Bad Moon is a 1996 American horror film written and directed by Eric Red and produced by James G. Robinson. It stars Michael Paré, Mariel Hemingway and Mason Gamble. The film is based on the novel Thor by Wayne Smith, which mainly tells the story from the dog’s viewpoint.

A few seconds of sex and gore was cut from the opening scene in order to avoid an NC-17. The film was a box office flop but has since built up a decent following. It grossed just over $1 million on a $7 million budget.

Plot Teaser

While on assignment in the jungles of Nepal, photojournalist Ted Harrison (Michael Pare) and his girlfriend are savagely attacked by a hideous beast which tears the woman to shreds and leaves Ted badly mauled. He later returns to the States to live near his sister Janet (Mariel Hemingway), nephew Brett (Mason Gamble) and their German shepherd Thor, hoping the presence of family will dispel the horrific memories… until the inevitable effects of a werewolf curse begin to surface. As his humanity begins slipping away, only the family dog begins to suspect something is wrong — but poor Thor ends up being the chief suspect in a string of recent mutilation murders…

 Buy Bad Moon on DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews

“Bad Moon doesn’t have what one would call a complicated story. The wayward brother becomes a werewolf and moves in with his sister. That’s it. But the werewolf makeup was great and the kills were fantastic. The hot babe who gets it at the beginning was appropriately bloody and, of course, the big climax scene with Thor was great. As werewolf movies go, it was a good one. I wish the powers that be had shown it a little more love in releasing it. It needed it.” Dr Gore’s Movie Reviews

“This movie was so unbearable that I would have preferred a literal translation of the title. Two hours of looking up at Marlon Brando’s butt cheeks squashed flat against a glass tabletop would have been a preferable to this werewolf masterpiece — and probably more hairy.” Mr Cranky

“While it is constantly dragged down by the complete lack of logic and shoddy performances, there are two distinct features that make this a hit amongst fans: Christopher Allen Nelson’s gory effects and one of the most convincing costume designs ever conceived. Ted becomes a werewolf in the literal sense of the word, more wolf than man with gaping jowls, gnashing teeth, and bushy tail. The film would be otherwise unremarkable were it not for the terrifying creature effects, but they are impressive enough to make this one of the better werewolf entries out of the 90’s.” I Like Horror Movies

Wikipedia | IMDb

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Cub – in Flemish Welp – is a 2014 Belgian horror film directed by Jonas Govaert and starring Maurice Luijten and Stef Aerts. It was screened at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.

Plot Teaser

Over-imaginative 12 year-old Sam heads off to the woods to summer scout camp with his pack convinced he will encounter a monster…and he does.

Reviews

“Cub is a rock solid piece of genre entertainment presented bluntly and without irony in a singularly focused 85-minute sprint. It’s no masterpiece, but Govaerts delivers a brand of B-movie entertainment that often seems far easier to pull off than it actually is. Let’s hope it’s not long before he gets a chance to stretch with the next one.” Fangoria

“Who doesn’t want to see cub scouts chased around by a monster? But there’s a way to be subversive without becoming an asshole, and sufficed to say Cub shuns it.” Film Freak Central

“The arrogance of man in trying to control nature has been done time and time again throughout the ages. Cub is refreshing take on the themes by showing not only modern culture’s carelessness in the wild, but how the wild can be alluring not just because it’s beautiful, but because it can manifest unforeseen consequences. If the movie had been scouts versus werewolf-child, it may have been fun, but it would be in direct contradiction to what Govaerts has admirably accomplished with his thoughtful, unnerving, and melancholy picture.” Collider

IMDb | Film Website

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‘Man is the warmest place to hide’

The Thing (also known as John Carpenter’s The Thing) is a 1982 American science fiction horror film directed by John Carpenter (Halloween, The Fog), written by Bill Lancaster, and starring Kurt Russell (They Live, Escape From New York). The film’s title refers to its primary antagonist: a parasitic extraterrestrial life-form that assimilates other organisms and in turn imitates them. The Thing infiltrates an Antarctic research station, taking the appearance of the researchers that it absorbs, and paranoia develops within the group.

The film is based on John W. Campbell, Jr.’s 1938 novella Who Goes There?, which was more loosely adapted by Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby as the 1951 film The Thing from Another World. Carpenter considers The Thing to be the first part of his Apocalypse Trilogy, followed by Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness. Although the films are narratively unrelated, each features a potentially apocalyptic scenario; should “The Thing” ever reach civilisation, it would be only a matter of time before it consumes humanity.

In the Antarctic, a Norwegian helicopter pursues a seemingly normal dog to an American research station, a marksman aboard taking pot-shots along the way. Upon landing the helicopter, a Norwegian accidentally drops a grenade, destroying the helicopter and killing the pilot. A surviving Norwegian pursues the dog, firing a rifle, until he is killed by Garry (Donald Moffat, Monster in the Closet), the station commander. The Americans send a helicopter pilot, MacReady (Russell), and doctor Copper (Richard Dysart, Prophecy) to the Norwegian camp for answers but they find a charred ruin. Outside, they discover the burned remains of a humanoid corpse with two faces, which they bring back with them. Biologist Blair (Wilfred Brimley, The China Syndrome) performs an autopsy on the corpse, finding a normal set of human internal organs.

The attention-seeking dog is placed safely in kennels, where upon it immediately proves unsafe, opting to change into a grotesque monstrosity, a flame-thrower being employed by mechanic, Childs (Keith David, They Live) to prevent it harming both the other animals and the humans at the base. Putting their collective foot on the ball, they perform an autopsy of the mutilated mess of dog, as well as investigating the Norwegians’ journals. The findings are not promising, Blair discovering that the life-form imitates its host perfectly, evidently the inhabitant of a space craft found buried in the ice for millennia, now on the prowl. Blair’s hypothesis is that with such an advantage over Man, it could take over the world, by stealth in next to no time. As such, he shows true fighting spirit and points the finger at everyone else, already suspicious that another of his colleagues could be playing host.

Blair’s fears are confirmed when meteorologist, Bennings (Peter Maloney, The Amityville Horror, Manhunter) goes both gooey and sprouty and is given the torch treatment by radio operator, Windows (Thomas G. Waites, The Warriors) before he can transform completely. Blair meanwhile, has gone loopy, killing the remaining dogs and destroying their only transport and is locked up in a shed. With everyone now deemed under suspicion, all the team are subjected to a blood test which is hoped will determine friend from foe – in a tense scene, MacReady is presumed guilty before trial and threatens to dynamite the base to pieces unless everyone comes to their senses. This doesn’t go strictly to plan, with a ghoulish harliquinade of legs, teeth and tentacles giving more than a quick hint as to some of the ‘men’s’ identities.

The remaining men consider their options and first turn their attentions to the AWOL Blair who appears to be as inhuman as the suspected, not only escaping but evidently part-way through building a space craft to escape in. The station’s power generator is found destroyed and in a somewhat circular plot device, they realise they have been left to freeze to death, their eventual rescuers doomed to suffer the same fate as the rest of their men. Ultimately only two survive – but who are they really and what will become of them?

In 1982, Carpenter’s star could scarcely have shone brighter, Halloween, The Fog and Escape From New York cementing him firmly as America’s most consistent and exciting new director. The Thing would be his first under the umbrella of a major studio, Universal. With a source novella and film version, of which Carpenter was extremely fond, the screenplay was entrusted to the relatively un-tested Bill Lancaster, son of screen legend, Burt. Lancaster junior was unfamiliar with either of the two earlier sources, a poisoned chalice or huge advantage, depending on your viewpoint. His vision was to concentrate on the men themselves, their paranoia and lack of trust being at least the equal of the other menace at the base. With the action of the film beginning part-way through a crucial incident integral to the plot, we are immediately put on edge and are as in the dark as the rest of the camp, discovering the background to the Norwegian incident at the same time as them. Ultimately, even by the film’s end, we are left to make our own conclusions, the film being most concerned with the aftermath and nature of fear itself, rather than the mechanics of the reasons for the events happening. Incredibly, despite the film being particularly talky and an unusually large cast (considering the small filming area) all with necessarily individual quirks and motives, the script remained essentially untouched throughout shooting, save for the odd name change and budgetary reining in of some planned effects work.

The film was shot near the small town of Stewart in northern British Columbia and the research station built by the crew during summer, with the movie shot in sub-freezing winter conditions. The only female presence in the narrative is the voice of a chess computer, voiced by Carpenter regular (and then-wife) Adrienne Barbeau, as well as the female contestants viewed on a videotaped episode of Let’s Make a Deal. The all-male cast has provoked a certain amount of criticism over the years, ranging from Carpenter exhibiting macho chest-beating, to a very basic anti-female bent. The lack of female characters was certainly intentional and adds an unusual texture to the film – the decisions made are often knee-jerk and regrettably far-reaching, the lack of a clear alternative view point ramping up the odds and the tension. MacReady is regularly discredited and both science and fight or flight are all met with similarly disastrous results. It is also entirely reasonable for a late-70’s/early 80’s Government-funded scientific project would be all-male in any case.

The Thing took three months to shoot on six artificially frozen sound stages in Los Angeles, with many of the crew and actors working in cold conditions. The final weeks of shooting took place in northern British Columbia, near the border with Alaska, where snow was guaranteed to fall. John Carpenter filmed the Norwegian camp scenes at the end of production. The Norwegian camp was simply the remains of the American outpost after it was destroyed by an explosion. The factor of the weather and also an expected strike at Universal gave Carpenter the luxury of the opportunity to view footage as it was shot, crucial in ultimately ironing out issues which could have blighted the film.

The special effects, some of the most innovative and effective in any horror film, were the work of Rob Bottin and his crew, with the exception of the dog creature, which was created by Stan Winston (Gargoyles; The Bat People; Pumpkinhead). Winston was brought in when Bottin’s team found themselves overloaded with work on the other creatures seen in the film. Bottin had already worked on Carpenter’s The Fog, as well as the likes of Piranha and The Howling.  During one scene, where a character’s head stretches, Bottin decided to melt plastic to aid the effect. Little did he know that the melted plastic released explosive paint thinner so when the director decided to put flame under the camera lens the entire prosthetic exploded. Ironically, upon release, the effects, though hailed as visionary, were deemed by some to detract from the ‘unseen menace’ and muddle the psychology with schlock. Perhaps time has been kind but it’s difficult to support this view. When re-watching the film, what is remarkable is what remains un-filmed, some deaths remaining a complete mystery as to the culprit and a large part of the assumptions of the characters remaining just that.

The films ending has caused much discussion also, the ‘is he, isn’t he?’ aimed at MacReady’s character never being resolved (on-screen that is – Carpenter has since revealed his own verdict – one you will have to seek elsewhere rather than on this uber-spoiler free piece!) The nihilistic ending was originally due to have a cheerier counterpart, ready in the wings should test screenings or bawlking from Universal dictating that moderation should prevail. Carpenter ultimately didn’t give either the option but sadly, this wasn’t the factor which hobbled the films initial release.

Buy The Thing Collector’s Edition on DVD from Amazon.com

In a hugely unfortunate coincidence, the film appeared just two weeks after the air-punching glee of another alien film, E.T., and on the same day as the artier leanings of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (actually another misfire at the time). The Thing opened #8 and remained in the top 10 at the box office for three weeks. The film was released in the United States on June 25, 1982 in 840 cinemas and was issued an “R” rating by the Motion Picture Association of America (limiting attendees to 17 and older without a guardian). The film cost $15,000,000 to produce. Film critic Roger Ebert called the film “disappointing”, though said he found it scary and that it was “a great barf-bag movie.” However, he criticized what he felt were poor characterisations and illogical plot elements, ultimately giving the film 2½ stars out of 4.

After its cinema run, the film was released on VHS and laserdisc, and a re-edited version was created for television by TBS and Universal Studios. The edited version was heavily cut to reduce gore, violence, and profanity; additionally it featured a narrator during the opening sequence (in the same manner as the original 1951 film), a voiceover during Blair’s computer-assisted study, and an alternate ending. In the alternate ending (aside from Carpenter’s aborted plan), the “Thing”, which has once again mimicked one of the sled dogs, looks back at the burning camp at dawn before continuing on into the Antarctic wilderness. Subsequent releases of the film have garnered it a huge following, the film regularly featuring in top five lists of ‘scariest films ever made’.

Given a Universal-sized budget capable of achieving it, Carpenter fulfilled another ambition by hiring the services of Italian maestro Ennio Morricone to provide the musical score. Whilst Carpenter’s initial involvements in soundtrack creation were sparked by financial necessity, there was now the opportunity to employ a dedicated composer. Morricone had done very little in the horror field, aside from the films he created with Dario Argento (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The Cat o’ Nine Tails, Four Flies on Grey Velvet) , so he wasn’t an obvious choice in that sense. The notion of having such single-minded auteurs working together was fraught with dangers, most of which, sadly, they failed to avoid.

The attraction to Carpenter to Morricone was his ability to marry together differing styles and instruments to characterise both actors and environment, key to a film where the Antarctic backdrop is as domineering as any person. As such, Morricone’s brief was to create a score which was both ‘cold’ and reflective of the in-escapability of their plight.

The initial problems were obvious, Morricone being proud to this day that he hasn’t felt compelled to learn English, Carpenter not speaking Italian. Through telephone interpreters and cuts of the film being shuttled across the Atlantic, a blueprint was drawn up, the composer tasked with using an absolute minimum of notes and key changes; the audience was to know from the very beginning that in the very real sense of the word, that the character’s were in a hopeless situation with the doom escalating as the story progressed.

Morricone perhaps had selective hearing or maybe there was a problem with the translation. Having recorded in Rome, the tapes were sent to Carpenter in America. Carpenter immediately had a problem with it. It was entirely orchestral. It was as perfectly bleak and ominous as Carpenter could ever have wished for but his vision was for a synthetic score to replicate the un-Earthly alien changing at will. How this was conveyed to Morricone is unclear but he was gracious enough, having been given both Halloween and Escape from New York to listen to, to re-score using synths.

A steely pulse dominates the sound of the score, neither driving it forward nor allowing it to stagnate, it is simply always there. The two repeated tones of the main theme suggest the rises and falling of an ever-present entity, never obviously breaking out but looming throughout. Morricone himself explained:

“Nothing happens. It seems to suggest that something is going to happen; however, nothing happens. You could describe it as a flat encephalogram;; it’s starting to move, something happens – no, nothing happens; but still it moves. That’s the characteristic. It’s like a big question mark”.

For Carpenter it still wasn’t what he had envisioned. Eventually, only a small number of the many cues Morricone had created were used in the film, Carpenter utilising ‘re-imaginings’ of his primary theme ‘Humanity Part 2’ to suggest an omnipresent threat throughout. This is used particularly powerfully in the final scene as the two survivors find themselves in isolated despair, the audience unclear as to whether they have ‘won‘ or they too are victims of the alien invasion.

Never craving the plaudits of Hollywood, Morricone couldn’t really have cared less  what Carpenter thought. At the same time as scoring The Thing, he was also creating the soundtrack to Sam Fuller’s terrifically mental racist dog flick, White Dog and Ferdinando Baldi’s much forgotten 3D Indiana Jones rip-off, Treasure of the Four Crowns. Here indeed is the case in point. Morricone did not compose, as a rule, to fit specific timings; he composed according to instructions given from the director, the script and his own impressions made from viewing the film without music. Neither did he score for films based on the fact he felt they were Oscar-worthy or delivered an important social message to the audience – he composed simply because that’s what he did.

With Morricone distracted in Italy, Carpenter approached Alan Howarth to fill in the gaps he felt were still there, largely electronic cues seen as necessary to punctuate specific events and his now trademark ‘drones’ which were used to add bulk to Morricone’s incredibly subtle and delicate suites. The combined efforts of all three composers are what eventually what the audience experiences.

The fascination is that what we now have are three versions of one score written for ‘The Thing’ – Morricone’s original, largely orchestral version, the amalgamation of this with Carpenter’s electronic soundscapes added and, 30 years on, Alan Howarth’s own interpretation of Morricone’s vision, played entirely on synths. Which is best? You can only ever argue the one that was eventually used – the electronics do indeed add a malevolent edge, describing something nearly human but clearly of unknown origin. Morricone’s original work is beautiful and is exactly what he was asked to produce but borders on being too subtle. Either way, Carpenter has spent the years since hailing Morricone’s work whereas the Italian has expressed extreme dismay, certainly at the time, as to how his material was manipulated. Recent attempts have seen both distancing themselves from their earlier standpoints but a huge question mark over the score remains.

The Sci Fi Channel planned to do a four-hour mini-series sequel to the film in 2003. Carpenter stated that he believed the project should proceed, but the Sci Fi Channel later removed all mention of the project from their homepage. In February 2009, a positive review of the abandoned screenplay for the Sci-Fi miniseries was published on Corona’s Coming Attractions.

In 2004, John Carpenter said in an Empire magazine interview that he has a story idea for The Thing II, which centres around the two surviving characters, MacReady and Childs. However, Carpenter felt that due to the higher price associated with his fee, Universal Studios will not pursue his storyline. Carpenter indicated that he would be able to secure both Kurt Russell and Keith David for the sequel. In his story, Carpenter would explain the age difference of the actors between the two installments by having frostbite on their face due to the elements until rescued. The assumption of the sequel would rely on a radio signal being successfully transmitted by Windows before Blair destroyed the communications room. Thus, after the explosion of the base camp, the rescue team would arrive and find MacReady and Childs still alive. Carpenter has not disclosed any other details. Ultimately, a largely disappointing remake took the place of this, 2011’s The Thing.

In 2007, the Halloween Horror Nights event at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, the film property was designed as a haunted attraction called The Thing – Assimilation. Guests walked through Outpost 3113, a military facility where the remains of Outpost 31 were brought for scientific research. Scenes and props from the film were recreated for the attraction, including the bodies of MacReady and Childs. In 2009, the event’s icon house, Silver Screams, contained a room based on the film.

Universal Studios also featured Haunted Attractions based on “The Thing”‘s 2011 prequel at both the Florida and Hollywood editions of Halloween Horror Nights in 2011.

A novelisation of the film based on the second draft of the screenplay was published in 1982 by Alan Dean Foster. Although the novel is generally true to the film, there are minor differences: the Windows character is named Sanders, and an episode in which MacReady, Bennings and Childs chase after several infected dogs which escape into the Antarctic wastes was added. The disappearance of Nauls is also explained in the novel; pursued by Blair-Thing into a dead end, he kills himself rather than allow it to assimilate him.

In 2002, The Thing was released as a survival horror third-person shooter for PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox, acting as a sequel to the film. The video game differs from the comics in that Childs is dead of exposure, and the audiotapes are present (they were removed from Outpost 31 at the start of The Thing from Another World: Questionable Research). At the completion of the game, R.J. MacReady is found alive and helping the main character complete the last mission. The game used elements of paranoia and mistrust intrinsic to the film. Some retailers, such as GameStop, offered a free copy of the 1998 DVD release as an incentive for reserving the game. In 2011, a region of the Entropia Universe was created based on the theme of The Thing.

The story follows on where the film left off: Childs is found dead and frozen where he was last seen at the end of the film, but at the end of the game it is revealed that R.J. MacReady survived as he evacuates the game’s main character in a helicopter.

In September 2000, as part of the third series of its “Movie Maniacs” line of toys, McFarlane Toys released two figures based on the film. One was the Blair Monster seen near the ending of the film, and the other is the Norris Creature seen during the defibrillator scene. The latter included a smaller figurine of the disembodied head with spider legs also seen in the film. Sota Toys also released a bust of the spider head, as well as a box set of the kennel scene showing the Thing imitating the dogs.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Wikipedia | IMDb

The Descent is a 2005 British horror film written and directed by Neil Marshall. The film follows six women who, having entered an unmapped cave system, become trapped and are hunted by blood-thirsty human hybrids lurking within.

A year after the tragic death of her husband and young daughter on the drive back from an adventure holiday, Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) and her adventurous girlfriends, Juno (Natalie Mendoza), Beth (Alex Reid, Arachnid) , Sam (MyAnna Buring, Kill List) and Rebecca (Saskia Mulder) are reunited at a cabin in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, USA (admirably portrayed by the wilds of Scotland and Buckinghamshire). Holly (Nora-Jane Noone), Juno’s new friend, is introduced. Whilst Sarah begins to imagine the time she had with her family just 12 months prior, she is whisked along to a potholing jamboree in a cave-system kept as a surprise by Juno. Alas, no sooner have they begun to explore, than the passageway collapses behind them, shutting them in what, Juno now admits, is a completely unmapped labyrinth of tunnels and caverns. Despite the group’s previous disastrous holiday, no-one thought to inform anyone where they were going.

As the unhappy group progress through the gloom, they find evidence of previous explorers and, more pertinently, cave drawings describing a second exit from the cave, towards which, they hopefully advance. No sooner have they set off than Holly falls and suffers a pleasingly graphic compound fracture of her leg; Sarah applies a splint, though you imagine the entire group is relived it happened to the most annoying of their number. Whilst collecting their thoughts, Sarah fleetingly spies a figure in the murk, the others essentially patting her on the head, assuming she’s still suffering mental trauma. Exasperated and frightened, Sarah is proved right as the girls find that indeed they are not alone and something humanoid is hunting them down, like lions in the savannah, attacking the weakest (Holly) and ripping out her throat. In the melee of pickaxes and claws, Juno accidentally plunges her rock climbing equipment into Beth, a fact she is not too happy about but does little to resolve.

Briefly the group are separated but Juno locates Sam and Rebecca, dispatching another of the ever-increasing number of troglodytes before further casualties are inflicted. She convinces the duo to continue on with her towards the exit, despite Sarah being missing. Fearing for their lives and owing something of a debt of gratitude, they relent. Sarah meanwhile is still alive, slightly more-so than Beth who is more blood than flesh but still manages to inform her friend that not only had Juno done her a mischief but had also been having an affair with Sarah’s dead husband, which she proves by producing a pendant she snatched from the increasingly unpopular ‘friend’. Now in a clouded rage, she mercy-kills Beth and slays a family of the pale creatures en-route to find the others.

Most of the ladies have by now realised the creatures are blind, a result of their evolution underground, though have excellent hearing. This knowledge is ultimately redundant, as the creatures mastery of their domain means that escape is almost impossible, First to demonstrate this are Rebecca and Sam, leaving only Juno and Sarah to fend off their attackers and seek salvation. They’ve come so far but is Sarah in the mood for forgiveness, and even if she is, is there any chance to escape?

After the huge critical and commercial success of Neil Marshall’s debut effort, 2002’s Dog Soldiers, everybody waited expectantly to give him a polite ripple of applause for his follow-up but not to push his luck. Much eating of head-wear followed when it was clear that Marshall had at least equalled his efforts and had pushed himself and his team yet further, filming a low-budget horror film with a small cast in a near to pitch-black environment. In fact, no caves were harmed during the making of this movie, the immersive and believable sets being made at Pinewood.

The Descent has, aside from the creatures and a brief appearance by Sarah’s husband, an all female cast, an intentional device but one which is somewhat nailed-on and for the most part, glaring. The film doesn’t suffer as such, the group still has an alpha female, a brash annoyance and a baddie but it’s an unnecessary ‘first’ and not the only example of the film-maker perhaps trying a little too hard, when their storytelling skill and understanding of what it means to be frightened were already sound.The actresses all do a sterling job both emotionally and physically, their rock-climbing exertions regularly being wince-inducing for the audience. Helpfully, they are given different accents, a huge help in distinguishing who’s who in the necessarily dark filming environment.

It’s frustrating to watch a film which feasts on such raw human fears – the dark, being lost, claustrophobia, loneliness, things going bump in the dark  – knowing that if every horror film director tapped into such universal emotions, we’d be left with far less chaff. The dark is dealt with bravely and skilfully, the only light being of provided sources, torches, helmets, watch displays and the like. The creatures, known retrospectively as crawlers, are well-devised in many respects, pale and pathetic on one level, possessed of cunning and finely-honed senses on the other. There are niggling gaps – their excellent hearing makes up for lack of sight but whispering is apparently fine (take heed of the zombies of the Blind Dead series, able to hear even the beating of your heart!) and one might think that a sense of touch would also be similarly keen but their ability to sense the heat of flaming torches and indeed the trapped party’s body-heat is lacking. Curmudgeonly sorts may point to their similarity to Gollum of Tolkein fame. Though an effective score is provided by David Julyan (The Cabin in the Woods), the traditional musical stingers designed to make the audience jump, are instead easily facilitated by the rasping crawlers appearing out of nowhere.

As is many a film’s wont, despite the presence of the crawlers, the human participants pose at least the equal amount of physical and psychological danger. The film just about stays the sensible side of the 2000’s version of the 80’s trapping of ‘it was all a dream’, fortunate – although it was felt a statement had to be made beyond the basic plight of the cavers, it would be refreshing to have a horror film that didn’t fall back on ulterior factors, as if to suggest just being a horror film wasn’t enough. The crawlers themselves, humanoid enough to clarify that they have evolved from Earth not from Mars, are the work of Paul Hyett (The Facility, Eden Lake) and his team, the prosthetics being anatomically sensible but still repulsive, their appearance being hidden from the actresses until filming started, ramping up the tension yet further. The film spawned one, ill-advised, sequel, whilst Marshall has yet to recaptured his early vigour and invention on the big screen.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

‘The ultimate experience in gruelling terror’

The Evil Dead is a 1981 American horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi and executive produced by Raimi and Bruce Campbell, who also stars alongside Ellen Sandweiss and Betsy Baker. The Evil Dead focuses on five college students holidaying in an isolated cabin in a remote wooded area. After they find an audiotape that releases a legion of demons and spirits, members of the group suffer from demonic possession, leading to increasingly gory mayhem.

Five Michigan State University students: Ash Williams (Campbell, Bubba Ho-Tep, Maniac Cop) and his girlfriend Linda (Betsy Baker, 2084, Witches’ Night), accompanied by Ash’s sister Cheryl (Sandweiss, Satan’s Playground, The Dread), their friend Scotty (Richard DeManincor), and his girlfriend Shelly (Theresa Tilly), venture into the Tennessee hills to relax in an isolated cabin during their spring break. The journey quickly escalates from small-talk to a near crash and then a portentous collapse of the bridge leading to their destination just as they’ve crossed it. That night, while Cheryl is making a drawing of a clock, her hand becomes violently possessed by a mysterious entity, causing her to draw a picture that looks like a deformed, evil face. She fails to mention the incident to the others, dismissing it as her imagination.

When the trapdoor to the cellar mysteriously flies open during dinner, Ash and Scotty go down to investigate and find the Naturon Demonto, a Sumerian version of the Book of the Dead, along with a tape recording of incantations – unable to resist, they play the tape and though finding the recording unnerving think little more of it, though the audience is now very aware that the recitation of the words have unleashed something within the woods outside. Cheryl becomes hysterical when a tree crashes through the window, and retires to her room but is soon awoken by voices beyond the cabin. She goes outside to investigate but away from the cabin and out of earshot, she is attacked and raped by demonically possessed trees. Returning to the cabin after the ordeal, the others do not believe her story but Ash agrees to drive her to town where she can find a place to stay for the night, only to find that the bridge connecting the cabin to the rest of the world has been destroyed. Back at the cabin, a card game takes an unexpected twist when Cheryl becomes possessed, telling them that demons will kill them, stabbing Linda in the ankle with a pencil – they see little option but to lock her in the trap-doored cellar.

Shelley too succumbs to possession and is decapitated by Scotty, who buries her outside. Scotty survives another tree attack whilst seeking an escape route – when he returns to the others, he finds only Ash is of sound mind, the two girls now under the control of demons but feigning innocence in a bid to be released. Ash stabs and kills Sally whilst defending himself and, after having second thoughts about dismembering her with a chainsaw, buries her too in the garden…only for her to rise again. Removing her head swiftly with a shovel, Ash finds Cheryl has been freed from the cellar, Scotty too now ‘under the influence’. Now armed with a gun, is there any hope left for Ash to survive the hoards of ancient demons?

Buy The Evil Dead trilogy on Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk

School friends Raimi and Campbell and harboured thoughts of The Evil Dead for some time prior to filming, eventually leading to the making of a short film, Within the Woods, an 8mm effort made for only $1600 (it set a precedent of sorts as it had never been necessary blow up the format for 35mm cinema projection). It was this film which was used as a bargaining tool to gain funding for a full-length film along the same lines but Raimi was informed that  minimum of $150,000 would need to be raised to accomplish this. Raimi approached Phil Gillis, a lawyer to one of his friends, asking if he wanted to invest money into the production of a remake. Gillis was unimpressed with Within the Woods, but offered Raimi legal advice on how to approach further productions. Raimi approached several investors, “begging” for money, and eventually acquired nearly $90,000 of the funds needed and set out to make the movie anyway. As a paen to the writer H.P.Lovecraft, the film was originally to be called The Book of the Dead.

The cast were recruited via an advert in The Detroit News, though Campbell and Sandweiss were already in place from the previous film. Crew consisted of friends and family, including Tom Sullivan, who was in charge of make-up and effects and Joe LoDuca as composer, already a fixture on the local music scene. A location was found more through process of elimination than choice, though the cabin itself was already in existence and suitably remotely situated.

Buy The Evil Dead on Blu-ray from Amazon.com

It’s of credit to all involved that the budget and lack of experience were more evident to those participating than to audiences either then or now; injuries were common place from trips and falls to eye-lash ripping and the insertion of thick glass contact lenses to approximate demonic possession. To achieve to POV shots of the evil force hurtling through the woods, a camera was strapped to a piece of wood and two operators set off running, armed with the contraption, presumably with those watching praying they didn’t drop it.  In truth, the sound design is critical to the real success of this effect, the low, bassy rumble which seems to emanate from all angles. The cold, wet and swiftly decaying set left the actors miserable and filthy – the copious amounts of blood actually being corn syrup.

If anything about the film divides critics, it’s the fine line the film skirts between horror and humour. Laughter is often an involuntary defence mechanism against fear which is fine so long as:

a. You’re not sat near anyone who affects this quirk

b. You do not have humour unwilling thrust upon you.

Of the three original Evil Dead films, the original relies the least on humour, the broken resolve of the actors, fast shooting schedule and original intent being overriding factors. The low budget does reduce some scenes to a somewhat comedic level of depravity but the sure relentlessness of the danger, the obviousness of their plight and the impressively claustrophobic setting are an utterly engaging watch. Importantly, it is possible to disengage your brain and watch the film as a straight-ahead horror. The acting is perfectly acceptable and if anything a step above what many slashers made around this time could muster.

In the case of the tree-rape sequence, one which was highlighted by the BBFC and informed censorship on the film for several years, it’s a scene which sounds much worse than than what is seen on-screen – only three years previously, cinema audiences were being subjected to images of ferocious sexual attack in the film, I Spit on Your Grave, it would be absurd to compare the two further.

A ripped poster of The Hills Have Eyes (1977)  is visible at one point in the cabin. Ostensibly, this was in reference to a ripped poster for Jaws (1975) that appeared in that film; Sam Raimi and the others interpreted this as Wes Craven suggesting that “Hills” was much more frightening than “Jaws,” thus they showed a ripped “Hills” poster because their film was to be even scarier yet.

If anything, other than time, does a disservice to The Evil Dead, it’s the two sequels and the remake, all of which, perhaps unwittingly, are in some ways at pains to suggest that you need to move on and watch another film instead. The Evil Dead 2 is an attempt to fix alleged issues with the first with an improved budget, the third wants to create a mythology, the remake supposes we’re too dim to understand films and throws in a social angle for good measure. The end result is that two factions have appeared, those who buy-in to the franchise and those who despair of meddling and have reduced their opinion of the original accordingly. This is a shame as the film has a lot of heart and real invention, not to mention some effective jumps and originality.

The film attracted the interest of producer Irvin Shapiro, who helped screen the film at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. Horror author Stephen King gave a rave review of the film, which helped convince New Line Cinema to serve as its distributor. King later went on to hail Clive Barker as the future of horror and future endorsements of Ebola and famine seem likely. Though a meagre commercial success in the United States, the film made its budget back through worldwide distribution, and grossed $2.4 million during its theatrical run. Both early and later critical reception were positive and in the years since its release, The Evil Dead has developed an avid following from fans and regularly appears in published lists of the greatest horror films ever made.

As mentioned, the film spawned two sequels and a remake, not to mention comic book appearances by Ash, console games, a musical and an unlikely, if cult, star in Bruce Campbell. Raimi is now a major Hollywood director but showed with Drag Me To Hell that he still has an eye for horror.

Daz Lawrence, Horropedia

With thanks to The Wrong Side of Art and Silver Ferox for some of the pics

Comic artwork by Tony Moore

Tucker and Dale vs Evil - promoted as Tucker & Dale vs. Evil – is a 2010 Canadian comedy horror film directed by Eli Craig from a screenplay he co-wrote with Morgan Jurgenson. The film stars Alan Tudyk, Tyler Labine and Katrina Bowden.

Tucker and Dale vs Evil 2 is reportedly in development…

Plot teaser:

A group of “college kids” are going camping in the Appalachian mountains. While at a gas station, they encounter Tucker and Dale, two well-meaning hillbillies who have just bought the vacation home of their dreams: a run-down lakefront cabin, deep in the woods. On Tucker’s advice, Dale tries to talk to Allison, but because of his inferiority complex and appearance, he only scares her and her friends.

Tucker and Dale arrive at their decrepit cabin and begin repairing it. Nearby in the woods, Chad tells a story about the “Memorial Day Massacre”, a hillbilly attack which took place 20 years ago. The college kids go skinny-dipping where Tucker and Dale are fishing, and Allison, startled, hits her head. Tucker and Dale save her, but her friends think she was kidnapped.

When Allison wakes up in Tucker and Dale’s cabin the next day, she is initially scared but befriends the two hillbillies. The other college kids arrive at the cabin to save Allison from her “psychopathic captors”, and Chuck runs away to get the police. While Dale and Allison are inside the cabin, Tucker angers some bees and frantically waves around his chainsaw, which the college kids misinterpret as hostility. They scatter through the woods, and Mitch accidentally impales himself on a broken tree. After finding Mitch’s body, Chad persuades the others that they are in a battle for survival…

Buy Tucker and Dale vs Evil on Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Reviews:

Despite a deeply uninspiring title this is a mocking inverse-expectations comedy horror that succeeds where many others haven’t so ignoring complaints from some mainstream critics that it’s a one-joke movie, horror fans are definitely enjoying that slapstick splatter jokiness and at 84 minutes it doesn’t grind it’s point into the ground. Supposed backwoods folks with a knowledge of the allergic effects of camomille tea may be stretching the teasing humour, yet it works. The romantic element is more difficult to swallow than certain specialist teas but its the film’s one weakness. Visually engaging and with a strident score by Michael Shields and Andrew Kaiser, this refreshingly likeable film has found a perceptive audience via the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime where it seems perennially popular in the audience horror picks.

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

“What keeps this so amiable is that it honors the simple pleasures of bloody horror without really vilifying anyone: screenwriters Morgan Jurgenson and Eli Craig devise most of the grisly deaths as elaborate slapstick mishaps. Aside from the good cheer, however, there isn’t much to distinguish this from the low-rent slasher movies it parodies; if you’re not a fan of the genre, you’ll likely find this pretty thin.” Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader

First time director Eli Craig gets that troublesome mix of horror and comedy dead right, aided in no small part by having charming leads and a central joke that’s original, smart and, above all, funny … As with most single-joke movies the plot runs out of steam, but it’s still a fun and memorable ride.” Phelim O’Neill, The Guardian

“At its heart, it’s really just a one-idea premise stretched out to feature length, but the lovable duo of Tudyk and Labine and an endearing layer of sweetness under all the blood make it a fully enjoyable comedy of (t)errors.” Keith Staskiewicz, Entertainment Weekly

“Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is an immensely likable horror-comedy and easy to recommend, but also full of missed opportunities. While movie has terrific performances and is certainly filled with more than its fair share of gore and mayhem, its repetitive nature does detract from the overall experience.” Cinema Blend

“A salutary, very funny and pleasingly moral movie”. Philip French, The Observer

Buy Comedy-Horror Films book from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Choice dialogue:

“You’ve gone hillbilly on me, Allison. Now I’m willing to forgive you but you’re gonna have to pay!”

Cast:

• Tyler Labine as Dale Dobson
• Alan Tudyk as Tucker McGee
• Katrina Bowden as Allison
• Jesse Moss as Chad
• Chelan Simmons as Chloe
• Philip Granger as Sheriff
• Brandon Jay McLaren as Jason
• Christie Laing as Naomi
• Travis Nelson as Chuck
• Alex Arsenault as Todd
• Adam Beauchesne as Mitch
• Joseph Allan Sutherland as Mike
• Karen Reigh as Cheryl
• Tye Evans as Chad’s Dad

Wikipedia | IMDb | Facebook | Image thanks: Imp Awards

‘They don’t belong here…’

White Settlers is a 2014 British horror film directed by Simeon Halligan and starring Pollyanna McIntosh and Lee Williams. The film had its world premiere on 23 September 2014 at Film4 FrightFest.

Plot teaser:

It’s Ed and Sarah’s first night at their new home – an isolated farmhouse on the Scottish borders. This should be a new beginning away from their stressful London lives. And at first it is; come sunset they fall in love all over again on a wander in the woods. But as darkness falls, Sarah suspects they’re not alone, Ed goes to investigate and quickly, the evening becomes a nightmare. It suddenly dawns on them; they do not belong here. And they certainly aren’t welcome either…

Buy White Settlers on DVD from Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“White Settlers draws its influences from films such as Straw Dogs and Eden Lake, pursuing atmosphere and irrepressible terror over an over-reliance on blood and repetitive jump cuts. There will be few, if any, better British horror films this year and should therefore be compulsory viewing. ” The Horror Asylum

“Although there’s a fair amount of violence, White Settlers doesn’t take the easy route of heading straight for shock value, scoring points instead by psychological means; through relentless tension and building anxiety. Which is not to say it doesn’t have its average share of jolts and jumps, but wisely, they are applied sparingly.” Starburst

“White Settlers’ first act establishes a solidly realistic tone, leading the viewer to expect that the film will venture to some pretty dark and extreme places. The setup opens up all sorts of possibilities for an intense and gruesome experience, but—perhaps due to budget constraints—the violence does not go as far as the audience may expect or hope for in a home-invasion flick. The exact identity of the intruders is not revealed, but the reason behind the pig-masked vagabonds’ onslaught of terror is ultimately explained—and this revelation is somewhat anemic and opens up a few plot holes.” Camilla Jackson, Fangoria

“Clearly constrained by its tight budget, White Settlers has the cramped look and feel of a TV drama. It still delivers some visceral thrills, especially in its latter half, but lacks the originality, depth or strong performances to transcend its formulaic genre trappings. It does not help that Sarah and Ed are such unsympathetic protagonists or that McIntosh and Williams are burdened with such wooden lines.” Stephen Dalton, The Hollywood Reporter

“Despite an amoral denouement that jars the final moments – in some senses it echoes of Eden Lake – White Settlers is best viewed as a run of the mill home invasion movie.” Britflicks

“Horror can be a great genre for engaging with current events. It’s too bad, then, that White Settlers, a film much-hyped as the first independence referendum-themed horror movie, delivers neither decent genre thrills nor provokes much subtextual unease about Scotland’s relationship with England in the run up to the vote.” Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman

Wikipedia | IMDb | Official website

WH

‘No kids allowed’

Treehouse is a 2014 American horror film directed by Michael Bartlett and starring Dana Melanie, J. Michael Trautmann, and Clint James. It was made on a budget of $3,250,000.

Plot teaser:

When a young girl and her little brother are the latest to go missing without a trace, their home town imposes a curfew, no one is allowed to go out after dark. But when a group of teenagers break the rules for a secret double date in the woods, they unwittingly stumble across an old isolated treehouse… and right into the middle of an unimaginable nightmare. Inside, they find the missing girl but her brother has vanished. Together they start to unravel the horror behind the killings… But while they’re safe inside the treehouse, they can t stay hidden for long. Whatever is out there is watching them, and waiting for them to come down…

Buy Treehouse on DVD from Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“With Bartlett’s deliberate, gradual pacing of Treehouse, any fidgety lack of patience from an audience raised on cattle-prod scares will be stifled by a superbly tense, unrelenting final act that makes this low key release one to hunt down and purchase.” Scream

“Treehouse has a few other standout features. The film is developed much like a siege film, in which the protagonists must defend themselves against an external assault. The elaborate treehouse in the film acts as a bunker, with the teenagers inside stalked and harrassed by evil. The assault and retreat by the villains introduces some very solid conflict and a few surprises are housed in the tree limbs, which support the treehouse (see above).” Michael Allen, 28 Days Later Analysis

“The finale is every bit as bonkers as you’d expect which makes for an energetic, pedal to the metal conclusion to proceedings that is made even more entertaining by the wit that underlines it. On this evidence, Michael Bartlett is a director to keep an eye on.” Top Ten Films

“Treehouse overall is a solid film, one that starts out extremely well  only to be hampered by a weaker final act.  But don’t let this put you off, despite this Treehouse is still head and shoulders above the vast majority of big budget horror films.” Ginger Nuts of Horror

“Admittedly there are a few half hearted attempts at raising some chills, however these are pretty sub-standard even where the oversaturated market for mass produced fright films is concerned. Having three redneck, hillbilly brothers (at least one presumes they’re brothers, though this is never actually spelt out) chase you through the woods brandishing assorted knives and sawn-off shotguns, is nothing new.” Paul Devine, The People’s Movies

IMDb

WH

Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings is the 1994 American direct-to-video sequel to the 1988 horror film Pumpkinhead. It was directed by Jeff Burr and stars Andrew Robinson, Ami Dolenz,and Soleil Moon Frye.

Plot teaser

When five teenagers unwittingly resurrect a demon, nobody is safe from the creature’s bloody rampage. But this monster is different: inside its demonic frame dwells the soul of a boy murdered years ago. Can the evil creature be killed without destroying the innocent boy trapped within?

According to Jeff Burr on the DVD’s audio commentary, a few short seconds were cut from the film in order to avoid an NC-17. These were mainly from Pumpkinhead clawing up the farmer in the first death scene, and from the monster’s own death at the end.

A video game adaptation, Bloodwings: Pumpkinhead’s Revenge, was released for DOS in 1995. The game sold poorly at the time of its release and received little attention. The game is a first-person shooter and includes several video clips taken from Pumpkinhead II.

Buy Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings on Blu-ray from Amazon.com or on DVD from Amazon.co.uk

Reviews

“Pumpkinhead II is a low-budget, direct-to-video horror sequel to a moderately well-known film that does enough fun stuff to not make me hate it. Director Jeff Burr has crafted a fairly entertaining hard-R little creature feature tossing plenty of overblown gore and corny story elements my way for me to get on board with it. Bottom line: I had fun watching this film.” DVD Verdict

“It’s a bit of fun while it lasts, at least the direction is half decent on this one and there are glimpses of the original’s rich atmosphere, albeit glitzier. After the first half hour or so the kills come fast and furious and a decapitation is the highlight, amongst some limbs lost, a great impaling and lots of blood splattering on walls.” Oh, The Horror!

“Plot holes and logic gaps abound for sure, but dammit, I’m just gonna let Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings be great. Well, not great. As I said, not even good. It’s certainly inferior to the original film. Geez, I was expecting to point at this movie and laugh…but we had a good time together, ol’ P-Head and I. And that’s one to grow on.” Final Girl

Wikipedia | IMDb

WH

Feed the Gods is a 2014 comedy horror film written and directed by Braden Croft (Hemorrhage) for Random Bench Productions. It stars Erica Carroll (Carmilla, the Lesbian Vampire; Spooksville; R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour), Shawn Roberts (Diary of the Dead; A Little Bit Zombie; Resident Evil), Tyler Johnston (Ogre; R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour), Emily Tennant (Zombie Punch; Poe: Last Days of the Raven), Britt Irvin (Supernatural), Garry Chalk (The Fly II; Leprechaun: Origins; Godzilla).

Plot teaser:

After the death of their foster mother, brothers Will and Kris inherit a box that offers clues about their long-lost parents. Their quest leads them to the creepy town of Tendale, which is home to a mythical Bigfoot-like creature with “a taste for tourists.” Soon the town’s insidious past emerges, and the boys find exactly what they’re looking for…

The film is due to be released by XLrator Media on VOD on November 25, 2014 and DVD on January 27, 2015.

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Black Sheep is a 2006 New Zealand comedy horror film written and directed by Jonathan King. The film’s “splatstick“-style was inspired by New Zealand director Peter Jackson‘s movies such as Bad Taste and Braindead. Special effects for the film were handled by Weta Workshop.

Plot teaser:

A young Henry Oldfield (Nick Fenton) lives on a sheep farm in New Zealand, with his father and older brother, Angus. After witnessing his father’s pride in Henry’s natural ability at farming, Angus plays a cruel prank on him involving the bloody corpse of his pet sheep, just moments before Mrs. Mac, the farm’s housekeeper, comes to tell the boys that their father has been killed in an accident. The combined shock of these two incidents leads Henry to develop a crippling phobia of sheep.

Fifteen years later, Henry (Nathan Meister) returns home to sell his share of the family farm to Angus (Peter Feeney). Unknown to Henry, Angus is carrying out secret genetic experiments that transform sheep from docile vegetarians into ferocious carnivores whose bite can transform a human into a bloodthirsty half-sheep monstrosity…

Reviews:

“Writer-director Jonathan King takes swipes at irresponsible scientists but also at daft hippie saboteurs: his message is the obvious one of letting nature get on with it. There are bawdy gags about the usual suspects, including the notorious intimacy between Kiwis and sheep, but the farce maintains a rollicking pace and the performances are more accomplished and likeable than a film of this sort generally musters.” Anthony Quinn, The Independent

“This movie is bloody and gory along the lines of Slither, but it’s done with deliberate humor, spectacular effects and surprisingly, a beautifully written musical score by Victoria Kelly. The actors are all unknowns (here in the U.S.) and I believe this is King’s first full-length feature film. It’s an amazing effort and a credit to them all that they pull it off and make something that is so graphic at times seem hysterically funny.” Sybil Vasche, Screen Rant

“Of course, no film – least of all one about mutant killer sheep – is obliged to “say something”; so rather than criticise this production for its profound disinterest in anything that doesn’t involve grossing out its audience, it would be more to the point to commend it for the energy it puts into achieving that one great goal. Mutilated human bodies abound in Black Sheep: the camera lingers with glee over disembowellings, throat tearings, limb severings and, in the case of Angus Oldfield’s inevitable demise, genital violence guaranteed to bring tears to the eyes of any male viewer.” Liz Kingsley, Cinefantastique

“There are some good jokes, and impressively disgusting special effects, but it’s hampered by wooden acting, abrupt switches of tone, and long stretches of humourless exposition. Shaun of the Dead has set the bar pretty high for this sort of thing; Black Sheep just isn’t nearly as funny or suspenseful.” Andrew Pulver, The Guardian

“Writer/director Jonathan King turns in a highly skilled debut, with amazingly clear editing and a gorgeous use of widescreen, rural spaces. He has an eye for old-fashioned horror, using latex effects instead of CGI, but also turns up the gore for modern audiences. He also has a terrific deadpan comic touch, and the film had me giggling more than once.” Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

Wikipedia | IMDb

Leatherface as depicted in the disappointing Texas Chainsaw 3D

Leatherface is a 2016 prequel to the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) to be directed by Frenchmen Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo (Inside; Livid; Among the Living) from a screenplay by Seth M. Sherwood for Millennium Films. Carl Mazzocone is producing alongside executive producers Christa Campbell and Lati Grobman. The film will apparently focus on Leatherface’s teenage years.

Plot teaser:

A young nurse is kidnapped by four violent teens who escape from a mental hospital and take her on a road trip from hell. Pursued by an equally deranged lawman out for revenge, one of these teens is destined for tragedy and horrors that will destroy his mind; molding him into the monster we now call Leatherface…

Comment:

Hopefully in the hands of Maury and Bustillo this new movie will be an improvement over the poorly-received Texas Chainsaw 3D. It couldn’t be any worse!

‘The invasion has begun’

The Device is a 2014 sci-fi/horror film directed by Jeremy Berg from a screenplay he co-wrote with John Portanova. It stars Angela DiMarco, David S. Hogan, Kate Alden, Gabriel Congdon, Lorraine Montez, Ben Andrews, Morgen Johnson and Russell Hodgkinson.

The film is released on DVD in the US by Image Entertainment on December 16, 2014.

Official plot teaser:

What if the rumours and urban legends are real… that aliens walk among us, abducting people for unthinkable experiments? Sisters Abby and Rebecca are about to discover the horrifying truth when they find a harmless looking object in the woods near their family’s cabin.

The small black sphere is the key to a shocking mystery that will change the course of human destiny. The Device has plans for us, and this world is no longer ours…

Reviews:

“It’s very clear that Berg and Portanova are fans of the alien subgenre, and they excel at telling the story based around that, but what really stands out about the film, is how much character development is accomplished, while also doing its best to genuinely creep the audience out. It works on all levels, the horror aspects are dead on, but the drama and relationships are what makes The Device rise greatly above typical genre films.” Jerry Smith, Icons of Fright

IMDb | Facebook

WH

“That’s not my mother’s voice I hear.
I think that Baba Yaga’s near!”

Baba Yaga is a recurrent figure in East European folklore, usually as a single entity though sometimes appearing as one of a trio of sisters, all using the same name. Baba Yaga appears as a filthy, hideous or ferocious-looking woman with the ability to fly around in a large mortar, knees tucked up to her chin, using the accompanying pestle as a blunt weapon or a rudder to guide her strange craft. Some tales omit her ability to fly but see her ‘rowing’ along the forest floor, using the pestle as an oar.

With connections to the elements and nature, she usually makes appearances near her dwelling in birch woods and forests, where she resides in a ramshackle hut which is peculiarly perched atop chicken-like legs. These unusual foundations allow her to move her abode to different locations, the hut spinning as it goes, emitting a strange, unearthly moan. The eye-like windows also serve to give the hut the appearance of a living entity. The hut is protected by a fence made of bones, the skulls atop the posts glowing to illuminate the night – one post remains empty, awaiting another visitor. Some tales see the hut protected by what are essentially ‘familiars’, taking the form of vicious dogs, cats or geese.

There are numerous derivations of Baba Yaga’s name – many cultures use “ba-ba” or “ma-ma” as a sound to refer to a mother figure, or in this case an older woman (for example “Babushka”, meaning “grandmother”, in Russian). However, in countries such as Poland, the similar word, “Babcia”, has connotations of cruelty and ugliness, both phrases lending tonality to Baba Yaga as a character. “Yaga” is more difficult to pin down, though linguists have pointed to similarities with words from various Slavic cultures and beyond; the Russian verb, “yagat”, meaning “to abuse”; Serbia/Croatia – “jaza”, meaning “horror”; Old Czech, “jězě” – “witch”; Polish, “jędza” – “witch or fury”; even the Old English term, “inca” meaning “pain”. You get the gist. In Russia and Finland, stone statues known as Yaga have long existed, pitched atop tree stumps with offerings of gifts from devotees.

The first reference to Baba Yaga dates back to as early as 1755, when a similar name appears in a Russian book describing various Deities and their Roman counterparts; it is interesting that the mention of “Iaga Baba”, is not cross-referenced with any older God, suggesting that the being is very much rooted in European and Slavic lore, with characteristics and behaviour which is unique to the region and the traditions of the local inhabitants.

As previously mentioned, Baba Yaga could often be seen flying in a mortar, though not always equipped with a pestle – occasionally this would be a staff, or, reflecting more familiar witch-like behaviour, a broom. Witches and brooms appear in Western folklore far earlier than references to Baba Yaga, so it is likely this element was developed across land borders. The witch also has other strange traits, such as smelling out visitors to her environs by sticking her enormous, deformed nose, which reaches up to the ceiling of her hut, allowing her to sniff out, “the Russian smell”. Often she is found to be stretched out over the stove in her hut, using her wretched, spindly, elongated limbs to reach for objects in distant corners. Russian legend depicts her with large, iron teeth, huge, hairy chin and warts.

Her appearance is accompanied by a strange wind blowing through the forest, signs of her arrival evidenced by trees and leaves being blown around on a normally calm day. So that she can stay hidden within the forest, she uses her broom to sweep up any traces of her being in a location. In common with a certain vampire myth, visitors to her hut are asked if they came of their own free-will – if they have, she is given carte-blanche to do her evil worst. As with another famous legend of a wolfy nature, the “pure of heart” are exempt from her cruelty. Her usual habits when receiving ‘willing guests’ are to wash them, feed them and then to sit them on a large spatula-like shovel which she will then push into her stove. Lucky human meals may be offered a chance of escape if they happen to sit on the spatula in such a way that they can’t fit into the oven. Despite Baba Yaga’s appetite of up to ten men a day, she remains skeletal in appearance.

Beyond her hut attendants, the witch controls the elements and has three servants; a red (“My red sun”), black (“My black midnight”) and white (“My bright dawn”) horseman, whom she entrusts to fuel the times of day. She also has a number of ‘soul friends’ or ‘friends of my bosom’; a pair of disembodied hands which acquiesce to her bidding, as well as a herdsman, the sorcerer, Koshchey Bessmertny (or Koshchey the Deathless), something of a Grim Reaper role in the double act.

Although her horrid appearance and habit for eating both adults and children, some famous stories show another side to the character. The tale of ‘Vasilisa the Fair’, sees a young girl bequeathed a Russian doll by her dying mother who tells her that she will be guided with advice throughout her life by the object. Alas, her father remarries and the step mother and her two new step sisters make her life a misery, taunting her and forcing her to do all the chores for the family.

One day, the trio conspire to make the fire go out in the house and the cruel sisters and father send her to Baba Yaga to ask for coal to fuel the furnace, in the assumption she will meet her end. Upon reaching the old crone’s hut, she meets the three horses previously mentioned and she is shown to the witch’s lair. Chastised by the hag for being idiotic for letting the fire go out, she is nevertheless welcomed in as she is unfailingly polite and gracious.

Vasilisa is given two days of chores, after which two seemingly impossible tasks are presented to her: separating mildewed corn from fresh, and poppy seeds from soot. Assisted by the doll, she achieves these, which Baba Yaga grudgingly acknowledges. She is presented by one of the glowing skulls outside the hut and is shooed on her way. Back at the unhappy family home, the doll guides Vasilisa away from danger but the skull waits until the father and two wicked girls are asleep and sets fire to the house, burning them all to death. Vasilisa’s exploits attract the attention of the Tsar and in the end, both are wed.

Baba Yaga featured as a character in several films made in the Soviet Union, from the 1930’s right up until the 1960’s. Notable examples include: 1939’s genuinely disturbing, Vasilisa Prekrasnaya (Vasilisa the Beautiful) directed by Aleksandr Rou; 1972’s Zolotye Roga (The Golden Horns), also by Rou; and 1979’s Baba Yaga Protiv!, a bizarre animated film by Vladimir Pekar which sees the witch incensed at Misha the Bear becoming mascot for the 1980 Olympics and setting off to sabotage the arrangement and make herself the icon. Highly rated, though very difficult to track down is the Turkish film, Babasiz Yasayamam, said to be unnervingly horrific and violent. Sad to report that the most famous film connected to Baba Yaga, Corrado Farina’s 1973 movie, Baba Yaga, (Devil Witch; Kiss Me Kill Me) has little, if anything to do with the legend, though is worth a watch for entirely different reasons.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

‘If Jake can’t fix it, it’s been dead too long.’

Blood Salvage aka Mad Jake is a 1990 American horror film directed by Tucker Johnston from a screenplay he co-wrote with Ken S. Sanders (Southern Shockers). It stars Danny Nelson, Lori Birdsong (Munchies), Christian Helser, Ralph Pruitt Vaughn (Cannibal Apocalypse), John Saxon (Cannibal Apocalypse; Tenebrae; A Nightmare on Elm Street), Laura Whyte (False Face) and Ray Walston (Galaxy of Terror; Popcorn; Addams Family Reunion).

Special makeup effects were provided by Bill Johnston.

Plot teaser:

A crazy, Bible-preaching, redneck farmer and his two dim-witted sons kidnap victims from the highway and perform sick medical experiments on them. They then proceed to sell their organs on the black market. Meanwhile, their pet alligator lurks nearby. Everything is going fine until they kidnap the handicapped April Evans and find out that she is harder to control than the others…

Reviews:

“Blood Salvage doesn’t exactly turn the redneck killer shtick on its head, but it does offer a few unique tidbits. Jake Pruitt, the film’s central baddie, is somewhat of an evil mastermind. Okay, mastermind is a bit strong, but he ain’t stupid and he is quite congenial. Blood Salvage is a peculiar mix of nasty, cruel, bizarrely funny, and completely ridiculous.” Goregirl’s Dungeon

“This patent Texas Chainsaw Massacre rip-off is mostly sadistic, occasionally funny, and acted with down-home brio by a cast of nobodies (although boxer-coproducer Evander Holyfield has a cameo). The only original touch is Lori Birdsong’s portrayal of the ill- tempered young beauty in distress. As one of the killers says, ”She’s a mean little thing, ain’t she?'” Entertainment Weekly

“Blood Salvage is a smart take on what’s considered a stupid subgenre. The film not only looks great, with plenty of attention to detail, but the acting is very good all around. And there are lots of funny lines and moments to balance the explicit creepiness…leading up to a satisfying ending (that holds some surprises).” Video Eyeball Magazine

“It’s got slobbering rednecks, it’s got car chases, it’s got maniac alligators, it’s got Elvis on life support, it’s got Ray Walston. Drive-In Academy Award nominations for Danny Nelson, better known as the Cates Pickle Man, as Jake the junkyard surgeon.” Joe Bob Briggs, Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In

“Danny Nelson plays a Hooperesque backwoods patriarch whose road salvage work conceals his real dabbling… trafficking in human organs salvaged from unwilling folks with car trouble… all presented with an unexpected degree of wit, pathos and polish.” Video Watchdog

IMDb

Jennifer Help Us is a 2014 American horror film written and directed by Juan Ortiz and produced by Brian Burger. It stars Alaina Dawn Sharp, Rachel Brennan Leyh, Courtney Bandeko, Kelsi Simpson, Chris Azmeh and Jenny Gorsett.

Juan Ortiz shot the entire 70 minute retro-style movie on an iPhone 4s. Jennifer Help Us will screen at the Another Hole In the Head film festival on December 15, 2014.

Plot teaser:

The story is about a vengeful high school senior, whose violent kidnapping of a fellow student, collides with her town’s haunted house and its brutal past

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‘Just when you thought it was safe down under…’

Dark Age is a 1987 Australian-made film concerning not just the battle between humans and a gigantic killer crocodile but conservationists and Aboriginal people versus the local authorities who just want the beast shot and everyone to be quiet. The film was directed by Arch Nicholson (second unit director on Razorback) and stars John Jarrett (Wolf Creek both 1 and 2), Ray Meagher (Alf in teeth-grinding soap Home and Away), Nikki Coghill and Burnham Burnham (The Marsupials: The Howling III). The stunning cinematography was provided by Andrew Lesnie who worked on all six of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films. The film is based on the novel Numunwari by Grahame Webb.

In the Northern Territory, Australia, a huge saltwater crocodile is patrolling the river system and, though held in almost God-like regard by the Native Australians, attracts less flattering comments when its journeys lead it near a remote town. More forgiving is park ranger, Steve (a youthful Jarrett), who represents the white man with a heart, determined to protect the local fauna but he finds himself fighting a losing battle as locals start to become meals for the hungry reptile. Obliged by the majority of the local populous, as well as his permanently angry boss, Rex (Meagher), to slay the beast to protect the dwindling locals as well as save their tourist industry, Steve opts for a safe middle ground, aiming to catch the crocodile and re-locate it somewhere less provocative.

Thrown into the stew are a glut of beer-swilling hunters, led by John (Max Phipps; Thirst; The Cars That Ate Paris) who, in the quest to find it, shoot any living thing in or near the water, as well as the Aboriginal people who recognise the reptile as a ‘Dreaming Crocodile’, a spirit which has existed long before Man. Less integral is Steve’s ex-girlfriend (Coghill) who returns to help in a manner not usually common in former partners.

Tensions between the gung-ho, racist, drunk poachers and the crocodile’s protectors reach fever-pitch when even more humans go missing, not least a small child. It takes the son of indigenous leader Oondabund (Burnham Burham), Adjaral (played by David Gulpill, Hollywood’s go-to Aborigine; Crocodile Dundee, The Proposition), to join forces with Steve to try for one last time to save the creature.

Australia’s fascination with its own wildlife and Man’s uneasy relationship with it can be seen in many films, from Long Weekend to Razorback and more recent efforts like Black Water. Here, the element of Native beliefs are also considered, though the monotone, pidgin soothsaying and ancient wisdom becomes rather cloying, to the extent that your sympathies are tempted to wander.

A perfect companion piece to Razorback, the film is refreshing in its treatment of the huge, scaly threat, the crocodile given no redeeming qualities as such, the scene in which is devours a small child both matter-of-fact and unnervingly realistic.

Equally eye-popping are the poachers’ culling of other reptiles, chunks of croc meat flying across the screen as their bullets hit, a surprise to those who assumed, as with most other films, the animals simply sink or gently flip over when shot. The boorish, sweating hunters are a perfect villain, their disdain for anything moving or less than 8% proof adding a certain claustrophobia to proceedings, the air of ultimate futility quite heady. The shooting locations of Alice Springs and Cairns are beautifully shot and their alien appearance, certainly lend a believability to a huge monster living in the waterways – you wouldn’t blink if a dinosaur came crashing through the undergrowth.

Though generally appearing only fleetingly, the crocodile is certainly realistic, especially as shots of the real thing are mixed into some shots. Less comfortable are some of the actors, the spirituality and violence leaving little middle ground; the hunters too obviously ‘evil’; the Aboriginal beliefs too thickly laid on; the heroic conservationist too earnest. You’re left rooting for the crocodile to eat everyone, not necessarily a failure in the film-making but presumably not the aim.

The film was denied a release in its native land for many years due to the collapse of the Australian distributor, Avco Embassy. The Australian executive producer was Antony I. Ginnane, a champion of Australian horror and genre films – of note are Patrick and Dead Kids. The American financier was RKO Pictures, one of their last projects before the company was (yet again) rejigged and sold on to new owners. The film finally received a public screening in Australia in 2011.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

‘If you see him… run’

Mr. Jones is a 2013 horror thriller film and the feature film directorial debut of Karl Mueller, who also wrote the screenplay. It had its world debut on April 19, 2013 at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released on Blu-ray and DVD by Anchor Bay on May 2, 2014. It stars Jon Foster and Sarah Jones.

While filming, Mueller was inspired by director David Lynch and the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and wanted to design the film’s soundtrack to “make it feel like you’re under water, or in somebody’s head and they have a bad cold.”

He was also inspired by the memory of a neighbour of his during childhood in Minnesota, as the man had lived in a “primitive shack of a cabin with no running water, trapped animals and hung them up around the woods. He had lots of bizarre farming equipment overgrown by weeds around his house. He was the boogieman we made up stories about to scare ourselves at night.”

Plot teaser:

Penny (Sarah Jones) is on her way out to the woods to help her boyfriend Scott (Jon Foster) make a nature documentary. The two end up fighting, as Scott has not fully planned out his documentary and Penny had given up a good job to come help him. Things turn strange when one of Scott’s possessions is stolen, prompting the two to seek it out. They end up finding a cabin filled with various strange, weird artefacts and figures.

They eventually realise that the cabin is the home of Mr. Jones (Mark Steger), an elusive artist who sends his artwork to random people with no rhyme or reason. Scott investigates the mythology and rumours surrounding Mr. Jones with the intent to make him the subject of his next documentary, despite warnings that he stay far away from the man in question…

Reviews:

” … a thriller with a promising outsider-art premise that ultimately gets too wrapped up in mystical, reality-questioning headgames to tell a satisfying story. That failing and an annoying spin on the found-footage trope shouldn’t hurt much with genre auds, who will enjoy the distinctive atmosphere of this sometimes beautiful film.” John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter

“But as beautiful and creatively shot as the first half of the movie is, Mr. Jones takes an unfortunate turn at around the halfway mark. Much of the handheld camera work becomes shakier as the characters are in situations where they need to run. And everything eventually breaks down into disjointed, dream-like, choppy scenes. Things become hard to follow and sometimes even hard to see. By the time I got to the final ten minutes, I had had enough of the ongoing trippy scenes and was absolutely ready for the end.”Scott Hallam, Dread Central

“Their encounters with the silent creepster, in and out of his subterranean lair, are spooky, but Mr. Jonesultimately warps into a self-absorbed ode to its own making. By film’s end, it implies through easy montage barfs of Scott’s unedited doc footage that the story’s boogeyman isn’t so much scaring Scott and Penny as the couple is scaring themselves by trying to unravel the mystery of his identity. Mueller asks us to look at his film as one might Mr. Jones’s art—to validate its authenticity using a barometer of fear.” Ed Gonzalez, Slant

“You can’t really dip into dream logic if you have nary a single eye-popping visual, and in doing so, Mueller completely wastes a unique, potentially durable concept: just imagine a hooded monster in the woods making a side-living as an avant-garde darling of the art world. The movie you’ve now visualized in your head is probably a good deal more interesting than Mr. Jones.” Gabe Toro, Indiewire

Buy Mr. Jones on Blu-ray | DVD | Instant Video from Amazon.com

“An assaulting, strobing, surreal sprint through the forest, Chris and Penny keep encountering frightening visions of themselves and each other; the strangeness on display specifically recalling Lynch in its colors and frightening duality. It’s also massively frustrating. The choppy, jerking style employed by Mueller becomes abrasive in the extended sequence, wrapping up with a possibility there might not be as much to chew on as all the spectacle would have you believe. If you are not turned off, however, a second viewing seems in order.” Samuel Zimmerman, Fangoria

Cast:

• Jon Foster as Scott
• Sarah Jones as Penny
• Mark Steger as Mr. Jones
• Faran Tahir as The Anthropologist
• Stanley B. Herman as The Old Journalist
• Ethan Sawyer as Alleged Scarecrow Recipient
• Jordan Byrne as Peter Cavagnaro
• David Clennon as The Curator
• Jessica Dowdeswell as Penny
• Diane Neal as The Scholar
• Rachel O’Meara as The Skeptic

Buy Mr. Jones on DVD | Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk

Filming locations:

Santa Clarita, California

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘5 playgirls walked innocently into his arms… only to meet the devil in the flesh!’

The Playgirls and the Vampire (Italian: L’ultima preda del vampiro – translation: “The Vampire’s Last Prey”) is a 1960 Italian horror film written and directed by Piero Regnoli. It stars Lyla Rocco, Walter Brandi (The Vampire and the Ballerina; Bloody Pit of Horror), Maria Giovannini, and Alfredo Rizzo (The Bloodsucker Leads the Dance).

Regnoli was a scriptwriter who also co-wrote Riccardo Freda’s I Vampiri, Nightmare City and Demonia. The 1963 US release was by Richard Gordon (Tower of Evil; Horror Hospital). A shortened American TV version was retitled Curse of the Vampire.

Plot teaser:

A feckless troupe of European exotic dancers and their piano player led by a bumbling manager stumble upon a castle after encountering a ferocious storm.

The castle, inhabited by Count Gabor, his assistant and a vampire, is little refuge for the traveling showgirls as they slowly fall under the spell of the un-dead demon.

Vera, one of the reluctant dancers and the living doppelgänger of the vampire’s dead wife, Margherita Kernassy—who has been dead nearly 200 years—becomes the object of affection for both Count Gabor and the vampire…

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

Reviews:

The pseudo-scientific approach to curing vampirism is intriguing, the playful ‘comedy’ is self-deprecating and the “playgirls” are a lively distraction but, alas, Walter Brandi is a weak evil count and Aldo Piga’s score recalls the silent era rather than the 1960s. That said, there is an undoubted eroticism to Regnoli’s film that predates Rollin, Franco, Hammer and countless other vampiric ventures.

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

“This is a fairly low-level mystery that plods through with some erotic undertones (for the time period anyway), minimal vampirism and only cheesecake variety gore. I liked it despite all of those shortcomings.” A Feast of the Ires

” … plodding and mediocre. On the plus side, it is very atmospherically photographed by Aldo Greci. The film also offers two nice scenes at the climax. In one, the now vampiric Katia comes toward the camera to claim a victim, only to be staked by her male vampire (Brandi in a dual role) counterpart.

The other notable scene is the male vampire’s staking, which leads to a dissolve of images as the 200-year-old vampire crumbles to a skeleton and then fades away.” Dennis Fischer, Cinefantastique

“Playgirls’ Regnoli only churned out five minor period films as a director before settling into a career as a screenwriter on zombie films like City of the Walking Dead and Burial Ground. He does a competent job here and probably could have been a notable player in the spooky-sexy European sweepstakes of the ’60s and ’70s had he chosen to pursue it. Anybody who could deliver naked girls with big fangs con gusto like this definitely deserved to have a longer career.” Mondo Digital

Cast:

• Walter Brandi as Count Gabor Kernassy / The Vampire
• Lyla Rocco as Vera
• Maria Giovannini as Katia, the victim
• Alfredo Rizzo as Lucas, the manager
• Marisa Quattrini
• Leonardo Botta as Fernand
• Antoine Nicos
• Corinne Fontaine
• Tilde Damiani
• Erika Dicenta
• Enrico Salvatore

Choice dialogue:

“The strength of love is miraculous, if you can believe it!”

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: Chicago Ghouls

Kill, Granny, Kill! is a 2014 US horror movie co-written and directed Jacob Ennis (Stash, Hillbilly Bloodbath). It stars Donna Swenson, Alicia M. Clark and T.J. Pack and is a Camp Motion Pictures production.

The film is released in the US on DVD and Digital on 21 April 21 2015 by Alternative Cinema. Special features include a director commentary, outtakes and a trailer vault.

Official plot teaser:

Answering an in-home help ad for an elderly woman, Abby Daniels leaves family and friends for a remote farmhouse in the country. But all is not as it seems with her fluffy employer, whose locked doors and cellar seem to be hiding some unusual hobbies.

When she drunkenly sneaks her boyfriend into the house, breaking the rules about cursing and fornication, Abby is plunged into a nightmare of hellish proportions – pitted against a clan of ruthless, amoral, and degenerate flesh-eaters lead by their murderous GRANNY!

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