More Arrows Have Arrived – Now I Just Need A Snowstorm

Posted on March 30, 2016 by geelw

Yikes. As busy as I was/am this past week, it seems I’m about to be watching a lot more movies over the next week or so. Too bad it’s almost April as this would be the perfect time to get stuck indoors with a few feet of snow on the ground. Or not. Well, there’s a new Dollar Tree opening up tomorrow morning at 8 and it’s within walking distance. So my popcorn needs will be taken care of and I maybe tempted to grab a box of Dots or something movie candy-like if I don’t get trampled by all those old ladies and early bargain hunters who’ll flood the place and trash it before the day is through.

Okay, back to work here – I’m in the middle of something like half a dozen games (all worth your time and money) that need to be reviewed.

Blu-Ray Review: The Mutilator (Fall Break)

Posted on March 26, 2016 by geelw

If you missed out on Buddy Cooper’s amusing and gory slasher flick The Mutilator way back when it was in theaters or later on VHS, you’re in for a treat thanks to Arrow Video. This one’s got the goofy acting and eyebrow-raising plot holes you’d expect from the genre, but it’s the exceptionally nifty gore effects from Mark Shostrom (Videodrome, Evil Dead II) that will get most viewers on the hook (pun intended).

As for special features, Arrow packs the disc with a raft of bonus content that makes the film a lot more enjoyable thanks to all the great interviews with the cast and crew that participated. These extras are all a great thing as the story here is pretty standard genre wrangling saved by some humor and the aforementioned gore effects.

Ten years after accidentally shooting his mother, Ed Jr. (Matt Mitler) gets a phone call from his dad with a request to close up his beach condo for the winter. After his girlfriend Pam (Ruth Martinez), and school chums Ralph (Bill Hitchcock), Sue (Connie Rogers), Mike (Morey Lampley), and Linda (Frances Raines) invite themselves along for a little fun in the cool fall sun, they discover the condo in a rather messy state. Chalking it up to Big Ed being drunk with a few friends, two of the teens commence their usual getting drunk and splitting up for some alone time antics. Let’s just say Big Ed has a little (okay, somewhat large and sharp) axe to grind with his son… and his poor friends just so happen to be in the wrong place at the right time for him to get in some prime chop time. Continue reading →

PC Review: The Count Lucanor

Posted on March 17, 2016 by geelw

Platform: PC (via Steam)

Developer/Publisher: Baroque Decay Games

# of Players: 1

MSRP: $9.99

ESRB Rating: N/A (but it’s NOT for the kiddies!)

Official Site

Score: A- (90%)

When a game’s press info mentions classics The Legend of Zelda and Silent Hill as inspirations, it’s either going to be really great or really lousy. Fortunately, Baroque Decay’s excellent The Count Lucanor is not only really great, it’s one of those smartly designed “retro” games that does pretty much everything right. The game is funny, a bit frightening (and best played in the darkness) and definitely disturbing on a few fronts. While it’s not a lengthy experience at all, the about 5 hours it takes to play (which is your average 8 or 16-bit game length, not counting RPG or strategy titles) means it won’t wear out its welcome when all is said and done. Five different endings mean there’s replay value to be had if you want to see every possible outcome, but you can mildly abuse the save system if you don’t want to start from the beginning each time. Continue reading →

Arrow Video’s April Showers of Awesome Flicks

Posted on March 16, 2016 by geelw

If you’re an Arrow Video collector here in the U.S., things are about to get even more interesting in your library thanks to the company’s SIX April releases through MVD Entertainment Group.

The month of solid releases kicks off April 5th with Death Walks Twice: Two Films By Luciano Ercoli – Limited Edition Boxset (MSRP $69.95), a Blu-Ray/DVD combo featuring two films, Death Walks on High Heels (1971) and Death Walks at Midnight (1972). Both films star the lovely Nieves Navarro (billed as Susan Scott) and are two seminal giallo classics worth snapping up.

Only 3000 of this set will be made and as usual, Arrow is packing that LE box with both films and special features galore:

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

Limited Edition boxed-set (3000 copies) containing Death Walks on High Heels and Death Walks at Midnight
Brand new 2K restorations of the films from original film elements
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
Original Italian and English soundtracks in mono audio
Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtracks
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtracks
Limited Edition 60-page booklet containing new writing on the films from authors Danny Shipka (Perverse Titillation: The Exploitation Cinema of Italy, Spain and France), Troy Howarth (So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films) and writer Leonard Jacobs

DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS

Audio commentary by film critic Tim Lucas
Introduction to the film by screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi
From Spain with Love – featurette comprising newly-edited archive footage of director Luciano Ercoli and actress Nieves Navarro, interviewed at their home in Barcelona
Master of Giallo – screenwriter Gastaldi on Death Walks on High Heels and how to write a successful giallo
Death Walks to the Beat – a career-spanning interview with High Heels composer Stelvio Cipriani
Original Italian and English trailers
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx

DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT

Audio commentary by film critic Tim Lucas
Introduction to the film by screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi
Extended TV version of the feature
Crime Does Pay – screenwriter Gastaldi reflects on his career in the crime film-writing business, including a look at Death Walks at Midnight
Desperately Seeking Susan – visual essay by Michael Mackenzie exploring the distinctive giallo collaborations between director Luciano Ercoli and star Nieves Navarro
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx

And that’s only the first of six great genre films and film sets coming next month… Continue reading →

Blu-Ray Review: Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood

Posted on March 14, 2016 by geelw

Having seen my share of horror oddities on TV, in theaters an via assorted video formats since the 1970’s (okay, late 60’s if you count those Chiller Theater and Creature Feature reruns), I have to say Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood is way up there as one of the more bizarrely unfocused storytelling-wise but visually striking genre films I can recall. Thanks to Arrow Video, the film has been lovingly restored and presented as one of the three films in its must-own American Horror Project Volume 1.

Director Christoper Speeth‘s unusual flick is a loosely (VERY loosely) plotted tale of a family who’s invested in a run-down carnival that has some pretty grim secrets underneath its dilapidated thrill rides. Some viewers may note slight similarities to Carnival of Souls, Night of the Living Dead and certain silent films the movie itself spotlights at certain moments. While the film does suffer from a number of continuity issues no editor could fix thanks to many shots being done in a single take, the production design and overall tone here makes this one well worth watching. Trust me, if the bizarre found object set design doesn’t hook you in, it’ll be the general weirdness and downbeat tone you can feel from the outset that work their magic on your eyes and brain. Did I mention you also get to see singing ghouls and cannibalism by said ghouls here? Nope? Well, yes indeed you do.
Continue reading →

Blu-Ray Review: The Premonition (1976)

Posted on March 13, 2016 by geelw

As with The Witch Who Came From the Sea, the second film in Arrow Video’s mostly great American Horror Project Volume 1 collection isn’t really a traditional genre flick at all. Robert Allen Schnitzer‘s 1976 film, The Premonition is more of a visually intense psychological thriller with a supernatural theme running through it.

Don’t go into this one expecting gallons of blood and guts all over the walls and floors, folks. The film is a more deliberately paced thriller with a somewhat complex “child in danger” plot that seems to have been rewritten over another idea for a competent family drama of the week TV movie. Continue reading →

Blu-Ray Review: The Witch Who Came from the Sea

Posted on March 6, 2016 by geelw

Arrow Video and MVD Visual are giving horror genre fans a true trio of rarely seen treat with its new American Horror Project series. Volume 1 (limited to only 3000 copies) contains three films from the 1970’s restored as best as possible and packed with loads of must-see bonuses that make this collection well worth the cost. Each of the films here is such a revelation of both great, bizarre and bad elements that I’ll be covering them in separate reviews starting with (in my opinion) is the best of the trio.

Matt Cimber‘s 1976 film The Witch Who Came From the Sea is both amazing and disturbing on a few levels. A startling performance by Millie Perkins (best known to classic film fans for The Diary of Anne Frank) and lovely cinematography by Dean Cundey make this one of those films that creeps up under your skin and stays there for a while. Molly (Perkins) watches her young nephews during the day, filling their heads with tales of their seaman grandfather’s heroic deeds and pumping them up with admiration for sports stars they see on TV. At night she works as a barmaid in a dockside dive, sometimes sleeping with her boisterous boss, Long John (Lonny Chapman). That’s not her biggest secret, however. She was a severely abused child who descended into a quiet madness during her years of torture who’s now a serial killer with specific men as her targets. Continue reading →

House Shark: Become A Chum, Help This Indie Horror Comedy Get Made

Posted on January 30, 2016 by geelw

House Shark Poster

A killer “B” in the making, House Shark caught my eye (ow!) with its intentionally cornball “Jaws in a house” plot and liberal doses of humor and primarily practical effects work. SRS Cinema and veteran indie director Ron Bonk (there needs to be a cartoon sound effect here) is looking for like-minded horror fanatics to help him fund his latest venture with a mere $15,000 target between those who donate and the completed film. There are 22 days left to get this show on the road (or back on the road), so if you’re a fan of low-budget gore and spirited film making in a jugular vein, you know where you’re clicking next.

(Thanks, SRS CinemaLLC!)

In English: Check out the Indiegogo campaign here and take note that contributing at least $60 to funding will net you (among other rewards) House Shark on one of three formats (VHS, DVD or Blu-Ray), you’ll also get a copy of his upcoming homage to female revenge flicks of the 1970’s, She Kills (that trailer isn’t for the kiddies, folks!). You can also choose to dive into the shallow end of the pool and get less perks or belly flop into the ocean as a high roller and actually be an EXTRA or even one of the film’s producers if you’re willing to travel.

Hmmm… does anyone want to ring up a certain wealthy, wild-haired egomaniac running for office and get him off the trail for a few weeks? Sharking in a house in upstate NY just may be more up his alley than stirring up all those hornet nests all over the place. Better to have him in the real entertainment business than making a “reality” show out of more serious stuff, I say.

Hotel Inferno: POV Horror Puts The Fear In Your Face

Posted on January 28, 2016 by geelw

hotel-inferno-NECROSTORM

HOTEL INFERNO 3

Horror fans who haven’t see it yet are going to get a hard kick in the eyeballs with Hotel Inferno, a POV (point of view) shot film from 2013 that puts you in the shoes of a hired killer tacking the job of taking out a number of targets who fins out the job is a lot more sinister than he’s been told. To the moviegoers who avoid the gory stuff, it may not be seen as either a “modern classic” or as memorable as Dark Passage or Lady in the Lake. But I say it’s absolutely worth a watch for the practical effects work, to see where the crazy plot goes, and to find out if it makes you jump out of your seat a few times like a good gore-fest should.

HOTEL-2

Some ickier (and definitely not for the kiddies!) screens are below the jump… if you dare! Continue reading →

Four More Arrow Video Releases Landing Soon

Posted on January 14, 2016 by geelw

Your movie collection is about to get four more titles larger thanks to Arrow Video’s upcoming releases though MVD Entertainment Group. January brings you Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Volume 1 (1/26/16, $49.95 MSRP), a set of three films from the famed Japanese studio from directors Seijun Suzuki (Voice Without a Shadow), Toshio Masuda (Red Pier) and Buichi Saito (The Rambling Guitarist).

Hideaki Nitani,Yujiro Ishihara, and Akira Koabyashi are the Diamond Guys represented in this first volume, so this set will be another essential for fans of Japanese cinema. This set also makes me wonder if there’s a Nikkatsu Diamond Gals series coming at some point as I can think of a few actresses who worked for the studio that merit a collection like this. Amusingly enough, as I was typing this, the mail arrived and yep, those Diamond Guys are nowhere. I know what I’m doing this evening, folks.

February brings Pam Grier to you in fine form indeed, but don’t get any bad ideas, buster. William Girdler’s 1975 blaxploitation hit Sheba, Baby (2/9/2016) will set you straight for the more than reasonable price of $29.95 plus tax where applicable.

One of Pam’s three flicks from that busy year (the other two being Bucktown and Friday Foster, both of which really deserve the Arrow treatment along with an all-new interview with Pam on her magnificent body of work), this one’s probably the most noteworthy in my book. Word on the street is you’re going to get it or someone will give it to you but good (well, if you’re lucky, that is…).

Pray For Death ($29.95) also comes your way in February (2/16/2016) and if you’re into mid 80’s action flicks, this one’s got you name all over it in big neon letters. Martial arts star Sho Kosugi (Enter The Ninja) gets his kicks on some poor villainous dopes who try to ruin his American dream.

Revenge fans, take note: director Gordon Hessler (Scream and Scream Again) amps up the violence here with a killer finale that shows Sho showing up a bunch of baddies, badly maiming them to the point that the don’t need an ambulance at all, but a nice meat wagon to take what parts remain to the closest cannibal stew pot. Ouch.

Speaking of horrors, American Horror Project Volume 1 ($99.95) hits at the end of February (2/23/2016) in a limited edition of 3000 copies, bringing three restored and hard to find fright flicks to you… if you dare (or something like that).

Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood(1973), The Witch Who Came from the Sea (1976), and The Premonition (1976) all get the 2K treatment and a wealth of special features horror film aficionados will appreciate. This series in particular piques my interest because there are plenty of films I can recall partially from my younger days that have yet to appear on a decent home video format in the US. Granted, some of those are in the public domain, but in pretty lousy condition. Having the fine folks at Arrow give these three oldies a new life is the best thing that’s happened to them in decades.