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Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973)

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‘They’ll love the very life out of your body!’

Invasion of the Bee Girls is a 1973 science fiction horror film. The first movie credit for writer Nicholas Meyer (later director of Star Trek II and VITime After Time), it was directed by Denis Sanders.

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In the US, it was misleadingly re-released as Graveyard Tramps.

On April 4, 2017, Scream Factory is releasing the film on Blu-ray.

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Buy: Amazon.com

Main cast:

anitra ford invasion of the bee girlsWilliam Smith (Grave of the Vampire, Moon in Scorpio), Victoria Vetri (Rosemary’s Baby, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth), Anitra Ford (Messiah of Evil), Cliff Osmond, Wright King, Ben Hammer, Anna Aries (The Ωmega Man), Beverly Powers (The Comedy of Terrors, Brides of Blood, Jaws), Cliff Emmich (Halloween II). Rene Bond (Please Don’t Eat My Mother!; Necromania) plays one of the Bee Girls.

Veteran Gary Graver (Deep Space; et al) handled the cinematography and Charles Bernstein (Daddy’s Deadly Darling, The Entity, A Nightmare on Elm Street), provided the groovy 70s score, except for the ends credits which are accompanied by Johan Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra’ (famously used in 2001: A Space Odyssey).

Plot:

Dr. Susan Harris, a mad scientist (Anitra Ford), has created an army of female beauties who seduce men to death. One by one the male victims are killed before the local police catch on to the plans of the infested females.

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Neil Agar (Smith), a security agent with the State Department, is dispatched to Peckham, California to investigate the death of John Grubowsky, a bacteriologist working at government-sponsored Brandt Research.

Swiftly making the acquaintance of the laboratory’s head librarian, Julie Zorn, he begins interviewing the firm’s leading scientists, many of whom have reputations as sexual players. His investigation is soon complicated by a growing number of deaths, all men who died of congestive heart failure caused by sexual exhaustion.

Faced with a rapidly escalating body count, the local sheriff, Captain Peters, holds a town meeting at which the laboratory’s leading sex researcher, Henry Murger, urges the town populace to practice sexual abstinence – an idea greeted with derision by the locals.

Neil and Julie arrange a meeting with Murger afterward to discuss his theories as to the cause of his deaths, only to see him chased down and run over by a car with an unseen driver. Later, Neil discovers a secret room concealing sexual paraphernalia and Murger’s gay lover, Joe, who informs Neil that he saw Murger driving off with an unknown woman prior to his death.

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Despite a curfew and the establishment of a military quarantine, the scientists continue playing their sex games. One of them, Herb Kline, is approached by Susan Harris, a beautiful entomologist working on bees. Though described by the men as an “iceberg,” she flirts with Kline and invites him over for dinner.

That night, as they get frisky, Kline suffers a fatal thrombosis and Harris reveals black compound eyes suggesting that she is more than she appears…

cult movie marathon invasion of the bee girls unholy rollers vicious lips

Buy: Amazon.com

Reviews:

“What salvages this somewhat unlikely plot is the movie’s sense of style. It looks good, it moves fairly well, the girls are pretty, Big Bill frowns impressively and there are a lot of near s-f gimmicks. My favorite was a sort of Redi-Whip cocoon that not only turns the girls into queen bees, but gives them a facial and a hairdo at the same time.” Roger Ebert.com

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“The pretty simple concept of the film gives way for lots of tongue-in-cheek dialogue, plenty of sex and violence, and all the drive-in fun you could want. Anchoring the movie is a bizarre script, which wisely doesn’t take itself very seriously and instead plays up the exploitation angles for all it’s worth. You get cheesy lab sequences; transformation scenes with flashing lights and an army of girls rubbing white goop all over naked woman recruits…” Casey Scott, DVD Drive-In

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“The film tempts and admonishes us at once. We get gratuitous boobs and butts, yet just when we think hot action is coming our way, it cuts to a face of a corpse. It is also a stylish, cogently directed film with a lively script and a funky wa-wa-wa-wa la-la-la-la theme song which recalls Ennio Morricone’s score for Bird with the Crystal Plumage. B-movie giant William Smith […] is perfect as the square-jawed agent on the bee girls’ trail. Anitra Ford […] is ravishing and fearsome as the queen bee.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

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Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

” …I’m almost positive that this movie was meant to be taken in jest, and that its flagrant disregard for quality is at least to some extent deliberate. The cumulative effect of the daft setup, the lunatic dialogue, and the myriad minor bafflements on the one hand, and the heavy-handed psychosexual and sociopolitical symbolism on the other is just too much.” Scott Ashlin, 100 Misspent Hours and Counting

Invasion of the Bee Girls Italian poster LInvasione delle api regine
INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS (ITALIAN)

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Choice dialogue:

“We balled. And we balled. And we balled. Till he dropped dead.”

Cast and characters:

  • William Smith as Neil Agar
  • Anitra Ford as Dr. Susan Harris
  • Victoria Vetri as Julie Zorn
  • Cliff Osmond as Captain Peters
  • Wright King as Dr. Murger
  • Ben Hammer as Herb Kline
  • Anna Aries as Nora Kline
  • Andre Philippe as Aldo Ferrara
  • Sid Kaiser as Stan Williams
  • Katie Saylor as Gretchen Grubowsky
  • Beverly Powers as Harriet Williams
  • Cliff Emmich as Coroner

Wikipedia | IMDb



Kill Game (2015)

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‘No-one is laughing now.’

Kill Game is a 2015 American slasher horror film written and directed by Robert Mearns (Blessed). It stars Laura Ashley Samuels, Pierson Fode and Michael Galante.

The film is released on Blu-ray and all other formats in North America on March 14, 2017, by Cinedigm.

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Buy: Amazon.com

In the fictional town of Grace Arbor the answers are never clear. Who is underneath the mask? This is the story of a group of high school kids who amuse themselves by pulling pranks on unsuspecting students and teachers. They are all popular, good looking, the kids voted most likely to succeed. But at their core lies a cruelty and shallowness which comes with the territory of privilege.

One night, a prank goes horribly wrong and a teenager is killed. The gang covers it up as a drowning accident but five years later, their lives are turned upside down when Jimmy Edwards, is killed by a serial killer wearing a haunting Marilyn Monroe mask.

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Soon, the gang are killed one by one in manners mirroring the pranks they pulled in high school. Is it revenge? Is it karma? Is it the dead boy’s spirit coming back to avenge his death? Is it his twin brother, Liam, who has come to Grace Arbor asking questions? One thing is certain… No-one is laughing now.

Reviews:

Kill Game is a film that’s constantly working against itself. Everything about it that’s “good” is undermined by something mind numbingly stupid. Cliched horror tropes are checked off like a grocery shopping list with the cherry-on-top being the baffling last act which defies explanation. Suffice to say, the final two items to cross of the list of tropes are (1) terrible character decisions and (2) a poorly conceived trick twist, and the film crosses them off with gusto.” Luke, Killerflix

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Filming locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Trivia:

The film’s working title was Prank’d

IMDb


Pulse (1988)

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‘It traps you in your house… then pulls the plug’

Pulse is a 1988 science-fiction horror film written and directed by Paul Golding. It should not be confused with the Japanese ghost movie Pulse (2001) or the US remake of the same title (2006).

The film stars Cliff De Young (The Craft; Carnosaur 2; Dr. Giggles), Roxanne Hart, Joseph Lawrence (Isle of the Dead; Urban Legends: Final Cut), and Matthew Lawrence (Creature of Darkness; Monster Night; Big Monster on Campus).

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A highly aggressive, paranormal intelligence thriving within the electrical grid system of Los Angeles, California is moving from house to house. It terrorizes the occupants by taking control of the appliances, killing them or causing them to wreck the house in an effort to destroy it. Once this has been accomplished, it travels along the power lines to the next house, and the terror restarts.

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Having thus wrecked one household in a quiet, suburban neighborhood, the pulse finds itself in the home of a boy’s divorced father whom he is visiting. It gradually takes control of everything, injuring the stepmother, and trapping father and son, who must fight their way out…

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Buy: Amazon.com

Reviews:

” …when Golding does unleash his directorial punches – like the nasty shower scene where Roxanne Hart is nearly burned alive and a particularly well sustained climax, which has one outstanding seat-edge slow-motion scene as Cliff De Young avoids sliding onto a live floor literally only by the tips of his toes – the film is well worthwhile.” Richard Scheib, Moria

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” …Pulse isn’t a bad movie. It’s just not a terribly interesting one. The directing is adequate but there just isn’t much here. I think the concept of “killer electricity” is just hard to pull off in a horror movie. In an era when we have movies with shots of masked boogeymen and monsters chasing down helpless victims…” Wes R., Oh, the Horror!

“Imagine a 6th-season episode of Gimme a Break!, only replace Nell Carter with a malevolent fusebox, and you’re halfway to grasping the sheer banality of this (alleged) horror movie. 74% of the film consists of a pre-teen Joey Lawrence as he walks down hallways, peers into clothes dryers, stares at utility poles, and narrowly escapes death at the hands of a malicious garage door opener.” Scott Weinberg, DVD Talk

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“It must say something if after I saw this film–my entry into a glass shower was always met with an unusual fear. The thing with glass showers is that it improves upon the concept of seeing your murderer coming at you a la Psycho. But the fact that the glass door can seal itself shut is like a punch in the gut. Glass showers are supposed to luxurious! They can’t become instant death traps!” Andre Dumas, The Horror Digest

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Cast and characters:

  • Cliff De Young as Bill Rockland
  • Roxanne Hart as Ellen Rockland
  • Joey Lawrence as David Rockland
  • Matthew Lawrence as Stevie
  • Charles Tyner as Old Man Holger
  • Dennis Redfield as Pete
  • Robert Romanus as Paul
  • Myron Healey as Howard
  • Michael Rider as Foreman
  • Jean Sincere as Ruby
  • Terry Beaver as Policeman
  • Greg Norberg as Policeman
  • Tim Russ as Policeman

Wikipedia | IMDb


An American Terror (2014)

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‘The nightmare has begun’

An American Terror is a 2014 survival horror film written, edited and directed by Haylar Garcia (Gnaw). It stars Graham Emmons, Louise Macdonald, Brian Thompson.

A group of teenage outcasts, who have been picked on by the popular kids one too many times, hatch a plan to get revenge on their tormentors. After a night full of violent video games, drugs, and alcohol, they determine to kill their classmates at the upcoming homecoming dance.

In order to do so, they hatch a scheme to steal a cache of guns from a local trash pickup man. However, the kids uncover more than just guns. They stumble upon a torture chamber filled with unspeakable horrors…

An American Terror is available to download online via new British digital label Silversheaf Media from Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“While the subject matter of school shootings is not something to be made light of, when dealt with on a sophisticated and mature level, it’s compelling stuff to see play out. An American Terror treats this subject matter with respect, but also doesn’t forget to make it all engrossing and imaginative along the way.” Ambush Bug, Ain’t It Cool News

“ …darkly captivating, with strong performances by leads Graham Emmons and Louise MacDonald and haunting cinematography by Anton Fresco. It’s SLC Punk! meets House of 1000 Corpses, with a healthy dose of thoughtful and arresting social commentary.” Sean Decker, DreadCentral

An American Terror’s final message seems to be that there are worse things than being bullied at school, like being trapped in a psychopath’s torture dungeon. While this is true in a literal fashion, it’s a pretty esoteric situation and doesn’t really have any relevance to people genuinely being bullied.” Courtney Button, HorrorCultFilms.co.uk

An American Terror is a very modern and somewhat original movie for the genre. It’s also courageous for addressing such controversial topics and presenting them in a cautionary way. There are moments when the special effects are less than desirable…” Shawn Loeffler, Yell! magazine

“The film is great some great visuals, not a lot of gore, but when there is it’s innovative and new, the cast is great and the storyline is very well done. It shows how an experience like this can bring anyone’s value of life full circle.” Chad Armstrong, Legless Corpse

Main cast:

Graham Emmons, Louise Macdonald, Brian Thompson, Joe Abplanalp, Taylor Hulett,  Nathan Green, James Miller, Jennifer Wilde, Jeff Nicholson.

Filming locations:

Denver, Colorado, USA

IMDb | Facebook | Official site | Twitter

Image credits: FilmcheckerYell! magazine


Cannibal Ferox (1981)

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‘Bizarre human sacrifices! The most violent film ever!’

Cannibal Ferox is a 1981 Italian exploitation horror film written and directed by Umberto Lenzi. It can be considered one of the ‘unholy trinity’ of superior Italian cannibal films, alongside Jungle Holocaust and Cannibal Holocaust. In the US, it was retitled Make Them Die Slowly.

ferōx m, f, n (genitive ferōcis); third declension

  1. wild, bold, gallant
  2. warlike
  3. defiant, arrogant

In the jungles of the Amazon, brother and sister, Rudy (Danilo Mattei, Anglicised as Bryan Redford) and Gloria (Lorraine De Selle, (Emanuelle in AmericaHouse on the Edge of the Park) and their friend Pat (Zora Kerova, appearing here as Pat Johnson, also seen in the likes of The New York Ripper and Anthropophagous) are on a mission to prove Gloria’s assertion that cannibalism is a Western myth.

Alas, their jeep breaks down and they encounter drug dealers on the run from New York; Mike (Giovanni Lombardo Radice, aka John Morghen, House on the Edge of the Park, City of the Living Dead) and Joe (Walter Lucchini).

It transpires that the pair’s busman’s holiday has developed to bothering the local tribes for cocaine and jewels, not to mention enraging them further by torturing and killing their local guide whilst Mike was high on drugs. This ‘misunderstanding’ has led to the cannibals attacking and leaving Joe badly injured.

Regardless, Mike continues to push his fellow travellers to the limit, seducing Pat and killing a native girl for kicks. The locals take exception to this and begin to hunt down the Americans in an avalanche of cruelty from hooks slicing through breasts to castration to good old-fashioned brain chomping. Only one person survives but what state will they be in when the horror is over?

Review:

Director Umberto Lenzi (Nightmare City), a stalwart of Italy’s genre films, bookended the cannibal film era, beginning with Man from Deep River in 1972 and essentially closing it here in 1981 (though had helmed the tamer Eaten Alive in 1980). Ferox, incidentally, was re-titled Woman from Deep River on its Australian release.

Ferox was pretty much the last word and left the genre with no body part or animal left to mush up. Though remaining one of the most debated films of the sub-genre, there can be little argument that Ferox lacks the cerebral qualities of most previous cannibal outings, quickly dispensing with the unnecessary introduction to the characters and moving swiftly on to breathtaking scenes of brutality and depravity.

Though fully deserving of their demise, the intruders in the jungle are wildly dislikeable (though Radice steals the entire film with his wide-eyed performance – his seduction of Pat includes the touching tribute of her being “a hot-pussy whore”) and it’s difficult not to root for the natives.

As with Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust, accusations of cruelty being meted out on the local fauna were undeniable – a monkey and a pig in particular coming in for some rough treatment. Radice was less than impressed, refusing to take part in the slaughter of innocent animals. It is alleged that Lenzi attempted to convince the actor to join in the killings by asserting that “Robert De Niro would do it” – Radice responded that “De Niro would kick your ass all the way back to Rome”.

Though now dismissive of his part in the film, it is to Radice’s credit that he really throws himself into the role, acting his co-stars out of the rather sparse jungle. It would be reasonable to say that their predicament is far from a jolly holiday, but De Selle and Kerova are incredibly annoying, simpering and gibbering all the way through. Robert Kerman (also known as R. Bolla when appearing in adult movies) also appears, briefly, securing his place in exploitation movie history by starring in both Ferox and Cannibal Holocaust.

Whether flimsy of plot or moral fibre, the effects are superb, the work of Gino De Rossi, an effects designer who had begun his career on the likes of Return of White Fang and Napoli Spara! but progressed through the grime of Zombie Flesh Eaters and City of the Living Dead to work on mainstream films such as Casino Royale (2006).

The music is regularly credited to Budy Maglione – in fact, it is the work of two people; Roberto Donati and Maria Fiamma Maglione. Donati had worked through the 1960’s in several different pop and R’n’B bands as a singer and guitarist but branched out into soundtracks a decade later. His works include scores to Assault with a Deadly Weapon (1976), Eaten Alive (1980) and Daughter of the Jungle (1982).

The brassy, flares-wearing New York theme seems more at home on a poliziotteschi but the main Ferox theme is a doom synth classic – a poor relative of Fabio Frizzi’s glorious melodies but still a fondly regarded one.

Filmed in the jungles of Leticia, the southernmost city in Colombia, the film somehow lacks the feeling of the characters actually being very far away from civilisation – you rather suspect there’s a Pizza Hut just around the corner.

Ironically, Radice wasn’t the only person onset to express his disappointment with the film – Lenzi too felt it was one of his lesser works, only a ‘minor film’ – however, his best years were already behind him and this was one of only a few efforts by the director in the 1980’s, all of them being shadows of his former genius.

Ferox is a silly film but it is difficult to have sympathy with anyone finding serious fault with a cannibal film – people get chopped up, animals get a rough deal, we are left with a tacked-on philosophical message – ’twas ever thus and no-one is pretending this is Ben Hur. It is, however, hugely entertaining, perhaps not always for the intended reasons. Nonetheless, Ferox is rightly hailed as a milestone in exploitation cinema.

The ‘Banned in 31 Countries’ tagline is an odd one, not least because it is likely to be far higher.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Other reviews:

Make Them Die Slowly is often hysterically funny— which is something you should never be able to say about a movie that involves this much animal-snuff footage— and though he lacks the nerve to revel in his most loathsome misdeeds the way Deodato did, he never lets that stop him from committing them, either. Compare Lenzi’s take on the turtle-butchering scene to Deodato’s.” Scott Ashlin, 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

Buy Cannibal Ferox on Blu-ray from Amazon.com

On May 12, 2015 Grindhouse Releasing issued the film on Blu-ray:

Special Features:

  • Original unrated, uncensored director’s cut
  • New 2K transfer – scanned from the original camera negative
  • Shocking deleted scenes – not seen for over 30 years!
  • Breathtaking digital stereo re-mix by Academy Award winner Paul Ottosson
  • Optional Italian language soundtrack and original mono mix
  • Candid and shocking audio commentary by director Umberto Lenzi and star John Morghen
  • Provocative, in-depth interviews with director Umberto Lenzi, stars Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Danilo Mattei and Zora Korowa, and special effects master Gino DeRossi
  • Eaten Alive! The Rise and Fall of the Italian Cannibal Film
  • All-new feature-length documentary containing interviews with Umberto Lenzi, Ruggero Deodato, Sergio Martino, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, and Robert Kerman
  • Original Italian, German and U.S. theatrical trailers
  • Extensive gallery of stills and poster art
  • Glossy 12 page booklet containing liner notes by legendary 42nd Street historian Bill Landis (author of The Sleazoid Express) and Eli Roth (director of Hostel and The Green Inferno)
  • Bonus CD – original soundtrack album by Budy-Maglione – newly remastered in stunning 24 bit/96khz sound from the original studio master tapes, and including never-before-released alternate takes
  • Embossed slipcover

Wikipedia | IMDb


Once Bitten (1985)

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Once Bitten is a 1985 American horror comedy film directed by Howard Storm from a screenplay by Jonathan Roberts, David Hines, Jeffrey Hause and Terence Marsh. It stars Lauren Hutton, Jim Carrey, and Karen Kopins. The film was Carrey’s seventh film and his first main role.

Plot:

Being 400 years old, the Countess (Lauren Hutton) has collected a stable of young men and women who accompany her on her centuries-old journey through eternal night-and youth.

While she is immortal, she is required to drink the blood of a young male virgin three times by Halloween each year to keep her immortality and youthful appearance – a task she finds increasingly and extremely hard, since attractive young male virgins are almost impossible to find in the 1980s, particularly in hedonistic cities, in this case, Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, high school student Mark Kendall (Jim Carrey) wants to have sex, but is being put off by his girlfriend Robin Pierce (Karen Kopins).

One night, Mark and his best friends Jamie and Russ go into a singles bar in Hollywood. Mark meets the Countess and he goes back to her mansion, and after she seduces him, he passes out when she bites his thigh. When he wakes up, she pretends they have had sex and tells him that he is now hers…

Buy with Love at First Bite: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

…Once Bitten is just spectacularly unfunny most of the time, trading on supposed double entendres to work up fitful humor. The film finally devolves into what is more or less a teenaged sex farce, and it’s notable that the film pretty much jettisons the vampire angle in its closing moments…” Jeffrey Kauffman, Blu-ray.com

“Released by The Samuel Goldwyn Company in the wake of other light horror comedies such as Teen Wolf and Transylvania 6-5000, Once Bitten is a mildly amusing affair which doesn’t have much style or horror elements for that matter, but it seems to embrace more 1980s teen comedy movie clichés than Hot Tub Time Machine.” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

” …affects a glossy, sophisticated look that does little to upgrade the film’s adolescent humor. As directed by Howard Storm, it has a lot more stylishness than wit. Miss Hutton looks great in black, but her predatory vampire grows tiresome very quickly, as do all the Bloody Mary jokes.” Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“Lauren Hutton has a space between her fangs as the vapid vampiress of Once Bitten, a sappy, sophomoric sex farce in which the supernatural’s answer to Mrs. Robinson sucks the blood virgin boys.” Rita Kempley, The Washington Post

“Teenage sex comedy with supernatural overtones, not as dumb as some but still kind of dumb.” John Stanley, Creature Features

Choice dialogue:

Mark: “I don’t wanna be a vampire. I’m a day person!”

Robin: “He doesn’t want you cause you’re mean and evil. He wants me because I’m sweet and pure. So, f*ck off!”

Cast and characters:

  • Lauren Hutton as the Countess
  • Jim Carrey as Mark Kendall
  • Karen Kopins as Robin Pierce
  • Cleavon Little as Sebastian, the Countess’s assistant
  • Thomas Ballatore as Jamie
  • Skip Lackey as Russ
  • Richard Schaal as Mr. Kendall, Mark’s father
  • Peggy Pope as Mrs. Kendall, Mark’s mother
  • Megan Mullally as Suzette
  • Jeb Stuart Adams as World War I Ace Vampire
  • Joseph Brutsman as Confederate Vampire
  • Stuart Charno as Cabin Boy Vampire
  • Robin Klein as 1960s Flower Child Vampire
  • Carey More as Moll Flanders Vampire
  • Glen Mauro as Twin Vampire #1
  • Gary Mauro as Twin Vampire #2

Wikipedia | IMDb


Leprechaun 3 (1995)

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‘Welcome to Vegas. The odds are you won’t leave alive!’

Leprechaun 3 – aka Leprechaun III and Leprechaun 3: In Las Vegas – is a 1995 American comedy horror film directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith (Turkey Shoot; Night of the Demons 2; Leprechaun 4) from a screenplay by David DuBos (Bayou Tales).

The film stars Warwick Davis (Leprechaun franchise; Skinned Deep), John Gatins (Pumpkinhead II; Witchboard 2) and Caroline Williams (Tales of Poe; Hatchet III; Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2).

Plot:

An evil leprechaun finds himself in Las Vegas, where he proceeds to cause mischief by killing people, granting twisted wishes, and infecting a young man with his green blood…

Warwick Davis later said the movie was his favourite of the series. “I think it tapped into the potential of bringing a comedic element to it all. And Brian Trenchard-Smith, who directed that one, is an incredible director. He manages to get so much out of so little money, and that was what was great about working with him. He really got the humor.”

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“The gore is fair, rewarding viewers with effects that match the previous two films’, but leaves them more amused and content. Leprechaun 3 is funner and faster paced than one and Two. It’s also the first place to look for leprechaun dung (it’s green, by the way).” Josh G., Oh, the Horror!

” …not at all as bad as the franchise ended up becoming, but that’s really not saying very much at all; and Leprechaun 3 is so endlessly addled and pointless that it’s greatest sin isn’t that it’s bad, but that it is stultifying and boring.” Tim Brayton, Alternate Ending

Leprechaun 3 delivers on the gore (the bloodiest scene is when he saws the magician in half), clever kills (he turns a guy into a human slot machine), and hilarious rhymes (“For that trick, I’ll chop off your dick!”). The flick also contains some intentional humor that’s actually quite funny.” Mitch Lovell, The Video Vacuum

Cast and characters:

  • Warwick Davis as Leprechaun
  • John Gatins as Scott McCoy
  • Lee Armstrong as Tammy Larsen
  • Caroline Williams as Loretta
  • John DeMita as Fazio
  • Michael Callan as Mitch
  • Tom Dugan as Art
  • Marcelo Tubert as Gupta

Wikipedia | IMDb

Related: Dwarfs in Horror CinemaLeprechaun | Leprechaun 2Leprechaun 4: In Space | Leprechaun: Origins


FleshEater: Revenge of the Living Dead (1988)

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FleshEater: Revenge of the Living Dead is a 1988 American horror film produced and directed by Bill Hinzman from a screenplay co-written with William Randolph. It is also known as FleshEaterRevenge of the Living Zombies and, in the UK, it was released on VHS as Zombie Nosh.

Hinzman is best known for playing the cemetery ghoul in the opening scenes of George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968). This film also stars John Mowod, Leslie Ann Wick, and Kevin Kindlin. It was completed on a budget of just $60,000.

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Plot:

When a farmer unearths a coffin on his land, he unwittingly releases a ravenous zombie hungry for human flesh.

Nearby, a group of teenagers are having a party in the forest, oblivious to the danger that they are in. When the zombies attack, the terrified youngsters flee to a deserted farmhouse, desperately trying to hold the undead horde back…

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Buy: Blu-ray | DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

Hinzman’s sparse effects crew proves to be impressive and prolific gag artists throughout, as there’s nary a stretch where someone isn’t having their guts consumed or their face blown off. If you’re going to basically eschew plot like FleshEater does, it’s wise to keep the blood flowing (and, some might say, the boobs flashing—there’s plenty of T&A here…” Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror!

Flesh Eater wallows in the base elements that was horror in the 80’s and basically still is. No, not the cerebral horror that pulls our deepest fears from our bellies. No, not the “self aware” crap like Scream but the purely gratuitous sort! (Smiles warmly).” The Horror Review

“Most of the film has no atmosphere and no tension. The only scenes with any tension at all bear a striking resemblance to scenes from Night of the Living Dead, and these are dispensed with early in the film so Hinzman can get down to the business of his monotonous killing.” Brian Robinson, Zombierama

“Zombie Nosh has some moments of sleaze worth noting but Hinzman’s brainchild film is simply a very bad rip-off of a far superior film. Stick with the original zombie shocker Night of the Living Dead if you want sophisticated splatter.” Popcorn Pictures

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Wikipedia | IMDb

Posted by Will Holland

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Image credits: VHSplatter

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Stung (2015)

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‘Get inside. Get away. Just don’t get…’

Stung is a 2015 American-German comedy horror film directed by Benni Diez (Galaxy of Horrors: “Kingz” segment). The cast includes Matt O´Leary (Santa Clarita Diet; FrailtyMom’s Got a Date with a Vampire), Jessica Cook, Peter Stormare and Lance Henriksen (Needlestick; Daylight’s EndAliens; et al).

Stung-Photo

An XYZ Films production, Stung was developed by producer Benjamin Munz at Rat Pack Filmproduktion based on an idea by Adam Aresty, who won RatPack’s 2012 horror-writing contest. The film premiered on at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 17, 2015.

On 26 October 2015 Entertainment One released Stung on DVD in the UK.

Stung-Entertainment-One-UK-DVD

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

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Plot:

A fancy garden party goes terribly wrong after a local species of wasps mutate into giant predators. It’s up to Paul and Julia, two catering staffers at the high-society event, to stop the killer creatures – an effort that kickstarts a budding romance between the two…

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Stung-Blu-ray

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Reviews:

“It follows a very predictable path with familiar beats, even ending on a note that you’ll more than likely see coming. It’s an unfortunate misstep in an otherwise fantastic creature feature with awesome special effects and a lightning-quick story. Diez is an exciting new talent in the world of film and I can’t wait to see what he does next, especially with a wonderful debut like Stung leaving behind a particularly bloody mark.” Rhino’s Horror

” …aimed squarely at genre fans, who should enjoy its slick energy on a modest budget. The more original ideas and sensibility that might’ve made it something beyond a decent formulaic time-filler are lacking here — although with the narrative door left wide open for a sequel, such creative risks could be taken next time.” Dennis Harvey, Variety

Stung suffers from some pretty poor CGI to begin with, but thankfully it doesn’t last too long. Once the wasp begin to bite people, leading to giant wasps ripping out of the bodies of the bitten, the practical effects swing into high gear and they all look really awesome. The scene with the first swarm attacking is really well done. Kudos to the makeup team led by Meike Gfrörer.” Chris Coffel, Bloody Disgusting

Stung would have done itself a favor by leaning further in one direction over the other instead of tiptoeing on a tightrope between not tongue-in-cheek enough to be campy fun and not dramatic enough to be taken seriously.  Needing more animation in its action and more charisma in its cast, Stung is only slick enough to be a standard killer bug movie with too slight of a humorous edge.” Culture Crypt

“Some “animal attack” movies are worth seeing solely for the scary bits, but Stung tries pretty hard to provide us with some engaging characters and a few funny moments before it unleashes its swarm of giant, furious wasps. That effort alone is worthy of note, and doubly so when it results in a comedy/horror/romance that actually delivers in all three departments.” Scott Weinberg, Nerdist

Cast and characters:

  • Matt O’Leary as Paul
  • Jessica Cook as Julia
  • Lance Henriksen as Caruthers
  • Clifton Collins Jr. as Sydney
  • Cecilia Pillado as Flora
  • Eve Slatner as Mrs. Perch
  • Daniele Rizzo as Larry
  • Florentine Lahme as Gweneth
  • Kathleen Renish as Mrs. Markham
  • Tony de Maeyer as Doc Withney
  • David Masterson as Mr. Markham
  • Benedikt Bothe as Gardener 1
  • Tommy Kreiselmaier as Gardener 2
  • Benni Diez as Firefighter

Filming locations:

Bernau, Brandenburg, Germany

Wikipedia | IMDb


To All a Goodnight (1980)

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‘You’ll scream til’ dawn’

To All a Goodnight is a 1980 American slasher horror film, directed by actor David Hess (Smash CutBodyCount; The Last House on the Left). It was written by Alex Rebar (Home, Sweet Home; Demented and The Incredible Melting Man himself). It stars Jennifer Runyon, Forrest Swanson and Linda Gentile. FX were provided by Mark Shostrom.

Plot [taken from Media VHS sleeve]:

It promises to be an exciting holiday for the five young girls, boarders at the exclusive Calvin Finishing School. They have just drugged their housemother and smuggled in their boyfriends. A Christmas vacation frolic awaits. That is, until night falls.

During the party-filled night, members of this fun-loving clan disappear one by one. In a series of grisly scenes, a mysterious, masquerading, and mad Santa Claus hacks away at their ranks. The absence of their missing friends is overlooked at the next days picnic until one of the girls stumbles across Ralph Kramer. Someone has taken an axe to his head.

The police are notified and everyone is confined indoors. But with the coming of night, the bloodbath continues. The murderer’s victims meet their gory deaths as the maniac carries out his horrifying handiwork…

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“Eccentric dialogue, bizarre hairstyles, a surplus of varied kill scenes, a baffling cameo by porn legend Harry Reems as an airplane pilot (a role you’d see Robert Kerman doing had this been an Italian film), and wildly random lighting and day-for-night shifts make it a great party film…” Nathaniel Thompson, Mondo Digital

“Performances range from fine (Runyon particularly) to serviceable, the characters are no more dumb than in any other slasher film, there’s nudity (restrained) and gore (somewhat hampered by the budget), sex-then-death and stalking set-pieces including a few false scares.” Eric Cotenas, DVD Drive-In

“This film came at the start of the 80’s slasher cycle but still manages to be clichéd and repetitive. There’s the red herring (a Crazy Ralph type gardener), the twist ending, the tour of the dead, the deadly preamble, and of course, the useless authority. These are some common traits of slashers and they feel downright beat to death here.” 80s Horror Central

” …Hess’ killer has all the presence and panache of a Heffalump on rollerblades, duly plodding around the house without a nod towards building any modicum suspense. This Santa’s saving grace being an impressively varied sack full of goodies; he offs them with axe; cross-bow; rock; knife…” Hysteria Lives!

“It’s not the best or most original, but I think fans will enjoy the cookie-cutter nature of the formula going full speed ahead, the mean, inventive kills, and the creepy Santa killer. Not the best by a long shot, but certainly worth seeing once. At the very least, it’s passable holiday horror fare…” Wes R., Oh, the Horror!

“There are facets to it that cause intrigue such as the twist ending, and of course the use of a killer Santa (way before Silent Night, Deadly Night) but generally speaking it’s a very forgettable slasher movie that would belong only in the collection of completists and avid Hess aficionados.” David Wain, UK Horror Scene

 

“There’s enough weirdness to keep most forgiving horror and exploitation fans awake. Porn superstar Harry Reems, for some insane reason, shows up in a small role as a pilot. The Santa outfit is quite creepy despite its lack of narrative relevance. The braindead dialogue is fun, as are the scenery chewing performances.” Dave Jackson, Mondo Exploito

Cast and characters:

  • Jennifer Runyon as Nancy
  • Forrest Swanson as Alex
  • Linda Gentile as Melody
  • William Lauer as T. J.
  • Judith Bridges as Leia
  • Katherine Herrington as Mrs. Jensen
  • Buck West as Ralph
  • Sam Shamshak as Polansky
  • Angela Bath as Trisha
  • Denise Stearns as Sam
  • Solomon Trager as Tom
  • Jeff Butts as Blake
  • Harry Reems [credited as Dan Stryker] as Pilot

Release:

The film was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on January 30, 1980 by Intercontinental Releasing Corporation (IRC). It was released on VHS in the United States by Media Home Entertainment in 1983. Do to the films poor lighting, many scenes have been hard to see in VHS quality.

Under license from current rights holder MGM, Kino Lorber released the film for the first time on DVD and Blu-ray on October 21, 2014. Special features include interviews with actors Jennifer Runyon and Katherine Herrington and co-producer and writer Alex Rebar and the original theatrical trailer.

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: Mondo Exploito

Related: Ho! Ho! Horror! – Festive Fright Films – article by David Flint


What’s the Matter with Helen? (1971)

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‘So you met someone and now you know how it feels. Goody, goody’

What’s the Matter with Helen? is a 1971 American horror-thriller ‘psycho-biddy’ film directed by Curtis Harrington (Ruby; Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?; Night Tide; et al) from a screenplay by Henry Farrell (How Awful About Allan; Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte; author of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? novel).

The film stars Debbie Reynolds, Shelley Winters (The Visitor; Tentacles; The Tenant), Dennis Weaver (Don’t Go to SleepDuel), Agnes Moorehead (Bewitched, Dear Dead Delilah) and Yvette Vickers (The Dead Don’t Die; Attack of the Giant Leeches, Attack of the 50ft Woman).

Plot:

Leonard Hill and Wesley Bruckner are seen being loaded into a paddy wagon to face life sentences in prison for the Iowa murder of Ellie Banner. Their mothers, Helen Hill (Shelley Winters) and Adelle Bruckner (Debbie Reynolds) fight a crowd to their car.

In the car, Helen reveals that someone in the crowd cut the palm of her left hand. Soon at home and tending to her wound, Helen receives an anonymous phone call from a man, “I’m the one who cut you…. I wanted to see you bleed.” This caller threatens to make the mothers pay for the sins of their sons. Helen and Adelle change their names, leave Iowa, and head to Hollywood, where both Helen and Adelle opens a dance academy for little girls who want to be the next Shirley Temple…

The film is released in the United States on Blu-ray by Scream Factory on March 28, 2017.

Buy: Amazon.com

  • New High-Definition Transfer from the interpositive
  • Original Theatrical Trailer
  • Original Radio Spot
  • Still Gallery

Reviews:

“While it doesn’t reach the heights of Baby Jane, lacking the resonance and leaning too heavily on its murder-flavoured storyline, it is one of those films that plays on the sick side of camp, with musical numbers, tap dancing little girls, dolls and a look at the less glamorous areas of showbiz.” Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image

What’s the Matter with Helen? doesn’t push the movie far enough.  Shelley Winters might go crazy (and crazy Shelley Winters is good), but it takes too long to get there.  The movie needed to boost the psychological thriller aspect of it and ease back on some of the story.” JP Roscoe, Basement Rejects

” …a steaming bouillabaisse centering around the idea of women’s attractions, both upcoming, vibrant, and faded, and the way men treat them as commodities. Which is not to mention the whole current about motherhood, relations between women…. This one throws a bunch of stuff up in the air and can only hit a little bit of it, but that’s fine for me.” CdM Scott, Cinema de Merde

“Despite fine complex characterizations by Reynolds and Winters – and wonderfully monstrous ones from The Bat’s Agnes Moorehead (as radio evangelist Sister Alma) and Tom Jones’ Micheál MacLiammóir as the appropriately theatrical elocution expert – everything feels a bit too familiar, and most of the hysteria is shoved to the last twenty minutes.” Eric Cotenas, DVD Drive-In

Buy All Night Horror Marathon DVD from Amazon.com

” …United Artists released an ad campaign that gave away the ending. Blatantly. Critics complained and the film was more or less forgotten. Today, it plays like a Baby Jane rip-off (which is odd, when you consider Farrell created both) and thanks to Curtis Harrington’s rather pedestrian direction, the end result is more curiosity than creepshow.” Bill Gibron, DVD Talk

” …spends quite as much time making sappy fun of the 1930’s period — through things like Ovaltine ads and the self-conscious use of period slang—as it does on its not terribly mysterious plot. The thing that’s the matter with Helen is that she’s a religious nut and definitely loony, which is obvious so early in the movie that What’s the Matter With Helen? never has much place to go.” Vincent Canby, The New York Times, July 1, 1971

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

” …the enjoyable weirdness of this infectiously watchable, wholly bizarre movie shouldn’t completely blind one to the fact that behind the camp there lurks a hell of a nifty thriller containing a great many good (if not wholly realized) ideas.” Liz Smith, Dreams Are What Le Cinema is For…

“More Baby Jane melodramatics, quite lively and with interesting period detail.” Leslie Halliwell, Halliwell’s Film Guide

“It blows up, by way of some time-honoured shocks, into a hugely entertaining and gory ending which remembers to pay homage not only to horror but to Hollywood.” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

“You can imagine my horror when I saw the cheaply produced poster for Helen. It used the very image that I had not wanted to reveal anywhere! People instantly knew the ending of the film before they even saw it. I asked myself what idiot in the UA publicity department had decided to do this […] The brutal truth was that Helen was simply being sacrificed by UA upon the altar of what they refer to as “summer cash flow”. Any money that in was profit since they didn’t have any investment in the film.” Curtis Harrington, Nice Guys Don’t Work in Hollywood

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: Dreams Are What Le Cinema is For…


Chupacabra Territory (2016)

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‘Some species are best left undiscovered’

Chupacabra Territory is a 2016 found footage horror film written and directed by Matt McWilliams, making his feature debut.

The film stars Sarah Nicklin (The Haunting of Alice D.The Sins of Dracula, Flesh for the Inferno), Michael Reed (Dark Feed, Exhumed), Megan Hensley (The Crazies), Julianne Tura (Bloody Bloody Bible CampChastity Bites), and Pierre Kennel.

Four friends hike into the Pinewood Forest to find evidence of the Chupacabra, an ancient creature believed to be responsible for the disappearance of four experienced hikers a year earlier.

As they journey deeper into the forest, their innocent search uncovers more than they had ever hoped for, and with it a darkness that threatens to consume their very existence.

One by one they are hunted down, their survival tested, their lives hanging in the balance of fear, friendship, disbelief and horror…

On April 11, 2017, the film is released on Maltauro Entertainment Blu-ray and Invincible Pictures DVD with exclusive interviews with the cast and crew, trailers and more. The film will also be released on various VOD platforms.

Meanwhile, in the UK, the film was released on DVD as Lair of the Beast on 22nd August 2016 by 101 Films.

Reviews:

” …McWilliams deserves some credit for adding more elements into his movie than you would expect (and arguably than he knows what to do with), and his leads at least give us enough personality that you care a bit about what happens to them.”  David Dent, Dark Eyes of London

“Whilst there’s elements here that truly do work and emulate the Blair Witch style terror, the unfortunate, self-centred egos of the characters involved completely undo these moments of brilliance. Because of this, horror fans looking for a serious woodland creature horror will be disappointed…” Horror Cult Films

Filming locations:

Lake Hughes, California, USA

IMDb | Facebook


The Hearse (1980)

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The Hearse
 is a 1980 American supernatural horror movie directed by George Bowers (editor of From Hell) from a screenplay by Bill Bleich (Poltergeist: The Legacy; From the Dead of Night; The Midnight Hour), based on Mark Tenser’s idea. It stars Trish Van Devere (The Changeling) and Joseph Cotten (DelusionBaron Blood; Lady Frankenstein).

In the US, the film was distributed by Crown International Pictures.

On May 30, 2017, the film is released as a Blu-ray + DVD combo by Vinegar Syndrome. Special features are:

• Newly scanned and restored in 2k from 35mm original camera negative
• “Satan Get Behind Thee” – video interview with lead actor, David Gautreaux
• Original theatrical trailer
• TV spot
• Promotional still gallery
• Reversible cover artwork
• English SDH Subtitles

Plot:

Jane Hardy (Trish Van Devere) arrives in the town of Blackford to stay in an old house left to her by a late aunt. As time passes, Jane learns secrets her aunt kept from her in life, but that were well-known by the townspeople.

In life, Jane’s aunt had been a devil worshiper, and upon her death, the hearse carrying her body crashed, but no sign of the driver or of the coffin were ever found. Since then, the house inherited by Jane has been haunted by evil spirits and the rural road out of Blackford has been haunted by the hearse that crashed.

As these stories come to light, Jane attempts to leave Blackford to avoid being drawn in by her aunt’s spirit, but finds herself pursued by the ghostly hearse and held prisoner inside Blackford by spirits.

Reviews:

The Hearse qualifies as this summer’s garage sale of horror movies. It contains all the best clichés from recent, more successful horror movies (especially [The] Amityville [Horror] and even The Changeling, which came out last April and starred Van Devere, her husband George C. Scott and, of course, the obligatory self-banging doors and self-playing musical instruments).” RogerEbert.com

The Hearse was directed by George Bowers, and shot either in a very stylized fashion or without benefit of a light meter – many of the film’s outdoor scenes feature brilliant blue skies and actors with dim, shadowy faces. As far as the horror goes, Mr. Bowers makes his film moderately scary and pretty unpleasant, too.” Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“The Hearse has a bad rep for being confusing, unsatisfying and boring. Not true at all. It’s just a slow and steadily building shocker with an ending that lets you decide what the hell you just watched. Nothing on the screen could ever match the horrors the human mind can conjure with a little suggestion.” Deep Red Rum

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“The haunted house schtick is the film’s main focus (the hearse is just a roadside annoyance), as it attempts to create an unsettling atmosphere via a sinister piano-laden music score, point-of-view angles, lot’s of scenes that involve investigating weird noises, and plenty of cheap jump scares.” House of Self Indulgence

“The nightmare sequence is genuinely effective and the film itself features a few creepy visuals but, then again, there’s no way the sight of a hearse pulling up in front of a house in the middle of the night couldn’t be creepy. Trish Van Devere does okay as Jane, though it’s somewhat odd that all the teenage boys in the town keeps talking about how hot and sexy she apparently is when she looks like she’s about 50 in this film.”
HorrorCritic.com

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“It’s not the most cohesive plot, in fact, it doesn’t really make sense but it’s solidly sinister and ghost-y-licious. I was interested the entire time and eager to see what would happen next despite the idiocy of certain aspects. (she has a pentagram locket and has no god damn idea what it is, she just thinks it’s pretty).” The Church of Splatter-Day Saints

Cast and characters:

  • Trish Van Devere – Jane Hardy
  • Joseph Cotten – Walter Pritchard
  • David Gautreaux – Tom Sullivan
  • Donald Hotton – Reverend Winston
  • Med Flory – Sheriff Denton
  • Donald Petrie – Luke
  • Christopher McDonald – Pete
  • Perry Lang – Paul Gordon
  • Fred Franklyn – Mr. Gordon
  • Al Hansen – Bo Rehnquist
  • Dominic Barto – The Driver
  • Nicholas Shields – Dr. Greenwalt
  • Chuck Mitchell – Counterman
  • Allison Balson – Alice
  • Jim Gatherum – Boy #1
  • Victoria Eubank – Lois
  • Tanya Bowers – Schoolgirl

WikipediaIMDb | Image credits: Pre-cert.co.uk

Related entries: The Changeling | Crown International Pictures


Blackenstein (1973) – updated with Blu-ray news

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‘To stop this mutha takes one bad brutha’

Blackenstein, also known as Black Frankenstein, is a 1973 American blaxploitation horror film directed by William A. Levey (Wham! Bam! Thank You, Spaceman!; Hellgate) from a screenplay by producer Frank R. Saletri (director of the unfinished Black the Ripper in 1975).

The film was an attempt to cash-in on the success of Blacula, released the previous year by American International Pictures (AIP). However, Blackenstein fared poorly at the box office in comparison to its predecessor.

Blackenstein is released on Blu-ray and DVD on May 30, 2017, by Severin Films​. The theatrical cut (78 minutes) and the video release version (87 minutes) will be included. Special features:

  • Monster Kid – Interview with June Kirk, sister of writer/producer Frank R. Saletri
  • Bill Created Blackenstein – Interview with creature designer Bill Munns
  • Actors/filmmakers Ken Osborne & Robert Dix remember Frank R. Saletri
  • Archive news broadcast on the murder of Frank R. Saletri
  • Theatrical trailer

Buy: Amazon.com

Main cast:

John Hart (Welcome to Arrow Beach; The Centerfold GirlsThe Astral Factor), Ivory Stone, Andrea King (Red Planet MarsHouse of the Black Death), Liz Renay (Desperate Living; Corpse Grinders 2; Mark of the Astro-Zombies), Roosevelt Jackson, Joe DeSue, Nick Bolin (The Devil’s Daughter), Cardella Di Milo, James Cousar and Marva Farmer.

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Plot:

When her boyfriend Eddie Turner (Joe DeSue) returns from Vietnam without arms and legs, Dr. Winnifred Walker (Ivory Stone) appeals to former teacher and Nobel Prize-winning Dr. Stein (John Hart) for help — and Dr. Stein, who has been fiddling with DNA, accommodates them by growing some new arms and legs.

Unfortunately, the experiment goes awry, and Eddie suddenly develops a square afro, takes to wearing ankle boots, and sneaks out at night…

Blackenstein DVD

Buy: Amazon.co.ukAmazon.com

Reviews:

“For all its suckitude, Blackenstein delivers a bit of T&A and some surprisingly explicit gore, with intestine-ripping scenes years before the likes of Dawn of the Dead (I’m not saying that it’s well-done, but it’s there).” BlackHorrorMovies

“Tiresome, dim-witted, unsure of what it wants to be (there is a scene in a nightclub where we witness a comedian and a blues singer perform their entire routines), Blackenstein fails miserably even as kitsch. A missed opportunity.” Josiah Howard, Blaxploitation Cinema

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

“Is Blackenstein the worst movie ever made? Well, it’s certainly in the running. Is it the worst of the blaxploitation/horror movies? I certainly hope so. Otherwise there’s one that’s worse out there waiting for me, and there are simply some things Man Was Not Meant To Know.” Freeman Williams, The Bad Movie Report

Blackenstein-Black-Frankenstein-lab-scene

“Pacing is too slow and acting too lethargic to make this a camp classic, but it’s extremely entertaining. The transformation takes several stages, giving us several buzz-spark-flicker lab scenes. Apparently, the lab features some of the same equipment as the 1930s original … A few women, including our heroine, are topless for a few moments.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

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Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

“The Blackenstein monster’s rampage, despite the limits of the horror genre and the story this film is trying to tell, can be seen as ‘sticking it to the Man’ who literally created him. So perhaps it’s not inappropriate to have Dr. Stein as a white man.” Mikel J Koevn, Blaxploitation Films

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Blackenstein VHS

This VHS sleeve re-uses artwork for The Hearse (1980)

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Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: Serious Jacksonville Horror | Related: Blacula


Hide and Go Shriek (1987)

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‘Close your eyes. Count to 10. And run for your life.’

Hide and Go Shriek – aka Close Your Eyes and Pray – is a 1987 American slasher horror film directed by Skip Schoolnik (assistant director on Time Walker; editor on Amityville: The Evil EscapesHalloween IIDr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype).

The screenplay was by Michael Kelly and Screaming Mad George (Society) supplied the makeup effects. It stars Bunky Jones, Brittain Frye and Annette Sinclair.

A group of teenagers spend the night in a furniture store for a graduation party. A psycho killer hunts them down and kill them, one by one…

The film is released in the UK as a Blu-ray + DVD combo by 88 Films on 10 July 2017.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“It’s pure trash, replete with nudity, dim lighting, and people bleeding out the mouth. It’s nasty, cruel, and, actually, sometimes, kind of creepy. A lot of that owes to its look […] The makeup fx are also well-done: there is no shortage of corn starch-based red stuff. And except for John Ross’s shameless Aerosmith rip-off, his mostly synth-based music score is fantastic.” Ross Peterson, HorrorNews.net

“Definitely odd and memorable in its own low-key, twisted way, this one is pretty sparing with the gore but does deliver a nasty handful of moments along the way. Despite the harsh sunlight seen in outdoor scenes, it Hide and Go Shriekdoesn’t really feel like a Los Angeles film for the most part; the arty, druggy atmosphere has an almost European feel most of the time, and the climax really goes into surreal territory with cavernous storage areas and dozens of mannequins…” Nathaniel Thompson, Mondo Digital

“The killer isn’t given any sort of characterisation except that he is a cross-dresser, stooping the low depths to shamelessly and lazily equate transvestism with serial killing […] Hide and Go Shriek is better than it has any right to be given how late in the day it arrived to the slasher table. You’ve seen it all before but it handles the bulk of the material with a reasonable amount of skill.” Andrew Smith, Popcorn Pictures

“Performance wise, almost everything was ok, but Bunky Jones let the side down with a torrid cocktail of overacting and just plain shouting. The kids are all picked more as eye candy and there are some hot chicas here, especially the unfortunate who loses her head (quite literally). We also get the usual amount of silly late-eighties shenanigans and campy fun before the terror starts…” Luisito Joaquín González, A Slash Above…

“With hardly an original thought in its head it gleefully molests every last cliché it can get its hands on. The big hair, day-glo fashion and 80’s speak provide quite a few cheesy chuckles. But as a horror movie, like I said, Chopping Mall did it all so much better. It does pre-date another store slasher Intruder (1988) […] Hide and Go Shriek doesn’t compare well with that film either…” Hysteria Lives!

Cast and characters:

  • Bunky Jones as Bonnie Williams + Grotesque; Frankenstein General Hospital; The Kindred
  • Brittain Frye as Randy Flint + Slumber Party Massacre III
  • Annette Sinclair as Kim Downs
  • George Thomas as David Hanson
  • Donna Baltron as Judy Ramerize
  • Scott Fults as Shawn Phillips
  • Ria Pavia as Melissa Morgan
  • Sean Kanan as John Robbins
  • Scott Kubay as Zack
  • Jeff Levine as Fred
  • Michael Kelly as the alley Wino
  • Ron Colby as Phil Robbins
  • Donald Mark Spencer as Vince
  • James Serrano and Lyons as the cops in the police car
  • Robin Turk as the prostitute in the opening scene
  • Joe White as the man behind the newsstand

Previous releases:

The film was given a limited theatrical US release with an R rating; an alternate video version, containing only a little more violence, was released unrated. In December 2016, Code Red released Hide and Go Shriek on Blu-ray from a new 2K scan.

Filming locations:

An abandoned warehouse in downtown Los Angeles, California, USA

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: Critical Condition | Mondo Digital



Phantasm III (1994)

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Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead – Phantasm III – is a 1994 supernatural horror film written and directed by Don Coscarelli. The film stars Angus Scrimm, Reggie Bannister and A. Michael Baldwin.

Immediately after his apparent demise at the end of Phantasm II, a new Tall Man emerges from a dimensional portal. At the same time, the hearse that carries Liz and Mike explodes. Reggie finds Liz dead but saves Mike from the Tall Man by threatening to kill them all with a grenade. The Tall Man retreats with Liz’s body and threatens to return for Mike when he’s well again.

After Mike spends two years comatose in the hospital, he has a near death experience in which his dead brother Jody and the Tall Man appear. As he wakes from his coma, he is attacked by a demonic nurse, but Reggie appears and helps him to fight her off.

Back at home, the Tall Man arrives via dimensional fork, fights off Reggie, transforms Jody into a charred sphere, and draws Mike through the gate with him…

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

” …the film maker, Don Coscarelli, cares less about the plot making sense, and more about putting together a series of scenes with images that he thinks will be entertaining. He does a good job of this. His scenes taken on their own are fun to watch, so in that sense it’s a watchable movie. It’s the stringing together of the scenes that needs help.” Zombierama

“Most fans consider it the worst sequel, but I actually think Phantasm III is the best followup to the (unmatched) original. After watching all four back to back, it seems that III, while not without its problems, is the one that Coscarelli had the best of both worlds: the resources of II and the freedom to do what he wanted in IV.” Brian W Collins, Horror Movie a Day

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca

“The film struggles at times to knit together the increasingly dense Phantasm mythology, though it does offer some decent special effects and a couple of fun kill scenes involving the always lethal silver spheres.” Jeffrey Kauffman, Blu-ray.com

“The action scenes are handled well, and the more dialogue heavy moments are watchable. It’s unfortunate that Coscarelli had so many ideas he wanted to present in a 90-minute moment, never fully giving these elements enough time to develop. Still, it’s a confident effort and you can tell Coscarelli knew where he wanted the story to go both visually and textually.” Freddie Young, Full Moon Reviews

“In Phantasm III, the events on screen are nothing more than an excuse to trot out special effects of amputations, decapitations, lobotomies, and the like involving the no-familiar Tall Man and the flying chrome softballs. For better or worse, the gory stuff is played strictly for laughs.” Mike Mayo, The Horror Show Guide: The Ultimate Frightfest of Movies

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca

“A. Michael Baldwin and Bill Thornbury are both back, and the film starts off well, but soon things starts to feel a bit laboured, and third time around for many of the same ideas and setups is perhaps one too many.” John Llewellyn Probert, House of Mortal Cinema

“It certainly is a trip. Logic need not apply, there is no need to search for an explanation, just accept that it happened and move on. It is brilliant in a way, there are lots of pieces and plenty of ways to try and put them together, figure it out yourself or just accept and move on.” Critical Outcast

Cast and characters:

  • Angus Scrimm as The Tall Man
  • A. Michael Baldwin as Mike Pearson
  • Reggie Bannister as Reggie
  • Bill Thornbury as Jody Pearson
  • Kevin Connors as Tim
  • Gloria Lynne Henry as Rocky
  • Cindy Ambuehl as Edna
  • Brooks Gardner as Rufus
  • John Davis Chandler as Henry
  • Claire Benedek as Tim’s mother
  • Sarah Scott Davis as Tanesha

Filming locations:

Compton, Long Beach, Los Padres National Forest, North Hollywood, Santa Clarita, Santa Paula, California, USA

Wikipedia | IMDb | Official website | Image credits: Critical Outcast


VHS Massacre: Cult Films and the Decline of Physical Media – documentary (2016)

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VHS Massacre: Cult Films and the Decline of Physical Media is a 2016 American documentary film directed by Kenneth Powell and Thomas Edward Seymour.

Official synopsis:

“This lively documentary explores the rise and fall of physical media and its effect on independent and cult films. Ranging from the origin of home movies through the video store era, it’s sure to entertain.

With icons like Joe Bob Briggs (MonsterVision), Lloyd Kaufman (Toxic Avenger), Greg Sestero (The Room), Debbie Rochon (Return to Nuke ‘Em High), Deborah Reed (Troll 2), Mark Frazer (Samurai Cop), James Nguyen (Birdemic) and many others.”

Reviews:

“This doc elaborates on the debate between Beta and VHS, the birth of DVD and BluRay, and how downloading and streaming may be the final death knell for physical copies of films. But all is not lost, as the film explains that there has been somewhat of a retro-resurgence for VHS recently as well as talking about how we as the viewers can help save this type of media…” Ambush Bug, Ain’t It Cool News

VHS Massacre is a must watch for movie fans. I mean real movie fans. The ending was cool because a bunch of the guys went out and bought random VHS tapes they found in different places and had a contest to see which one was the weirdest. It also shows that VHS has made a small niche comeback.” Ken Murray, Nerds Templar

” …the movie’s actually rather amusing, and not only to collectors of VHS-oddities, and is kept alive by some pretty cool interviews […] plus it takes us to many a videostore, before and after closing, and finally invites us to an actual VHS Massacre – which actually has to be seen to be believed. In all, much fun, really!” Mike Haberfelner, Search My Trash

” …also comes the humorous look at what kinds of low rent garbage they were pushing on us (often churned out just to fill shelf spaces). It examines the lost art of box covers and the human relationship that comes with shelf-browsing stated as almost non-existent in today’s market.” HorrorNews.net

The film is released on Blu-ray by Troma Entertainment on May 9, 2017 with the following special features:

  • Intro by Lloyd Kaufman (President of Troma Entertainment and Creator of The Toxic Avenger)
  • Director’s Commentary
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Troma Now! Extreme Edition
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • A Full Episode of Monster Kill: Merminators from Space (The New Web Series by Kenneth Powell and Thomas Edward Seymour)
  • Radiation March
  • Return to Nuke ‘Em High: Vol. 1 Trailer
  • Return to Return to Nuke ‘Em High aka Vol. 2 Fantasia Teaser

IMDb | Images courtesy of HorrorNews.net


Psycho Cop 2 aka Psycho Cop Returns (1992)

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‘A bachelor party you’ll never forget!’

Psycho Cop 2 – aka Psycho Cop Returns  is a 1992 (released 1993) black comedy slasher horror film directed by Adam Rifkin, credited as Rif Coogan] (Director’s Cut; The Invisible Maniac; Chillerama: segment “Wadzilla”) from a screenplay by Dan Povenmire (S.C.O.O.B.; Family Guy; The Simpsons).

In a coffeehouse, Officer Joe Vickers, a satanic-worshipping serial killer, overhears Brian and Larry, a pair of white-collar office workers, discussing a bachelor party that they are planning to throw in their workplace for their friend Gary.

Vickers follows the two to their office, and stakes it out in his car (which is full of body parts and demonic imagery) until after hours, which is when Larry bribes the security guard into letting in three strippers. Vickers tricks the guard into letting him in, then stabs him in the eye with a pencil…

The film was released as a Blu-ray + DVD combo on April 25, 2017 by Vinegar Syndrome.

Buy: Amazon.com

Reviews:

“The setting lends itself perfectly to Dan Povenmire’s script which throws out sex jokes, skin, and a bunch of blood on it’s way to a finish that is an obvious spoof of the Rodney King videotape that was fresh in everyone’s mind when this came out in 1992. Shafer gets to chew scenery at every opportunity and he turns in a pretty fun performance and even gets to take wisecracking to all new heights in the finale…” The Video Graveyard

“Some of the scenes are so well realised that they look out of place in pseudo-entertaining dross like this, and it is even worse when the makers attempt to shoehorn in some LA riots-based subtext. This is most certainly not the movie for subtext of any kind. And it really is very sexist; women in this movie are just objects to titillate, mutilate and then denigrate…” Jamie Carruthers, Gorepress

“Rifkin knows what’s expected of him, and he delivers the goods, adding unexpectedly stylish cinematography from Adam Kane that helps the picture seem classier than it really is. There’s also pronounced comedy scattered all over the effort, with Rifkin diluting the possible intensity of Psycho Cop Returns with wacky performances that often favor bulging reactions to evildoing. The endeavor isn’t especially funny but it’s determined in ways few B-movies are…” Brian Orndorf, Blu-ray.com

Choice dialogue:

Larry: “Brian, he’s a cop. He shoots at people for a living. Chances are he’s a little bit strange. Just forget about it.”

Officer Joe Vickers: “You act like trash, you get treated like trash. Ho, ho, ho!”

Larry: “Give me a break. This is not Friday the 13th Part Infinity here. If there’s any bodies in here they are not going to fall out on me.”

Larry: “They’re dressed! They’re just dressed scantily.”

Cast and characters:

  • Robert R. Shafer as Officer Joe Vickers/Gary Henley/Ted Warnicky
  • Barbara Niven as Sharon Wells
  • Rod Sweitzer as Lawrence/Larry
  • Miles Dougal as Brian
  • Nick Vallelonga as Michael
  • Dave Bean as Gary
  • John Paxton as Frederick Stonecipher
  • Julie Strain as Stephanie
  • Melanie Good as Cindy
  • Priscilla Huckleberry as Lisa
  • Justin Carroll as Tony Michaels
  • Carol Cummings as Chloe Wilson
  • Al Schuermann as Gus
  • David Andriole as Vinnie the Bartender
  • Adam Rifkin as Man with Video Camera

Wikipedia | IMDb

Plot keywords:

coffee shop | cop | serial killer | office workers | bachelor party | paranoia | cannabis | drunkenness | strippers | underwear | lingerie | eye violence | lift shaft | panty sniffing | hookers | nudity | photocopier | fax machine | sex | breast implants | rooftop | shot in the head | handcuffs | murder | pentangle | hysteria | staircase | screaming | guns | Mexican standoff | axe


The Long Hair of Death (1964)

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The Long Hair of Death – I lunghi capelli della morte – is a 1964 Italian gothic horror film directed by Antonio Margheriti (Cannibal Apocalypse; Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eyes; The Virgin of Nuremberg) from a screenplay co-written with Tonino Valerii (director of giallo My Dear Killer), based on a story by Ernesto Gastaldi.

The film stars Barbara Steele, Giorgio Ardisson and Halina Zalewska.

September, 1499. Adele Karnstein is burned at the stake, accused of being a witch who has murdered Count Franz Humboldt.

Lisabeth, the woman’s youngest daughter, lives in the Humboldt castle and when she grows up she is forced to marry the deceased man’s nephew, Kurt Humboldt, whom is the real murderer…

The film is released on Blu-ray in the UK by 88 Films on 24 July 2017.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

” …wins points for its sexuality, using unnerving couplings and personal submission to add a tinge of unrest to the tale as it gradually finds its way to ghostly occurrences. However, it’s a long, slow ride to death’s door, with simple acts and behaviors gobbling up minutes of screentime, feeling more like padding instead of suspense.” Brian Orndorf, Blu-ray.com

” …connoisseurs of the Italian gothic will definitely want to check it out for its standout sequences, oddly radical political undertones and overall atmosphere – and Barbara Steele fans will certainly appreciate her relatively large amount of screentime – but newcomers to the sub-genre would be well-advised to start elsewhere.” Breakfast in the Ruins

“Margheriti peppers The Long Hair of Death (1964) with interesting characters and situations and although the action slows down a bit during the last half, the suspenseful second half benefits from these interactions. The film is also enhanced by a hauntingly beautiful score…” Cool Ass Cinema

“Margheriti’s direction is slack and unfocused and the cinematography mostly undistinguished. Without the heightened visual dimension there are no zinger moments, those single angles on Steele that elicit chills — like the close-up through the rainy window in The Horrible Dr. Hichcock or every other shot in Black Sunday. Margheriti’s elaborate castle set is too often flat-lit and lacking in atmosphere.” Glenn Erickson, DVD Talk

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca

[spoilers] “With some editing, this could be a pretty good movie. The revenge/ghost/witch plot is always watchable, and there’s some plague subplotting (it takes place in the 15th century) that is always appreciated. Plus the movie is more or less about a guy who wants to kill his wife so he can be with her sister, so that’s hot. And the weird Wicker Man style thing that the bad guy is burned alive in at the end of the film is pretty awesome.” Brian W. Collins, Horror Movie a Day

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca

” …there’s an unmistakable hint of that old Italian perverse insanity bubbling just below the surface here, and occasionally bursting through into a few scenes of genuine shock. I doubt the maggot-strewn corpse which crops up here was something audiences were expecting to see at this point. Then there’s a body which ickily rebuilds itself through various stages of decay, and there’s even a little nudity thrown in…” We Are Cursed to Live in Interesting Times

“Aside from a few well-realised set-pieces, and a conspicuously grim case of poetic justice at the climax, the action tends to be rather stiff and somnolent, as if the perpetually busy Margheriti was feeling a bit burned out and couldn’t muster the requisite enthusiasm.” Jonathan Rigby, Euro Gothic 

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

“Subtlety and atmosphere are great, but not for 98 minutes! Here, we are treated to many enticing images of the 15th century castle in dim candlelight, but far too much time is consumed by walking one way, walking the next, chit-chatting between important scenes, etc. All punctuated by the same echoing theremin-style organ notes.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

“There are some fine shots of a white-robed Zulewska wandering through the medieval castle with shafts of lights falling from high windows, and Steele’s presence alone suffices to life such fantasy well above the average, especially when here role combines eroticism and vengeful menace directed against brutally callous men.” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

Cast and characters:

  • Barbara Steele as Helen Rochefort / Mary + Piranha; Shivers; Castle of Blood; Black Sunday
  • Giorgio Ardisson as Kurt Humboldt
  • Halina Zalewska as Adele Karnstein / Lisabeth Karnstein
  • Giuliano Raffaelli as Count Humboldt
  • Laura Nucci as Grumalda
  • Umberto Raho as Von Klage
  • Nello Pazzafini as the Servant

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca

Filming locations:

Massimo Castle, Arsoli, Italy

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: The Telltale Mind

Plot keywords:

witch | rats | castle | murder | plague | panic | hysteria | monks | incest | burnt alive


LEGO Scooby-Doo! Haunted Hollywood (2016)

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LEGO Scooby-Doo! Haunted Hollywood is a 2016 American DVD, Blu-ray and digital special directed by Rick Morales from a screenplay by James Krieg, and storyline by Duane Capizzi and Heath Corson, based upon the Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons.

It is the first LEGO film, after Morales’ TV special, Scooby-Doo! Knight Time Terror.

Set in a LEGO world, Scooby-Doo and the gang try to rescue an old movie studio, which is not only threatened by developers, but a series of movie monsters, such as a zombie, mummy and The Headless Horseman…

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Reviews:

LEGO Scooby-Doo! Haunted Hollywood turned out to be a pretty fun outing. It may be a tad long for your average Scooby-Doo adventure, but the clever script and the LEGO animated stylings keep it fun for kids of all ages.” Matthew Hartman, High-Def Digest

” …doesn’t so much tell a story as set up repeated opportunities for inside jokes, one-liners, bad puns, frantic flight from monsters and, of course, massive consumption of food by Shaggy and Scooby-Doo […] Haunted Hollywood too often feels like a half-hour plot padded to feature length. Even kids should be able to spot who’s “haunting” Brickton Studios long before the final reveal.” Michael Reuben, Blu-ray.com

LEGO Scooby-Doo: Haunted Hollywood is a decently entertaining Scooby-Doo spin-off with LEGO thrown into the franchise mix. While the film isn’t amongst the best recent Scooby-Doo efforts, it’s worth checking out for fans and should at least be worth seeing once.” Neil Lumbard, DVD Talk

“The LEGO humour is dominant, as you would expect, but the character of the Scooby gang and the conventions of a Scooby-Doo mystery are all present and correct too, right down to the Mystery-Inc era running joke of Fred setting elaborate but rubbish traps.” Daddacool

LEGO Scooby-Doo!: Haunted Hollywood is an enjoyable movie that is mostly aimed at kids. The story is similar to every other Scooby-Doo story that’s been turned into a film or episode but the LEGO version retains all of the humour and high jinks that you’d expect from the loveable dog and his friends.” Pip Ellwood-Hughes, Entertainment Focus

Cast and characters:

  • Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo and Fred Jones
  • Matthew Lillard as Shaggy Rogers
  • Kate Micucci as Velma Dinkley
  • Grey Griffin as Daphne Blake
  • Dee Bradley Baker as Sea Creature, Malt Shop Walt and Zombie
  • J.B. Blanc as Atticus Fink and Director
  • Christian Lanz as Bryan Lakeshore and Mummy
  • Scott Menville as Junior
  • Cassandra Peterson [Elvira] as Drella Diabolique
  • James Arnold Taylor as Chet Brickton and Narrator

Running time:

75 minutes

Wikipedia | IMDb

Related: LEGO Dimensions Scooby-Doo! | LEGO Monster FightersScooby-Doo! Knight Time Terror

Posted by Dylan Luther-Smith


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