The Devil’s Tramping Ground is a camping spot located in a forest near the Harper’s Crossroads area near Bennett, North Carolina. It has been the subject of persistent local legends and lore, which frequently allege that the Devil ”tramps” and haunts a barren circle of ground in which nothing is supposed to grow.

Stories about the ring are well known in the local community. These include the disappearance of objects left within the ring overnight, dogs yipping and howling not wanting to go near it, and strange events occurring to those brave enough to spend the night within its boundaries. It has been alleged that nothing has grown within the 40 foot ring for a hundred years. Legend says that this is the very place the devil himself can rise from the depths of fiery hell, and come to earth. It’s at this place that the devil is supposed to walk in circles on certain nights and bring his evil into this world.

John William Harden (1903–1985) of Greensboro, N.C., journalist, newspaper editor, author, and advisor to North Carolina governors and textile executives, had this to say of the Devil’s Tramping Ground:

Chatham natives say… that the Devil goes there to walk in circles as he thinks up new means of causing trouble for humanity. There, sometimes during the dark of night, the Majesty of the Underworld of Evil silently tramps around that bare circle– thinking, plotting, and planning against good, and in behalf of wrong. So far as is known, no person has ever spent the night there to disprove this is what happens… (Harden, 1949)

The camping spot is in fact mostly bare, but does include some vegetation (visible in photo above also). Objects as well as campers have repeatedly stayed within the circle overnight. The site is often littered with broken glass and beer cans, as well as “spooky” spray-painting on nearby trees, suggesting that local youth are more likely the nighttime “trampers”.

The Devils’s Tramping Ground is mentioned in two horror novels by Poppy Z. Brite: Lost Souls and Drawing Blood. Both these novels take place, at least in part, in the fictional North Carolina city of Missing Mile.

Wikipedia

Buried Alive (working title: Till Death Do Us Part) is a 1990 horror thriller television film directed by Frank Darabont (Tales from the Crypt TV series, The Mist, The Walking Dead TV series) from a screenplay by Mark Patrick Carducci, based on a story by David A. Davies. It stars Tim Matheson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, William Atherton and Hoyt Axton.

A sequel followed in 1997, titled Buried Alive II, starring Ally Sheedy and Stephen Caffrey. The film also was directed by and co-starred Tim Matheson, who along with Brian Libby were the only cast members from the original to return. The film followed a similar plot to Buried Alive, switching the genders of the leading characters.

Plot:

Clint Goodman is a successful contractor who has built his comfortable house and his construction company in his hometown through hard work. He loves his wife Joanna, but she is very resentful to him most of the time, they have been trying unsuccessfully to have a baby. Clint’s best friend is Sheriff Sam Eberly and every now and then they spend the night fishing in the lake.

Unknown to Clint, Joanna has been having an affair with the local doctor Cortland van Owen. The lovers plot to kill Clint and sell his company and his house, then move to Beverly Hills to buy a clinic. Cortland gives poison to Joanna, which is taken from a rare poisonous tropical fish. She is hesitant at first to go along with the idea but changes her mind; when they are having dinner she spikes Clint’s wine with the poison. Clint has a heart attack and dies. When the coroner asks if an autopsy should be done, Cort refuses. While Clint is at the morgue he shows signs of life and just before he is to be embalmed, Joanna gives him a quick and cheap funeral instead, skipping the embalming process. Clint is put in a cheap water-damaged coffin, varnished to look like new. After his funeral, Joanna and Cortland celebrate. During a stormy night, Clint, who has surprisingly survived the dosage, wakes up buried alive, and succeeds in escaping his grave…

Review Quotes:

‘Although the plot of Buried Alive is fairly predictable, the film benefits immensely from some inventive direction from Darabont, while a capable cast of familiar faces including Matheson, Leigh, Atherton and country singer Hoyt Axton also helps to elevate it above your typical TV movie standards.’ Flickering Myth

‘ … it’s aiming to blend elements of noir, zombie horrors, and the revenge thriller, which it does fine, to a degree. The only downside of all this is that it ends up feeling like a bit from Tales from the Crypt, (something Darabont went on to work on a couple of times) which then leaves you wondering why the whole thing isn’t just a romping 25 minutes long … All in all this is a weird one. As a TV movie from 1990, it’s a real winner. As a DVD, it’s great if you love Tales From the Crypt and Creepshow as much as I do, but it is heavy on the ham.’ Love Horror

‘ … what really sells the film are its performances, especially the brittle bitch Jennifer Jason Leigh creates for Joanna. She’s completely believable as a wealth-obsessed leech, whose garish lipstick and bombshell blonde hair perfectly exemplify her shallowness. The actress envelopes herself into the character, who is truly detestable. It’s not one of her best performances, but then her CV is packed with greatness. Matheson crafts an equally believable character, and he’s so likable that I often wondered how exactly this polar opposite couple had ended up together. It’s because of his nuanced everyman that I bought into the story, even when its twists and turns became a little silly. He roots the film, and we root for him. Atherton also impresses here, adding depth to the asshole persona he perfected with Ghostbusters (1984) and Die Hard (1988). The three actors have a great dynamic, and it’s a joy to watch them together.’ Michael Ewins, e-Film

Wikipedia | IMDb

The Prey is a 1980 American horror film directed by Edwin Scott Brown from a script he wrote with his spouse Summer Brown (the latter also produced). It was apparently released to cinemas briefly in 1984 by New World Pictures.

The film stars Debbie Thureson, Steve Bond (Massacre at Central High, To Die For), Lori Lethin (Return to Horror High, Werewolf TV series), Robert Wald, Gayle Gannes (Human Experiments), Philip Wenckus, Jackson Bostwick (The Psychopath, What Waits Below, The Outing), Jackie Coogan (Halloween with the New Addams Family), Connie Hunter (Something Evil) and Garry Goodrow (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1978, Eating Raoul, Once Bitten). Future adult movie star John Leslie has an uncredited role as a gypsy.

Don Peake (The Hills Have Eyes, 1977) provided the score except for the opening credits which are accompanied by Modest Mussorgsky’s classical piece ‘Night on Bald Mountain‘.

Review:

The deep, dark forest has always been an ideal setting for slasher flicks, hasn’t it? From Don’t Go In The Woods to The Forest to I Spit On Your Grave to, of course, summer-camp fare like Friday the 13th, Sleepaway Camp, The Burning, etc. the formula is a simple,  yet effective,  one — throw a bunch of city folks out in the sticks and bad things happen to them. They’re out of their element, while the killer is most certainly in his, so there’s never any question about who’s got the upper hand and who’s gotta fight to (temporarily, in most cases) survive. It’s cheap, it’s easy, and it works. Why mess with a good thing?

In 1980, former (and future) porn director Edwin Brown figured he might as well throw his hat into the horror ring and show he could make a backwoods slasher, as well, since everybody else seemed to be doing it — and making a tidy little profit in the process. With a little bit of money (under $50,000 from what little info I’ve been able to gather) to go out to the wilds of Utah to see what he could come up with. The end result is The Prey, one of the slowest, most hopelessly padded, most agonizingly repetetive entries in the entire “country killer stalks the city slickers” canon, yet  also a  remarkably interesting one — albeit for all the wrong reasons.

Here’s the deal: in 1948 in a remote area of the Keen Wild known as the North Point Woods, there was a forest fire. Some unnamed dude evidently got burned up pretty bad in it, and now, in 1980, seemingly out of nowhere, he’s out for blood. Fortunately for him, a half-dozen semi-virile late-teens/early-20s types (none of whom are played by anyone I recognize) show up, so he can start his killing spree good and proper. There ain’t much blood, there ain’t much by way of even partial nudity, and there definitely ain’t anything fitting any standard definition of the word “riveting” going on.

And that’s about it as far as the plot goes. Here’s where things get (forgive me for abusing the term) intriguing, though — Brown (along with — I think, at any rate — his wife, Summer, who co-wrote the screenplay) had so much time to kill that to even hit the 80-minute mark  he resorts to some truly mind-blowing shit in order to stretch the proceedings out.

How mind-blowing, you rightly ask? How about tons and tons of stock footage of various critters in the wild that looks like it’s culled from literally dozens of different National Geographic specials? Seriously, there’s spiders,  lizards, frogs, snakes —  even fucking caterpillars and centipedes — shown for countless minutes on end doing pretty much nothing. And if that’s not enough for ya, the single-longest scene in the flick involves one of the two forest rangers we meet telling a joke about a frog with an unusually wide mouth — to a deer! Yes. Really.

If you’re still in the mood for even more blatant stuffing of the run-time’s ballot box, though, fear not — there are also a bunch of pointless scenes of go-nowhere conversation around campfires, and, in a truly bizarre instance, a lengthy discussion about the culinary merits of cucumber-and-cream-cheese sandwiches. It all becomes so staggeringly mundane that it almost borders on the exotic.

I believe the word we’re looking for here, friends, is surreal. And speaking of surreal, this movie’s Addams Family connections are just that. The forest ranger mentioned a minute ago who can’t get enough cuke sandwiches? He’s played by Jackie Coogan, better known as Uncle Fester from the TV series, and our “hideously” malformed killer (made up by a very-early-in-his-career John Carl Buechler) — who, curiously enough for a film with absolutely nothing going on doesn’t even show up on screen until about the final ten minutes or so — is portrayed by Carel Struycken, who would go on to play Lurch in Barry Sonnenfeld’s two Addams Family movies. How weird is that?

Still, probably weirdest of all is the fact that there apparently exists an even longer, 95-minute cut of this film out there someplace. Don’t ask me what sort of extra filler that might be weighed down with, since by the time Thorn/EMI released this on VHS about a year after its almost-certainly-brief theatrical run (I’ve never met anybody who’s seen this thing on the big screen, have you? Nor could I find a single image of its poster anywhere online —  but New World did, for a fact, put this out theatrically — somewhere) it had been mercifully pared down to the still-way-longer-than-it-has-any-business-being version most of us remember (to the extent that any of us remember it at all). It’s never been released on DVD, so I’ll leave you with a link to the VHS cut that some enterprising horror fan has slapped up for posterity on YouTube. Be prepared for the longest hour and twenty minutes of your life. But not, curiously enough, the dullest.

Ryan, C. – review courtesy of Trash Film Guru

Wikipedia | IMDb

Zombeavers is a 2013 American sex comedy horror film co-written (with Al and Jon Kaplan) and directed by Jordan Rubin. It stars Bill Burr, Cortney Palm, Rachel Melvin, Hutch Dano, Jake Weary, Rex Linn, Brent Briscoe, Robert R. Shafer, Peter Gilroy, Lexi Atkins, Phyllis Katz and Chad Anderson.

A group of college kids staying at a riverside cabin are menaced by a horde of deadly zombie beavers. A planned weekend of sex and debauchery soon turns gruesome as the beavers close in on the terrified teens who must fight to save their lives…

‘Horny co-eds, severed feet, the great outdoors, and undead beavers chomping their way toward crotch, Zombeavers is more than just a simple film. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will inspire great interest in mother nature, and it just might teach you something about love. For instance, in one scene a man says, “I’ve never seen a beaver up close.” His girlfriend responds, “You should try going down on me once in a while.” See? Life lessons.’ Lacy Donohue, Defamer at Gawker.com

IMDb

Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud  (aka Pumpkinhead 4: Blood Feud) is a 2007 made for television sequel in the Pumpkinhead franchise of horror films. The film was written and directed by Mke Hurst. It directly follows 2006′s Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes. It stars Amy Manson as Jody Hatfield, Bradley Taylor as Ricky McCoy, Claire Lams as Dolly Hatfield, Rob Freeman as Sheriff Dallas Pope, Ovidiu Niculescu as Bobby Joe Hatfield, Peter Barnes as Papa McCoy, Lance Henriksen as Ed Harley and Elvin Dandel as Tristan McCoy. Initially announced as Pumpkinhead 4, it was filmed in Bucharest, Romania back-to-back with another sequel titled Pumpkinhead 3.

Two men on their motorcycles are driving away from Pumpkinhead. One of the men hits a tree branch in their path, falling from his motorcycle and allowing Pumpkinhead to catch up to him. As the man is being killed, a man in a log cabin seems to share the pain inflicted by Pumpkinhead on the fallen man. The surviving man, named Dallas, rides to the log cabin, and the man who conjured Pumpkinhead, begging him to call the demon off. Pumpkinhead smashes through the window and Dallas attempts to fend him off by shooting him with a small pistol with little effect, and is clawed in the chest by the demon. When Dallas realizes that his bullets have no effect on Pumpkinhead, he swears to take the summoner with him, shooting the man and killing him, causing Pumpkinhead to vanish. Ed Harley then appears telling Dallas that Pumpkinhead will return and there will be no place to hide.

Five years later we are shown the family of the Hatfields and McCoys ongoing feud started because of a car in the 30′s. The Hatfields then trash the McCoy wedding. Jody Hatfield sneaks out to see her true love, Ricky McCoy. Ricky brings his sister, Sarah, to look out for him and Jody. The two then start to make out…

The film seems more concerned with a dreary Romeo and Juliet-style tale of forbidden love and an age-old backwoods family feud rather than the essential horror elements. Decent production values aside this inspires little interest despite the impressive creature effects and the requisite gory demises. Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

‘I couldn’t help but get the feeling this film was originally intended to be set in the early 1900s until the producers came along and insisted that it be set in the present, and despite being set in present times, the filmmakers still went out of their way to make just about everything look, feel, and sound like it’s from at least a century ago. The way they dress, the way they talk, the way they behave, even the town they live in – it all feels like it’s stuck in a time warp like in M. Night’s The Village, but then we see a few modern touches, some old (but not that old) vehicles, and the opening scene even involved some shiny new dirt bikes. Other than that, the majority of the time I felt I was watching “Little Pumpkinhead on the Prairie”.’ Jon Condit, Dread Central

‘ … we get people from LA providing the worst fake southern accents I have heard in a while, and Lance Henrkison looking like melted candle in his 4 minutes of screen time. The Pumpkinhead monster alternated between looking like a claymation puppet from a 60′ sci fi movie, and a mediocre beast formed out of paper mache. The kills are many and are well done considering how stupid Pumpkinhead looks, and the plot moved at a decent enough pace to keep the viewer interested between Pumpkinhead related maulings.’ Bloodcrypt

Choice dialogue:

‘We are what we do’

Wikipedia | IMDb

The Legend of Six Fingers is a 2013 American found footage monster horror film written and directed by Sam Qualiana (Snow Shark: Ancient Show Beast). It stars Debbie Rochon, Lynn Lowry, Andrew Elias, Tiffany Shepis and Tim O’Hearn.

Bloody Earth Films will release the film on DVD and VOD on June 24, 2014.

Two filmmakers, Neil and Andrew, set out to make a documentary about a rash of domestic animal slaughters in rural Western New York. After interviewing several local residents, the filmmakers learn the Native American legend of Yá·yahk osnúhsa? – “Six Fingers” in English, a bipedal creature not unlike Bigfoot, so named because it has three fingers on each hand. Believing that Six Fingers is responsible for the animal slayings, the filmmakers set out on a terrifying journey into the woods to discover whether or not the creature exists…

IMDb | Facebook

Death Do Us Part is a 2014 American horror film directed by Nicholas Humphries from a screenplay by Ryan Copple, Peter Benson and Julia Benson. It stars Julia Benson, Peter Benson, Emilie Ullerup, Christine Chatelain, Kyle Cassie, Benjamin Ayres, Dave Collette, Aaron Douglas, Viv Leacock.

The film is due for release by Anchor Bay Entertainment on April 14, 2014

Plot:

Kennedy Jamieson (Julia Benson) has waited her whole life for her perfect wedding. Engaged to the charming Ryan Harris (Peter Benson), it looks like her dream is about to come true.  Except for one thing – the young couple hasn’t had a chance to celebrate their respective bachelor/bachelorette parties. Ryan’s best man Chet (Kyle Cassie) books a remote cabin in the woods to throw them a “Jack and Jill” party that they’ll never forget.  It doesn’t take long before things take a horrifying turn as members of the group are brutally picked off one by one.

IMDb | We are grateful to Best Movies Ever for some of the images above

Easter Bunny Bloodbath is a 2010 Canadian horror film written and directed by Richard Mogg (Bangin’ Vengeance!). It stars Shayan Bayat (Bangin’ Vengeance!), Meghan Kinsley, Travis Turner (Mighty Mighty Monsters in Halloween Havoc), Adrian Daniels, Laura Hope, Jessica Hill (Resurrection – short), Chris J. Clements, Halie Hunter, Jim Hunter.

To date, the film has only been available via two limited edition VHS releases.

Plot:

Twenty years ago, young Peter McKay watched his father decapitate his sister on Easter morning. Peter never celebrated the Easter holiday again… until now.

Reviews:

“Black humour can fit superbly when utilised the right way in a scary movie, but how many times do we need to see dumb slapstick failing in the slasher genre before filmmakers begin to realise that it just doesn’t work? Here it feels especially out of place because the tone became quite grim on occasion and I was really impressed by the mixture of mystery and terror. Despite some of the dialogue being amusing and the film having some fun, I felt that Mogg could have got much more out of the concept if he just played it straight.” A  Slash Above…

” … while being marketed as a homage it was really just a way for the director and producer to put together the worst possible thing they could as lazily and cheaply as they could and then manipulate those who, like myself, feel a great nostalgia for the old so damn bad they were good straight to video classics like Truth or Dare, A Critical Madness and Microwave Massacre. But this is far removed from anything like that. If anything it’s a mockery and an insult to such things.” Drew Mead, Best Horror Movies

“Despite not being exactly who the producers had in mind, there was enough to love in Easter Bunny Bloodbath that I really had fun with it. I’m all for Easter themed horror that’s not Passion of the Christ, and giving a film an 80s sensibility, even if it was a late 80s sensibility, always seems like a good idea to me. For the most part Easter Bunny Bloodbath is like a recently unearthed 80s slasher, it just happens to be a slasher where the killer is someone in an Easter Bunny outfit.” Devon B., Digital Retribution

“Nevertheless, Richard Mogg set out to make a great bad movie and that’s what he delivered. It has got fake blood splatter and intentionally cheesy acting and it’s all the better for it. He knew he had limitations and he turned those potential weaknesses into strengths and the end result is the best killer Easter Bunny story you’ll ever see… on your home video system.” Doug Ferguson, Sour Grapes Winery

“Finally, those looking for gory on screen deaths will find them here.  The special effects for these kills are not that great but the kills are still fun as hell making this one fun S.O.V. throwback.  Overall, this is a S.O.V. horror comedy that has tons of blood and tons of laughs. I highly recommend it.” Blacktooth, Horror Society

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The Sacrament is a 2013 American horror thriller film directed by Ti West and produced by Eli Roth. The movie had its world premiere on September 3rd, 2013 at the Venice Film Festival and had a wide theatrical release on May 1, 2014.The movie’s plot takes several elements from real life events such as the Jonestown Massacre of 1978 (previously filmed as Guyana: Crime of the Century aka Guyana: Cult of the Damned).

Plot:

New York fashion photographer, Patrick (Kentucker Audley, also seen in West’s segment of V/H/S) somewhat reluctantly decides to visit his sister, Caroline (Amy Seimetz, You’re Next), who has lived in a remote, rural commune since her release from a drug rehabilitation centre. Seeing an opportunity for a story, Patrick’s two friends Sam (AJ Bowen, House of the Devil, Hatchet 2) and Jake (Joe Swanberg, V/H/S) who work for Vice Magazine (neat ‘real-life’ advertising) who are making a name for themselves with a strand of investigative journalism aimed at the hipster elements of society. Upon arrival at the remote Eden Parish, they are immediately alarmed by the armed guards at the gates but are put at ease by some of the chattier members of the community, all of whom are God-fearing and speak in awe of The Father, the leader of their clan whose sonorous tones we hear blessing them over a Tannoy system. 

It would appear Caroline couldn’t be happier, so the group concentrate on finding something to report, in the absence of any other action; despite the residents of Eden Parish being more than a little sceptical about media intrusion, they manage to interview some of the residents and are even granted on audience with the mysterious ‘Father’. The Father (Gene Jones, No Country For Old Men) is as engaging and enigmatic as his voice would suggest but gives little away and plants seeds of concern in the visitors that all may not be as jolly as is made out. Duly, a frightened mother and her mute daughter make clear their terror and desire to escape in a clandestine meeting and it soon becomes clear that the beloved Father’s ability to control his flock has left his commune’s inhabitants with far more sinister futures than gardening and weaving…

Reviews:

A preamble from Sam explaining Vice’s raison d’être should act as a klaxon to viewers of the last decade’s horror that a somewhat slight excuse for wobbly camera work is imminent. The problems with this are largely that it is now such an overused effect that seasickness tablets are as essential nowadays as a remote control. This is not The Sacrament‘s fault, of course but the conceit falls flat when every second of their visit is deemed worthy of filming, often with such grand incompetence that you really think they should consider another career. Worse still are the moments when the convenient positioning of a camera (as well as ‘phantom’ cameras which couldn’t possibly be operated by any of the characters) drags you out of the film’s narrative. Though a step up from recent found footage, the documentary angle is believable but flawed by a rather ham-fisted reminders.

The acting is certainly worthy of mention, not least Gene Jones who could scarcely be better as the Parish leader, clearly up to no good but kept as a shadowy character for a significant period of the film. Seimetz too is believable as the reborn innocent flower-child and the cast of residents is perfectly serviceable, if necessarily bland. Audley is afforded surprisingly little screen-time, leaving the least well-realised leads to take most of the limelight, doubly unfortunate as you can’t help feeling that their predicament is entirely their own doing. The film’s musical score is a high note, the work of Tyler Bates (Dawn of the Dead, 2004, Watchmen), one of the more interesting composers for film and television of recent times.

After the understated, though excellent, Innkeepers, rather more full-on House of the Devil and trashy Cabin Fever 2, there remains a feeling that Ti West still hasn’t hit his stride or decided to throw the kitchen sink at anything – indeed, some of his best work is featured on the segmented V/H/S and The ABCs of Death. Here, once more, what we’re actually left with is a fairly straight re-telling of the Jonestown Massacre – sometimes so alarmingly similar you begin to begrudge that someone has a writing credit; this is fine but the viewer is left hanging on for a final revelation or twist and it simply never comes. The final shot is an almost blushing ‘that’s all folks!’. The film can at least serve as a cautionary tale to those tempted to sell their houses and give their money to pseudo-religious leaders.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

“The film’s intelligence extends to its strong but suitably modest tech package, with the narrative involvement of Vice providing an alibi for Eric Robbins’ fluid, generously lit lensing; most films in the found-footage genre have no reason to look this good. Jade Healy’s production design is a particular asset, visually conveying the camp’s spartan, faux-organic principles with absolute authenticity. Sound design, as ever with the helmer’s work, is tack-sharp, as is Tyler Bates’ spooky score…” Guy Lodge, Variety

” … if you sit down prepared to be a little bit patient (it’s not even a very long movie!) there’s a good chance you’ll appreciate the mystery, the suspense, the shocks, and the payoffs that The Sacrament has to offer. With all due respect to The Innkeepers and House of the Devil — two very good thrillers — The Sacrament may be Ti West’s angriest, cleverest, and most accomplished feature yet.” Scott Weinberg, Fearnet

“The picture is violent, a necessary cinematic pressure to capture despair, yet West lingers on the suffering, studying a man gasping for life as he’s poisoned to death, while showing a little girl getting her throat slit by her mother. It’s gratuitous, especially when it becomes clear that the film isn’t going anywhere original with its overview of brutal self-sacrifice…” Brian Orndorf, Blu-ray.com

The Sacrament - Buy on DVD from Amazon.co.uk

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘Screaming young girls sucked into a labyrinth of horror by a blood-starved ghoul from hell.’

Beast from Haunted Cave is a 1958 (released January 1, 1959) horror/gangster/heist film directed by Monte Hellman (Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!) and starring Michael Forest, Frank Wolff (Cold Eyes of Fear; Death Walks on High-Heels) Richard Sinatra, and Sheila Carroll. Filmed in South Dakota at the same time as Ski Troop Attack, it tells the story of bank robbers fleeing in the snow who run afoul of a giant spider-like monster that feeds on humans.

Screenwriter Charles B. Griffith (Little Shop of Horrors) rewrote an earlier screenplay for the film Naked Paradise using the working title Creature from the Cave . A third version of this storyline appeared as the comedy film Creature from the Haunted Sea. It was produced by Roger Corman’s brother, Gene (Attack of the Giant Leeches), and released on a double-bill with The Wasp Woman.

Plot teaser:

A group of criminals, led by the ruthless Alexander Ward (Frank Wolff), hatch a plan to steal gold bars from a vault in Deadwood, South Dakota. Ward sends one of his henchmen, Marty (Richard Sinatra), to set an explosive in a nearby gold mine, the detonation of which will act as a diversion for their heist. Although Marty, accompanied by a local barmaid (Linné Ahlstrand), succeeds in setting the explosive, he encounters a beast (Chris Robinson) in the mine. The beast kills the barmaid, but Marty escapes with his life.

The next morning, the explosive goes off as planned and Marty and his gang succeed in stealing gold bars from the vault. They set off to a remote cabin, led by a local guide named Gil Jackson (Michael Forest), where they hope to be picked up by a plane. Gil is initially unaware of their plans, but he becomes suspicious when he hears reports of the robbery on the radio and discovers that they’re carrying handguns. They reach the cabin without incident, but once there, a violent snowstorm delays the plane’s arrival. Marty’s “secretary,” Gypsy (Sheila Noonan), is taken by the young Gil and tells him that Marty plans to kill him once the plane arrives. Gil and Gypsy take off back to town together.

Marty, who still carries unpleasant memories of his encounter with the beast, has all the while been concerned about being followed. He encounters the beast again during the trip to the cabin, but his companions think he’s losing his mind…

Reviews:

“First-time director Monte Hellman … does an admirable job with the leftovers he’s got to work with, infusing this heist flick/monster movie combo with a touch of French New Wave cinema – dotted with hip ski resort babes, jazzy interludes, moody crooks donning indoor sunglasses and a surprising amount of cinematic wherewithal – a characteristic usually missing from Corman’s budget-tight shooting schedules.” Willard’s Wormholes

“The film spends more time as a low-end crime thriller than a horror item. The monster is not all that scary, and is all too clearly a manipulated marionette made of rags and hair. But the majority of its appearances are well-staged (skipping a few sickly shots of the thing superimposed over the snow) and it retains a certain mystery. Its habit of stashing its victims for later feeding through a sickening tube, is a disgusting detail that would crop up in the later Alien films. The staging of the action is different and interesting, and while not necessarily good, the film is a creditable effort.” Glenn Erickson, DVD Talk

For the Mexican poster, the Beast developed blood shot eyes!

“The beast effects are the typical guy-in-a-costume variety. But that doesn’t matter, because Beast From Haunted Cave uses the beast as an almost minor plot point, despite the film’s title. The scenes inside the monster’s lair, the ëhaunted cave’, remain downright creepy. Pale, half-dead bodies hang cocoon-like on the walls, and Hellman’s use of shadows, whether intentional or not, remain effective and disturbing today.” Rich Rosell, Digitally Obsessed!

Buy Synapse DVD with theatrical and extended TV version from Amazon.com

Wikipedia | IMDb

The Ballad of the Worms is an American action/horror/exploitation film written and directed by Chuck Conry (Morbid). currently in pre-production and due for release in early 2015.

Plot teaser:

Part of a mystical moon rock resurrects a vengeful soul to go to war with a woman-hating cult in the backwoods of Manchester, Tennessee, yearly home of the Bonnaroo music festival…

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Bedevilled (Hangul: 김복남 살인사건의 전말; RR: Kim Bok-nam Salinsageonui Jeonmal; literally. “The Whole Story of the Kim Bok-nam Murder Case”/Blood Island) is a 2010 South Korean horror/thriller film starring Seo Young-hee and Ji Sung-won. The film premiered as an official selection of International Critics’ Week at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

It is the feature directorial debut of Jang Cheol-soo, who worked as an assistant director on the Kim Ki-duk films Samaritan Girl and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring. The film was a runaway hit in Korea, with the box-office returns far exceeding its ₩700 million (US$636,363) budget.

Plot teaser:

Hae-won is a middle-rank officer working in a Seoul bank. A severe, tense single woman, she is being brought down by the work-related stress and the hypercompetitive environment she finds herself in. Desperate, she takes up an offer from a long-forgotten friend and takes off for a private vacation in Mudo, a desolate Southern island in which she had spent childhood.

Arriving at the island, she is warmly welcomed by Bok-nam, with whom she had a close friendship when both were in their teens but whose constant letters she’s since ignored. Life on the backward, undeveloped island is hard, and Bok-nam is treated as little more than a slave by her abusive husband Man-jong, his brother and the local old women. All of Bok-nam’s love is reserved for her young daughter Yeon-hee, with whom she tries to escape from the small, claustrophobic island. But when that results in tragedy, the woman finally snaps, unleashing all her demons, as Bok-nam takes a sickle in her hand…

Buy on Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Reviews:

“Bedevilled really is one of the toughest and most powerful films from Korea in recent years, and is more than deserving of its praise. Anchored by a stunning performance from the talented Seo Young Hee, it stands as a must-see for anyone brave enough to run its emotionally draining gauntlet.” Beyond Holywood

“A remarkably grim film that makes no qualms whatsoever about taking the audience into some seriously dark territory, Bedevilled is not for the faint of heart. While it’s hardly the stalk and slash picture that the cover art might mislead you into believing it is, the movie does absolutely reach a violent and graphic conclusion. What’s harder to watch than that, however, is the build up to that conclusion. What Bok-nam is put through is such a constant living Hell that when she finally does snap, it’s almost as therapeutic for the audience as it is for the character.” Ian Jane, Rock! Shock! Pop!

“The moment Kim Bok-Nam enacts her revenge and begins her killing spree she changes from a tragic victim to a faceless killer. Why have us suffer with her for so long, if all we get in return is a succession of unspectacular bloodlettings as the payoff? The first hour is so emotionally draining that I can understand the desire to change direction somewhat, but Kwang-young Choi’s previously stellar screenplay simply loses direction. Likewise, Chul-soo Jang’s previously punchy direction becomes pedestrian and dull. It also becomes questionable as to what message, exactly, Bedevilled is trying to make?” DVD Verdict

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US one sheet

Mother’s Day is a 1980 American horror-thriller film, directed, co-written and produced by Charles Kaufman, brother of Troma Entertainment co-founder Lloyd Kaufman, who served as an associate producer for the film. It stars Nancy Hendrickson, Deborah Luce, Tiana Pierce, Holdem McGuire, Billy Ray McQuade and US TV star Rose Ross.

Plot Teaser

Abbey, Jackie , and Trina, who reunite every year to take a camping trip. Once while setting their vacation up in the woods, they find their trip turns into their worst nightmare when they are captured by a group of two partially insane punk/”hillbilly” hybrids: Ike  and Addley. The punks lead a comfortable life, living along with their mentally abnormal mother in an occult hovel situated amidst the wood. All through the movie, their mother goads her sons into acts of rape, violence, and murder. Eventually one of the women is severely brutalized by Ike and Addley, and the remaining two escape before the first dies from her sustained injuries. They soon regroup, arm themselves, and set out for bloody revenge against Ike, Addley, and Mother. After the girls take their revenge at the end of the film, as they are about to leave the woods they are attacked by the mother’s deformed sister, Queenie…

The United Kingdom’s film rating board (BBFC) rejected the film in 1980, banning it from distribution. The film was shown several times on the Horror Channel between 2006–08, with no cuts and is finally released on blu-ray uncut in 2014 by 88 Films.

In Australia, the film was originally passed uncut with an R 18+ in 1983 by the Australian censors but was later banned when reviewed in 1985. Fourteen minutes of the film were cut in Germany in order to keep the film from an X-rating.

A remake came in 2010,

Buy the blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk  and Amazon.com

Reviews

“Beautifully skuzzy and brazenly bizarre, Charles Kaufman’s original version of Mother’s Day is a deft mix of pitch black comedy and fairly effective and disturbing horror. The performances are wonderfully over the top and the locations amazingly filthy, giving this one a look and feel all its own.” Ian Jane, Rock! Shock! Pop!

“Make no mistake...Mother’s Day is not for everyone. It’s a demented and revolting exercise in sadism that makes you feel very uncomfortable, yet it’s done with such brains and heart that it stands tall above its many comparable knock-off’s. It’s tight, fast-paced, and very well done for its type. You become very concerned for the three heroines of the story, and for me this alone makes it a winner. These are characters with short but potent personal histories, and you CARE what happens to them.” DVD Drive-In

“While watching Mother’s Day, not only was I shocked that people have made a big deal about, but by the fact that anyone remembers it at all. Again, it’s similar to I Spit on Your Grave, but while that film was unflinching and sadistic in its depiction of rape and violence, Mother’s Day comes off as simply being cartoonish and weird. Yes, it’s unusual that Mother goads the boys into their strange shows for her entertainment, but the scenes are so weird that they become ludicrous. They are simply too odd to be disturbing.” DVD Sleuth

Wikipedia | IMDb

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‘The legend is real. So is the terror.’

Exists is a 2014 American horror film directed by Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project; ParaAbnormal; Lovely Molly) from a screenplay by Jamie Nash (Two Front Teeth; Altered). It stars Dora Madison Burge (Humans versus Zombies; Dexter), Brian Steele (Dylan Dog: Dead of Night; Underworld: Evolution), Samuel Davis (From Dusk Till Dawn TV series), Denise Williamson (Spirit Camp; Renfield the Undead; Killer School Girls from Outer Space), Roger Edwards (Circus of the Dead) and Chris Osborn (The Vampire Diaries).

Earlier this summer, Exists won the Audience Award for Best Film at the SXSW Film Festival. Lionsgate are releasing the film across the United States on October 24th.

Plot teaser:

A group of friends who venture into the remote Texas woods for a party weekend find themselves stalked by Bigfoot…

IMDb

Slew Hampshire is a 2013 American horror film directed by Flood Reed and starring Dayo Okeniyi, Shawn Thomas, and Tyler Rice.

The film was recognised for containing the “Goriest Scene of the Year” in Rue Morgue Magazine‘s 2013 Year in Review (Issue #141).

Plot teaser:

In June 1994, one of the most brutal mass slaughters in history occurred in the woods of northern New England.

Four months later, history is about to repeat itself. What begins as a humorous comedy of errors quickly becomes a Darwinian gore fest, and what unfolds is a cerebral yet repulsive journey through the history and nature of humanity and ‘civilization.’ With four distinct clans vying for supremacy and survival in the woods of New Hampshire, less than 24 hours will pass before a slew of lives have been claimed and the last of the living remains…

Review:

“It’s a unique movie that you won’t feel unfamiliar with, and that’s just one of its many tricks. Slew Hampshire actually requires you to think about it after its done, and how often does that happen with movies that essentially show themselves to be shlock horror? This is shlock, exploitation, creature feature, teen comedy and Darwinism, all trapped in the middle of the woods. So basically – fun, a little confusing and reeks of filth.” Film Bizarro

IMDb

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‘A chilling tale of vengeance from beyond the grave.’

Crowhaven Farm is a 1970 made-for television film directed by Walter Grauman (Are You in the House Alone?) and starring Hope Lange (Death Wish; A Nightmare on Elm Street 2), Paul Burke (Valley of the Dolls) and John Carradine (House of Frankenstein, The Monster Club).

Maggie Porter (Hope Lange) and her husband Ben (Paul Burke) inherit a farm in Massachusetts after the mysterious death of Maggie’s uncle (actually not that mysterious, we see him crash into a tree after he is distracted by a character we meet later). As soon as they arrive, Maggie is startled by several instances of deja-vu – the instant discovery of secret rooms within the house and flashbacks to vaguely familiar scenes are almost too much for her. The visions become ever more vivid and involve her been surrounded by a group of costumed locals and having large stones placed upon her. Putting it down to reincarnation (!), she is soon brought up to speed by local neighbour and know-it-all Harold Dane (Cyril Delevanti looking close to death, though he hung on a couple more years to appear in Soylent Green) who explains that though the area was no Salem, it had its witchy goings-on in years past, the guilty females crushed under a wooden panel heaped high with large stones of the kind their house is constructed.

Maggie longs for a child and their search for a foster child only brings one response, Marcy Lewis (Virginia Gregg, The Amazing Mr X) who due to a terminal illness wishes to off-load her own foundling, Jennifer (Cindy Eilbacher, Slumber Party Massacre 2). Despite the couples’ reservations (Jennifer is already ten, opposed to their desired new-born), they are soon won over by her personality. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll note that it was Jennifer who caused poor old uncle’s car to career off the road.

Her arrival coincides with Maggie becoming pregnant but from here, events begin to spiral out of control – the images of her 15th century self are becoming frighteningly real and young Jennifer is not all sweetness and light as they hoped, aided and abetted by their handyman, Nate Cheever (John Carradine doing his best sinister leer). Eventually life and visions combine and the Maggie’s worst fears are realised.

It must first be said that this television film is highly-regarded by many and was responsible for many sleepless nights for watching youths right up until the later screenings in the mid-80’s. Perhaps time has been unkind or this reviewer is missing something but it does come across as needlessly overwrought, made worse by the fact that Maggie’s alarm at the farm is so instantaneous that you do rather lose sympathy with her. The threat in the film is ultimately wrapped up in Jennifer, played admirably by young Eilbacher but a level beneath the angelic Heather O’Rourke in Poltergeist or as truly wicked as Rhonda (Patty McCormack) in The Bad Seed – in truth, there isn’t strictly a place for a part that is anything less than either of these. The truly ancient-looking Delevanti is worth watching just to make sure he gets to the end of his sentences and Carradine is fun, though pitifully under-used. There’s a slight nod to a very under-age relationship between Ben and Jennifer which is mercifully quickly forgotten but the recurrent ‘threat’ of witchcraft just isn’t a substantial enough hook to truly drag you into Maggie’s plight.

Grauman’s direction reflects his career in television but smacks even more of televisual miasma Aaron Spelling’s (Love Boat, Dynasty) production, with every character pausing slightly after their lines, just to ensure the audience ‘gets it’. There’s enough to keep you watching until the end and, without spoiling it, we are at least saved any ‘it was all a dream’ shenanigans. If you have a morbid fear of being slowly squashed by some costumed-loons, there could be food for thought here yet.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Local God – original title Dios local – is a 2014 horror film from Uruguay directed by Gustavo Hernández (The Silent House) from a screenplay by Santiago González. It stars Mariana Olivera, Gabriela Freire, and Agustín Urrutia

Plot teaser:

After a sequence of tragic events, a rock band composed of twenty-year-olds immerse themselves in writing a three-track concept album that deals largely with their guilt, fears and traumas. Each song has the distinctive quality of including the most heart-wrenching incidents lived by the band members, who wish to cope with their darkest moments through their music.

The band decides to withdraw to a far-away grotto to record the videos that will accompany their record. Once there, they unwisely trespass into an abandoned gold mine where they discover an idol made of stone. It is an ancient diabolical representation used by the Spanish conquistadors to frighten, subdue and enslave the natives under the rule of their local god. Having unleashed the spirit of the mine, the three youngsters will be unwillingly submerged in a dark and familiar realm: the world created in their record…

IMDb | Official site

Solitude is a 2014 American horror film co-directed by Livingston Oden and Taylor Scott Olson from a screenplay they wrote with Jana K. Lensing. It stars Armin Habibovich, Victoria LaChelle, Brent Latchaw, Alex Cotant, Glen Stone,Kelly Lavasseur, Amy Correll and Nicole Kruex.

The film is currently in post-production.

Official synopsis:

Solitude is a horror feature film that takes place over a span of 75 years on a mysterious riverfront piece of land where an ancient evil dwells. The story will be told in six segments, each of them taking place in a different time period and each of them made to look like horror films of when they take place.

In 2014, James Erikson finds an old storage locker filled with journals and newspapers of his family’s history. As he researches it, he finds out about the evil that his family has tried to contain for several generations.

Besides present day, the other segments in this film are as follows:

1939 – Frank Erikson is a scientist doing research in North Dakota when a mysterious monster attacks his research team. This will be reminiscent of classic monster movies of the time period, such as “The Mummy” or “Frankenstein”.

1961 – Frank Erikson returns to the Solitude River to try to destroy the monster once and for all. This segment is influenced by Alfred Hitchcock’s films, as well as B-movies of the 50′s and 60′s.

1977 – The 1977 segment follows Donald Erikson, Frank’s son who is a real estate broker and is planning on building river homes in Solitude, but does not realize what the land holds. It is in the style of supernatural horror films of the 70′s, such as “The Omen” or “The Exorcist”.

1986 – And here’s the slasher! A group of college friends are planning on spending a weekend camping and partying near the Solitude River, not knowing of the evils that dwell there. This segment takes influence from classic 80′s slashers such as the “Friday the 13th” or “Nightmare on Elm Street” series.

1999 – The last segment before present day is going to be found footage, similar to “The Blair Witch Project”. It follows a group of film students who heard the rumours of the deaths near Solitude and are shooting a documentary about them.

Filming locations:

Anoka and St. Cloud, Minnesota; Pollock, South Dakota

IMDb

Territories (original title: Territoires) is a 2010 Franco – Canadian horror film co-written and directed by Olivier Abbou and starring Roc LaFortune, Michael Mando and Cristina Rosato.

Plot teaser:

Five friends returning from a marriage in Canada return home to the United States. Not far from the border, two customs officers stop them to check their identity. Suspicious, they take their time especially with Jalil, a man of Arab origin. The situation worsens when a customs officer finds a small bag of marijuana in the luggage. Then things degenerate rapidly: a customs officer grabs the little dog that’s part of the group and slits open its belly to be sure it’s not a mule. When Gab makes a move, he’s shot. The customs officer orders the surviving friends to undress and put on orange coveralls. Gradually, it dawns on the four tourists that they are in the hands of former torturers from Guantanamo…

Buy Territories on DVD from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Reviews:

“Territories isn’t as violent as you might expect, and it even manages to throw in some unsettlingly cruel humour, but it is a deeply upsetting experience that transcends simple ‘torture porn’ pigeonholing as well as predictable politicized posturing. A difficult watch but a worthwhile one.” Eye For Film

“Horror fans will delight in a handful of impressive gore scenes by make-up artist C.J. Goldman (Orphan), captured with handheld verve by cinematographer Karim Hussain (Hobo with a Shotgun). But Territories is ultimately less about the bloodletting than about revealing torture (and torture porn) to be a by-product of Bush-era extremism – an idea that seems worn out following Hostel and its many rehashes.” Hollywood Reporter

“The film is beautifully shot and the acting is fantastic all around. A creepy tension slowly builds and once it has taken hold it doesn’t let go. I found the final act of the film unrelenting and at times surreal. This is a film that stands very clear of others and will grip you to the very end. It will also leave you with something to think about for a long time afterwards.” Screen Jabber

IMDb

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