THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 6/13/20

 

I'm not as well-versed about giallo as the popular Italian genre's more fervent fans, so it's fun to run across a choice selection such as THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH (Severin Films, 1971) and enjoy it to its fullest while discovering even more reasons why the best of these films are so much fun in the first place.

Lovely cult favorite Edwige Fenech (ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK) stars as Julie, a sadly-neglected wife returning to Austria from America because her wealthy Wall Street tycoon husband Neil (Alberto de Mendoza, HORROR EXPRESS) has business there.

Julie, it turns out, has some business of her own, which is mainly to hesitantly fall sideways into a romantic tryst with persistent suitor George (George Hilton, ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK) while avoiding former lover Jean (Ivan Rassimov, EATEN ALIVE), a first-class creep who had a sick relationship with Julie years ago and who may or may not be the razor-wielding, throat-slashing psycho killer currently terrorizing the city.

 
Julie's sassy best friend Carol (Cristina Airoldi) just happens to be George's cousin and is about to share with George a windfall inheritance from a recently-deceased uncle.

Not only is Carol a fun character who gets to speak her mind about everything, but she also throws a fun party (where Julie first runs into Jean again) which embodies the late 60s-early 70s ambience of the film right down to two party girls in paper dresses having a catfight in which they claw each other's clothes off. (Carol will also play a key role in one of the film's finest sequences, an eerie rendezvous with someone who may be the killer.)

What really gets the giallo juices flowing is when the mysterious killer suddenly and for no apparent reason takes a distressingly keen interest in Julie, right down to peering through the window during one of her naked romps with George and sending her flowers along with creepy, cryptic messages. Julie and husband Neil are convinced that the culprit is the already scary Jean. But is he too obvious a suspect?

 
Director Sergio Martino (ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK) and co-writer Ernesto Gastaldi keep us guessing for the film's entire running time as we ponder the guilt or innocence of just about every main character besides Julie as evidence shifts back and forth and red herrings abound.

Meanwhile, we're treated to some murder setpieces that are both genuinely creepy and unsettling but also manage to generate Hitchcock-level suspense for sustained periods of time.

One in particular takes great pictorial advantage of a terrific outdoor location to present a stalking scene that is deeply nerve-wracking. And in each case, that gleaming straight razor is always poised for bloody carnage.

With Julie's guilt over cheating on her husband compounded by fear of her elusive stalker, even the story's romance elements have a queasy decadence that keeps us on edge.  This includes a flashback of Julie's sick affair with Jean, a beautifully shot, dreamlike passage with him slapping her repeatedly by the side of the road in slow-motion during a driving rainstorm.

Director Martino  is the equal to fellow Italian giallo maestro Dario Argento in such matters, perhaps not with as fine a degree of photographic artistry but driven by the same surehanded directorial finesse that creates memorably effective scenes. 

 
The Blu-ray from Severin Films is "newly scanned in 4k from the internegative" and boasts their usual well-stocked bonus menu including interviews with director Martino, co-writer Gastaldi, actor George Hilton, and, in archival footage, Edwige Fenech. There's also an audio commentary with Kat Ellinger, author of ‘All The Colors Of Sergio Martino’, a trailer, and last but not least a bonus CD of the film's lush, lively soundtrack music.

After putting us through the mill for the entire length of the film, THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH ends on a shocking note, then pulls a fast one on us that's even more shocking and, ultimately, delightfully satisfying. It left me happy and content that once again a really good giallo had worked its magic on me.



Buy it from Severin Films

Special Features:

    Of Vice and Virtue: Interview with Director Sergio Martino
    Cold As Ice: Interview with Screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi
    Vienna Vice: Interview with Actor George Hilton and Italian Genre Historian Antonio Bruschini
    Archive Interview with Actress Edwige Fenech
    Introduction by Actor George Hilton
    Audio Commentary with Kat Ellinger, Author of ‘All The Colors Of Sergio Martino’
    Trailer
    CD Soundtrack [Limited to 3000 Units]
    The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh Comic Book [WEBSTORE EXCLUSIVE]

 

THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

TENEBRE -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

 Originally posted on 5/8/08

 

I'm a Dario Argento fan but have yet to see all of his films. So it was a real treat to get the chance to watch TENEBRE (aka TENEBRAE), the Italian director's 1982 return to the giallo style after a detour into the supernatural (SUSPIRIA, his masterpiece, and its follow-up INFERNO). According to Wikipedia, "giallo" films are typically slasher-style whodunits characterized by "extended murder sequences featuring excessive bloodletting, stylish camerawork and unusual musical arrangements", which would make this a prime example of the genre.

Tony Franciosa plays Peter Neal, a murder mystery writer who's just arrived in Rome to promote his latest book, "Tenebrae", only to find that a serial-killing stalker is using his new novel as a template for ridding the world of sexual deviates and other undesirables. With the help of his secretary and budding love interest Anne (Argento collaborator and former spouse Daria Nicolodi) and eager young assistant Gianni (Christian Borromeo), Neal hopes to add a feather to his literary cap by solving the real-life murder mystery himself as bodies begin to pile up. The arrival in Rome of his spurned ex-lover Jane (Veronica Lario) and the presence of a television journalist named Berti (John Steiner) who appears to be a little too obsessed with Neal and his writings are just two of the many pieces in Argento's jumbled jigsaw puzzle.

One of the first things I noticed about TENEBRE is how bright it is. Much of it takes place in broad daylight, while the night scenes are often overly-lit. Argento has stated that he wanted the film to look hyper-realistic, with no shadows for either the victims or the killer to hide in. It's an interesting stylistic choice that Argento uses effectively. The often light-bleached visuals and pallid settings also allow him to emphasize certain elements such as a woman's fire-engine red pumps or the gouts of blood that liberally decorate several moments of terror.

Some of my favorite Argento touches are well-represented here, including: a haunting flashback, the details of which are only gradually revealed to us (not unlike Harmonica's recurring childhood memory in ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, which Argento co-wrote); characters not picking up on an important visual or aural clue until it suddenly occurs to them after much reflection, as in the "three irises" scene from SUSPIRIA or the mysterious painting in DEEP RED; and several POV shots that disconcertingly put us in the killer's shoes as he (or she) is on the prowl.

As usual, Argento uses sound very effectively. In particular, he shares something in common with singer Nick Lowe--he loves the sound of breaking glass--so if you see a plate glass window in this movie, chances are it's going to shatter when you least expect it. Argento uses such devices to make his murder sequences even more nerve-wracking than they already are, usually after some very careful buildup and a few fake-outs to keep us off guard. And when the killer strikes, it's disturbingly violent. But unlike the standard slasher bore such as FRIDAY THE 13TH, Argento is more interested in the imaginative cinematic depiction of violence rather than simply racking up outlandish yet by-the-numbers body counts. When he does go for the gore, it shocks us, and it happens to characters that we care about and for reasons that keep the story moving.

Oh, and speaking of nerve-wracking, Argento managed to reunite three members of the disbanded rock group Goblin (Claudio Simonetti, Fabio Pignatelli, and Massimo Morante) to supply the original score. Unlike their music for SUSPIRIA, this has a synth-heavy, somewhat cheesy 80s sound that seems to be influenced at times by Giorgio Moroder's drum-machine disco rhythms. Other passages resemble their music for George Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD. But it has that unmistakable Goblin sound, which somehow manages to compliment Argento's style even as it's turning your eardrums to mush.

Tony Franciosa is an old pro who did a lot of television while I was growing up, in addition to appearing in scores of fun films (a year after this, he got to do a steamy love scene with my favorite actress, Isabelle Mejias--the lucky dog--in the lively Canadian thriller JULIE DARLING). John Saxon, who plays Peter's literary agent, is, of course, always a welcome presence, and Veronica Lario is very effectively creepy as Jane. The rest of the cast is good, too--I especially liked Giuliano Gemma and Carola Stagnaro as a pair of homicide detectives--although in most cases the dubbing makes it hard to fully appreciate their performances. Daria Nicolodi does her usual fine job as well.

There are some really nice-looking women in lesser roles, adding considerably more sex appeal than you usually find in an Argento film. Ania Pieroni appears briefly as a lovely kleptomaniac who uses sex to beat a shoplifting rap but can't escape the fate awaiting her when she gets home. Lara Wendel plays a lesbian magazine writer whose promiscuous, half-naked housemate is the heart-stoppingly gorgeous Italian model Mirella Banti, in a sequence that allows Argento to indulge his stylistic impulses to their fullest.

Most interesting of all, perhaps, is the casting of Eva Robins as a woman who appears in several strange flashbacks to a traumatic event in the killer's youth. Born a male, Robins reportedly began to develop breasts and other female characteristics during puberty, to an extent that convinced her that nature intended her to live as a woman. At any rate, she's convincing enough as the "girl on the beach" in some of the film's strangest scenes.

The new DVD from Anchor Bay features an uncut, remastered widescreen (1:85:1) transfer enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Aside from the trailer and an Argento biography, there's a commentary track featuring the director along with composer Claudio Simonetti and journalist Loris Curci, which is as informative as you might expect although much time is spent waiting for Argento to figure out how to say everything in English--I kinda wished it could have been in Italian with English subtitles. "Voices of the Unsane" is a nifty 17-minute featurette with Argento, Nicolodi, Simonetti, and other principals discussing the making of the film. (UNSANE was the retitled, badly-edited version first shown in the US.) Other brief featurettes explore the creation of TENEBRE's sound effects and the filming of an intricate extended shot featured in one of the murder sequences. All in all, not a bad array of extras.

It's interesting to see Argento eschew the sumptuous, fairytale look of SUSPIRIA for a more stark and austere style here. Without the dark shadows and saturated colors, TENEBRE is like a blank canvas splattered with bright red, with a realism that's as brittle and sharp as all that broken glass. Only when the killer's identity is revealed at last in an axe and straight razor-slashed finale do we get a really dark, lightning-streaked scene, and it's horrifying enough to warrant the seemingly never-ending screams of the last person standing as TENEBRE fades out into its closing credits. And if you're a Dario Argento fan, you'll definitely want to be there when it happens.

TENEBRE -- DVD Review by Porfle

The Classic Party Scene From "Dead Kids" (aka "Strange Behavior") 1981 (video)

 

As "Strange Behavior", this intensely atmospheric horror flick was a Cinemax fave.

Years later we got to review it under its original title, "Dead Kids", and it seemed better than ever. 

The cast is amazing, including Dan Shor ("Tron"), Marc McClure ("Superman"), Dey Young, Louise Fletcher ("One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"), Fiona Lewis ("The Fury"), and Michael Murphy ("MASH"). 

Here's the classic party scene which features the song "Lightning Strikes Again" by Lou Christie.

 

Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

 

The Classic Party Scene From "Dead Kids" (aka "Strange Behavior") 1981 (video)

JACK THE RIPPER (1959) -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/25/22

 

I saw JACK THE RIPPER (Severin Films, 1959) on TV as a kid in the 60s, and the thing I remember most is the horrific elevator scene at the end.  Sure enough, that memorable moment is right here in my long-overdue rewatch, and, although the rest of the film is in glorious black and white, that final ghastly image is in living, bloody color.

At least, it is in the US version. Severin's Blu-ray release has both this and the original British version, the rights of which were purchased for release in the States by famed film entrepreneur Joseph E. Levine (HERCULES) and jazzed-up (literally) with a new musical score, a teasing voiceover intro by Paul Frees inviting us to solve the mystery of Jack the Ripper ourselves while watching the film, and other small touches here and there including that color shot.

The film's original elements are gone, so Severin has assembled the best looking prints of both versions with the elements available.  The British director's cut, which is in 1.33:1, is near-pristine and quite lovely, while the US print (1.66:1) is considerably more worn.

This, however, is a plus for me, as my frequent readers will know.  I love a print that looks like it has been around the block a few times--it's a nostalgia thing, and a big reason why I love PLANET TERROR so much.

The story itself is a taut, wonderfully compelling fictional account by screenwriter Jimmy Sangster (CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, HORROR OF DRACULA) of the famous tale about mysterious serial killer Jack the Ripper's six notorious and very brutal slayings of prostitutes in London's Whitechapel district in 1888, a case that was never solved.

Here, London police inspector O'Neill (Eddie Byrne) and his American friend, Detective Sam Lowry (Lee Patterson) stay one step behind the killer's trail of ravaged bodies found in back alleys, their deaths apparently the work of a surgeon or other person with knowledge of anatomy and surgical tools.

Seeking advice from medical experts leads them to a hospital where we meet some of our main suspects--chief surgeon Sir David Rogers (Ewen Solon), aging and possibly over-the-hill Dr. Tranter (John Le Mesurier), surgical assistant Dr. Urquhart (Garard Green), and facially-disfigured hunchback (and thus chief suspect in the film's publicity) Louis Benz (Endre Muller), who tends to the surgical instruments during operations.

The atmosphere in the district is heated and volatile, with mobs of angry and often drunk men ready to form at a moment's notice to hunt down anyone even slightly suspected of being the ripper, resulting in a few tense sequences.

This mood is exacerbated by the sometimes claustrophobic nature of the film's stagebound sets (at Shepperton Studios), which are otherwise ideal for establishing the 19th-century setting filled with grimy cobblestone streets and dark, foggy alleyways where dastardly deeds are performed in the shadows.

In contrast to these are the bright music hall scenes that are alive with period frivolity including a raucous can-can dance sequence and a clash between some posh visitors on the prowl for a good time and a naive young dancing girl who didn't realize this was part of her job description. When she gets wise to her companion's intentions, she flees into the night and right into the clutches of the mysterious stalker.

Production, direction, and photography are all credited to Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman, who stage each scene in a just-right way that, unless I'm mistaken, was an inspiration for some of the visuals of the later version, FROM HELL.

The black and white cinematography is exquisite, and the music in both versions very good. I enjoy the brash Jimmy McHugh and Pete Rugolo score (I had the 45 rpm single of the main theme at the time) while some might prefer the more stately original by Stanley Black.

The cast is top-notch, delivering Sangster's snappy dialogue with aplomb.  The romantic angle between Detective Lowry and Dr. Tranter's beautiful, plucky ward Anne (winsomely portrayed by Betty McDowall), who works at the hospital, is well-handled.

The main draw, of course, is the sick thrill of Jack the Ripper's horrific murders (some shockingly staged for 1959) and the increasing urgency for our detective heroes to put a stop to them.  In the exciting finale, the killer finally tracks down the woman he's been searching for (each murder begins with him asking, in creepy, sotto voice, "Mary Clark? Are you Mary Clark?") and then menacing Anne herself as Lowry races to her rescue.

The Blu-ray from Severin Films is in 2.0 English mono sound and 1080p full HD resolution.  The British version has English subtitles while the US version does not.

Besides the two versions of the film, extras include the US trailer, photo and poster gallery, alternate "continental" takes which contain nudity, an essential interview about the film with author Denis Meikle ("Jack the Ripper: The Murders and the Movies"), and a history of the case entitled "The Real Jack the Ripper." Last but not least is a commentary track with Robert S. Baker, Jimmy Sangster, and assistant director Peter Manley, moderated by film historian Marcus Hearn.

JACK THE RIPPER is moody, atmospheric black and white 50s-style horror entertainment at its best, sharply-rendered in all aspects and a real treat for genre fans.  And there's a reason that elevator scene stayed in my memory for over half a century--it really tops off the movie in shocking style.


Buy it from Severin Films

Special Features:
British Version
US Version
Audio Commentary With Co-Director/Co-Producer/Co-Cinematographer Robert S. Baker, Screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, Assistant Director Peter Manley, Moderated By British Horror Historian Marcus Hearn
Alternate Continental Takes
Interview With Denis Meikle, Author of “Jack The Ripper: The Murders And The Movies”
The Real Jack the Ripper Featurette
Theatrical Trailer
Poster & Still Gallery

JACK THE RIPPER (1959) -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

COLD PREY -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 1/18/09

 

Another throwback to the old stalker-slasher tradition, the Norwegian thriller COLD PREY, aka FRITT VILT (2006) concentrates less on graphic violence and gore than simply trying to keep us on the edge of our seats. It's familiar stuff, and quite predictable, yet it still manages to be a fun and entertaining spookhouse ride.

The gang of young victims-to-be follows the same template as, among other films, both versions of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. There's the hero couple, Jannicke and Eirik, who are responsible and level-headed; the make-out couple, consisting of cute, immature dude Mikal and dumb-blonde babe Ingunn; and finally, the fifth-wheel loner Morten, who playfully admits to having an intense love affair with his own hand.

While everyone else is crowding into packed ski resorts, Eirik whisks the gang off to a remote mountain location for some snowboarding, despite recent news reports of a rash of skier disappearances in the area (like, around 110). It only takes Morten about a minute to break his leg, and, wouldn't you know it, nobody can get a signal on their cell phones. Jannicke, quickly asserting herself as the most useful member of the group, sets the broken bone herself and then spies an abandoned hotel in the distance where they can hole up for the night. All of this occurs within the first fifteen minutes, so it's clear that this movie is wasting no time moving things right along.

The secluded hotel itself is an awesome actual location that helps to give this familiar story its own unique feel. Made to look old and disused, it has plenty of long, dark hallways, creepy basements, and other cobwebby nooks and crannies that are just right for a mysterious killer to lurk around in. Director Roar Uthaug keeps the tension taut as one by one his hapless characters find themselves alone in various parts of the building, gradually realizing that they're being stalked. When all hell finally breaks loose, an exhilarating level of suspense is maintained to the very end, punctuated by some pretty effective jump scares. And since we don't really care all that much about most of these characters, it's generally a fun experience rather than a dark and disturbing one.

This good-looking film is slickly directed and photographed and has plenty of chilly, gloomy atmosphere but surprisingly little gore. The cast is capable, especially Ingrid Bolsø Berdal as Jannicke, whom I'd definitely want to have along if I were in a similar predicament. Her character is brave and resourceful--she coolly Super-Glues the gaping wound on Morten's leg shut--while at one point allowing herself a rather stunning act of cowardice that somehow makes her a bit more believable. As Ingunn, Viktoria Winge lends the film what little sex appeal it has as she runs around in her skimpies while avoiding the killer's pickaxe. Among the male leads, Rolf Kristian Larsen is the most noteworthy as Morten. The killer himself is pretty generic, and is most effective when off-camera.

The DVD image is 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, with Dolby Surround 5.1 for the Norwegian soundtrack and 2.0 for the English one. You'll probably want to listen to the Norwegian soundtrack with subtitles after getting a load of the bad English dubbing, which sounds kind of like the Disney version of a Miyazaki cartoon. Somehow I don't think Norwegian translates very well to English, or at least not in this case.

A generous helping of extras includes: an alternate ending with shots from the movie augmented by storyboards; a making-of featurette; brief looks at the visual FX, sound design, and other aspects of the production; the evolution of the opening car scene, from rehearsal to final editing; eight minutes of bloopers (some of which lose a little in translation); two short films; a music video; and trailers and TV spots.

COLD PREY doesn't really offer anything new to those of us who have seen our share of slasher movies, and, lacking any real emotional depth or memorable moments, is soon forgotten after the fadeout. But with its atmospheric setting, likable characters, and frantic pace, it holds up well as a crisply-executed and chillingly suspenseful thriller.

 

COLD PREY -- DVD Review by Porfle

SLASHER.COM -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 3/1/17

 

You know you're in for a good time when a movie not only meets whatever modest expectations you may have for it, but continually surpasses them from the first scene all the way to the last.

Not that SLASHER.COM (2017) is in danger of winning Best Picture or anything, but it does take the lowbrow and often "blah" genre that is its namesake and uses it as the raw material to carve out a finely-hewn piece of cinematic folk art. 

A dynamic opening titles sequence recounting the recent slasher murders of St. Louis singles answering lonely hearts ads online leads us to, you guessed it, a couple of strangers hooking up via an online dating service and venturing out into the wilds of Missouri to spend a getting-to-know-you weekend in a secluded cabin.

Right off the bat, we have to start wondering if those nice facades are for real, or if there's anything Jack (Ben Kaplan, "Pillow Talk", "Weekend Warriors") or Kristy (Morgan Carter in a solid debut) might be hiding as they settle into their fun weekend of romance and a bit of hanky-panky.

What we don't expect is how...well..."odd" the people renting the cabin to them turn out to be.  The Myers family includes Papa Jesse, played by R.A. Mihailoff (DARK HOUSE, LEATHERFACE: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE III), who looks like he was born to play a machete-wielding boogeyman, and oversexed daughter Caitlin (Rebecca Crowley), a backwoods child-woman who eyes Jack up and down with all sorts of illicit intent.

Best of all, though, is Jewel Shepard as Mama Myers, the matriarch of the family.  Stuffed into a dress half her size, this overripe matron (who's both too nice and too creepy, a deadly combination) practically oozes "horny" as she ingratiates herself to the nervous young couple, taking special interest in our Jackie boy.

 

Shepard's performance in the role is one of the most deliciously demented I've seen since Lynn Lowry blew through last year's MODEL HUNGER, and she helps push SLASHER.COM deliriously over the top.  Not that it needs that much help, since its premise starts out deceptively simple before taking an abrupt left turn into stark, raving coo-coo and then never letting up.

Once this happens, we can't be quite sure who's who or what's what, which keeps things wonderfully unpredictable.  Just when one of my suspicions turned out to be true, another surprise caught me totally off-guard. 

In fact, this script, which tiptoes around "torture porn" territory without ever actually succumbing to it, delights in playing up our expectations by giving us just what we expect one moment and then pulling the rug out from under us the next.

Technically, SLASHER.COM is sharply-rendered and is simply a pleasure to look at.  Director Chip Gubera keeps a keen edge on the action and visuals while also handling writing (with Chelsea Andes) and music chores.  His rock score adds to the film without overpowering it. 

There isn't a whole lot of gore, but what there is has been done with traditional 80s-style practical effects--indeed, the whole film just has the kind of vibe one gets from the more satisfying genre films of that decade.

The DVD from Cinedigm is widescreen with Dolby 2.0 stereo sound (English only).  No subtitles.  The sole extra is the film's trailer. 

As exceptional as it is, SLASHER.COM keeps things pretty basic while embellishing its barebones storyline with good performances, quirky characters, chills and suspense, and some twists that only the usual "I saw it coming" types will see coming.  I wish every movie of this type could be as much bloody good fun.

SLASHER.COM -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE WAX MASK -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 10/3/19

 

Talk about "Grand Guignol" to the max--the 1997 Gothic gorefest THE WAX MASK (Severin Films) mixes the antique ambience of early 1900s Italy with generous helpings of the extremely morbid and grotesque in this handsomely mounted shocker.

Conceived by Italian horror/giallo maestro Dario Argento (PHENOMENA, TENEBRE, SUSPIRIA) as a vehicle for the ailing Lucio Fulci (DOOR INTO SILENCE, ZOMBIE 3, THE DEVIL'S HONEY), it's a loose remake of the Vincent Price classic HOUSE OF WAX (along with MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM and numerous other wax museum horror flicks), although that's just a jumping off point for a tale of horror and gore that aims to outdo them all.

With the unfortunate passing of Fulci before filming began, directing chores were handed to first-timer Sergio Stivaletti (THE THREE FACES OF TERROR), previously known mainly for his work in the fields of SPFX and makeup.

Working from a screenplay by Argento, Fulci, and Daniele Stroppa, Stivaletti fashioned a gorgeous-looking film that leisurely unfolds its dark narrative with a keenly efficient style that's never quite as self-consciously arty as Argento's or off-the-hook unhinged as Fulci's yet has its own elegant, colorful appeal.

The story begins with the grisly aftermath of a double murder in a Paris hotel room that's witnessed by a little girl who grows up to be the beautiful Sonia Lafont (Romina Mondello), still troubled by her past even as she gets a job in a wax museum in Rome which specializes in gruesome historical horrors.

The museum is run by the mysterious, creepily eccentric Boris Volkoff (Robert Hossein, RIFFIFI) and features incredibly lifelike wax figures in scenes of death designed to horrify. 

But even more horrific is the reason the figures are so lifelike--namely, each one contains the corpse of a murdered human being who has been processed in the museum's nightmarish basement laboratory and given a severe case of unsightly "wax buildup."

These scenes are the result of director Stivaletti's years of SPFX expertise and are absolutely mind-boggling as we watch one still-living victim, a hapless prostitute from a nearby house of ill-repute, strapped to a table and injected with some volatile serum while Kenneth Strickfaden-style electrical machines spark and crackle. 

But this densely-packed screenplay has a lot more to offer in the way of gory killings, dismemberments, and other carnage before the suspenseful finale in which Sonia's journalist boyfriend Andrea (Riccardo Serventi Longhi), her blind aunt Francesca (Gabriella Giorgelli), and a sympathetic police detective from her childhood (Gianni Franco) fight against time to prevent the hideously disfigured villain and his twisted henchmen from turning Sonia into one of the museum's unholy exhibits.

The Blu-ray from Severin Films features a 4k scan from the original negative supervised by Stivaletti himself. Severin outdoes themselves with this bonus menu loaded with interviews with production principles including Argento, Stivaletti, actress Gabriella Giorgelli, and others, along with vintage behind-the-scenes featurettes.

These bonus features include:

    Audio Commentary with Director/Special Effects Artist Sergio Stivaletti and Michelangelo Stivaletti
    Beyond Fulci: Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti, Producer Giuseppe Columbo, Production Designer Massimo Geleng, Actress Gabriella Giorgelli and Filmmaker Claudio Fragasso
    The Chamber of Horrors: Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti, Producer Giuseppe Columbo, Production Designer Massimo Geleng and Actress Gabriella Giorgelli
    Living Dolls:  Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti, Producer Giuseppe Columbo and Actress Gabriella Giorgelli
    The Mysteries of the Wax Museum:  Interview with SFX Artist Sergio Stivaletti
    The Waxworks Symphony:  Interview with Soundtrack Composer Maurizio Abeni
    The Grand Opening:  Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti and Producer Giuseppe Columbo
    Wax Unmasked: Interview with Film Writer Alan Jones
    Vintage Featurettes: Behind the Scenes, Special Effects, On Set with Dario Argento
    5.1 and 2.0 English and Italian Audio
    English with Closed Captioning, Italian with English Subtitles

Easily one of the best wax museum movies ever made, THE WAX MASK fully exploits the horrific potential of the original HOUSE OF WAX and its ilk like no previous version I've ever seen. Although lacking certain qualities of Argento or Fulci, it more than compensates with a richly-hued, stylized visual sense, lush production values, riveting scenes of carnage, and a fiery, face-melting finale.


Buy it from Severin Films

THE WAX MASK -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

HALLOWEEN (35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) [BLU-RAY] -- review by porfle

Originally posted on 9/23/13

 

Back in '78, a buddy and I went to see "Halloween" in its heyday.  I remember sitting in the middle of a giddy audience that was wound tight with collective tension, not knowing what would happen next and jumping every time something did.  It was the kind of shared experience that can make going to the movies a pleasure.  And  it was scary, too.  REALLY scary. 

Anchor Bay's new 35th anniversary Blu-ray edition of HALLOWEEN lets us relive that experience, or at least see the film in its original pristine condition just like back in the olden days when it was the next big thing in screen horror.  I'm sure some sharp-eyed Blu-Ray experts will detect various imperfections in the picture and/or sound quality of this new disc, but I used to record VHS tapes on SLP so I'm not all that nitpicky about such things.  Anyway, it looks great to me.

What impresses me most about rewatching the film now is how good it looks for such a low-budget independent effort.  Some reasons for this are the steadiness and freedom of movement that the new Panaglide camera gives cinematographer Dean Cundey--the camera becomes a part of the action in a way rarely seen before, as in the famous extended opening shot--in addition to beautifully-lit night exteriors in which the suburban houses and windblown trees have a ghostly look that manages to capture the way "nighttime" looked to me as a kid. 

But the main reason, of course, is the fact that the young John Carpenter was such a talented filmmaker.  "Halloween" is beautifully and imaginatively directed from start to finish,  filled with both dialogue and action scenes that are designed with economy and efficiency, but with a consistently eye-pleasing aesthetic. 

Carpenter's style isn't always slick (it never really would be, not completely) due to the fact that almost everything he's done has the air of an independent, homegrown effort without Hollywood's handprints all over it.  The story--babysitters menaced by an escaped psycho-killer--is as old and derivative as campfire tales, yet he and partner Debra Hill seem to be brimming with creativity in all other areas of the production.

Since the slasher-stalker film as a genre unto itself was just beginning to take off, there's both a newness and a disarming sort of immaturity to "Halloween" (including some dumb dialogue and awkward acting) that works in its favor.   At times it resembles a likable student film transcending itself thanks to its imaginative direction and sharp editing and cinematography, and hitting on just the right subject matter at just the right time and in just the right way.

Interestingly, there's almost no gore whatsoever, and the violence is hardly stronger than what Hitchcock subjected us to in "Psycho" eighteen years earlier.   Where other slasher flicks such as "Friday the 13th" would simply prolong the lead-up to each kill in tedious ways and then rely on graphic gore as a payoff, Carpenter is able to build and sustain actual old-fashioned suspense (along with audience empathy for his characters rather than merely the desire to see them die) of a kind that is much more effective and fear-inducing. 

Indeed,  the "kill" scenes here are almost cursory, coming after long periods of teasing buildup with a deceptively lighthearted air.   Annie (Nancy Loomis), whom shy Laurie admires for being so "with it", is secretly a klutz, while sexy Lynda (cult fave P.J. Soles of "Carrie" and "Rock 'n' Roll High School" fame) is a comical airhead.  Their deaths are shocking, but hardly the sort of gratuitous, makeup-effects-heavy moments that would come to define the genre.  Just as the almost childlike Michael Myers enjoys toying with his victims, director Carpenter would rather play around with an audience's expectations than bombard them with graphic violence.

It isn't until Laurie (appealing newcomer Jamie Lee Curtis) enters the house in which Annie, Lynda, and Lynda's goofy boyfriend Bob have been killed by "boogeyman" Michael that the film really kicks into high gear, with Carpenter pulling out all the stops to generate nerve-wracking suspense.  Curtis, while not yet a polished actress, really sells it too, screaming and fleeing in panic with the inexorable and seemingly indestructible Michael always a few steps behind her. 

Their classic showdown in a darkened house is the blueprint for many lesser films to come, especially when the apparently-dead Michael, like the Energizer Bunny, keeps coming back to menace the frazzled Laurie anew.  ("Child's Play" villain Chucky would later attain new heights of unkillability.)  Film  veteran Donald Pleasance ("The Great Escape",  "You Only Live Twice") adds his talent and stature to the proceedings as Dr. Loomis, a frantic psychiatrist bent on capturing or killing the escaped lunatic before he can unleash his evil on the world.  He arrives just in time to save the day--or does he?  At the film's blackout ending,  Carpenter's famous percussive musical score will leave you wondering. 

Anchor Bay's special 35th anniversary Blu-Ray edition of "Halloween" comes in a cool Digibook cover with new artwork and a colorfully illustrated making-of booklet.  The film is in 2.35:1 widescreen with Dolby sound (7.1 and original mono) and subtitles in English and Spanish.  In addition to the usual "TV-version" extra footage (which I consider pretty dispensable),  trailers, and TV/ radio spots, there are two  featurettes--"On Location: 25 Years Later" and the all-new "The Night SHE Came Home."  The latter, which runs for a full hour, is a delightful look at Jamie Lee Curtis' only convention appearance (for charity) and how diligently she worked to make the experience a special one for each and every fan.

My favorite bonus feature, though, is the new commentary track featuring Carpenter and Curtis during a relaxed, chatty viewing of the film.  Carpenter, for the most part, yields the floor to his star, who gushes non-stop about it after not having seen it for several years.  While not fond of horror films in general, she's still this particular one's most  enthusiastic fan and, with sometimes surprising perception, explains in detail why each scene is so noteworthy and well-done.  Listening to Jamie Lee talk about HALLOWEEN has given me a renewed appreciation for it, one which enhances each viewing of John Carpenter's timeless horror classic as much as this new HD transfer itself.

HALLOWEEN (35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) [BLU-RAY] -- review by porfle

SIMON SAYS -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 5/19/09

 

I think it's about time America finally acknowledged the fact that Crispin Glover is a national treasure. He's one of our most unique actors, upon whom we can always rely to give the kind of performance that nobody else could approximate or even imagine attempting to. I don't know where he goes to draw his inspiration, but it must be a strange and scary place. Whether moonily telling Lea Thompson "You are my density", out-weirding Dennis Hopper in RIVER'S EDGE, out-weirding Brad Dourif in DROP DEAD SEXY, being absolutely the only good thing in a "Charlie's Angels" movie, or simply getting kicked off the David Letterman show for being too much of a freak, he's one of a kind.

Except that in SIMON SAYS, he plays twins! Or does he? Simon is the sweetly-retarded one that Mom likes best, while Stanley is the jealous and hostile one who finally goes on a killing spree while the family is enjoying a camping trip in the forest. We see him kill Mom and Dad, and it looks as though he bashes poor Simon's head in with a rock. But we're not sure, because the next time we see them, they're co-managing a dumpy garage years later in those same woods. Still, we never see them both together at the same time, so...

Onto the scene toodles a gaily-painted van with exactly the cast of stereotypes you'd expect. There's Zack the stoner, Ashley the straight-laced "good girl", Riff the oversexed jock, Kate the girlfriend, and Vicky the slut. They're supposedly on their way to the river to camp out and pan for gold, but the real reason they're here is to get stalked, terrorized, and massacred. And boy, do they ever!

The actors play their roles to perfection, and the writers place them into a textbook series of cliched situations as though going down a checklist. Except that they twist things around a little here and there, just enough to keep us off-guard. And besides being a full-blooded charnel house of a horror flick, SIMON SAYS is also one of the funniest spoofs of the genre I've ever seen.

The best part is that nobody except Crispin Glover's character knows that it's a comedy. The rest of the cast play their parts as though they really are the worst bunch of overacting idiots from the worst 80s slasher flick ever made. I got the impression that the actors couldn't wait to inhabit these stereotypical nimrods and enjoy a delightful romp through the dopey side of slasher flick territory.

Zack the stoner (Greg Cipes) doesn't just smoke a lot of weed--he puffs like a smokestack even when he's running for his life. The group has barely pitched their tent before a shirtless Riff (Artie Baxter) pitches a tent in his pants when slutty Vicky (Carrie Finklea) comes on to him and they start making out behind Kate's (Margo Harshman) back. And good-girl Ashley (Kelly Vitz) is such an insufferable, prudish square--"SMORES!" she yelps giddily at the first sight of a campfire--that you just know she's got "last girl standing" written all over her. Oh, wait...no, she doesn't.

When Simon decides it's time to have some fun with these unfortunate idiots, all hell breaks loose. He has a penchant for creating intricate launching devices out of scrap machine parts and then loading them with pickaxes. In a couple of scenes the air is literally filled with a hail of twirling, swooshing, razor-sharp pickaxes as Simon calmly fires off round after round at his fleeing victims. It's wonderfully ridiculous to the point of hilarity.

The mayhem gets up-close and personal as well, as Simon goes on a bloodthirsty rampage that includes surrounding campers who are having a paintball war. Meat cleavers, hangings, and lots of dismemberment ensue. One victim is taken apart and stuck back together to form a festive troll doll with a CD-player mouth. Another gets to partake in a game of human tether ball with moving vehicles. Finally, there's a warm family gathering with Simon and his long-dead mom and dad around a picnic table where the last person (currently) standing must make a desperate attempt to escape. That is, after being offered a "hand" sandwich.

Through it all, Crispin Glover is at his flat-out nutty best. He revels in playing Simon (or is it Stanley?) in the broadest strokes possible, emoting his lopsided head off and grinning like a loon. He's also got the worst backwoods hick accent you ever heard, which just adds to the character somehow. ("Yew fuh-GOT...tuh say...Simon SAY-uz!") The scene in which he has a terrified captive strapped into the passenger seat of his wrecker truck is reminiscent of DEATH PROOF, but neither Kurt Russell nor Quentin Tarantino can do crazy like our boy Crispin. And hey, Bruce Glover is perfect as his dad in the flashbacks--it never occurred to me before that the guy who played the demented Mr. Wint in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER was Crispin's real-life dad, but somehow it all makes sense now.

For a movie of this type, SIMON SAYS looks great--writer-director William Dear has some gorgeous northern California locations to work with, and he shoots the whole thing with style. Once things get started, the pace never lets up. Even the sound design is noticeably better than average. I watched a screener so I can't comment on the DVD's bonus features, but they are listed as: director's commentary, storyboard comparisons, and stills gallery. The movie is widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound.

If you don't like Crispin Glover, then you should disregard a major portion of what I just said. If you don't like slasher movies, or even moreso, slasher movie spoofs, then you should disregard really big chunks of it. But if my description of SIMON SAYS sounds even remotely intriguing to you, then Simon says "check it out." (You knew that was coming, right?)

SIMON SAYS -- DVD Review by Porfle

SLEDGEHAMMER -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/30/11

 

It's always interesting to come across an obscure, previously-unseen example of the classic 80s-era slasher flick.  Few, however, are as obscure as SLEDGEHAMMER (1983),  a super-low-budget chiller with the distinction of being the very first horror movie shot on video. 

Writer-director David A. Prior, who went on to churn out such films as DEADLY PREY and HORROR WORKOUT, chose for his debut feature to delve into the horror genre made popular by such hits as HALLOWEEN and FRIDAY THE 13TH.  After coming up with a screenplay that combined elements of those films with a few ideas of his own, Prior rented some commercial video equipment (thus avoiding the "camcorder" look of many later shot-on-video features), got some actors and friends together in his apartment, and managed to come up with something that a number of devoted fans are still watching and talking about almost thirty years later.

The story is pretty basic.  A prologue shows a "bad mommy" (the cute Mary Mendez) locking her little boy in a closet so she can have some private time with the sleazy lover (Michael Shanahan) she's just left her husband for.  But as they start to "get it on" in the livingroom, someone comes up from behind and bashes them to bits with a sledgehammer. 

Cut to ten years later, when a gaggle of frat rats and their ditzy girlfriends pull up in front of the same house (which is in the middle of nowhere, of course) and come bursting out of their van ready to PAR-TEHHH!  It doesn't take long for them to start getting killed off either one at a time or in pairs (right after having sex, natch) by a big scary-looking guy who wears a Halloween mask and wields a sledgehammer.  Things get interesting when the story takes a supernatural turn, with the killer, the little boy, and the sledgehammer itself appearing and disappearing all over the place, giving us something to ponder about while seeing which of the erstwhile party-hearty bunch will make it out of the house alive.

I couldn't wait for this gang of beer-guzzling idiots to start getting sledgehammered, yet their antics are so ridiculous as to be almost delightfully entertaining in a way.  While the acting isn't as horrible as it might have been and some of the players actually deliver dialogue fairly well, several scenes consist of nothing more than lengthy wide shots in which they all chatter away while engaging in drunken horseplay and, in the film's dumbest sequence, an utterly nauseating food fight at the dinner table. 

I don't know how many guys would actually pour a bottle of mustard on their girlfriend's head as a whimsical lark, but our hero Chuck (the director's brother, Ted Prior) does just that, which doesn't set well with Joni (Linda McGill), who hits him in the face with a pie, setting off a blizzard of flying food.  Later, our fun-loving dolts retire to the livingroom for alcohol-fueled activities such as pouring whiskey over their own heads, licking each other's faces, and falling out of their chairs.  Brawny Bluto-equivalent John (John Eastman), who earlier amazed his friends by stuffing an entire sandwich into his mouth, entertains everyone by acting "gay" and planting a kiss on the lips of lighthearted loner Joey (Steve Wright). 

Amazingly enough, there is some character development in the midst of all this.  Chuck and Joni have some serious scenes in which they discuss his reluctance to get married, while pretty blonde Carol (Sandy Brooke) desperately urges handsome Jimmy (Tim Aguilar) to have sex with her and can't understand (nor can we) why he keeps putting her off.  Perhaps Jimmy is aware of how dangerous it is to have sex in a slasher movie.  Meanwhile, Mary (Jeanie Scheer) simply wishes that Big John would stop licking her face and evolve into something more closely resembling a human being.
 


The first murder comes in the middle of a seance that Chuck has arranged in order to invoke the spirits of the couple who were murdered ten years earlier.  Here, both director Prior and his brother do some of their best work as Chuck dramatically recounts the creepy story (via flashbacks of the entire prologue) complete with some really good lighting and camerawork.  Nobody seems to notice the absence of their murdered friend, but the discovery of two more chums bloodily bludgeoned in bed clues them in that something is amiss.  In true slasher flick tradition, they decide not to flee the house but rather hole up in the livingroom until dawn, whereupon one of them wanders off alone and runs smack dab into the killer. 

This is where the fun really starts, with 6'7" tall Doug Matley stalking the narrow hallway of David Prior's cramped apartment with his sledgehammer, wearing that creepy mask and popping up wherever our heroes least expect it.  That pesky kid keeps turning up, too, and we're never sure what's going on with those two--are they both ghosts?  Is the big guy a grown-up version of the little guy?  David Prior doesn't even know.  Anyway, some fairly exciting mayhem ensues and there's some homestyle gore here and there, too.  Prior shows flashes of style at times and his actors rise to the occasion with some pretty enthusiastic screaming and groveling during the climactic scenes. 

How much you enjoy SLEDGEHAMMER will depend largely on your tolerance for such no-budget shot-on-video fare.  True connoisseurs of such VHS-era exploitation stuff will eat it up, while many viewers will find it unwatchable even though the video quality is good.  The best way to appreciate it is to consider the conditions under which it was made and glean what good things are to be found, while enjoying its entertainingly bad qualities as well. 

Prior does display some imagination in the supernatural aspects of the story, and his staging of scenes within the gloomy, white-walled confines of his sweltering apartment gives the film a strangely oppressive atmosphere.  Not so appealing are the many slow-motion stretches used to pad the film to feature length--while some are eerily effective, others seem interminable.  There is, however, a giddily perverse charm to Chuck and Joni's agonizingly slow romantic stroll in which it takes them two or three minutes just to walk twenty feet. 

The DVD from Intervision Picture Corp., specialists in this kind of old-style VHS fare, is in fullscreen with Dolby Digital sound.  A commentary track and a ten-minute interview both feature Clint Kelly of Riot Releasing patiently coaxing reminiscences about the film from a not-that-excited David Prior.  A second commentary track with Joseph A. Ziemba and Dan Budnik of BleedingSkull.com is unreservedly fannish and a lot more fun.  In addition to trailers for other Intervision releases, there are two brief featurettes--"Hammertime!" with Destroy All Movies!!! author Zack Carlson, and "Sledgehammerland" with Hadrian Belove and Tom Fitzgerald, whose big-screen showing of the film on Halloween 2008 garnered an audience of about twelve stalwart viewers.

While barely qualifying as a "movie" as most people think of them, SLEDGEHAMMER is actually one of the best shot-on-video cheapies I've seen and subsequent viewings have only increased my fondness for it.  If you're nostalgic for the good old days of going to hole-in-the-wall video stores to rent worn VHS copies of horror titles now lost to the depths of obscurity, this odd little artifact of a bygone time will probably be right up your dark alley.

SLEDGEHAMMER -- DVD Review by Porfle

DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 12/8/14

 

Despite some seriously threadbare production values, DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT, aka "The Forgotten" (1973), is wonderfully weird and deliriously demented. Lensed in Texas on a shoestring budget and in a single location, this dark madhouse shocker starts out messed-up and just gets more messed-up as it goes along.

Set in a large, seedy old house that serves as an insane asylum, the story revolves around a tightly-knit group of crazies presided over by Dr. Stephens (Michael Harvey), whose methods of treatment are somewhat unconventional.

This includes handing one of the nuttiest residents an axe and encouraging him to chop away his hostilities on a handy log out in the yard, which is great until the guy gives Dr. Stephens a nice big chop in the neck when his back is turned. Exit Dr. Stephens before the titles have even moseyed into view.

Next in charge of the place is the matronly Dr. Masters (Anne MacAdams in a solid performance), who regards the inmates as family and doesn't want to disrupt their routine with anything as pesky as a murder investigation. So she sweeps the whole matter under the rug (so to speak) right before the new nurse that he hired earlier arrives unexpectedly, ready to start work.

Although initially gung-ho about nursing and eager to delve into her new job, it doesn't take long before pretty, perky Nurse Charlotte (1972 Playboy covergirl Rosie Holotik, HORROR HIGH) regrets ever laying eyes on the place as she contends with a hostile and domineering Dr. Masters and meets the downright unnerving nutcases wandering around loose at every turn.

There's the insecure nympho constantly ripping off her clothes and begging every man she meets to "love" her (including the guy who shows up to fix the phone), the former army sergeant who's still fighting some war, the drug-pilfering Goth chick, the frizzy-haired nerd who keeps popping up everywhere like a giddy poodle, and the childless young woman pitifully coddling a doll as though it were real, having already offed a nurse whom she mistakenly thought had tried to steal her "baby."

Bill McGhee (QUADROON, THE TRIAL OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD) is gentle giant Sam, a likeable lug who seems harmless enough since being lobotomized by Dr. Stephens. (Or is he?) Giving HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL's Mrs. Slydes a run for her money in the "creepy old lady" department is a cackling hag named Mrs. Callingham (Rhea MacAdams) whose cryptic warnings to Nurse Charlotte to get out of there as fast as she can will later be proven worth heeding.

Worst of all, perhaps, is the guy with the axe, Judge Oliver W. Cameron (Gene Ross, THE GOONIES, THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK), who seems to have presided over one nerve-wracking trial too many and now shows up at the least opportune times (including standing over Nurse Charlotte's bed in the dead of night) wielding whatever sharp stabbing or hacking instrument he can get his mitts on. When the nympho sets her sex-crazed sights on this wretched piece of work, they make quite a pair.

The screenplay by Tim Pope (who would become a major music video director during the 80s) moves along nicely from one unsettling situation to the next, aided by a capable directing job from former Larry Buchanan collaborator S.F. Brownrigg and a cast of actors who, while mostly unpolished, really throw themselves into their roles--often with surprising intensity.

Imaginative writing helps the story avoid getting too cliched while supplying plenty of scintillating dialogue and unexpected plot twists, with a surprise ending that you won't see coming unless you're one of those "I saw it coming" types.

The film's leisurely pace is punctuated by a few startlingly grotesque scenes--one in particular in which a patient is found one morning with her tongue having been cut out during the night--while building to a nightmarish free-for-all finale that pretty much pulls out all the stops. It all boils down to who kills who, who gets away and who doesn't, and who really is or isn't who we think they are. Oh yeah, and somebody finally looks in that basement, too.

The DVD from Film Chest is in 4 x 3 full screen with original mono sound. No subtitles or extras.

With an eerie atmosphere and weirdness to burn, DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT transcends its meager budget to deliver the gruesome goods for the horror fan who appreciates a good B-movie with some imagination behind it. It may not be terrifying, but don't be surprised if you feel it warping your mind just a bit.

DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT -- DVD Review by Porfle

WRONG TURN 3: LEFT FOR DEAD -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 9/23/09

 

White water rafting finally makes its first appearance in a WRONG TURN movie! One of the major reasons why city folk venture into crazy-hillbilly country (in the movies, anyway) is their insatiable urge, a la DELIVERANCE, to go white water rafting in the most remote locations possible. That way, they can be stalked and murdered by the invariably inbred and psychotic local yokels until the last of them finally decide to fight back. At least, that's how it usually goes.


In the case of WRONG TURN 3: LEFT FOR DEAD (2009), the key elements for this kind of film are taken care of within the first five minutes--stupid city youths in the middle of nowhere, the aforementioned white water rafting, dope smoking, a good girl with a nice boyfriend, a slutty girl who doffs her top to reveal some really big boobs, a lecherous boyfriend who avails himself of them right before they both die horribly, and, last but not least, three consecutive "WTF?" kills that should have gorehounds squirming with delight. Woo-hoo! This baby's off and running.


And then, with this mini-movie out of the way, WRONG TURN 3 becomes a different movie altogether. Now it's about a busload of hardened criminals being transferred from one West Virginia prison to another and taking a shortcut through crazy-hillbilly country to get there. The worst of them are Latino badass Chavez (Tamer Hassan), ill-tempered skinhead Floyd (Gil Kolirin), and deranged goofball Crawford (Jake Curran). One convict is a semi-good guy named Brandon (Tom McKay) and another is undercover officer Juarez (Christian Contreras). The guards consist of aspiring law student Nate Wilson (Tom Frederic), bus driver Walter (Chucky Venice), and another guy whose name doesn't matter because he's the first one to get killed.


With all these characters established, along comes our old friend Three Finger, the craziest inbred mutant hillbilly of them all, who runs the bus off the road with his wrecker truck and over an embankment in a spectacular crash that's like something out of THE FUGITIVE. And for the rest of the film, the now-armed convicts and their captive guards must trudge their way through the woods as Three Finger picks them off one by one in creatively horrible ways.


Not quite as serious as the first film in the series, yet much less awesomely over-the-top insane than the second one, WRONG TURN 3 focuses a lot on the interplay between the convicts and the guards and what happens after they stumble upon a wrecked armored truck full of cash. A whole non-horror action-suspense thriller could have been made using just this part of the story, and for long stretches of screen time, that's exactly what we get. Chavez bullies and threatens everybody, Floyd tries to out-alpha male Chavez, and guard Nate is kept alive only because he's a native of the area and knows the way out. With all of this going on, we sometimes forget that old Three Finger is even out there somewhere.


Still, there are some occasionally exciting kill scenes. Three Finger baits one of the convicts into a nifty full-body barbed-wire snare with his truck's winch and takes the unfortunate fellow on a high-speed drag down a paved road. Another convict has his skull opened like a pop-top and his brain feasted upon like a Jello mold. There's the old "drop the spear out of a tree while a guy is looking up at it" impalement gag, not to mention those old stand-bys such as knives, hatchets, arrows, and a nasty meat hook.


Before it's over, we end up in Three Finger's ghastly lair of death where he's holding the last survivor of that opening sequence, good girl Alex (Janet Montgomery), while Nate rushes to her rescue. This leads to a prolonged hand-to-hand combat scene (one of several in the film), not to mention another exciting vehicle-crash stunt, and finally one of those "he's dead...he's not dead" endings which leads to yet another twist ending.

One thing about it, this is a suspenseful, action-filled movie that doesn't get boring. Compared to the breathtakingly splatterific extravanganza that came before it, however, it seems a tad mundane. I could've sacrificed the more involved prison-bus storyline if only the creativity and unpredictability of the opening sequence could've been maintained. Maybe this series works better with simpler young-people-in-peril plotlines serving as a basis for more interesting variations on the mutant hillbillies and their outlandish activities.


The largely English cast is uniformly fine and the director, Declan O'Brien, knows how to make this stuff look really good. (His only other credit that I know him from, strangely enough, is as a producer and writer for the light family film ALICE UPSIDE DOWN.) This time around, the cool makeup and practical effects are augmented by some obvious CGI, which in some cases is a bit of a letdown. As evidenced by the first two films of the series, this kind of graphic gore often looks better when it's done for real, with a minimum of digital trickery.


The DVD from 20th-Century Fox looks and sounds good, with 1.85:1 widescreen, 5.1 English Dolby, and Spanish, French, and Portugese Dolby Surround. (Subtitles are available in all four languages.) Extras consist of two brief deleted scenes and an 18-minute featurette, "Wrong Turn 3 In Three Fingers...I Mean, Parts." The three chapters are titled "Action, Gore, and Chaos!", "Brothers in Blood", and "Three Finger's Fight Night."


I would definitely recommend this to fans of the series--it's a solid horror flick and a fun, exciting continuation of the Three Finger saga. But this time, the wonderfully go-for-broke wildness of the second film has been reined in and WRONG TURN 3: LEFT FOR DEAD only sporadically gets as mind-boggling as we expect it to.

WRONG TURN 3: LEFT FOR DEAD -- DVD Review by Porfle

WRONG TURN 2: DEAD END (Blu-Ray) -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

(Blu-Ray comments by Ian Friedman. Originally posted on 9/30/09.)

 

A raucous, tasteless, over-the-top, unapologetically schlocky gorefest--not quite what I'd call the first movie in this series, but that description fits the sequel, WRONG TURN 2: DEAD END (2007), like a bloody glove. Once I stopped worrying about how it compared to the previous film and realized that this is pure exploitation filmmaking of the sincerest kind, I allowed first-time director Joe Lynch and his enthusiastic cast to carry me away on a wave of pure giddy Monster Kid fun.

Kimberly Caldwell, who plays herself (she's supposed to be some kind of well-known TV personality, right?) dies real good in the film's stunning opening sequence, in which she takes--you guessed it-- a wrong turn while driving through rural West Virginia. First thing I noticed was one of those great shots where the camera circles all the way around a moving car and settles into a closeup of the driver. I love those! And when Kimberly is distracted while yakking to her agent on her cell phone and rams into a pedestrian, there's an impressive shot of him flying right over her head. So I already know that we have a capable director and DP at work here, and in just a minute it's clear that we've also got some really demented guys working on the makeup and practical effects as well.

This becomes apparent when the guy Kimberly just hit with her car turns out to be an inbred mutant freak who bites half her face off shortly before his equally monstrous Pa chops her right down the middle with one stroke of his axe. Guts splatter, and the two maniacs gleefully drag the neatly-bisected Kimberly away into the sunset. And that's just the beginning!

There's just enough story set-up to get a bunch of clueless city folk into the backwoods so that a whole family of cannibalistic mutants can terrorize, slaughter, and devour them. Henry Rollins does a great job chewing the leafy scenery as Dale Murphy, an intense former Marine hired to host a "Survivor"-like reality show that gets really real when the contestants and crew come face-to-face with "The Family"--Ma, Pa, Brother, Sister, and our old friend from the first film, Three Finger (played here by Jeff Scrutton).

But first, the contestants split up into teams of two and scamper off into the woods. The likable, down-to-earth Mara (Aleksa Palladino) and spooky Goth vegan Nina (Erica Leerhsen, who played "Pepper" in the TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE remake) find themselves hiding in a broken-down shack where they witness a horrendous birth as Ma squirts out another monster-baby on the kitchen table. Sister spots them peeking through the bedroom door and suddenly the two girls have the whole horrible family after them. This leads to another imaginative kill scene.

Meanwhile, the goofy slacker dude Jonesy (Steve Braun) and the gung-ho military chick Amber (Daniella Alonso) come across an unattended campfire where a big hunk of sizzling barbecue is cooking. The hungry campers share their ill-gotten feast with another contestant, frustrated football player Jake (Texas Battle), until one of them happens to spot Kimberly's tattoo on it. They've been eating her leg!

That's pretty gross, but even worse is when Brother and Sister murder yet another contestant and the act gets them all hot and bothered for some frenzied mutant incest. When our hapless campers stumble across the revoltin' scene, they find out that coitus interruptus is a killin' offense in that neck of the woods and the chase is on. One thing about the mutant makeup--it isn't quite as good as the Stan Winston creations in the first movie, but it's still very effective. These psychotic hillbillies make great monsters and the actors portraying them are totally convincing. The females make an especially interesting new addition to the clan and are just as bloodthirsty and feral as the males.

As the cast gets whittled down--literally--Murphy fights back with dynamite-laden arrows and blows up a few mutants real good. The survivors take on the remnants of The Family in a frenetic showdown within an old abandoned paper mill where a hilariously horrific grinding machine comes into play. Director Lynch, who can often be seen beaming with fanboy glee in the behind-the-scenes featurettes, throws in an obvious homage to the dinner scene from TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE as well as other references to the 70s and 80s horror classics that he grew up with.In fact, watching this film is like running barefoot through an old issue of "Fangoria."

This 20-Century Fox DVD has an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 with Spanish and French Dolby Digital 5.1. It's a little softer and grainier than the WRONG TURN Blu-Ray, but I think thats because it was shot on digital as opposed to film. It's pretty good, but not as good as the first. I do think that is partially due to the reality show setting. Colors are a little muted compared to the first one, then again it could be intentional.

There's an interesting commentary by director Joe Lynch and actors Erica Leerhsen and Henry Rollins, and a less interesting one with writers Turi Meyer and Al Septien. Featurettes include "More Blood, More Guts: The Making of Wrong Turn 2", the fun and educational "Making Gore Look Good", and something called "On Location with P-Nut", which I was unable to even begin to care about.

WRONG TURN 2: DEAD END succeeds in being what it sets out to be--a spectacularly gory and perverse splatterfest that's like a rollercoaster ride through a charnel house. As a horror fan who doesn't always require subtlety and good taste in my entertainment, sometimes that's more than enough.

 

 

WRONG TURN 2: DEAD END (Blu-Ray) -- DVD Review by Porfle

WRONG TURN (Blu-Ray) -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

(Blu-Ray comments by Ian Friedman. Originally posted on 9/30/09.)

 

When in tarnation are them thar city folks gonna learn to stay out'n them thar woods? In WRONG TURN (2003), six tenderfeet--two camping couples plus a recently-dumped girlfriend named Jessie (Eliza Dushku) and a stranger named Chris (Desmond Harrington) who just plowed his Mustang into their minivan on a dirt road and stranded them all in the deep middle of Nowhere, West Virginia--find out the hard way that they should've stayed home that week.

This mishmash of elements from the likes of TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, DELIVERANCE, and a couple dozen other backwoods thrillers still manages to seem fresh thanks to good acting, a taut script, excellent makeup effects from the shop of producer Stan Winston, and an imaginative director, Richard Schmidt, who films it all with style and never allows the pace to let up. The formula of city slickers in hillbilly hell has yielded a truckload of half-assed, boring movies over the years, but when the filmmakers put some effort into it there's no reason they can't come up with a cracking suspense thriller like this one.

The first couple goes down pretty quick--their unfortunate purpose is to clue us in on just how crazy and bloodthirsty these inbred yokels are. Schmidt stages an early scene in which the good guys are hiding in closets and under beds while the hillbillies go to work on one of their first victims. It's horrible stuff, but the director shows us just enough to inspire ghastly mental images of the rest.

As we get to know the characters better, the stakes become higher and each death is more painful. One particularly shocking demise, a decapitation which comes suddenly at the end of a nailbiting stalking sequence in the deep, dark woods, is dazzling in its design and execution. Equally impressive are the makeups devised for the killers, which render these monsters believable yet utterly revolting.

Experienced at hunting for their supper, they're expert killers, too. One massive ogre-like beast, Sawtooth, wields a shotgun, while One-Eye strikes with deadly accuracy using a bow and arrow. The most demonstratively deranged of the bunch is a blade-wielding scarecrow named Three Finger, who resembles a redneck Ork. These single-minded psychos trail our heroes tirelessly through the woods and pick them off one by one until finally they capture the fair maiden Jessie and drag her back to their cabin. I won't tell you exactly how things turn out, but the finale is a well-staged free-for-all of bloody, fiery mayhem.

The new Blu-Ray disc from 20-Century Fox is in 1.85:1 widescreen with English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1. Subtitles are in English and Spanish. The picture quality is pretty good--a little soft at times, but nothing horrible. The bit-rate for the video is in the upper 20's, if not the 30's.

Extras include a commentary track by director Rob Schmidt and stars Eliza Dushku and Desmond Harrington, deleted scenes, and a trailer. There are four brief featurettes: "Fresh Meat: The Wounds of Wrong Turn", "Making of Wrong Turn", "Eliza Dushku: Babe in the Woods", and the aptly-titled "Stan Winston Featurette." These are the same features that appeared on the previous DVD release.

One of the best-made examples of this kind of film that I've seen in years, WRONG TURN easily climbs right into the upper echelons of the hillbilly-stalker genre, a mere rung or two down from the classic 70s shockers that inspired it. I don't mind seeing a rehash of familiar ingredients as long as they get the recipe right, as they do here.

WRONG TURN (Blu-Ray) -- DVD Review by Porfle