Charlie’s Farm is a 2014 horror Australian movie written and directed by Chris Sun (Daddy’s Little Girl) for Slaughter FX. It stars Tara Reid (Incubus; Sharknado and sequels), Nathan Jones (Mad Max: Fury Road), Allira Jaques, Bill Moseley (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2; Night of the Living Dead; 2001 Maniacs), Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th‘s Jason Vorhees; Hatchet and sequels), Dean Kirkright, David Beamish, Sam Coward.

The film was released 4 December 2014 in Australia and is due out in the USA 1 March 2015. The official site contains a range of tie-in products suggesting that the filmmakers are confident that fans will be enamoured with new horror villain Charlie.

Plot teaser:

In an effort to do something different, four friends head into Australia’s outback to explore Charlie’s Farm, the site where a violent family met their end at the hands of an angry mob.

Despite all warnings, they persist in their horror-seeking adventure…

IMDb | Official site | Facebook

México Bárbaro is a 2014 Mexican horror anthology film with tales by eight different directors:

Isaac Ezban – “La cosa mas preciada”
Laurette Flores Bornn – “Tzompantli”
Jorge Michel Grau – “Muñecas”
Ulises Guzman – “Siete veces siete”
Edgar Nito – “Jaral de Berrios”
Lex Ortega – “Lo que importa es lo de adentro”
Gigi Saul Guerrero – “Día de los Muertos”
Aaron Soto – “Drena”

Cast: 

Mathias Retamal, Barbara Perrin Rivemar, Claudia Goytia, Sara Camacho, Ramón Medína, Rubén Zerecero, Dulce Alexa, Anuar Zuñiga Naime, Lorena Gonzalez, Gilean Alducin Luciano.

The title is derived from a 1908 essay by John Kenneth Turner that highlighted the political and social situation in Mexico during the twilight of the long dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz.

Official plot synopsis:

México Bárbaro shows the world stories that form a part of our culture, and even some that have haunted us and made us have nightmares since childhood, those ones which took away our innocence. The boogeyman, trolls, ghosts, creatures, Aztec sacrifices, and of course our most beloved tradition, Day of the Dead, immerse in urban and rural stories are some of the issues that make up this anthology.

Reviews:

” … the film fails to be a cohesive conceptual anthology. When it world premiered at Sitges 2014, it was screened back-to-back with two other recent horror anthologies: V/H/S: Viral and ABCs of Death 2. If I’m going to compare it with those productions, well, México Bárbaro at least doesn’t try to unite its eight segments in a way that hardly makes any sense as V/H/S: Viral did, but it definitely lacks the concrete ideas — as well as the brutality and energy — that the best shorts from ABCs of Death 2 have. It’s a welcomed effort that could have been much more powerful.” Eric Ortiz Garcia, Twitch

IMDb | Facebook

El Silbón (English translation: “The Whistler”) is a character appearing in both Colombian and Venezuelan folk tales, famed for terrorising men, women and children, especially the latter whom he is known to feast upon.

The legend of El Silbón is thought to date back to the 19th Century and always concerns the events beginning with a young man murdering his father, for deeds as diverse as:

1. Finding his father abusing his young wife.

2. His father’s refusal to allow his son to feast upon the blood and innards of a recently slaughtered deer. The son’s solution is to kill and gut his father and to serve the resultant stew of human offal to his mother.

Either way and accounting for further slight deviations, the mother flees the scene, returning with her father who it seems is a dab hand at dishing out punishments and curses. Tying the boy to a tree, he rubs lemons and chillies (or red peppers) into his eyes, whips him soundly and, being a frugal sort, squeezes the remaining lemons over the wounds. He is then presented with a sack containing his father’s remains (or sometimes, future victims), which he must carry on his back for eternity. Not quite finished, spectral hounds are sent to pursue him wherever he wanders. A final curse is uttered to send him on his way:

“Eso no se le hace a su padre…¡Maldito eres pa´ toa´ la vida” [roughly: “You should not have killed your father, you are cursed for the rest of your life”]

As the ghostly son sets off, with dogs not far behind, he whistles a distinctive tune; think “Do-re-me…” or the note progression C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.

The cursed young man now takes his anger out on many who cross his path but particularly men who have cheated on their wives, drunkards and children. The sight of him distantly traipsing across the plains, stick-thin and sporting a large-brimmed farming hat, can often be preempted by the sound of his distinctive whistle, at well as the sound of the bones in his sack grinding against one another. Though common sense would dictate the louder it is heard, the nearer he is, in actual fact is actually true, meaning a distant sound after a glimpse of the boy could spell imminent doom.

Every night the ghoulish traveller stops at a different house in order to count the bones in his sack. If no-one at home is roused by the sound of this by the following dawn, a member of the household is certain to die. Drunks are given less of a chance; those found sleeping off the booze are dispatched at once, by the novel approach of having their alcohol and blood sucked out of their body via the belly button.

He is often to be seen during the rainy seasons. It is possible to arm oneself against attack from El Silbón by either reminding him of the crimes which have lead to his torment or by keeping one of the items he was tortured with close to hand; red peppers, a whip or a dog. This writer makes no comment on the kind of homes which may have all three of these things.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

‘Everyone has nightmares about the ugliest way to die.’

Don’t Go in the Woods – also known as Don’t Go in the Woods… Alone! - is a 1980 (released 1981) American slasher film directed by James Bryan from a screenplay by Garth Eliassen. The film was shot on a budget of $20,000 in the summer of 1980 in outdoor locations in Utah in order to save money on the film’s lighting.

It is one of the infamous video nasties that was banned in the UK in the moral panic of the 1980s. It was finally re-released uncut, with a BBFC 15 rating (!), in 2007.

Plot teaser:

As something kills a hysterical woman, and a bird watcher, four friends – Peter, Joanne, Ingrid and Craig – trek through the wilderness. A tourist is thrown over a waterfall – landing near some oblivious frolickers – and his mother is wounded, and dragged away.

The four backpackers set up camp for the night, and elsewhere a pair of honeymooners are attacked in their van and murdered. The next day, the two couples continue their hike, while an artist is stabbed to death, and her young daughter is taken.

Two more campers are butchered, and while off on his own, Peter witnesses a fisherman be murdered by the killer, a spear-wielding wild man adorned in furs and rags. Peter rushes off to warn his friends, who the maniac gets to first, spearing Craig, and sending Joanne fleeing into the woods. Peter finds Ingrid, and after the two stumble upon the wild man’s cabin, they accidentally attack another hiker, thinking he was the savage. The killer finishes off the hiker, and wounds Ingrid, but she and Peter escape, and eventually reach civilisation, and alert the authorities to the backwoods psychopath…

Buy Don’t Go in the Woods on Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray + DVD from Amazon.com

Reviews:

“Aside from one nasty bit with a bear trap and a sequence toward the end that faintly — and accidentally, believe me — recalls The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in its slow, dread-saturated buildup, director James Bryan’s splatter film is an incoherent mess. An endless parade of victims keeps the fake blood squirting, but the murder sequences are so poorly staged that it’s usually impossible to tell precisely what’s happening. The most frightening thing about this alleged horror film, aside from its bad synthesizer soundtrack, is its pacing. Murder sequences are clumped together throughout the film, leaving a lot of flab in between.” Bryan Pop, DVD Verdict

“Much of the dialogue is priceless – a doctor saying of one of the escapees to the sheriff: “There’s a lot of pressure under that kind of stress and he might… he might become irrational!” The scriptwriter should have won some kind of surrealist award, or been shot – or both! The gore is cheap but plentiful (enough to get it banned in the UK, an accolade it still possess after so many years) and there is always the slightly satisfying feeling that you will (probably) never see anything as awful again.” Hysteria Lives

Buy Don’t Go in the Woods on 88 Films Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk

” …a lively, ramshackle horror picture with a devil-may-care approach to story construction, and lots of grisly deaths. The story … may lack originality, but it plays the slasher horror game to the hilt and proved to be Bryan’s most visible and commercially successful picture.” Stephen Thrower, Nightmare USA

Buy Nightmare USA book from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

” …fat women huffing up hillsides, nerdy birdwatchers, roller-skating disco-bunnies and swinging couples, all accompanied by perhaps the most grating score of all time (by H. Kingsley Thurber). At the gore is plentiful – if extremely hokey.” J.A. Kerswell, Teenage Wasteland: The Slasher Movie Uncut

Buy Teenage Wasteland: The Slasher Movie Uncut book from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Cast:

• Jack McClelland as Peter
• Mary Gail Artz as Ingrid
• James P. Hayden as Craig
• Angie Brown as Joanne
• Ken Carter as Sheriff
• David Barth as Deputy Benson
• Larry Roupe as Store Owner
• Amy Martell as Artist’s Child
• Tom Drury as Maniac
• Laura Trefts as Doctor Maggie

Choice dialogue:

Craig: [tying Joanne in a sleeping bag] “Now I’ve got you, bitch! Let’s hear you say uncle! Say uncle! Say it, bag of bitch! Say it! Say it, bag of bitch! Say it! Say uncle!”

International titles:

Filo mortal – Argentina

The Forest 2 – Australia (video title)

Perigo na Floresta – Brazil

Le tueur de la forêt – France

Nie chodz do lasu – Poland

Não Vás à Floresta… Sozinha! – Portugal

No vayas al bosque… sola – Spain

Ausflug in das Grauen – West Germany

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘The ultimate predator!’

Silverhide – formerly Pounce – is a 2015 British horror film written and directed by Keith R. Robinson. It stars Lucy Clarvis, Kelly Wines, John Hoye, Jordan Murphy, Phil Stone, Sean Hayes, and Matt Brewer.

Plot teaser:

A group of conspiracy theorists are secretly watching a top secret military base in the desolate Welsh mountains. They are looking for experimental and highly classified test aircraft to report about in a magazine, when they suddenly discover a top secret and highly lethal creature (discovered in the 1920’s) which the military and Government are testing. The creature’s fur can turn invisible in moon light.

The conspiracy theorists are hunted by both the creature – which the army has nick named “The Silverhide” – and the military who will stop at nothing to keep their classified specimen a secret…

Silverhide is released on DVD in the UK on April 6, 2015 via 101 Films.

WH

Grizzly is a 2014 US/Canadian horror film directed by David Hackl (Saw V) from a screenplay by Guy Moshe and J.R. Reher (based on the latter’s storyline).

The film stars James Marsden (Straw Dogs; X-Men: Days of Future Past), Thomas Jane, Billy Bob Thornton (Chopper Chicks in Zombietown), Piper Perabo, Scott Glenn, Adam Beach, Michaela McManus, Kelly Curran.

This Indomitable Entertainment/Purple Pictures production has a reported budget of $10 million abd was originally titled Red Machine then Endangered. Open Road Films will distribute in the US. It has been rated ‘R” for: “violence, grisly images, language and brief sexuality/nudity.”

Plot teaser:

Two estranged brothers reunite at their childhood home in the Alaskan wilderness and attempt to mend their troubled past. Together with their girlfriends, they embark on a camping adventure that goes horribly awry when they are relentlessly stalked and attacked by a grizzly bear on a rampage…

Filming locations:

Vancouver, Canada

Wikipedia | IMDb

Kampung Zombie – “Zombie Village” – is a 2015 Indonesian horror movie directed by Billy Christian (Hi5teria; Tuyul: Part 1) for Movie 8 productions, a subsidiary of Maxima Pictures. The film stars Ahmad Dhani, El Jalaluddin Rumi, Kia Poetri, Ali Mensan, Axel Matthew Thomas and Luthya Sury.

Kampung Zombie is due to be released on 19 March 2015.

The living dead are brought back to life after a village is consumed by contaminated volcanic ash. Four young travellers unwittingly find themselves stranded in a forest of zombies and must fight for their lives…

Not yet on IMDb

Crazy Bitches is an American 2014 comedy horror film written and directed by Jane Clark.

The film stars Samantha Colburn, Cathy DeBuono, Andy Gala, Liz McGeever, Victoria Profeta, Guinevere Turner, Nayo Wallace, Mary Jane Wells, Blake Berris, Candis Cayne, David Fumero, Riley Berris, Eddie Daniels.

Plot teaser:

Seven girls and one gay guy plan a getaway to a remote ranch for a week of gossip and grub. They start off where they always do, old rivalries in place, extreme vanity covering great insecurities, but with a true love for each other underneath the bickering, sniping and sassing.

A number of drinks into night one and a dark secret is revealed. The house they rented is the site of a mass murder of teenage girls fifteen years earlier. Blood still stains the floors under replacement carpets. The killer still runs free.

The girls take it for what it seems – a fun story for a rainy night by a roaring fire. But after one of them disappears and is discovered dead, the story doesn’t seem so fun anymore. One by one, they die, killed by their own vanity…

Filming locations:

Great Spirits Ranch, Malibu, California

IMDb | Official site | Facebook

Posted by WH

Eden Lake is a 2008 British horror thriller film written and directed by James Watkins (The Woman in Black). It stars Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender and Jack O’Connell.

Plot teaser:

Nursery school teacher, Jenny (Kelly Reilly), and her boyfriend, Steve (Michael Fassbender), escape their everyday life to an idyllic remote lake in the green English countryside. Attempting to relax by a lakeside, their trip is disrupted by the presence of delinquent teenagers and their dog, but Steve intends to stay and not be driven away from enjoying their vacation.

The following morning, as he is determined to report the unruly kids to their parents, Steve stops at a house hosting a group of bikes he thinks belongs to the kids. With zero response at the front door, he commits forcible entry, and he narrowly escapes out of a window before the homeowner, the father of one of the teenagers, returns.

The couple quickly head back to the lake. There, Steve goes scuba diving and Jenny sleeps on the beach shore. Unfortunately, Steve realises their beach bag containing his car keys, phone and wallet have gone missing. Instinctively, they check on the car, but it is gone. Returning to town on foot, they are nearly run over by their car that is being driven recklessly by the gang, only stopping for leader, Brett (Jack O’Connell), to smirk at them…

Buy on DVD | Instant Video from Amazon.co.uk 

Buy DVD | Instant Video from Amazon.com

Reviews [spoilers]:

‘ …while one doesn’t subscribe to the tenets of political correctness in such films, more care was surely required before playing so thoroughly to what looks like a massive dose of prejudice. Even so, it is impossible not to admire the way Watkins ratchets up the tension in his debut as director (he wrote My Little Eye) and keeps his tale strictly to 90 minutes. Beware that there are several scenes which will make you want to look away, and all the more scary because they seem uncomfortably real.’ Derek Malcolm, London Evening Standard

‘Watkins serves up an intense experience that will not be to everyone’s taste – Eden Lake is certainly not an entertaining watch, more a form of mental and emotion torture. Its climax does not even provide the expected catharsis, rather the threat of worse horrors to come. In this regard, it surely qualifies as one of the most frightening films ever made.’ David Tappenden, Fright Films

Buy Fright Films from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

‘It is as if Watkins has taken the famous news picture of the hoodie making the “gun” gesture behind David Cameron’s back – and photoshopped a real weapon into his hand. But it is believable in a way that does not depend on a neurotic attention to sensational newspaper stories: it has its own internal logic. And when Jenny finally gets some kind of violent revenge, and this goes horrendously wrong, it is, once again, all too believable. Watkins crushes the good guys’ last stand with a realist moment of despair and blundering horror to match Michael Haneke’s tape-rewind scene in his Funny Games.’ Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

‘Alas, all the cliché boxes have been marked too, with people doing the sort of stupid things they only do in horrors. There’s also a ham-fisted message here about how violence dehumanises us all, which might have been pertinent if Wes Craven hadn’t already made it his own about 40 years ago.’ Daily Mirror

‘Eden Lake benefits from superb cinematography by The Cottage‘s Christopher Ross, which perfectly contrasts the lush greens of nature with the bloody, muddy nightmare that unfolds, aided by David Julyan’s sympathetic, perfectly pitched score. The cast are uniformly good, including the kids, with simply amazing performances from Reilly and Fassbender.’ MJ Simpson, Urban Terrors

Buy Urban Terrors from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

‘This is not, however, a Daily Mail rant about feral chavs. Instead, Watkins uses stomach-knotting tension and tongue-slicing horror to explore the complex dynamics of anti-social violence. We identify with the victims throughout, but Watkins also depicts the complex peer-group pressures within the gang  and the pain and confusion behind its leader’s eyes. The film’s one major fault is that Reilly’s character repeatedly acts in ways that serve the plot, but which run contrary to rational human behaviour. By contrast, the shattering downbeat ending is well earned and genuinely shocking.’ Nigel Floyd, Time Out

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘Hungry, hairy, and ready to hunt you down’

Crying Wolf is a 2015 3D comedy horror film directed by Tony Jopia (Zombie Harvest; DeadTime; Cute Little Buggers) from a screenplay co-written with Andy Davie and Michael Dale. It stars Caroline Munro (Dracula A.D. 1972; Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter; Howl of the Devil), Joe Egan, Kristofer Dayne, Chloe Farnworth, Gabriela Hersham, Gary Martin, Rosie Pearson, Ian Donnelly.

Plot teaser:

There are weird goings on in the little English village of Deddington. The gruesome death of local girl Charlotte by a rabid monster causes alarm and revulsion – before desperate reporters, crazy detectives and revenge seeking hunters descend on the scene…

Reviews:

‘Made over three years on a nano budget of £12,000, Crying Wolf won’t win any prizes for makeup or special effects and in places the acting is a bit creaky, but it’s a refreshingly funny movie with plenty of slapstick gore and some nice genre in-jokes.’ Simon Ball, The Spooky Isles

‘You name the scenario, cliché or effect, and it probably made an appearance in a scene from Crying Wolf. The only bit of back-story that made any sense was the Little Red Riding Hood themed analogy that is used to tell the story of the top werewolf Milly (played by the beautiful actress Gabriela Hersham). Sadly, this only manages to further derail the film.’ Cherry Bombed, Destroy the Brain

‘From the title sequence it’s already crystal clear that this b-movie was made with passion and an eye for film making, as we’re filled with some really great gory aesthetics. Crying Wolf is extremely high-paced as there’s an abundance of intertwining stories that you’ll completely miss if you aren’t giving your undivided attention. Some might find it too much hard work to watch, but I felt it brought a fresh, exciting and unique twist to the story whilst making sure the audience is fully engaged and entertained.’ London Horror Society

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‘Out of this world… Out of control… And out to get you’

Cute Little Buggers is a 2015 British science fiction comedy horror film directed by Tony Jopia (Zombie Harvest; DeadTime; Crying Wolf) from a screenplay by Garry Charles and Andy Davie.

The film stars Caroline Munro (Dracula A.D. 1972; Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter; Howl of the Devil), Dani Thompson, Kumud Pant, Gary Martin, Sarah Bennett, Angela Holmes, Kristofer Dayne, David G. Robinson, John R. Walker, Romain Barbey, Dan Abrams.

Plot teaser:

When hostile aliens crash land on local farmland the villagers at the summer ball become suspicious, especially when young women begin to go inexplicably missing. The villagers soon band together around local hero Melchoir to fend off the invaders and bring back peace to the sleepy English countryside..

IMDb | Facebook

‘Someone out there is watching you… Don’t unlock your door.’

Deadly Intruder – aka The Deadly Intruder - is a 1985 US horror thriller film scored and directed by John McCauley from a screenplay by actor Tony Crupi (who appears as a drifter and was also in Joel M. Reed’s Blood Bath). It also stars Molly Cheek (Stepmonster), Danny Bonaduce, Daniel Greene, David Schroeder and Stuart Whitman (The Monster Club; Vultures).

 Plot teaser:

A mental patient breaks out of a sanitarium and heads for a small town named Midvale looking for the love of his life. The disturbed individual is obsessively jealous, slaying anyone whom he fears may be endangering his relationship with his potential girlfriend. But there is also a creepy drifter hanging around. After a number of vicious killings, the escaped lunatic and the obsessive drifter confront each other…

Reviews:

‘The murders, which are mostly crowded into the first half of the picture … aren’t very bloody, and there are next to no Special Makeup Effects to be seen unless they were hiding somewhere in the gloomy photography; but they’re kind of mean-spirited, like when the friendly and trusting garage mechanic is slowly crushed under the car he’s working on! There’s also a guy stabbed in the eye with a screwdriver, a lady whose face is pushed into a running car engine and a sink drowning featuring a loose nightgown; and, in what may or may not have been intended as some sort of meta-reference, Danny Partridge gets his head rammed through a TV screen!’ Ha ha, it’s Burl!

‘A strictly okay slasher that wears its Halloween influence on its sleeve, but manages to break away from the formula somewhat. Danny Bonaduce is in this. He gets his head smashed into a television. Subsequently, he’s electrocuted and dies. Fuck yeah. That’s possibly the sole reason to see this for many. The kills are a little varied, but bloodless.’ Basement of Ghoulish Decadence

‘Unimpressive psycho-killer flick… Most of the violence is kept off screen by director John McCauley.’ John Stanley, Creature Features

Choice dialogue:

“You know cooking without garlic is like making love without foreplay.”

International titles:

Murhaaja saapuu öisin - Finland
Der Tödliche Feind – West Germany

Wikipedia | IMDb

Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland also known as Nightmare Vacation III is a 1989 US slasher horror film and the second sequel to Sleepaway Camp written by Fritz Gordon and directed by Michael A. Simpson.

The film stars Pamela Springsteen (Sleepaway Camp II), Tracy Griffith, Michael J. Pollard (American Gothic; Night Visitor; 1989: Heartstopper), Mark Oliver (Dance of the Dead; The Crazies), Haynes Brooke and Sandra Dorsey (1976: Grizzly; 2004 TV: Frankenstein).

Sleepaway Camp III was released on VHS in the United States by Nelson Entertainment on December 15, 1989. The film has been released twice on DVD in the United States by Anchor Bay Entertainment; first in 2002 as a single DVD, as well as in the Sleepaway Camp Survival Kit. Scream Factory are releasing the film and Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers on Blu-ray disc on June 9th, 2015.

Buy on Shout Factory Blu-ray from Amazon.com

Plot teaser:

Maria (Kashina Kessler) is heading to camp. However, she is chased into an alleyway by a large truck, driven by serial killer Angela Baker (Pamela Springsteen), before being run over. Angela disposes of the body in a trash compactor, before posing as Maria and boarding the bus to Camp New Horizon, which was once Camp Rolling Hills where Angela massacred campers the year before…

Reviews:

‘A returning Pamela Springsteen tries her darndest despite a limiting script, but the majority of the acting is sadly woeful. Much like its predecessor, Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland is notable for featuring a female killer who we follow from the very beginning, which results in a lack of suspense but a fairly enjoyable time. The sense of fun that Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers possesses is absent…’ Flickering Myth

‘Watch Sleepaway Camp II first. If you enjoyed it and you want more of the same, then you know what to do. If it wasn’t your mug of joe, stay away from the third film because there’s nothing new here (other than the odd racist jibe) that will change your mind.’ That Was a Bit Mental

‘The plot was actually quite clever, bringing rich and poor together to try and create a harmonious atmosphere between them. Ultimately it doesn’t work and the owners aren’t the nice people they portray themselves to be. But as we all know ‘Angela’ will sort everything out. The death scenes are highly original and it features a high body count to keep you entertained…’ SomewhatNerdy.com

‘If you’re looking for a plot or even coherent ideas then you’re going to be disappointed, but anyone who enjoys comic films about mass murder should have fun. There are also topless scenes and several references to other films. It’s not as deliberately weird as the first Sleepaway Camp, but it could have been a lot worse.’ Jim Harper, Legacy of Blood: A Comprehensive Guide to Slasher Movies

Buy Legacy of Blood from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: The Unofficial Sleepaway Camp Site

‘Dare you enter…’

House of 1000 Corpses is a 2000 (released 2003) American exploitation horror film written, co-scored and directed by Rob Zombie, and starring Chris Hardwick, Rainn Wilson, Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon Zombie and Karen Black. Zombie produced a sequel in 2005, The Devil’s Rejects.

The plot focuses on two couples who are held hostage by a sadistic backwoods family on Halloween. Zombie’s directorial debut, the film drew from a multitude of influences, particularly American horror films of the 1970s, including The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes.

Filmed in 2000, the film was originally purchased by Universal Pictures, and a large portion of it was filmed on the Universal Studios backlots, but it was ultimately shelved by the company in fear that it would receive an NC-17 rating. The rights to the film were eventually re-purchased by Zombie, who then sold the film to Lions Gate Entertainment. It was released theatrically on April 11, 2003.

Plot teaser:

On October 30, 1977, Jerry Goldsmith, Bill Hudley, Mary Knowles and Denise Willis are on the road in hopes of writing a book on offbeat roadside attractions. When the four meet Captain Spaulding, the owner of a gas station and “The Museum of Monsters & Madmen”, they learn the local legend of Dr. Satan. As they take off in search of the tree from which Dr. Satan was hanged, they pick up a young hitchhiker named Baby, who claims to live only a few miles away…

Reviews:

Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film ‘lives up to the spirit but not the quality of its inspirations” and is ultimately a “cheesy and ultra-gory exploitation horror flick” and “strangely devoid of thrills, shocks or horror.’

‘ …slaps together just the right amount of creepy atmosphere, nervous laughter, cheap scares, fun rides and blood and guts to satisfy any major fan of the macabre.’ Berge Garabedian, JoBlo.com

‘This movie is extremely effective at building up the tension early on. We have no doubt as to what is in store for the teens, but the lead-up to the brutality is actually quite a bit of fun. The acting from both the teenagers and the family is top-notch. Sid Haig is nearly brilliant in his portrayal of Captain Spaulding. He’s crude, crass, and a barrel of laughs. This movie fell apart for me in the second half. I dare say House of 1000 Corpses was almost brilliant in its first half, but turned into a run-of-the-mill horror picture the second.’ Martin Liebman, Blu-ray.com

‘Strung together with a migraine-inducing MTV aesthetic, this trawl through B-movie horror flicks plays like a fan film with a multi-million dollar budget. While Zombie’s love of the horror genre is readily apparent, this is a travesty of everything he professes to adore, a tour-de-farce of depressing inanity, that’s unable to do anything more than offer a messy, incoherent pastiche of other, better movies.’ Jamie Russell, BBC.co.uk

Buy on Blu-ray with The Devil’s Rejects from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Cast:

• Sid Haig as Captain Spaulding
• Bill Moseley as Otis B. Driftwood
• Sheri Moon Zombie as Baby Firefly
• Karen Black as Mother Firefly
• Erin Daniels as Denise Willis
• Chris Hardwick as Jerry Goldsmith
• Rainn Wilson as Bill Hudley
• Jennifer Jostyn as Mary Knowles
• Tom Towles as Lieutenant George Wydell
• Walton Goggins as Deputy Steve Naish
• Matthew McGrory as Tiny Firefly
• Robert Mukes as Rufus “RJ” Firefly, Jr.
• Dennis Fimple as Grampa Hugo Firefly
• Jake McKinnon as Rufus “Earl” Firefly, Sr.
• Harrison Young as Don Willis
• Irwin Keyes as Ravelli
• Michael J. Pollard as Stucky
• Chad Bannon as Killer Karl
• Walter Phelan as S. Quentin Quale / Dr. Satan
• William H. Basset as Sheriff Frank Huston
• David Reynolds as Richard “Little Dick” Wick
• Joe Dobbs III as Gerry “Goober” Ober
• Gregg Gibbs as Dr. Wolfenstein
• Rob Zombie (uncredited) as Dr. Wolfenstein’s assistant

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Night Fright is a 1967 US science-fiction horror film directed near Dallas, Texas, by James A. Sullivan from a screenplay by Russ Marker (who wrote a similar script for an unfinished project named The Demon of Devil’s Lake in 1964). Sullivan was a production manager and cinematographer on several Larry Buchanan movies and is credited as an editor on the infamous ‘bad’ movie Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966). It stars John Agar (Tarantula; Revenge of the Creature; The Brain from Planet Arous) and Bill Thurman (1966’s The Black Cat; Keep My Grave Open; The Evictors).

In the UK, the film was cheekily released on VHS in 1983 by porn producer David Grant on his World of Video 2000 label as E.T.n. The Extra-Terrestrial Nastie – with the tag line ‘What’s 12 ft tall and eats people’ to cash-in Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi family movie and the ‘video nasties‘ moral panic. British video renters were doubtless disappointed by the tame 1967 offering they rented on tape and, as Universal International Pictures threatened legal action, the opportunistic release was rapidly withdrawn. The following year, Grant was ridiculously imprisoned for distributing Nightmares in a Damaged Brain (1981) on video.

Plot teaser:

A Texas community is beset by a rash of mysterious killings in and around “Satan’s Hollow” involving some of the students from the local college. The sheriff investigating the deaths discovers the startling identity of the killer responsible for the murders. A NASA experiment involving cosmic rays has mutated an alligator into an ogre-like form and bullet-proof unstoppable killing machine with a thirst for blood…

Reviews:

‘Over-wordy and yet mildly amusing in places (especially the frugging to guitar music by The Wildcats scenes), Night Fright comes over as a vapid leftover from the late 1950s, although at least during that classic monster movie era filmmakers remembered now and again the audience needs to see at least a semblance of a creature from outer space. Here, all director Sullivan gives us are day-for-night shots of something we generally can’t quite see due to the poor lighting (dark VHS doesn’t help us either). Meanwhile, composer Christopher Trussel’s score is overly-dramatic to the point of ridiculousness. Alas, Night Fright is more Manos-like than Ed Wood fun.’ Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

‘The monster in this movie must be related to Robot Monster. It’s a gorilla with three-toed footprints and an alien head. We don’t see much of it but we do see a lot of John Agar … The Wildcats provide cool instrumental music and the kids wear V-neck sweaters and white boots.’ Michael J. Weldon, The Psychotronic Video Guide

‘An unimaginative and poorly-made monster-from-beyond entry.’ John Elliot, Elliot’s Films on Video

‘ …director brings no pace or style to the routine story. Instantly forgettable. John Stanley, Creature Features

Cast:

• John Agar as Sheriff Clint Crawford
• Bill Thurman as Deputy Ben Whitfield
• Carol Gilley as Nurse Joan Scott
• Ralph Baker Jr. as Chris Jordan
• Dorothy Davis as Judy
• Roger Ready as Prof. Alan Clayton
• Gary McLain as Wes Blau
• Darlene Drew as Darlene Scott
• Frank Jolly as Rex Bowers
• Bill Holly as Deputy Pat Lance
• Janiz Menshew as Carla
• Russ Marker as Mitch
• Toni Pearce as Betty the Waitress
• Christi Simmons as Annie
• Brenda Venus as Sue
• Byron Lord as Government Man
• Ronnie Weaver as Government Man
• Olivia Pinion as Partygoer
• Nancy Mann as Partygoer
• Lewis Helm as Partygoer
• Jeanie Wilson as Mary Bennett
• Rod Paxton as Buddy Williams
• The Wildcats as Themselves

Choice dialogue:

“Ooh, you dirty young man. C’mon, let’s get next to nature!”

Sheriff Clint Crawford: “Look punk, don’t ever call me fuzz!”

Offline reading:

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 From the Dark is a 2014 Irish horror film directed by Conor McMahon (Stitches) and starring Niamh Algar, Stephen Cromwell, Ged Murray, and Gerry O’Brian.

A couple on a trip through the Irish countryside find themselves hunted by a creature who only attacks at night…

“From the Dark is a taut, coiled piece of dread-infused cinema that may not rewrite the book on creature horror, but absolutely delivers everything one could hope for from a fresh entry in that subgenre.” Fangoria

“Familiar territory, admittedly, but it’s still edge-of-the-seat exciting, visceral and at times uncomfortably tense. Where Stitches had its tongue firmly in its cheek, From the Dark is determinedly no laughing matter and it’s all the better for its uncompromising, gritty bleakness and refreshing simplicity. It’s a little gem well worth keeping an eye out for.” Starburst

“It’s an accessible monster movie for mainstream audiences, which translates into redundant normalcy for hardcore horror fans. Unfortunately, you’re probably better left in the dark on this one, no matter how dangerous the shadows are perceived to be.” We Got This Covered

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The Visit is a 2015 US horror film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense; The Village; Signs). It was co-produced by Jason Blum (Paranormal Activity; Sinister; Insidious and their sequels).

The film stars Kathryn Hahn, Ed Oxenbould, Erica Lynne Marszalek, Peter McRobbie, Olivia DeJonge, Deanna Dunagan, Benjamin Kanes, Jon Douglas Rainey, Brian Gildea, Shawn Gonzalez, Richard Barlow, Steve Annan, and Michael Mariano.

The Visit is slated for release on September 11th, 2015.

Plot teaser:

A brother and sister are sent to their grandparents’ remote Pennsylvania farm for a week-long trip. Once the children discover that the elderly couple is involved in something deeply disturbing, they see their chances of getting back home are growing smaller every day…

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‘Prey for Salvation’

Zombie Resurrection is a 2014 British horror film, made partly with the aid of online funding. Set in an unspecified part of the UK, eight survivors of an apocalyptic outbreak, which has seen the dead rise from their graves, attempt find sanctuary as the undead hordes thin out and make sense of the chaos that surrounds them. It is the debut feature of directors Andy Phelps and Jake Hawkins.

Fifteen months after zombies ravaged the country, eight survivors trudge through the British woodland attempting to find a place of refuge known as Imperium, the destination known only by one of their number, the upper class Major Gibson (Joe Rainbow, Stag Night of the Dead), who revels in the hold he has over the others. These include Mac (Jim Sweeney), a sweary Scottish tough guy; God-fearing Esther (Shamiso Mushambi); almost respectably middle-class Beaumont (Danny Brown), who carries a golf club just to make sure you’ve “got it”, and the shackled prisoner Dr. Sykes (Eric Colvin), plus three more utterly detestable individuals.

In a twist to the usual lore surrounding zombie outbreaks, we learn that time has taken its toll on the dead, who are now few in number and those who do survive are ineffective decaying lumps. Regardless, the disagreeable bunch of the living find getting on with one another impossible and tensions rise even further when Gibson steps in a mantrap and has his leg removed. Taking shelter in a school building (expanding the quite obviously tiny shooting area by up to twenty feet), we find that Sykes is held as a prisoner due to his role in the development of the ‘virus’ which started the apocalypse – actually an attempted cure for chemical warfare – and that he is due to be hanged. Events spiral out of their control when they realise the building actually houses some unexpectedly spritely zombies and, even more surprisingly, that one of them has a quasi-religious gift for resurrecting the more decayed of his number, threatening to send them back to the early days of the outbreak.

On the plus side, there are some interesting ideas here; the diminished threat of rotting corpses over time has been touched upon in film and fiction before but, in this case, it’s central to the plot; similarly, aside from voodoo, there hasn’t been a great deal of emphasis on religion’s part in such a scenario. Unfortunately, these really only become viable as part of a short story – at a push, a play, though presumably a rubbish one. Without zombies as an immediate threat, you have to rely on the living characters and their back-stories to provide the drama and tension, done skilfully in periods of Romero’s early zombie films and large tracts of The Walking Dead comic and television series. You’d be correct in assuming this film has none of that.

Firstly, there are far too many characters, none of whom are engaging or illicit any sympathy from the viewer. This is exacerbated by the fact that the acting is of a shockingly poor quality, veering from potty-mouthed shouting to something that resembles the farce of a drunken person assuring assembled onlookers that they’re completely sober, whilst stood in a duck-pond. This sits particularly badly when the closing quarter of Zombie Resurrection attempts to ponder the complexities of life, religion and all points between, with the film left hanging as neither fish nor fowl, though almost certainly, foul.

The gore effects and make-up are passable and indeed, if that sends your pulse racing, you may still find something of interest here. Despite this, at no point is anything in the least believable; how a compound came to be called Imperium in just over a year (surely rejected even by eager Apprentice candidates), why the filmmakers opted to omit someone in a wheelchair from their parade of abysmal stereotypes and why, four years after filming wrapped, has this been allowed to surface without anyone having the guts to recognise this simply didn’t work. It’s another nail in the coffin of a horror sub-genre that just won’t stay shut.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Valley of the Sasquatch is a 2015 American bigfoot horror film directed by John Portanova and starring Bill Oberst Jr., David Saucedo (Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones), and Jason Vail.

The film is a co-production between The October People (Found, The Device) and Votiv Films (The Giant Mechanical Man).

Plot teaser:

After losing their home following a devastating tragedy, a father and son are forced to move to an old family cabin. Neither reacts well to being thrown into this new world. The son’s attempts to relate to his father are complicated when two old friends arrive for a weekend of hunting. This trip into the forest will unearth not only buried feelings of guilt and betrayal, but also a tribe of Sasquatch that are determined to protect their land…

Reviews:

“Valley of the Sasquatch makes a lot of the right decisions and leads to one of the more entertaining films of the subgenre… With some strong story elements, along with some fun Bigfootin’ action and a cool costume design, Sasquatch is a Bigfoot film worth stomping about.” Ain’t It Cool News

“Valley of the Sasquatch is an unique and different kind of bigfoot movie, it is the type that sucks you in right from the start, not because of the carnage but because of the interesting story line and characters that you immediately feel for in one way or another. As for carnage, yes there is a good bit of action and gore and the bigfoot creatures are scary as hell and awesome looking.” Videoviews

“On the whole, despite having some flaws I really enjoyed ‘Valley of the Sasquatch’. It is far from perfect; uneven pacing, uneven creatures and uneven acting giving the film a hit-and-miss kinda feel. The scariest monsters are always the ones that make us question our own humanity and make us appreciate what it means to be human.” Die on Set A

Buy The Bigfoot Filmography by David Coleman from Amazon.com

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‘Some things are better left unfound’

Abominable is a 2006 American horror film, directed and written by Ryan Schifrin.

The film stars Matt McCoy, Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator; Castle Freak; Would You Rather), Lance Henriksen (Pumpkinhead; Stung), Rex Linn, Dee Wallace (Cujo), Phil Morris, Paul Gleason and Haley Joel. The music was scored by Lalo Schifrin (The Amityville Horror), father of director Ryan.

Plot teaser:

It has been sighted 42,000 times in sixty-eight countries. A creature of myth and legend known by several names; Yeti, Sasquatch and the infamous Bigfoot! We’ve hunted it for years, but what happens when it decides to hunt us? “Abominable” centers on a man recovering from a mountain climbing accident, trapped in a remote cabin in the woods, who sees the legendary beast, and must convince someone to believe him, before the monster goes on a bloody rampage…

Despite the title, the antagonist of the film is the cryptid Bigfoot. The film premiered on the SyFy channel.

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

Reviews:

“An enjoyable stew of several classic B-movie themes, Abominable makes the old new again, crafting a story that supports its solid scares and brooding atmosphere with honest-to-god characters. The very real, very believable conflicts, histories, and wonderfully captured personalities of the characters in this modern folk tale lend belief and further complexity to the supernatural/monstrous element.” Sex Gore Mutants

“Abominable doesn’t rise above its genre. Oddly enough, it may be the lack of pretension that is the film’s greatest asset. For fans of 70s drive-in flicks (or the modern-day equivalent, “direct to DVD or Sci-Fi Channel”) with properly-set expectations, this has all the ingredients you’d want, and more.” Twitch

“Abominable is the greatest Bigfoot film ever and, although it’s a weak field of competition, it still sits firmly on the top of the pedestal. In fact it’s still way better than 90% of the other horror output I’ve seen recently. It pushes all of the right buttons for a low budget effort – solid writing, great direction, atmospheric, gory and above all entertaining.” Popcorn Pictures

Read Bigfoot, Sasquatch and the Yeti on Film – author Dave Coleman interviewed

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