October Horror Marathon 2016
Once again, the season of Halloween is here. My goal this year is to get through 31 movies I haven't seen (or sat through entirely) from my collection. Judging by the list I have made so far, there are going to be more good than bad but hopefully a few surprises. So lets get started.
Retribution (1987)The trailer and artwork for this release looked enjoyable, and it was another Code Red release, so I had been looking forward to checking it out for awhile. The film begins with a man jumping off a roof and being confined to a mental institution. He appears rehabilitated but strange things start to happen as he begins to exhibit psychic powers and offing strangers at night and waking up with no memory of doing it. He doesn't know why he is doing this (and the audience has no clue either), and the bodies start to pile up. There is talk about him sharing a birthday with someone throughout the film, but things don't really add up until the end. While not a terrible movie, it doesn't really ever gain much momentum. The acting is very off, and the plot just goes through the motions until its over. Worth a watch only for those that have seen everything else the horror genre has to offer.Curtains (1983)Curtains starts off with the very interesting opening of a actress, Samantha, committing herself to a mental institution so that she can better understand the mentally ill to get the part in a play of an insane woman named Audra. The director, played by THE Dean Wormer John Vernon (named Jonathan Stryker in the film), decides to let a group of other girls audition for the part, and Samantha decides to escape the mental ward and seeks revenge. They all converge on a secluded mansion to compete for the roll, with Stryker overseeing the proceedings with a look of death throughout. He also has a love of sleeping with his future leading ladies, which reminded me of the doctor from Schizoid (1980) The other girls are all characterized fairly well, but the film is a bit slow and the reveal of the killer comes out of left field (or maybe I had missed a small part, I wasn't sure). The end result is a by-the-numbers slasher with slightly better characterizations for the initial victims. Also of note is this is a film that is primarily carried with an all-female cast, which makes it unique to the slasher genre. The Uninvited (1944)This is a film I had tried to sit through before, started, and never finished. I just never really got into it the first time, and couldn't make myself give it the full intention this time either. The film centers around a brother and sister who purchase an abandoned seaside mansion and start to experience supernatural-lite phenomena, which includes mostly cold sensations, drafty staircases, and things like that. While this film does have the distinction of being the first Hollywood film to show a ghost in as an actual supernatural manifestation, and not for comedy, there are still comedic bits that appear throughout the film, and mostly fall flat. At the time this may have been more frightening, but for me it was just a slog through the slow plot until the finish. Nothing that happened pulled me in to make me want to really invest in the characters or film. Wouldn't recommend unless you need a scary film to watch with your grandmother.Blood Diner (1987)If you find Dead Alive (1992) or other gross-out, over-the-top horror comedies, then Blood Diner is for you. Two brothers are brainwashed by their cannibalistic Uncle Anwar to resurrect the ancient god Sheetar by creating a blood buffet and sacrificing a virgin. They run a very successful vegetarian restaurant so they start picking their victims from the patrons, and slowly amass enough body parts from immoral woman to rebuild Sheetar a body to inhabit. This film is completely over the top and ridiculous, including Uncle Anwar's brain being held in a jar with a speaker hooked up to it so he can talk to his nephews and give direction throughout, topless aerobics, nude kung-fu, mass murder, drug fueled dance scenes, zombie-type things, and lots and lots of gore. The movie is a cross between an early Peter Jackson film (think Dead Alive or Bad Taste) and a Troma production. I loved it. Being self aware enough to know it's a ridiculous concept but not stooping to all-out parody, it never stops being funny and entertaining. Would definitely recommend. The new Vestron Video label did an awesome job with the transfer to bluray as well. Audio is a little less amazing but i'd assume the source wasn't great. Check this one out. Trick or Treats (1982) This movie is bad. Not good and very, very boring. I am not usually one to criticize scene staging in 80's low budget horror films, but the scenes in this film drag on and on. It's almost like they tried to take inspiration from a Fellini film and allow the actors room to act. I still can't figure it out. Scenes that should have been wrapped up in a minute stretch for 5-10 minutes. The opening scene of a man being captured and committed to a mental hospital goes on for 7 minutes, which should have been a minute or so at the longest. I am unsure if they needed to pad the run time (it's only 91 minutes) or what but this film terrible. Avoid at all costs. Chopping Mall (1986)A group of mall carpet store employees decide to throw a party after hours. The mall had recently installed a new security system compromised of robots and doors that close and don't open until 6am. Lightning strikes the mall and the security robots turn into murderous drones. Its a ridiculous concept but the film makes it work in a violent, low budget, gory sort of way. Once the group starts to fight back against the murder-bots, there isnt a dull monent until the end credits. This is a Roger Corman production so it wears its low budget proudly. The Amityville Horror (1979)This is one film that I have seen in it's entirety over the years but never sat down to watch it on its own. Through cable showings I had seen a patchwork of scenes that had pretty much filled out the film for me. It might be possible that this was a better way to watch this particular film than in one viewing session. George Lutz and his family move into a home where a family was murdered. Soon after, strange supernatural things begin to happen and George slowly loses his grip on sanity. Priests attempt to intervene and the house clearly does not want them there, and the consequences of their meddling are dire to say the least. The film isn't flat out terrible, but the worst thing that could be said about it is that it is boring. The opening intertwining the the murderous shooting rampage with the George and Kathy Lutz checking out the house is very well edited and unnerving. The problem is that it never really gets better or more unsettling from there. The attempted religious intervention by the priest and the older and younger priest side plot just fills time and the family dynamic never seems real. Outside of pacing and plot issues, the film is also not very scary. The biggest issue I have with the film is George's transformation from husband/father to possessed murderous psycho. It never rings true when taking the film as a whole, and his outbursts are near-comical at times. He just becomes a darker shade of grey (literally) and sweats more profusely. This is where I said the film might be better watched in chunks. Seeing George wild eyed and wielding an ax is much more unnerving when there is less context to make it seem like this newfound insanity is unearned. I'm not sure if it was the acting or the general script but the turn to demonically possessed psychotic never rings true. It's more effective taken as a fact instead of trusting the films build-up to that point. Also, the scene where the priest goes blind in the church is pretty over-the-top and laughable. It just doesn't work, as does much of the rest of this film. Amityville II: The Possession (1982)Disturbing is a mild way of putting what occurs during this film. Fortunately this film far surpasses the original in both atmosphere, acting, scares, and technical quality. If the poster is to be believed, this film takes place before the Lutz family moved into the home, but obviously where the first was informed by the real murders that had taken place, this one is more focused on a the house containing a demonic presence that causes murders to take place. I won't get into the specifics but the murders in this "prequel" film don't really conform to those that were supposed to take place before the original (number of children, murder locations, etc.). Ignoring that and taking the film on it's own is a much better avenue than trying to figure out the continuity. The Montelli family, led by Anthony (Burt Young of Rocky fame), moves into the Amityville home and right away supernatural events begin to occur to the various family members. It is established early that Anthony is a brutal father who beats his children and thinks they are all awful. Soon, their oldest son, Sonny, begins to act strangely, and develop a very, very, very unhealthy relationship with his sister. This is not a film where the director decides to hold back on going all the way with offending a viewers sensibilities. Anthony mercilessly beats family member after family member, and as the familial relationships break down, the eldest daughter, Patricia, seeks the aid of a local priest. One thing that I found most interesting about this film is that the murders are not the climax but more the crescendo of the homes influence on the family. After this the film turns into a very condensed Exorcist clone with the priest trying to free Sonny from the demon's clutches. This film is very well shot and edited for an early 80s horror film, most likely due in part to the Italian director Damiano Damiani bringing in many of the Italian film making sensibilities regarding long takes, shots that don't cut away quickly from effects, disturbing subject matter American audiences tended to avoid in the mainstream, and abstract plot. The film has the feel of Fulci or Argento production more than the polished and television type low budget films that were coming out during this time period in the United States. The takes go much longer and the gore and violence isn't compromised of quick cuts. Recommending this film comes with the caveat that the viewer is made uncomfortable throughout, and not just from the horror elements, but the entire family dynamic and how violent and deviant it becomes. If you can handle that, then check this one out as it stands far ahead of the original. Zodiac (2007)I decided to re-watch this film even though I've seen it many times before. Although not really a horror film in the traditional sense I needed to watch a well made thriller to break up the low-budget 80s films I'd seen up to this point. The Zodiac killer terrorized the San Francisco area in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He continually taunted police with letters and phone calls and to this day has still never been caught. The film relies on the material from Robert Graysmith book "Zodiac" that implicates Arthur Leigh Allen as the murdered. While evidence has come out that would disqualify him as a suspect, the film (and book for that matter) do a good job of showing the vast amount of circumstantial evidence that would link Allen to the crimes. The film follows Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) as he goes from newspaper comic creator to obsessing over solving the Zodiac case at he cost of his family and possibly his own safety. David Fincher directed this and does an excellent job of continually ratcheting up the tension and keeping the plot entertaining while never letting the film get bogged down by the the runtime. A true feat considering this film runs over two and a half hours. Although, just as in the real case, there is no tidy resolution, the film does not leave the viewer feeling cheated. A great film and successful entry in the true crime genre. Friday the 13th (2009)Another film I have seen before but not sat through for many years, this is the one horror remake that I actually enjoy. When I originally heard that Friday the 13th was being remade, I didn't have much hope for it as Hollywood had already destroyed Nightmare on Elm street and many others. This film hits the ground running and never lets up. There are gratuitous amounts of violence, nudity, sex, and gore that seem to never really stop for more than a few minutes. The plot only involves a guy looking for his sister and a group of college kids going to party at a lake house. No crazy origin stories or trying to explain what Jason is or why he kills everyone. Just a by-the-numbers slasher with throwaway characters and a plethora of inventive and grisly kills. Doctor Butcher M.D. (aka Zombie Holocaust) (1980)This film resembles Fulci's iconic Zombie almost to a tee, but with alot of added gore, and slightly less interesting plot. In New York, it is discovered a morgue worker has been eating bodies, and Dr. Peter (Ian McCulloch who ALSO appears in Fulci's Zombie) and Lori travel to an Asian island to investigate this strange outbreak of people eating corpses. The expedition begins to get offed in very gory ways as they try and uncover the mystery of the cannibals, who are also joined by zombies, all of which are being created and controlled by the evil Dr. Obrero. Once Lori becomes the queen of the cannibal tribe (not joking), she sends them to kill Dr. Obrero. Not a great film, but definitely heavy on the make-up effects as everyone who gets killed by the cannibals is disemboweled or ripped apart in increasingly inventive ways. Not for the squeamish as the blood never stops flowing once the rag-tag group of explorers hit the island. Worth a watch, but not pales in comparison to the superior Zombie, which it shamelessly tries to imitate, and fails. Demons (1985)This film starts off by a random woman being invited to a film screening by a creepy man in a half mask, and then abruptly gets a group of strange characters together at a theater for what they believe is a film showing. Soon one of the patrons becomes a demon, and anyone they scratch or bite becomes a demon as well. The survivors become trapped in the theater, and try to stay alive. This film actually is fairly effective and has such a unique and distinctly Italian style (synth music, close up gore shots, crazy colored sets, etc.), and is made all the better for it. Lamberto Bava, who directed this film, keeps the audience on its toes and doesn't let anyone, likeable or not, stay out of peril for long. The film showing on the screen in the theater mimics the demonic possession in the theater, and there was obviously a lot of thought put into the pacing of the film-within-a-film, and this works well. Definitely a recommended entry in the paranormal Italian gore sub-genre.
