actually turned out to be kinda fun. It’s a nice mix of campy, crazy and creepy, but it’s not funny enough for me to truly consider it a comedy. While it’s got some fun scenes and some surprisingly decent effects, it also suffers from some pacing issues and some character and religious cliches that sort of drag it down. But it’s still a fun B movie for those looking for something a little more off-beat.
Sadly, it doesn’t look like Blood Salvage ever got a DVD or Bluray release, so those interested are going to either have to watch it on Youtube or track down a VHS copy.
Re: Month of Horror 8: The Hellworld Gospel Resurrection Leg
Yep, you nailed it. It's also sometimes spelled hicksploitation, but the 'x' seems grimier and therefore works better.Michi wrote:hixploitation (is that what it’s called? I think that’s what it’s called) sub genre.
Also, have you ever seen Holyfield's mansions? Yeah, he probably financed a cheap horror flick to help pay for those things.
Re: Month of Horror 8: The Hellworld Gospel Resurrection Leg
Oh, good. I thought that sounded right.Ack wrote:Yep, you nailed it. It's also sometimes spelled hicksploitation, but the 'x' seems grimier and therefore works better.Michi wrote:hixploitation (is that what it’s called? I think that’s what it’s called) sub genre.
Also, have you ever seen Holyfield's mansions? Yeah, he probably financed a cheap horror flick to help pay for those things.
And no, I haven't seen his homes. Though his financial backing would explain the surprisingly high production values the film had.
Re: Month of Horror 8: The Hellworld Gospel Resurrection Leg
The route to my dad's old place would take me right by one of Holyfield's mansions just south of Atlanta. The place was MASSIVE. Apparently he also owned the big mansion next door and several large houses in nearby neighborhoods. I think by now he's sold it all, but yeah, that guy had enough money to blow on something like this.
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Exhuminator
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Re: Month of Horror 8: The Hellworld Gospel Resurrection Leg
Not knowingly, but myself and some co-workers met him IRL this year at a Brave's game. He walked through the VIP lounge and we saw him in there. Dude is super nice.Ack wrote:Also, have you ever seen Holyfield's mansions?
PLAY KING'S FIELD.
Re: Month of Horror 8: The Hellworld Gospel Resurrection Leg
**adds Blood Salvage to laserdisc wishlist**
Tonight I revisited The Mummy (1932) which I haven't seen since I was maybe 15. I love old Universal monster movies but this one didn't capture my imagination the way Frankenstein or The Wolf Man did. I used to lump it in with the original Dracula, which I thought was a total snorefest. I've read other people calling it essentially a remake of Dracula but with a mummy instead of a vampire, and so I avoided rewatching it for a long time. But I bought the Legacy Collection blu-ray set and rewatching it as an adult, I really got into it!
Like all the best horror films The Mummy is about human sexuality, and it's in the forefront. The protagonist is ostensibly a young Egyptologist from England, but really the female love-interest carries most of the film's emotional weight. She loves the Englishman (which the film condones as proper) but is uncontrollably drawn to Imhotep, who is Egyptian AND living dead, the idea of their romance would have been horrifying to white American middle-class values in the 1930s. Most of the film is about how torn she is between the socially acceptable love interest, and the deviant forbidden-love interest. Imhotep is definitely portrayed as an evil monster, he demonstrates more power than Dracula ever did in the original movie, but the fact that love is his primary motivator gives him a strange sympathetic quality. IMO, this is the essence of classic horror!
Tonight I revisited The Mummy (1932) which I haven't seen since I was maybe 15. I love old Universal monster movies but this one didn't capture my imagination the way Frankenstein or The Wolf Man did. I used to lump it in with the original Dracula, which I thought was a total snorefest. I've read other people calling it essentially a remake of Dracula but with a mummy instead of a vampire, and so I avoided rewatching it for a long time. But I bought the Legacy Collection blu-ray set and rewatching it as an adult, I really got into it!
Like all the best horror films The Mummy is about human sexuality, and it's in the forefront. The protagonist is ostensibly a young Egyptologist from England, but really the female love-interest carries most of the film's emotional weight. She loves the Englishman (which the film condones as proper) but is uncontrollably drawn to Imhotep, who is Egyptian AND living dead, the idea of their romance would have been horrifying to white American middle-class values in the 1930s. Most of the film is about how torn she is between the socially acceptable love interest, and the deviant forbidden-love interest. Imhotep is definitely portrayed as an evil monster, he demonstrates more power than Dracula ever did in the original movie, but the fact that love is his primary motivator gives him a strange sympathetic quality. IMO, this is the essence of classic horror!
Re: Month of Horror 8: The Hellworld Gospel Resurrection Leg
I finished the campaign in Dying Light yesterday and overall was very impressed with the game. I may or may not play the game's "The Following" expansion this month because, as is, I have already sunk a ton of hours into the main story/sidequests and want to diversify my horror gaming this month. But I do plan to go back to it at some point. Still, if you like FPS/RPG hybrids and horror games and still haven't checked out the game (or if you have put it off because you weren't too intrigued by Dead Island...which I couldn't get into), I would strongly recommend you give this one a look. There's a ton of content and a lot of zombie-infused fun to be had.
I have been slow on movies. I tried for the third time to watch House (Hausu) last night but every time I give that one a go I just end up falling asleep. I will try to finish up the second half of it tonight or tomorrow. I also want to watch the Cat People films this month and hope to get around to watching Get Out...
I have been slow on movies. I tried for the third time to watch House (Hausu) last night but every time I give that one a go I just end up falling asleep. I will try to finish up the second half of it tonight or tomorrow. I also want to watch the Cat People films this month and hope to get around to watching Get Out...