Musician: In Death... Album Title: The Devil Speaks Genre/ Subgenre: Technical Death Metal Label: Self Released Release Date: TBA
Holy. Fucking. Shit!!! That is what I said the moment that I heard this upcoming indie debut from Australian death metal act In Death... Mostly because it is so fucking badass and awesome, that just listening to the first couple of minutes of the album made me love it!
The band have a truly technically strong quality to them that really shows off their awesome musicianship. What really drives the songs forward, though, is the fucking killer groove. It hooks you in and then just fucking crushes you. Some of the more close-minded metal fans might decry something about it being to close to deathcore. Fuck that. Mixing it with their tech-death style gives it a heavy as fuck and refreshing, different feel from so many other bands that tend to do a more straight forward style of one or another.
I love every track on here, as they are all solid bits of destruction. Like I said earlier, from the get go this album drew me and that's cause it started out with the crunching and groovetastic (is that even a word? Fuck it. It is now!) opening to the searing "Malignancy Eradicated". The speedy "Bow to Your Master" will utterly pummel you. "Every Burial" is so fucking badass that might be my favorite track here and that's saying something. I mean come on, they have an awesome song called "Godzilla"! How can this horror and monster loving dude not love that? Speaking of horror the kick ass instrumental and title track, "The Devil Speaks" (which really shows off their talented chops) has a sound-bite from Al Pacino from The Devil's Advocate playing over it. By the time the final song, "King of the Deadpool" kicks in, your neck will have snapped from headbanging so hard!
I simply can't say enough good things about In Death... The Devil Speaks. These guys have impressed the fucking hell out of me, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for them! For now, pay close attention to them and be sure to pick up this highly recommended album when it comes out. And, be sure to follow them on their Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/indeath) to be up to date on that and more!
I was extremely heartbroken yesterday, when I read of the passing of the man rightfully credited with starting and creating the splatter film, the Godfather of Gore, himself, Herschell Gordon Lewis AKA H.G. Lewis). He was a true legend of the genre and one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of the horror film.
Color Me Blood- Red
H.G. Lewis was born on June 15, 1926 in Pittsburgh. Though his career started with softcore films (which he continued to make for a good chunk of his career), it's his splatter movies that he is most connected with. His first gore film was the legendary Blood Feast. While, horror movies before this either completely lacked graphic violence or only flirted lightly with it (Hammer Studios comes to mind in that department), Blood Feast was extremely graphic and bloody. That the FX were crude and fake didn't matter. Nothing had been seen up and until that point of time like it. As result it was an instant hit at the box office, and would go on to become a cult classic (as many of his other films would).
I knew about his movies for ages, being a well read horror fan and all. But, I wouldn't see any of his movies until I bought the The Blood Trilogy DVDbox-set from Image many years back. This was composed of the first three movies he made, the aforementioned Blood Feast, Two-Thousand Maniacs, and Color Me Blood Red. I loved the whole cheesy and it's so bad so good aspect of these films. Pretty girls, bad dialogue, bad acting, and graphic but terribly fake splatter. I can't recommend these movies enough to any lovers of horror and gore, especially those who like their movies to be fun and bloody.
Though of these three, I would say Two-Thousand Maniacs is my favorite. Even if it does not come anywhere close of giving you that many maniacs, it is a fun, wild, bloody, and funny tale of a bunch of crazy, killer hicks bent on having the South rise again.
Sadly, I haven't seen as much of his work I should, with the only other two I saw being Wizard of Gore and The Gore-Gore Girls when I bought the double feature, and excellent, I must add, Blu-ray of them. I plan to revisit the highly enjoyable, wild, and over-the-top Wizard soon. Last night I revisited The Gore-Gore Girls (1972)in his honor. It is my favorite of his, and his last movie for many, many, many years to come until he made Blood Feast 2 (2002).
The Gore-Gore Girls
One thing that stands true is despite the bloody content his movies were always tongue and cheek (and the tongue ripped out!). They never felt mean-spirited or took themselves too seriously as a result were many times hilarious, both intentionally and not.
The Wizard of Gore
I loved his role in the thoroughly awesome love letter to him Smash Cut starring The Last House on the Left's David Hess and former porn goddess Sasha Grey. I also absolutely ADORE the excellent documentary made about him and his movies, Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore. You all need to do yourselves a favor and seek it out. You will be glad that you did.
I saw him at a Fangoria Weekend of Horrors many years ago, but didn't get to meet him until, last year at Chiller. I feel so lucky that I did. He was such a sweet and funny man.
The gore and horror world has lost a legend, but he will live on in our bloody hearts and in his blood drenched movies. All hail the Godfather of Gore! All hail H.G. Lewis! And, may he RIP, as my condolences go to his family and loved ones.
Title: The Best of Sex and Violence Director: Ken Dixon Writer: Frank Ray Perilli Cast: John Carradine, Laura Jane Leary, Angela Aames, Davis Carradine, Keith Carradine, Year: 1982 Min: 76 DVD Released by: Full Moon
This early 80s compilation from producer Charles Band has horror legend John Carradine host a bunch of exploitation trailers. The movies featured all have sex, violence, or both, of course!
John Carradine makes for a likable and funny host. The dialogue written for him by Frank (Mansion of the Doomed) Ray Perilli is witty and funny. It is also, much like the movies featured here, decidedly not very PC, which is perfectly fine by me. There is a tongue and cheek quality here that makes it all very fun. One wonders what Carradine was thinking hosting this admit ably sleazy collection of clips, especially considering he didn't seem very fond of being linked to horror (see the interview on the extra features of The House of Seven Corpses for proof). This probably just amounted to a paycheck for him and that's all.
The movies included in here run the gamut of biker, blaxplotation, softcore, sex comedies, action, women in chains, and horror movies. They include such titles as: I Spit on Your Grave, Alice in Wonderland, Tanya's Island (which, by the way, tells the of the love triangle between a hot chick played by the late, great Prince protege Vanity, a dude, and a large, hairy ape beast...), The Boogeyman, The Disco Godfather, Emaunelle Around the World, Bury Me an Angel, Terminal Island, and more.
The cover features a young Brinke Stevens, who would go on to become a legendary scream queen. While, the cover image promises that Night of the Living Dead is here; it ain't. Maybe it got it confused with The Twilight People (below)?
Band seemingly found a very old, shitty VHS tape and just transferred that to DVD, as the quality here is godawful. There is NO remastering whatsoever. In fact, I used to own some VHS tapes that looked better than this. The sound is barely adequate and even that might be a case of me being too nice. The only extras are a Charles Band Grindhouse Intro and a Grindhouse Featurette, all of which can be found in any of the other Full Moon Grindhouse Collection releases.
Still, despite the shit quality, this is fun and enjoyable. It's a blast to see Carradine present such sleaziod flicks and deliver fun one-liners. The cameo at the end by his sons, David and Keith (left), add to the pricelessness of it all. If you are a fellow fan of sleazy B-movies and trailer collections, and can find this cheap, get it!
Movie: 3 out of 4 Picture: 1 Sound: 1.5 Extras: .5
Musician: Heaven Shall Burn Album Title: Wanderer Genre/ Subgenre: Melodic death metal/ Metalcore Label: Century Media Release Date: Sept. 16, 2016
The eighth studio album from extreme metallars Heaven Shall Burn, Wanderer, is a groove laden juggernaut sure to get the pit wild with fury. From the opening to the end this hook laden, catchy, yet heavy and badass release is a complete pleasure to hear. The album opens with the rolling attack of "The Loss of Fury". From there we go to the thundering "Bring the War Home" which brings the ass kicking home. The blistering "They Shall not Pass" has a Slayer meets groove based heaviness and melody that really makes it stand out. With a furious machine gun opening "Prey to God" is filled with venom and anger and is one of the album's very best track, if not in fact, its best. "Agent Orange" is the type of furious assault that will make you wanna mosh even if it's just you chilling in your room. "Save Me" has a beautiful intro that leads into an emotional, dark, and still heavy song. In fact, every song here is a winner with no throwaway tracks. Sure, Wanderer doesn't break any new ground. But, it doesn't have to. This is quality and adrenaline filled piss and vinegar metal with a few moments of beauty and melody. It's an album that prove that Heaven Shall Burn still burn and destroy everything in their path.
With Godzilla Resurgence coming next month to the US for a very limited theatrical run, I thought it would be fun to review a couple of movies from the series. Here is my first one:
Godzilla appears with glowing rashes and attacks. It turns out that he is having a nuclear meltdown, and if he blows up the Earth will die with him. A way to stop our reptilian hero from going nuclear must be found. And, speaking of found, at the same time G-Force is searching for the younger Godzilla creature, Junior. Who unlike the ridiculous Minilla actually looks like a young Godzilla creature. Meanwhile, the Oxygen Destroyer from Gojira, that killed the first Godzilla, has mutated some prehistoric crustaceans into nasty monsters. Eventually, they combine into one giant monster called Destroyah, bent on killing and, well, destroying everything it's path, including our soon to go ka-boom, Godzilla.
Advertised, at the time, as featuring the death of Godzilla, Godzilla Vs. Destroyah is one of the most emotional in the series, as well as one of it's finest. Most of FX are top-notch, with some solid creature costume work and miniatures. The actual Destroyah monster is massive and one of the series most righteously evil and intimidating looking monsters. He comes off as a legitimate threat to the Big-G, and you feel like this fucker could seriously hurt or even kill him. And, that is no small (pun not intended) feat. The smaller Destroyah creatures are a little more fake looking, but aren't enough to distract from the movie, itself.
Admit ably, the scene involving those monsters lifts A LOT from Aliens. I would like to think this is meant to be an homage and not a blatant rip-off. Regardless, that and other action scenes are very rousing and exciting. The extended climatic battle between the monsters is especially awesome. It's one of the most violent in the series with spraying and dripping blood, both of the green and yellow colored variety.
The acting is good, and thankfully the humans story here isn't that bad. The characters are fine as is, and while none of them are particularly memorable, it's not like movie suddenly sucks when the monsters aren't onscreen. Besides, the two girls searching for Junior help to add a good amount of human heart to it all.
Exciting, kick ass, and with some good amount of heart Godzilla Vs. Destroyah is a great entry in the long running franchise (the 22nd to be precise!). It stands heads and shoulders above many others in the Big-G's film career and was a great way to end this part of the series, as one was not made again till five later with Godzilla 2000. Sony released a blu-ray of it, packaged with Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus just a few years ago. The disc looks damn good and has great sound that will make the bass on your sound system rock. This gives you yet another reason to watch this awesome monster mash.
Title: Blair Witch Director: Adam Wingard Writer: Simon Barrett Cast: James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Corbin Reid, Brandon Scott, Wes Robinson, Valorie Curry Min: 89 Year: 2016
Some 20 years after the occurrences of the first Blair Witch movie, one of the disappeared three college kids, Heather's brother, James (James Allen McCune) is sent a video via the internet. It's the unclear image of a girl from the creepy, abandoned house in Burkittsville, Maryland. He thinks it is his sis, so he and some friends go off to find her. They, of course, decide that they should also make a docu of it, cause, well, why the fuck not. The dude, Lane (Wes Robinson), who uploaded the video and his friend Talia (Valorie Curry) join them on the sure to be fun filled search. They reach the site and set-up camp. That night, as is to be expected, weird shit begins to happen. And, of course, it gets progressively worse from there.
Just a few days I rewatched and reviewed Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. I praised it for despite its' flaws attempting something new and different. This movie I will mostly shit on for being the exact some lazy, fucking thing, that I am sick of seeing. It, of course, ignores the last film, but that's fine. In many ways, the second movie is sort of this franchise's A New Nightmare existing outside of continuity and in the real world. As such there is not problem here. However, this movie has a shit load of other problems. And, it's a shame cause its' director, Adam Wingard, is talented, as the bloody and fun You're Next so successfully proves. But, before I shit on this exorcise in mediocrity, let's look at the good points, first.
The acting is really good, far better than most sequels aim to have. All the cast members give strong performances. That being said the only characters I actually kinda liked were Talia and Lisa (Callie Hernandez), and the later, I only really cared for towards. It's not that the characters are dicks, it's just that most of them aren't particularly memorable. But, hey at least the acting is good! See, I'm keeping my words positive, or trying to at least!
Second the advancement in technology makes for a better looking film than the first one. Yes, the exact same fucking shakey cam happens, but it is better looking shakey cam! And, now you have drone shots, too! Woohoo! The climax is actually pretty suspenseful and got me into it. I was actually on the edge and had my eyes glued to the screen. There is a cool little twist, too. If only the rest of the film was like this, cause then the end comes and.... It's the same old shit.
And, that is a huge problem. Every beat is the same as the first movie. And, with so many found footage movies, both good and godawful, having come since the TBWP, this is simply horribly uninteresting to see here. The film drags along flat and boring for a good chunk of the story. A story that is fucking lazy and stupid.
Why did he take 20 years to look for Heather? There is a lame and lazy explanation, that of he was four at the time of her disappearance and now that he gets this video online feels the need to go look for her. But, let's call a spade a motherfucking spade. This is a shit excuse used to mask what is essentially an inferior remake, so that no one can say, "Hey stop with the shitty remakes!", since this is a "sequel".
I said the technology is better, but fuck do I ever hate shakey cam. Why must they move the camera so much? Honestly, if I was someone who got this crap and saw this shakey as fuck docu, I would never release it in the real world. I would tell the filmmakers that they suck and need to reconsider their careers of making documentary films.
Finally there is a horrible abundance of jump scares. All of which are made by the fucking crew, themselves, who are clearly fucking morons. Actually, remember how I said that the characters aren't dicks? I was wrong. Cause, only a dick would jump in to scare someone when already scary shit is happening. People, normal people, don't do fucking crap like this. So, stop with pointless, awful jump scares that are not connected to the real terror. Jason jumping out of the lake at the end of the first Friday the 13th is an example of a spectacular jump care. Some asshole kid popping in out of nowhere to "scare" someone, like in this movie, is fucking complete garbage.
Blair Witch is a safe, by-the-numbers, remake, disguised as a sequel. It is saved, slightly, by good acting and a good climax. We have all seen worse horror flicks, but honestly why pay for this crap? In a year filled with great horror movies, doing good at the box office, this middle of road flick is bombing. But, then when you realize that many sequels and remakes have tanked this summer, you see that this fits in well with those losers. In short, if you gotta see this one, wait for fucking cable or Netflix, don't waste your money.
Title: Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 Director: Joe Berlinger Writer: Dick Beebe, Joe Berlinger Cast: Tristine Skyler, Stephen Baker Turner, Erica Leerhsen, Kim Director, Lanny Flaherty, Jeffery Donovan Min: 90 Year: 2000
Following the cultural phenomena of the original The Blair Witch Project, a crew of young people decide to take a tour of the movie location ran by Jeffery (Jeffery Donovan) in Burkittsville, Maryland. The next morning they wake up, after having passed out, and their papers and cameras are rip and trashed. They don't remember anything that happened. The tapes remained intact, though, hidden under rocks. But, what happened during their lost time, and what is up with the increasingly weird shit they are seeing? Are they haunted by their delusions or the witch, herself?
Released a year after the first film this is the much maligned sequel to one of the most successful indie movies of all time. Of course, a sequel was to be made, it's an unwritten rule in cinema, maybe more so in the horror world. But, this movie took fans for different all together ride, and that in their eyes, at least, partially hurt the movie. It is certainly flawed, but it doesn't deserve all the hate it gets.
One of the major saving graces is the fact that it had the balls to go against the grain. This could have easily been another found footage, shakey cam, kill some young folk in the woods affair. Instead, co-writer/ director Joe Berlinger went for a meta/ psychological horror flick. Berlinger who made the excellent Paradise Lost docus about kids wrongfully accused of murder for being metal, in particular Metallica, fans, could have given us a faux-docu style turd. Then he have just collected a pay check, and called it a day. Instead, he thought of outside the box.
Studio interference occurred though, and as is often the case, it hurt the movie. They made him shoot unneeded gore which really is out of place and does the movie no good. They also reordered and cut more crap in (IE the gore). A lot of the ambiguity that he was going for is totally lost. Shit, they even switched his music choices adding Marilyn Manson to the opening title scene. The director admits to loving Manson, but that is not what he is going for (if you wanna learn more listen to his excellent DVD's running commentary).
Still, the ideas presented are really smart. Perception vs. reality, media influence, mass delusions, etc. all play a role in the film's plot. It's fairly well paced, except when the random gore inserts are sliced in and make the movie feel uneven and wholly stick out. Still, it actually leads to a fairly well handled climax. The ending itself is not bad, but I can easily see where fans might be like, "That's it?!"
The acting is really good. The cast are mostly unknowns but deliver performances far beyond the usual cash grab sequel, shit. The characters, themselves, serve as archetypes of the audience that the original movie caught the interest and obsession of. Most of the said characters, other than Jeffery, who is admit ably a dick, are pretty likable. All this thought of characters, again goes against the horror sequel mentality.
My two favorite actors and characters come from two very lovely ladies. Kim Director as Kim (all the cast played characters which had the same first name as theirs) is the gorgeous, voluptuous, blue-eyed goth girl of our dreams. She has a little bit of a kick ass attitude and is believable and likable. Erica Leerhsen (who would go on to play a victim in the underwhelming The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake) is great as the Wiccan pissed at the way the first movie represented witches in the first. She also appears almost topless and has an amazing body. Worth mentioning is an all too brief kiss between both these goddesses.
I recall all the hate Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 got when it came it out. Yet, I recall it not being that bad. I hadn't watched it since it was in the movies, until last night. And, it really is not that bad. Most of the issues are studio related, like calling it Book of Shadows. I mean there is no fucking book in this movie, so what the fuck were they thinking?! But, it still remains a bold, interesting, well acted movie. It is not great, and won't please everyone, but I have noticed some nice write-ups and videos pop-up. Is perception changing? I don't know, maybe, those who liked it are finally becoming more vocal. Like me, for example. With Blair Witch, the third installment which will serve as a direct sequel to the classic, coming out this weekend, now is the perfect time to revisit this movie.
