ZOMBIE 4: AFTER DEATH -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 5/19/18

 

Hot on the heels of ZOMBIE 3, which he co-directed with Lucio Fulci and Bruno Mattei, comes Italian schlockmeister Claudio Fragasso's ZOMBIE 4: AFTER DEATH (Severin Films, 1989), another hot 'n' horrid terror tale of the living versus the undead on a humid tropical island.

This time we're back to basics again, with the zombies being created not by science gone wrong or some natural phenomenon, but by that old bugaboo--voodoo.  Here, a voodoo high priest raises an undead army against the interlopers (scientists again) whom he blames for the death of his wife.

In the first scene, he resurrects her as a real lulu of a zombie--really, this freaked-out hag sets the bar so high that no other creature in the movie can touch it.

They're still a motley bunch, though. In fact, these ambulatory corpses--who mostly wear hoods to save on makeup--are so sleazy-looking you'd think they'd started out as lepers before turning into zombies. 

As in ZOMBIE 3, they like to gang up on their victims and make very messy work of them as the fake blood gushes from every prosthetic gash.  The makeup and gore effects run hot and cold quality-wise, but it's all in good, dumb fun anyway.

It seems as though we've joined the story in progress when the scientists confront the voodoo priest, but just then all the potential protagonists we just got to know a minute ago start getting horrifically offed one at a time. 

In comes a whole new cast twenty years later, and they go tromping around in the jungle for about half an hour before someone finds the usual "book of the dead", stupidly reads the forbidden spell within, and starts the whole thing going all over again.

Two groups--three research scientists and some vacationing mercenaries and their lady friends--are barely around long enough for us to get to know them before it's "Ten Little Indians" time. 

The survivors of the inital carnage barricade themselves in an abandoned science lab against the advancing horde (this is one of the few Romero-esque touches) with the mercenaries--who have fortuitously stumbled onto a box of M-16s--offering some war-movie action along with the horror as everything heads toward a mindblowing finale.

The real fun comes when members of their own combined group get bitten and start to turn.  With all the flesh-eating, supernatural hoo-doo, and blazing gunfire going on, you may enjoy spotting all the references to THE EVIL DEAD, ALIENS, PREDATOR, and various other movies.  The opening scene at times even reminded me of one of the freakier Japanese ghost story movies.

Production values are pretty sparse, but as usual with these Italian jungle potboilers, whether they feature zombies, cannibals, or whatever, that's just part of the charm.  Claudio Fragasso (TROLL 2) has but two goals here, to entertain us and to gross us out, and with ZOMBIE 4: AFTER DEATH he has done both in splattery style.



Release date: May 29, 2018

Special Features:
Bonus Disc: CD Soundtrack (pictured below)
Run Zombie Run! – Interview With Director Claudio Fragasso and Screenwriter Rossella Drudi
Jeff Stryker in Manila – Interview With Actor Chuck Peyton
Blonde vs Zombies – Interview With Actress Candice Daly
Behind-The-Scenes Footage
Trailer

ZOMBIE 4: AFTER DEATH -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

ZOMBIE 3 -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 5/19/18

 

Gory, lurid, and just plain nuts, Lucio Fulci's ZOMBIE 3 (Severin Films, 1988) sails over the top from the very first scene and just keeps on going. 

It's definitely not part of the George Romero universe.  Created by accident during a lab experiment to reanimate the dead, these zombies are some of the most groteseque, malicious, and aggressively hostile undead fiends to ever come leaping out of the bushes at you.

As expected, the makeup and gore effects are crude--obvious rubber masks and such--but are so wonderfully extreme that they're effective and fun nonetheless.  Lots of bladder effects are used to good advantage in the facial makeups, with plenty of graphic gore and severed limbs to go around.

The action is confined to a tropical resort island that just happens to have a top-secret military base where the disastrous experiment takes place.  After that, the good-guy scientists struggle to come up with an antidote to the highly-contagious zombie virus while the bad-guy military brass decide to just kill off everyone in the infected area, locals and tourists alike.

This includes a bevy of fun girls and their boyfriends in an RV, a young couple tooling around in their convertible, and three rowdy soldiers on leave, looking for a good time. 

Their trouble really starts when all are attacked by swarms of infected, virus-carrying birds, after which the injured must be protected by the others against growing hordes of horrific zombies intent on turning them all into pulled pork.

The rest of the film is a series of lively setpieces as various protagonists endure harrowing undead encounters which several of them won't survive.  Not only that, but they also must contend with military hit squads in hazmat suits who are machine-gunning anything that moves (which is where our three vacationing soldiers come in handy).

Direction and camerawork are pretty artless as usual, which is part of the film's charm.  ZOMBIE 3 was begun by Italian schlockmeister Lucio Fulci (ZOMBIE, DOOR INTO SILENCE, THE DEVIL'S HONEY) but actually completed by fellow filmmakers Bruno Mattei (ZOMBIES: THE BEGINNING, ISLAND OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE JAIL: THE WOMEN'S HELL, VIOLENCE IN A WOMEN'S PRISON) and Claudio Fragasso (ZOMBIE 4, TROLL 2).

As a result, ZOMBIE 3 is a frenetic conglomeration of so-bad-it's-good fun in which the subpar acting and dialogue, goofy characters, and hokey effects only add to its perverse appeal.  It's a non-stop zombie blowout that fans of the genre are sure to enjoy.



Release date: May 28, 2018

SPECIAL FEATURES:
Bonus Disc: CD Soundtrack (pictured below)
The Last Zombies – Interview With Co-Director/Co-Writer Claudio Fragasso and Co-Writer Rossella Drudi
Tough Guys – Interview with Actors/Stuntmen Massimo Vanni and Ottaviano Dell’Acqua
The Problem Solver – Interview with Replacement Director Bruno Mattei
Swimming with Zombies – Interview with Actress Marina Loi
In the Zombie Factory – Interview with FX Artist Franco Di Girolamo
Audio Commentary With Stars Deran Sarafian and Beatrice Ring
Trailer

ZOMBIE 3 -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

DREAM STALKER/DEATH BY LOVE -- DVD Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 4/4/17

 

In THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, Clint Eastwood tells us: "In this world, there are two kinds of people, my friend.  Those with loaded guns...and those who dig."  Well, he was half right.  There ARE two kinds of people in the world: those who think shot-on-video movies from the 80s and 90s are unwatchable crap, and those who'd sooner watch one of them than anything that won an Academy Award this year. 

I fall into the latter camp--not completely, perhaps, but mainly--which is why I regarded Intervision Picture Corp.'s new DREAM STALKER/DEATH BY LOVE double-feature DVD with a sort of giddy delight instead of flinging it away with a cry of "ICK!" as some less adventurous individuals might be compelled to do.

Granted, these SOV features are a diverse lot which vary wildly in quality from the above-average (PHOBE:XENOPHOBIC EXPERIMENTS) to somewhere in-between (SLEDGEHAMMER, the first-ever SOV movie) to the downright pathetic (I'm looking at you, THINGS).

But however relatively good or bad they may be, they all share one thing in common--the fact that they're such a renegade, "outsider" form of cinema automatically makes them instantly interesting to a lot of people.

In the case of DREAM STALKER (1991), director Christopher Mills does a competent job with a cast that's unpolished but earnest, and comes up with something that resembles an actual movie.  Some of the photography, in fact, is actually rather nice, especially a gorgeous shot of a car crossing Golden Gate Bridge in the rain. Some of the sound, unfortunately, is the pits. (I'm looking at you, leaf-blower scene.)

Scriptwise, there's some perversely amusing dialogue and a glorious mess of a plot about a budding supermodel named Brittney Marin (Valerie Williams) whose dirt-bike-racing, mullet-sporting boyfriend Ricky (Mark Dias) gets killed shortly after their engagement. 

The increasingly troubled Brittney discovers, through the help of the eccentric Dr. Frisk, that her nightmares about Ricky (in which he tries to run her over with his bike before dragging her down kicking and screaming into his grave) have taken on telekinetic properties.

What even he doesn't know, however, is that when Brittney is asleep, Dead Ricky is able to return to this world, kill anyone who bothers or shows any romantic interest in her, and, in a twist on the old "dream lover" fantasy, make some really yucky nocturnal mookie with her. 

By this time, Ricky's looking a little icky, thanks to a nifty makeup job that makes him look like Two-Face only worse.  He hasn't lost his sick sense of humor, though, bemoaning the breakage of his condom in the zombie rape scene and giving a hapless mortuary worker some serious guff for cheaping out on his burial. 

In desperation, Brittney leaves her hot older-Pat-Benetar-looking mom behind and flees to their vacation cabin in the woods, only to find that it's now right next to a camp for "troubled teens" who are all in their 20s and 30s.  These insufferable post-juvenile delinquents could all use a good Jasoning, but after the chicks beat up on poor Brittney and the dudes try to molest her (by now, this movie has elements of NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, FRIDAY THE 13TH, and I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE comin' at ya) they're all prime fodder for Dead Ricky to wade into just as soon as Brittney goes night-night.

Love-starved Brittney finally drives old Rottin' Rick right over the edge when she shows interest in a handsome new neighbor, Greg (John Tyler).  A nice softcore sex scene with brief nudity (bookending the earlier one between Brittney and a pre-dead Rick) sets up the raucous finale in which everybody gets seriously Rick Rolled, with plenty of blood and gore effects. 

All things considered, DREAM STALKER may very well be regarded as a classic of its kind.  The horror scenes are generally well-staged, the drama is pleasingly goofy, and SOV fans should find it as restful and invigorating as a good night's sleep. 


The same can pretty much be said for the follow-up, DEATH BY LOVE (1990), which, while not quite as over-the-top as the previous feature, is still one of the better SOV flicks that I've seen. 

Producer-writer-director Alan Grant stars as Joel Falk, a well-known sculptor who's quite a fit, bronzed figure of a man himself.  At least, enough to attract the interest of several equally attractive young women who, unfortunately, tend to turn up dead after hooking up with him.  And not only dead, but drained of blood, with ugly gashes on their throats.

But is Joel the killer?  Or is it the mysterious, unidentified man (Frank McGill) who's always spying on him from afar?  Every time Joel hooks up with a woman, this guy's peering through a window or hedge, seemingly up to no good. 

So...is he the killer, and if so, why does he seem intent on murdering every woman that Joel shows romantic interest in?  

Like DREAM STALKER, this is a decent-looking enough feature to have been shot on video, and it's about as well-directed.  Since it was shot in Dallas, Texas, almost everyone has a thick Texas accent, which, as a Texan myself, I find to be a definite plus.  The acting, as usual, is much more enthusiastic than refined, and in general the movie is technically adequate and more. 

Whether he's killing these women without being aware of it, or his unknown stalker is disposing of them himself for some ungodly reason, Joel earns our sympathy early on thanks partly to Grant's earnest performance.  McGill comes into his own later as his character makes his way to the fore and the mystery surrounding him is revealed. 

This revelation, in fact, turns out to be a dandy of a twist, which I'd be loathe to expound upon here lest I give it away. Suffice it to say, the second half of the story gets a lot livelier and involves some nifty monster makeup.  Also of interest are the copious amounts of lovingly-shot softcore sex scenes throughout much of the running time, accompanied by the requisite smokey jazz music. 

With the help of a couple of likable police detectives, DEATH BY LOVE builds to a suitably intense climax that viewers should find satisfying.  (Be sure to stay through the closing credits for the final sting.) Together with DREAM STALKER, this double-feature DVD from Intervision should prove quite a tasty treat for shot-on-video connoisseurs who just can't get enough of that funky stuff.

Special Features:

Remembering Ricky: With Actor Mark Dias
Dirtbike Dreams: Executive Producer Tom Naygrow
Alan Grant Remembers Death By Love Via Video Skype
Yvonne Aric and Brad Bishop Remember Death By Love Via Video Skype
English subtitles

Release date: 4/11/17

DREAM STALKER/DEATH BY LOVE -- DVD Review by Porfle

Risque' Lingerie Scene in "WHITE ZOMBIE" (1932) Madge Bellamy, Bela Lugosi (video)

Risque' Lingerie Scene in "WHITE ZOMBIE" (1932) 
Madge Bellamy, Bela Lugosi

In "White Zombie", Madge Bellamy appears in a lingerie scene that is quite daring for 1932.

It's brief, but memorable. 


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

Risque' Lingerie Scene in "WHITE ZOMBIE" (1932) Madge Bellamy, Bela Lugosi (video)

THE WALKING DEAD: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 8/28/12

 

The world's first serialized zombie saga for television (that I know of, anyway) continues with Anchor Bay's 4-disc DVD set THE WALKING DEAD: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON.  And if you enjoyed yourself the first time around you won't want to miss what happens next. 

This time, our ragtag group of still-warm survivors led by former Alabama state trooper Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his partner Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) are on the road again after last season's visit to a military laboratory for help ended on a decidedly hopeless note.  Now, with the zombie apocalypse raging fiercer than ever and flesh-eating reanimated corpses popping up at every turn, their tiny caravan hits a traffic jam on the interstate and comes to a screeching halt. 

While ransacking the stalled vehicles for supplies and fuel, the group must hide from an entire herd of zombies as they go shambling by.  This zombie herd is one of season two's most noteworthy features--we'll not only see them again during a key climactic sequence, but we'll even get a flashback which answers the question, "Why the heck would hundreds of 'walkers' get together and become a herd in the first place?" 

Anyway, their passing leads to two of the key events of the season.  One is that little Sophia, daughter of Carol (Melissa McBride), goes missing and forces the others to undertake an exhaustive search of the surrounding woods which will keep them there for days.  The other is that when Rick's son Carl (Chandler Riggs) is accidentally shot by a hunter, he is taken to the secluded farm of aging veterinarian Hershel Greene (IN COLD BLOOD's Scott Wilson) for treatment.  Rick and the others see Hershel's farm as an almost walker-free haven where they could live in relative peace and safety--but Hershel wants no part of them and insists they leave after Carl has recovered.

With this idyllic farm setting as a backdrop, season two is less episodic than before and allows our characters time to engage in plenty of interpersonal dramatics punctuated here and there by sudden walker attacks to keep viewers jumpy.  The love triange between Rick, his wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), and an increasingly resentful Shane becomes more bitter and curdled than ever, especially with Lori's discovery that she may be pregnant.  Andrea (Laurie Holden) eschews "women's work" and wants to go zombie-hunting with the guys; she also clashes with the group's sage old RV driver Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) over whether she should be allowed to carry a gun or even, if she chooses to, commit suicide. 

Hershel's insistence that the group leave his farm turns explosive when they make a shocking discovery about what he's keeping out in the barn, leading to what is probably the most emotionally devastating scene of the series thus far.  Heated disputes between Rick and Shane over how things should be handled escalate until the former friends are at each other's throats, with the entire group split down the middle as well.  As Rick struggles to retain his humanity and Shane becomes increasingly ruthless, it becomes harder to decide whose way is more beneficial to the group and who will lead them to ruin.

But even with all this dramatic stuff going on, the main emphasis of "The Walking Dead" is still on zombies, zombies, and more zombies.  Despite the safety of Hershel's farm, there are frequent opportunities for our main characters to put themselves in danger during supply runs and other necessary excusions, which usually result in their being set upon by scores of ravenous walkers. 
Makeup effects are better than ever, with several of the "hero" zombies looking exquisitely horrible and some of the attack scenes generating nail-biting suspense.  As usual, a hapless human will occasionally find himself (or herself) feasted upon by a group of ghouls like a living, screaming buffet (I call this the "Full Meal Deal"), surely the most awful fate that can befall anyone in any zombie flick since George Romero's seminal work, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. 

A hefty percentage of the gory violence in "The Walking Dead", however, comes from humans dealing that fatal brain-extinguishing death blow to their undead foes in all manner of extremely messy ways including machetes, screwdrivers, hatchets, shovels, and, of course, guns. An impromptu autopsy by Rick and group outsider Daryl (Norman Reedus, BLADE II) on an expired walker is especially gruesome (and perversely amusing), as is the aftermath that occurs when a bloated ghoul is found splashing around at the bottom of a well and is hauled up by rope only to be pulled in half at the waist.  

The 4-disc DVD set from Anchor Bay is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with English Dolby Digital 5.1 and French Dolby Surround 2.0.  Subtitles are in English and Spanish.  Bonuses include several behind-the-scenes featurettes, five cast and crew commentaries, deleted scenes, and a stunning 6-webisode tale that gives us the backstory for one of the most memorable minor characters in season one.

Filled with all the gruesome zombie action and intense personal drama we've come to expect from this unique series, THE WALKING DEAD: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON ends with the inevitable as Hershel's farm turns out to be not so walker-free after all.  As carnivorous chaos reigns over the once-peaceful countryside in a free-for-all of flesh-eating and brain-bashing, the season not only goes out with a bang but leaves us with a teasing glimpse of what's in store for our heroes next time.



1st season review

3rd season review

4th season review

5th season review

THE WALKING DEAD: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE BLACK CAT/ THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/20/22



THE BLACK CAT (1966)



Stark, crisp black-and-white photography and a knack for embellishing Edgar Allan Poe's short story with a modern edge highlight THE BLACK CAT (Severin Films, 1966), a Dallas-based horror that transcends its low budget while still retaining that old bargain basement charm in a way somewhat reminiscent of CARNIVAL OF SOULS.

This time, a troubled young heir named Lou (Robert Frost), still holding a grudge against his dead father, eases his fractured psyche with alcohol and bad behavior while his faithful wife Diana (Robyn Baker) looks on in helpless despair.

Hoping to lessen his hostility, she gives him the gift of a black cat which he names Pluto. But the cat, who is a good judge of character, strikes out at Lou, who then cuts out the animal's eye in a fit of drunken rage.

 

Later, he tortures and then electocutes the cat, burning down his own uninsured mansion and ending up near-destitute.  Shock treatments and a stay in the psycho ward seem to get him back on the right track, but after returning home he reverts to his old drunken, violent ways and ends up committing a heinous act that readers of Poe will have anticipated since the first scene. 

Poe, thankfully, is well-served by this imaginative adaptation which pretty much hits all the main notes of his immortal short story while enriching it with interesting character studies and a few surprises. (I doubt if even Poe conceived of ending the story with a car chase.)

The brief use of gore is effective, with one shot of a hatchet lodged in someone's skull quite familiar to those of us who grew up reading Denis Gifford's "A Pictorial History of Horror Movies."

The acting is often rather unpolished but the enthusiasm of the cast makes up for this.  Frost is particularly intense and watchable in his portrayal of the slowly disintegrating Lou, while the lovely Baker elicits our sympathy.  Sadie French is effective as their concerned housekeeper Lillian.

Fans of another Texas-based production, Larry Buchanan's CURSE OF THE SWAMP CREATURE (also from 1966), should recognize that film's mad scientist, Jeff Alexander, as one of the two police detectives who visit Lou in his home in the final scenes. 

This is director Harold Hoffman's only directing credit, and he acquits himself well with a lean and briskly-paced effort.  Being a sucker for good black-and-white photography, I loved the look of the film.

 

One of the last existing 35mm prints is used here, with a few missing bits filled in from a more time-worn copy. The result is a mostly pristine picture with occasional defects, which, for me, only add to its nostalgic appeal.

The only problem I had with THE BLACK CAT is that, as a cat lover, I cringed at the apparent abuse of the cat in some scenes. I find such elements quite distressing, markedly lessening my appreciation of the movie.

That aside, THE BLACK CAT is the kind of low-budget 60s horror yarn that rises above its modest production values while still retaining an appealing low-rent ambience, a combination devoutly to be wished by conneisseurs of such delectably downbeat fare.



THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM (1967)



The second half of this double-feature would be a perfect choice for a festival of quintessential Halloween films.  THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM, aka "Blood Demon" (Severin Films, 1967), is like the most extreme carnival spook house you could imagine, and walking through it should easily supply you with double your daily dose of hokey horror.

This West German production takes place in the olden days of Europe and boasts a non-stop array of impressive found locations and lavish sets, especially when we get to Count Regula's dark, crumbling castle and all its subterranean passageways and chambers of horror.

The story begins with a flashback of the Count's public execution, a well-deserved one in that he has murdered twelve local girls in a quest for immortality which was thwarted by his inability to score the crucial thirteenth.

 

His punishment--to be drawn and quartered in the village square.  His final curse--to return and get revenge upon the descendants of the judge who condemned him and the woman who escaped his dungeon in order to report him to the police.

Flash forward thirty-five years, and we find those descendants drawn to the village by mysterious letters.  They are Roger Mont Elise (Lex Barker), a man searching for information about his own origin, and Baroness Lilian von Brabant (Karin Dor), who has been told that she has inherited the late Count's castle.

The two meet on the long coach ride to the castle and are smitten with one another even as the trip proves fraught with danger and growing terror.  With the saucy, gun-toting priest Father Fabian (Vladimir Medar) and Lilian's chipper servant Babette (Christiane Rücker), they arrive at the castle after an extended ordeal through a nightmarish forest filled with human body parts and hanging corpses.

 

Once there, the film lives up to its name with a castle whose creepy torch-lit tunnels lead from one chamber of horrors to another as each member of the group falls victim to Count Regula's wretched undead servant Anatol (Carl Lange) in a series of tortures from which each will barely escape. 

A worse-for-wear Christopher Lee finally makes his entrance as Count Regula about halfway through, setting into motion his plan to make Lilian the thirteenth victim in his bid for immortality. For this, her blood must be super-charged by terror, so she is placed into a pit of vipers while Roger suffers the threat of the slowly-descending pendulum blade (giving the film its tenuous connection to Poe) as the seconds to Regula's great regeneration tick inexorably away.

The cast is marvelous, including a distinguished Lex Barker (one of the many screen Tarzans) and Karin Dor of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE fame at her most charming.  Medar is a delightful comedy-relief Fabian, and Christiane Rücker as Babette is likable as well. As for the two villains, Lange's loathsome Anatol is ample support to the sinister Lee as they indulge in all manner of evil and sadism.

Taken from two collector's 16mm prints of the film, Severin Films' copy is quite satisfactory despite switching frequently between faded color and black-and-white.  It also alternates between good condition and somewhat worn, but as I've said many times, I like a print that looks like it has been around the block a few times. 

THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM is a cornucopia of spook-house imagery that's quite graphically gory for 1967 while still comfortably old-fashioned in its execution. The florid script by Manfred R. Köhler (with just a pinch of Poe) tosses in everything but the kitchen sink in order to give us the creepy-crawlies, and the whole thing is lavishly, enjoyably over-the-top.


THE BLACK CAT/ THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM (Hemisphere Box of Horrors Exclusive) Special Features:
Blood Demon Trailer
Black Cat Trailer
English subtitles

THE BLACK CAT/ THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

HELL HUNTERS -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 7/7/16

 

Interesting Brazilian locations, including Rio de Janeiro's fabled carnival, and some venerable actors doing a little slumming highlight the cheap-but-fun action thriller HELL HUNTERS (1986), now on DVD from Film Chest. 

An aging but lively Stewart Granger seems to be having a good time playing mad scientist Martin Hoffmann, an escaped Nazi (loosely based on Joseph Mengele) living in South America and performing experiments he hopes will result in a serum that will turn people into Hitler-heiling zombies.

Meanwhile, a rag-tag group of armed Nazi hunters headed by Amanda (Maud Adams, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, OCTOPUSSY) keep pursuing Hoffman through the Brazilian jungles.  An early gunfight between the two factions helps kickstart the film.

Amanda even goes so far as to marry Hoffman's nephew so that he'll take her to the ex-Nazi's secret jungle compound, the route to which she records in her diary before she's assassinated by Hoffman's lethal toady El Pasado (Eduardo Conde) in a suspenseful scene that takes place in an airport bathroom.

When Amanda's estranged daughter Ally (Candice Daly) comes to Brazil to attend her mother's funeral, she gets caught up in the search for Hoffman and gets a taste for revenge in which her training in self-defense and target shooting comes in handy.

What follows is a rather lighthearted--as well as lightweight--action flick with some touchy romantic interplay between the skittish Ally and an amorous young Nazi hunter named Tonio (Rômulo Arantes) that yields much amusingly bad dialogue and a softcore sex scene or two. 

Tonio's female partner Nelia (Nelia J. Cozza) is a dark, sassy beauty who likes to leap into the fray right alongside the guys even when the bullets are flying fast and furious. 

During the group's foray up the river toward Hoffman's elusive hideout (one of the production companies mentioned in the credits is called "Heart of Darkness") they pick up a man-mountain named Kong (Russ McCubbin) who adds to the film's comedy-relief quotient as well as ramping up the amount of physical mayhem whenever they confront the bad guys.

The inevitable bullet-riddled climax pays off pretty well for such a modest production, reminding me a bit of the finale of Ted V. Mikels' THE DOLL SQUAD (1973).  Nothing really amazing happens, but like the rest of the film it's well-paced and competently handled by director Ernst R. von Theumer, who also manages a nifty chase scene in and around Rio de Janeiro earlier in the film.

 

Acting is all over the place among the lesser members of the cast although they all seem to be having a good time.  Aside from the jovial Granger, Maud Adams is more appealing to me here than in both her previous Bond appearances.  And speaking of Bond, one-time 007 George Lazenby (ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE) makes a brief but welcome appearance as one of Hoffman's associates. 

The DVD from Film Chest is in 16x9 widescreen and is "restored in HD from the original 35mm print."  Meaning that the visual quality won't knock your socks off but it looks pretty good for a film of its age and low budget.  No extras. 

There are those, of course, to whom HELL HUNTERS will be well out of their tolerance range for low-budget and hopelessly hokey action flicks.  For me, however, it was a nice bit of good, clean, nostalgic fun. 

HELL HUNTERS -- DVD Review by Porfle

The Infamous Jump Cut in "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) (video)

In George Romero's classic 1968 zombie thriller, "Night of the Living Dead", there's a glaring jump cut...

...where several minutes of dialogue have been removed.

It comes right in the middle of a shot.

Here is one suggestion for eliminating the jump cut.


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

The Infamous Jump Cut in "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) (video)

BAD MOVIE POLICE DOUBLE FEATURE: ZOMBIE COP & MAXIMUM IMPACT -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 11/15/09

 

 

Tempe Entertainment hits bad movie fans with their worst shot once again with BAD MOVIE POLICE DOUBLE FEATURE, the fourth in their BMP series which has previously offered such non-hits as GALAXY OF THE DINOSAURS, CHICKBOXER, and HUMANOIDS FROM ATLANTIS. This time we get a double-dose of disaster with a couple of quirky quickies, ZOMBIE COP and MAXIMUM IMPACT, which, depending on your tolerance for no-budget shot-on-video schlock, should have you either giddy with delight or scrambling for the "eject" button.

The two films, which were originally shot in the early 90s with a combined budget of around $5,000, really aren't that bad, and re-releasing them under the "Bad Movie Police" banner seems to be simply a way of making them more appealing by playing up their camp value. Heck, any time someone can take such a small budget and limited resources and manage to make something that resembles an actual movie that is even mildly entertaining, I have to give them credit.

The first film is ZOMBIE COP, which tells the story of two cops, Gill (Michael Kemper) and Stevens (Ken Jarosz), who track down an evil voodoo master named Doctor Death (James Black). Gill and Dr. Death manage to shoot each other, but before he dies Death puts a voodoo curse on Gill which will cause him to rise from the grave and stalk the earth as a zombie.

Gill makes his way to Stevens' apartment and, after a brief "Oh my god, you're supposed to be dead!" exchange, Stevens lends Gill an old cop uniform and some gauze to wrap around his head to make him less conspicuous (!!!) and before you know it, Zombie Cop is on the beat! The partners then go on the prowl for Dr. Death, who has also risen from the grave and is planning to turn a bunch of schoolkids into zombies or something.

Michael Kemper actually looks pretty cool in his Zombie Cop getup and seems to enjoy playing the role, especially when blasting bad guys with his pump shotgun or reciting his catchphrase: "Your rights have been waived!" There's plenty of no-frills action along the way, including a lengthy car chase which is pretty impressive considering that most movies this cheap wouldn't even attempt something like that.

Some of the comedy relief is pretty lame--the towel-headed convenience store clerk who is constantly being robbed, a character inspired by Apu of "The Simpsons", doesn't generate much hilarity--but Dr. Death's panicky, inept henchman Buddy (Bill Morrison) is amusing.

And I really liked this throwaway gag from a TV news report: "Meanwhile in Hollywood news, the proposed new 'Frankie Kroger' movie, that would feature 'One Day At A Time' star Bonnie Franklin as Kroger's mom, has been canned. When asked why, studio officials report that Ms. Franklin's appearance on the screen was...just too scary for the kids."

The second feature in our double-bill is the generically-titled MAXIMUM IMPACT, which also stars Ken Jarosz and James Black. Jarosz is insurance salesman Jerry Handley, who is attending a conference in Cleveland, and Black plays Mr. Huntsacker, an underworld flesh peddler who will be providing the "entertainment." Jerry declines such indulgences, since he's engaged to be married in a month to his fiancee' Jan (Jo Norcia), but his childhood buddy Phil (Scott Emerman) is rarin' to go.

Unfortunately, Phil arrives just as Mr. Huntsacker is looking for someone to star in a snuff film that has been commissioned by a millionaire sicko, and ends up with a gun barrel in his mouth. Jerry witnesses the deed and rescues Tonya (Christine Morrison) who was tricked into doing it. The perturbed Mr. Huntsacker sends a hit squad to Jerry's house and the dirty rats execute Jan right there in front of the Christmas tree. Jerry, who seems to have undergone some kind of extensive military training in the past and happens to have an arsenal full of automatic weapons and grenade launchers in his basement, goes into full-scale revenge mode, with entertaining results.

MAXIMUM IMPACT is a low-fi version of the typical Hollywood action-revenge flick and manages to be pretty entertaining. Ken Jarosz is an okay lead, while James Black delivers the kind of performance that would lead to a successful acting career in films and TV series such as SOLDIER and "Six Feet Under." Bill Morrison returns as Mr. Huntsacker's scarfaced trigger man George, and Michael Cagnoli is pretty amusing as his bumbling toady Bernie. Considering that the budget on this movie was a little over $2,000, it delivers a fair amount of action and suspense along the way.

Both films were directed by Lance Randas and feature many of the same cast and crew. Each one features a lively commentary track with producer J.R. Bookwalter and various other participants. The picture and sound have been newly-remastered for DVD, and if the 90-minute running time listed on IMDb for ZOMBIE COP is correct, it looks as though they've been trimmed a bit, too, since each film here runs barely longer than an hour.

If you demand high production values in your cinematic entertainment, and stories that don't fall apart if you take them seriously, then by all means steer clear of this DVD. Otherwise, you should have a lot of fun with this latest entry in the BAD MOVIE POLICE series. It takes me back to the old days of watching cheapo double-features in my local grungy movie theater, but without the sticky floors.

BAD MOVIE POLICE DOUBLE FEATURE: ZOMBIE COP & MAXIMUM IMPACT -- DVD Review by Porfle

DEATH WARMED UP -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/27/19

 

The cover art for Severin Films' Blu-ray release of the 1984 New Zealand sci-fi/horror extravaganza DEATH WARMED UP gives barely a hint of what a bloody, violent cavalcade of carnage that awaits within. 

This low-budget, high-octane thriller is packed with everything from breakneck action to fountains of gore, with a slow build-up in the first half giving way to a second half that barely stops to take a jagged breath.

Michael Tucker (Michael Hurst, BITCH SLAP) is a young man who is chemically hynotized into killing his own parents (in a shocking shotgun murder scene) by an unscruplous scientist named Howell (Gary Day, NIGHTMARES) because his partner, Michael's father, was threatening to blow the whistle on Howell's dangerous experiments in prolonging life in hopes of abolishing death altogether.

 

Naturally, these experiments only result in a new strain of horrible, prolonged death that transforms victims into kill-crazy zombie maniacs whose roiling innards are primed to eventually explode. 

And thankfully, we don't just have to imagine this ourselves after having it described to us, since the film's final, frantic people vs. monsters free-for-all will plunge viewers neck-deep into all the gory carnage a horror fan could hope for.

This is brought about when Michael, emerging after seven years in the nut house for killing his parents, travels to Dr. Howell's island clinic looking for revenge.

 

Along to help is his friend Lucas (William Upjohn, DARK CITY) as well as, for some reason, their unwilling girlfriends Sandy (Margaret Umbers, SMASH PALACE) and Jeannie (Norelle Scott).

The opening--up to and including Michael's murder of his parents--reminded me of another New Zealand classic, Michael Laughlin's DEAD KIDS, while the middle section, with Dr. Howell's freaky motorcycle-punk henchmen (including David Letch as the wretched "Spider") attacking our heroes as they try to infiltrate the clinic via an old system of tunnels, gives off a distinct MAD MAX vibe. 

But the moment all of Dr. Howell's super-strong, super-psycho "failed experiments" break out of their cells and go on the attack against everyone in the science facility, including Michael and his hapless crew, DEATH WARMED UP lapses into pure, unadulterated bloody chaos strewn with throbbing brains, exploding entrails, wall-to-wall body parts, and rivers of the old red stuff. 

 

All of this is depicted in imaginative style by David Blyth (MY GRANDPA IS A VAMPIRE, GHOST BRIDE), whose mobile camera and sharp editing keep everything visually interesting throughout.  The cast are well up to the intensity of the story, while production design and SPFX utilize the $400,000 budget to its fullest.

DEATH WARMED UP is packed with situations bleak and grim, yet offers a wealth of fun and excitement to those who get off on this sort of small-scale apocalyptic action.  I felt like I'd been put through a wringer, and when it was over I wanted to go through it again.


Buy it from Severin Films

Street date: April 30, 2019

Special Features:

    BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVE: Original New Zealand 4×3 VHS cut
    Audio Commentary with Director David Blyth and Writer Michael Heath
    I’ll Get You All: Interview with Actor David Letch
    Deleted Scenes with Optional Audio Commentary by Director David Blyth and Writer Michael Heath
    Interview Featurette with David Blyth and Michael Heath
    Theatrical trailer
    VHS  trailers
    TV Spot
    Reversible cover art

DEATH WARMED UP -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

The 7 Goofiest Horror Movie Songs Ever (video)

The 7 Goofiest Horror Movie Songs Ever

"Eeny, Meeny, Miney Mo” Kenny Miller ("I Was A Teenage Werewolf", 1957)

"Eee Ooo" John Ashley ("How To Make A Monster", 1958)

"Daddy Bird" Page Cavanaugh And His Trio with Harold Lloyd, Jr. ("Frankenstein's Daughter", 1958)

"The Mushroom Song (Laugh, Children, Laugh)" Don Sullivan ("The Giant Gila Monster", 1959)

"Vickie" Arch Hall, Jr. ("Eegah!", 1962)

"Zombie Stomp" The Del-Aires ("Horror of Party Beach", 1964)

"Waterbug" Neil Sedaka ("Playgirl Killer", 1967)

Originally posted on 5/7/18
I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

The 7 Goofiest Horror Movie Songs Ever (video)

Dual Roles in George Romero's "Night Of The Living Dead" (1968) (video)

After entering the abandoned farmhouse, Barbra discovers...

...a horribly mutilated dead body upstairs.
Ben later drags the body into a back bedroom. But who plays the corpse?

Answer: it's Kyra Schon, who's also Harry and Helen Cooper's ailing daughter, Karen.

Later, a female ghoul plucks an insect from a tree and eats it.
She's played by Marilyn Eastman, who is also...

...Karen's mother, Helen Cooper.

Those Coopers really get around, don't they?

Originally posted on 12/3/18

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

Dual Roles in George Romero's "Night Of The Living Dead" (1968) (video)

VOODOO BLACK EXORCIST -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 5/23/17

 

It sounds like they put all their eggs-ploitation elements into one basket with the title VOODOO BLACK EXORCIST (aka "Vudú sangriento"), but this wonderfully awful 1974 Euro-horror potboiler, now available on Blu-ray from The Film Detective, is actually pretty short on exorcism (there isn't any) and black people (two of them are actually white actors in dark body makeup). I guess VOODOO WHITE NON-EXORCIST just didn't have the same ring to it.

They didn't skimp on the voodoo, though--the opening flashback sequence, which is revisited several times throughout the film, was filmed in real Caribbean locations such as Jamaica and Haiti, and there's a frenzied voodoo ceremony during which the beautiful Kenya (Eva León) is beheaded.  After everyone tosses her noggin around like a beach ball at a rock concert, her lover Gatanebo (Sergio Leone regular Aldo Sambrell) is entombed alive as punishment for their illicit love. 

Kenya turns up again centuries later, reincarnated (sans body makeup) as Silvia, assistant and mistress to archeologist Dr. Kessling (Alfred May).  As fate would have it, the newly-unearthed mummy they're traveling with via cruise ship is none other than the undead Gatanebo, who not only stalks the ship killing descendants of those who buried him alive, but discovers his lost love right there on board with a new identity and complexion.

 

It's pretty much a shipboard retelling of THE MUMMY but with voodoo instead of Egyptian curses.  The buff, bald, and now inexplicably Caucasian Gatanebo passes for normal most of the time but occasionally reverts back to mummy form with a makeup job that resembles crinkled papier-mache', whereupon he either murders people or pokes them with his golden asp-ring to make them his slaves. 

He kills a bartender descended from the man who beheaded Kenya, then leaves the guy's head on Silvia's pillow for her to find, Godfather-style, when she wakes up.  (He's like a cat bringing home a dead mouse to its master as a present.)  Later, he intercepts a visiting professor at the airport in order to assume his identity, squishing the poor sap under a steam roller.

Production values for this low-budget Spanish effort are fair to poor--direction and camerawork are slipshod at best (but with the odd flash of style now and then), the script is half-baked and filled with howlers ("In infinite time, what must happen happens"), and much of the acting and dubbing are below par.  SPFX and makeups are fake-looking but fun, including some man-to-mummy (and vice versa) transformations.

The Caribbean locations are nice, and the cruise ship is actually at sea during the on-deck exteriors, adding much to the film's ambience.  (Is it just me, or does the recurring island musical theme sound just like the first bars of "Ferry Cross the Mersey"?)  Animal lovers will find the killing of an actual chicken during the voodoo ceremony distressing.

The cast of characters can be a real hoot, especially an excitable lady named Mrs. Thorndyke who reads cards and tells the future (her visions about what's happening aboard the ship are totally accurate yet nobody takes her seriously).  Some of the exchanges between her and henpecked husband Alfred are hilarious:

"Alfred! I would like to get a sarcophagus like this to rest in eternally."
"I'll do my best, honey."

There's also an exotic dancer who's the very definition of "overripe" (I mean that in a really good way) constantly being courted by a world-famous hamburger tycoon, and a portly police inspector who makes like he's Hercule Poirot by deducing that since the first murder occurred at sea, then the culprit must be someone on board the ship.  "It's a shame," he opines after the hamburger guy is killed.  "The best hamburgers in the world."

After more mindnumbing mayhem, the finale has the inspector and his dangerously callow assistants tracking the mummy and the kidnapped Silvia to a cave where they manage to cause more chaos than they avert, leading to a startlingly abrupt ending that slams a sarcophagus lid on the whole shebang. 

The Blu-ray from The Film Detective is widescreen with an aspect ratio of 2.35 and Dolby digital sound.  English captions are available.  No extras.  The film itself is "in HD with a brand new 2K scan from a rare 35mm archival print.”  The picture quality is likely the best this film has seen since the 70s, although there's still a lot of blemishes here and there which I assume couldn't be helped. 

To be fair, many will find this film about as boring as...well, actually being a mummy.  But for those hardy souls who seek out bad movies to willingly subject themselves to, VOODOO BLACK EXORCIST may prove as pleasantly entertaining as it is woefully inept.



Release date: May 23, 2017

(Stills used are not taken from the Blu-ray disc)

VOODOO BLACK EXORCIST -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle