Deadly Blessing 81'

Deadly Blessing 81' Ernest Borgnine, Sharon Stone. After Wes Craven's Success of The Hills Have Eyes and Last House on the Left and before the height of his Nightmare on Elm St days, he helmed this multi-faceted, Isolated supernatural slasher, set in an Amish-type setting.

 A young pregnant Martha Schmidt(Maren Jensen) loses her husband in a farming accident, attempts to stay on the farm with the help of her friends Vicki and Lana (starring a young voluptuous Sharon stone and Susan Buckner). Vicki suffers her own hell after being trapped in the barn and battles nightmares of a spider and Lana tries seducing a curious Hittite, who was the brother Hittite turned wordly John Schmidt. The Hittites (as quoted from the film "Makes the Amish look like swingers") continue to torment these three woman with threats of vandalism and planting typical scares for the genre helmed by the screen captivating Michael Berryman, until they decide to fight back and arm themselves.

 The films third act transcends into the supernatural, and delivers more frightening tension than an average slasher with a sleep walking psychic, ghostly visitation and one hell of a shoot out that was not scene in Craven's films until this one. The ending rings a bell for exploitation fans of Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Borgnine's strong performance as the overbearing rule enforcing elder brings strength to the story, and his harsh way of dishing out punishment to even shunning his own people. A surprising 8/10. If you are a Craven completist or are tired of the regular late 70's early 80's slasher fair, this will be a breath of fresh air.

Twins of Evil 71'

A third Hammer entry in the blood thirsty and lust-flled Carmilla Karnstein story. Starring the always impressive Peter Cushing as a Witch Hunting Puritan who takes in his occult curious nieces (playboy playmates Mary Collinson and Madeleine Collinson)who live under his strict guidelines.

Fandom always appreciates Hammer productions for being moody, Gothic period pieces, some varying in budget from impressive to unconvincing. Twins of Evil,however shot in the 70's was way past Hammer's prime, yet comes out strong, more evil and showing more skin usual in a Hammer production.

Hammer's previous Karnstein entries,Vampire Lovers and Lust for a Vampire, were also showing more blood and skin than , adapting to the change of cinematic times, lesbian vampires could bring in more revenue then another Christopher Lee Dracula sequel.

With the Collinson twins upping the ante for sex appeal, and the atmospheric directing of John Hough (Legend of Hell House) Twins is a pleasing and strong third entry. As of 2012 Synapse release a gorgeous Blu Ray/DVD combo and fandom was finally satisfied. Prior viewing would have to be seen on VHS or a rough VHS to DVD transfer.

Zulawski's Possession 81'

Andrzej Zulawski's Possession, is arguably a daring masterpiece, a modern horror-drama that has rarely been imitated and revered as an intimidating, gut-wrenching; at a few moments stomach churning, piece of celluloid.

A distraught husband (Sam Nell) is certain his wife (Isabella Adjani) is having an affair. His investigation leads him on a downward spiral to an emotional breakdown, as he finds out the truth of his wife's actual were-abouts. The end result reveals a dark, evil realm of questions that no man should ever asked himself.

Adjani's award winning performance maybe (and I am not saying this lightly) one of the most disturbing performances ever filmed. This marital drama transcends paranoia and rejection and enters into a bizarre world of sickening horror that would turn most audiences stomachs and even drop the jaws of hardened horror viewers.

A must see for any fan of cult cinema or horror. Few films have come close to the disturbing content, save the earlier work of David Cronenberg (The Brood)

Horror Hotel aka City of the Dead 60'

Directed by John Moxey (Circus of Fear)

The always screen captivating Christopher Lee stars as an occult savvy Professor who leads a young student, Nan Barlow, into a haunted Massachusetts town called Whitewood, for the furthering of her knowledge in Witchcraft. Little does she know that she is the now a target for a virgin sacrifice.

Horror Hotel is ranked among classic horror films that are recognized for its dreadful atmosphere along with Wicker Man (also starring Lee), Blood on Satan's Claw and Witchfinder General.

Spoiler Alert. Similar to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho of the same year, the main female (and blonde of course) protagonist is stabbed within the first act of them film leading into a mystery of her whereabouts.

Amando De Ossorio's Return of the Blind Dead aka El Ataque de los Muertos Sin Ojos

Apparently Peter Jackson saw this wonderful Spanish horror film prior to filming the Lord of the Rings films. Revenge of the Evil Dead is the second installment in the "Blind Dead" Quadrilogy, helmed by low-budget Spanish Horror director/visionary Amando De Ossorio. The reason I am reviewing the second in the series and not the first film Tombs of the Blind Dead is simply because this is a stronger film in terms of story and pacing.

Tombs of the Blind Dead was so successful that De Ossorio continued the story of the "Blind Dead" with Revenge of the Evil Dead as a follow up. Revenge starts of with recycled footage from the first film telling the story of the Cult of Templar Knights and their quest from immortality by sacrificing and drinking the blood of a virgin woman. The towns people round up the Knights and burn out their eyes, "so they may never find the town again" and then incinerate them. Centuries later, the Knights are free and bring their revenge back on the same town, on a celebratory night, remembering the Templar Knights deaths. Then the film borrows tricks from Night of the Living Dead only with more betrayal amongst the cast of characters who are cornered in a locked church hiding from the evil knights. 

In the Lord of the Rings films, the Nazgul or the Ring Wraiths that obsessively hunted Frodo for the ring, looked so much like the Blind Dead Knights in Ossorio's films that the similarity is obvious. Even down to the weakness of both Nazgul and the Blind Dead Knights when concerning being scared of torches or being attacked by fire. 

Revenge of the Evil Dead is not a technically brilliant film in terms of cinematography or editing but it is worthy to make mention that great idea with sub-standard execution can influence a multi million dollar film franchise.

8/10

Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (72)

The title is a mouthful and a bit convoluted, however in the early days of Italian slashers (Giallo's) director Sergio Martino made a film that was head and shoulders above what was in Italy at that time. Your Vice is loosely based off of Edgar Allen Poe's The Black Cat starring the saucy thesp Edwige Fenech (a staple vixen for Giallo films), the abused wife Anita Stringberg and her villainous husband Luigi Pistilli.

A burnt out, writer/cheating husband humiliates his wife in front of guests during one of  his drunken parties then begins having hallucinations of his dead mother. The downward spiral of the inebriated husband becomes more unbearable as the wife becomes more afraid for her life, dead women start piling in the house and the police start questioning.  Fenech's role is a breath of fresh air to the cruel and foreboding atmosphere that looms over the villa. She plays a mysterious lovelorn and bi-curious character who brings unanswered questions from her past. The black cat plays his role admirably (named Satan) and the he plays the same plot device as Poe's story. Yet the "Black Cat" plays a red herring in this mystery for the viewer as well ,the storie's twist comes unseen as the victimized show their true deceptive motives.

 
Beautifully executed by Martino's masterful direction in a gorgeous Italian Villa. Martino's style is different then Argento's or Bava's surrealist approach to the genre nor is his violence as over the top as Lucio Fulci, Martino's focus on his stories is character struggle mixed with sensuality (see Strange Vice of Mrs.Wardh and  All the Colors of the Dark) Watch also for the hilarious placement of J&B bottles within the house. (Green J&B bottles are as much a character in Giallo films as a black gloved killer). 9 out of 10.

Grapes of Death 79' by Jean Rollin

My favorite Jean Rollin Film, rough and typical start for this French gorefest but the story picks up quick. Two young college girls travel by train to a lush country side, a mindless attacker, covered in sores, staggers into their train car, kills on of the girls and Elizabeth (the beautiful and late Marie Georges Pascal) barley escapes the train alive and runs to safety at a secluded farm house. She stumbles upon a farmer and his disfigured and dead wife and then he turns to attack her as well. The story precedes with an infected country side, due to pesticides in the vineyards, with tragic results to whomever drinks the wine from that area, becomes a savage undead killer. Good social commentary that we should ponder today about chemicals in our own foods today.

Decent cinematography mixed, fantastic gore and atmosphere and the sterotypical Euro-trash nudity make this Rollin film stand out from the rest of his catalog. Their is an unforgettable graphic scene of a woman being nailed to a door, then decapitated while screaming, that will surely stick with you. Very bleak and ambiguous ending. If you have seen Dawn, Day, Night and Zombi 2, you will really enjoy this.8 out of 10

CURTAINS 83'

Curtains, a virtually unknown Canadian slasher by a virtually unknown cast and crew, well the director was the cinematographer on one of the Ilsa of the SS films.

This almost forgotten film finally has received it's proper treatment to Blu Ray, Curtains was kept in hiding for years on VHS to DVD transfers and talked about in small circles. The bleak winter atmosphere, creepy dolls on rainy back woods roads, a killer in an old woman mask with a sickle and a scary mental breakdown performance by Samantha Egger (The Brood).

An overbearing director charges six beautiful women to stay with him in his dark secluded mansion  for the weekend to bear everything in an audition for a role in his upcoming film. Jealousy ensues and the women back stab and betray each other until they die off one by one. The lavish death scenes are cruel, like a Giallo and the pace is formidable for a slasher, but the unconventional twist at the end demands a re-watch to follow characters motives.

Curtains was shot in 81 and released in 83 but it feels like a mid-70's horror film, in terms of atmosphere and cinematography. 8 out of 10

Top 70's Horror

There are easily a good 100 or so horror films from the 70's that can overthrow most modern horror in terms of suspense, gore, social commentary, innovativeness and most of all atmosphere.

There are the obvious 70's horror films like John Carpenter's  Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Exorcist then there are the 2nd tier of 70's horror like Black Christmas, George Romero's Martin, and Suspiria.

Hollywood has laid waste to most of these good names with remakes, rehashes and re-hacks that most common horror viewers are unaware that The Hills Have Eyes, Last House on the Left or The Crazies are remakes.

My unconventional top 70's horror is as follows (By unconventional, I mean you might not have heard of it)

Blood Spattered Bride (72)- Carmilla Karnstein story, A newlywed wife undergoes twisted sexual abuse from her perverse husband and feels trapped. She stumbles (in the most odd introduction of characters) upon Carmilla, a forgetful and lost, beautiful young woman who brings dominating sexual and bloody havoc to the household. Strong surreal moments and excessive blood letting, unpredictable ending very impressive for the early 70's. Highly recommended 10 out of 10. A perfect horror film in every sense.

Shockwaves (77)- The quintessential Nazi Zombie film, starring Peter Cushing. A boat is shipwrecked on a seemingly deserted island, that is the old experimenting grounds of SS killing machines. They awake from their slumber and kill again. Fantastic cinema photography, the suspenseful build up to the killings is treated as fair and intelligent to the viewer, equivalent to Carpenter's delivery in Halloween. The ending is very disturbing and leaves a grim feeling, superior film that deserves more attention. 8 out 10.

Rabid (77)- Another David Cronenberg gore-fest. Adult star Marilyn Chambers under goes radical plastic surgery after a motorcycle accident then its all "body-horror" meets Night of the Living Dead. Odd deaths that involve a tentacle from the armpit. Comparable to Romero's The Crazies with trigger-happy Military vs.Quarantined Citizen. Chambers proves her acting abilities outside the adult world as the terrorized and unknowing murderess. 9 out of 10.

Let's Scare Jessica to Death (71)- Early 70's ghost story, is Jessica loosing her mind? Beautiful cinematography, thick atmosphere that you can cut with a knife and a haunting minimalistic score.. A post mental Jessica and a few friends getaway to the country in a creepy house with an orchard that needs upkeep. They find a beautiful seance-loving hippy squatting in their new house and the towns people are scabby octogenarians that pose an immediate threat. Gorgeous film, atmosphere with a capital "A". 10 out of 10.

Tourist Trap (79) - Early David Schmoeller (Puppet Master) peculiar night-time slasher,sick drive-in horror finally on DVD. Originally and inappropriately released as a PG film. Stranded teens encounter help from a local man (Chuck Conners) and take lodge at his creepy wax museum and have a run-in with his demented brother, a maniacal telekinetic mannequin hording-villain, unlike anything ever scene in horror. Weird and unique death scenes, bizarre ending that stuck with me for years. 9 out of 10.

 

Silent Night, Night Bloody (74)- Crazy people used to reside in an old house, have they resided there all these years? Watch for the beautiful sepia toned asylum flashback. The House on Haunted Hill remake lifted this scene. 7 out of 10.

Isle of the Damned (76) aka Who Can Kill a Child. Hitchcokian elements inspire this evil child horror film. Low on gore, heavy on suspense.  The first documentary style segment is unnecessary however the film build and builds as the town closes in on the unsuspecting couple. 8 out of 10.

Baba Yaga (73)- AKA The Devil Witch. A young female photographer cross paths with Baba Yaga, the mythos of an evil witch, at 3AM on a foggy night in a  grimy cab (not spooky at all) . After wards the photographer's camera becomes cursed and is an object of murder. Poor dubbing, great imagery, cool concept of photographs within the story telling. Very psychedelic. 8 out of 10.

Daughters of Darkness (71) Harold Kumel directs this big budget, Vampire, Euro-Horror with a classy finesse, more dialogue driven and focusing on the drama and turmoil of another married couple with a Countess that comes in between their marriage. 9 out of 10.

Vampyres (75) Part Vampiress Gothic-Horror and part lesbian-erotica. Two beautiful young females lure men and women back to their castle to commit seduction and murder. Gained a cult following. Great restored copy by Blue Underground. Not for the Squeamish. 9 out of 10.

Private Parts (72) One of the most strange love scenes in any film ever, (spoiler, man + blow-up doll) but don't let that scare you.  Paul Bartel's Private Parts is a creepy hotel horror with even creepier tenants, more of a bizarre character study than actual scares. Great restoration and much better than Howard Stern's film Private Parts. 8 out of 10.

Torso

This particular Italian slasher features a large roster of beautiful college girls that get killed off particularly quickly, with little time for any character development or attachment. But Torso sets it self higher than most other films of this nature. The killer, a dapper and perverse psychopath, donned with a gray ski mask and a handsome silk neck scarf creatively eliminates each victim in the oh-so elegant ways of murder that the scenes are gore-tacular artistry.What makes Torso stand out amongst slashers films with the same premise is the odd camera angles and perspectives, which could have been an influence on John Carpenter for Halloween and I think even more so for Alexander Aja's High Tension. Halloween is praised for its credit for what it did for slasher films but I think credit should established to Italian director Sergio Martino ( Your Vice, All the Colors of the Dark) .

Concerning the blood and gore of the film, for 1973, hack-sawing limbs off of dead corpses and close ups of blood pools slowing draining in the muddy water while a minimalistic score seems pretty bold for the time and place of where this film was in the world of horror. Fortunately, the recent release of Torso on DVD may increase popularity along with the rise of in popularity of the Giallo genre, one would hope a 70's gem like this could be talked about in the next decade as one of the great contributors to horror. 9 out of 10

Pete Walker's Frightmare

 

After watching hundreds of horror films you become desensitized to well, just about everything, the only good that could come out of horror desensitization is when you see a good horror film, that actually IS good you say, "well dammit, I should tell someone about this one." Frightmare was a treat. Any film about cannibalism should either not take it self seriously or freak the hell out of you but Frightmare was directed, with a bit more finesse and written and acted so well that not only was it taking the subject matter very seriously but it had a simmering tension that came to a conclusive ferocious boil at the end. I have become a recent fan of British horror director Pete Walker, with The Confessional, House of the Whipcord and the wonderfully disturbing Schizo and I love all of his films. 8 out of 10.

 
Pete Walker is a criminally underrated master of horror or better yet, horror-dramas. His films usually are lengthy, a bit wordy and are shot with a by the numbers standard but the way he tells his stories with editing and how the actors flesh out the complex scripts mixed with great scores make each and every one of his films something to be sought after. Frightmare is a great start to his catalog but another gem to be held on par is his psycho-thriller masterpiece Schizo.

Black Belly of the Tarantula

1971 was a good year for the Giallo genre. All Giallo films have the haunting score, a good majority by  Ennio (genius) Morricone, and most Giallo's have the bold camera tricks, black gloved killers, colorful back drops, excessive blood-letting and oh-so-beautiful victims, but director Paolo Cavara (Mondo Cane) had the right elements with the film to make it one of the best of the genre.

The story's perspective isn't the typical Hitchcockian framed man caught in the middle of a murder while proving his innocence but instead follows a brooding inspector, who lost heart in his profession, yet follows the killer's bloody trail. The victims are viciously killed by being debilitated with a poisonous needle in the back of the neck and then cut open by a scalpel in the stomach. Black Belly has the right elements to transcend similar films within the genre by its ominous and hypnotic tone. The atypical cheese that comes with 70's European horror films is not present and the end leaves you feeling melancholic. (Which was also present concerning context in Dirty Harry of the same year) If you like Hitchcock or even the 70's films from Brian De Palma you should start you Giallo viewing with this particular film. 9 out 10.

Lady in a Cage

In the early 60's Hollywood churned out films that would fall under the title of "hag-horror" or older women-in-peril films. The genre's explosion began with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and most of those films starred the aged and heavy handed Joan Crawford (Straight Jacket). Lady in a Cage was the lesser known of the genre but the social commentary that it held then, still holds an impact now. The violence and mean-spirited villian's were an an exaggeration of what society could be like in a world where people turn a blind eye to blatant crimes of violence in broad daylight.

The old woman in peril (Olivia DeHavilland) viciously battles mental abuse and physical attacks from a Preaching Wino, a Aged Prostitute and three grimy beatnik hoodlums (one of them being a young and handsome James Caan) while imprisoned in her own house, in an elevator (the cage) on a hot summer afternoon. Films like these spawned into a more bizarre type of films called "roughies" in which the damsel in distress became a young beauty instead of easy targeted elderly.  Notable "Roughies" were Bad Girls go to Hell and Defilers which pushed sex and violence towards women even further. 9 out of 10

Cult Italian Siren Edwige Fenech

Edwige Fenech, the gorgeous Italian, raven haired, doe-eyed, Christmas Eve born beauty, has been a great contribution to Italian horror films and thrillers and even a few Euro sex-comedies since the early 70's. Her striking features have captivated European audiences for years and finally in the wake of her films being released on DVD (in the past 10 years) American audiences are being swept away as well. Fenech came out of retirement and got face time in a short cameo in Eli Roth's Hostel 2.

Edwige's wide range of characters varies from a damsel-in-distress, sultry temptress to a voluptuous villain-ess. In most cases within her roles the character is in various states of undress with psychedelic backgrounds and trippy music that was common place in Italian horror. It is rumored that Italian director Sergio Martino had a difficult time working with Fenech, not at her fault, but at the cast and crew around her, her apparent beauty would make the cast and crew nervous.  Let's give her a 10 out of 10 also.

Select Filmography:

Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh
Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I have the Key
All the Colors of the Dark
Case of the Bloody Iris
The Seducers
Strip Nude for Your Killer
Giovanni: Long Thigh
Hostel 2

Give it to the Italians!

Giallo's are unlike anything else in the world or horror.

The rich colorization, hyper-editing, odd camera angles'& POV's, beautiful woman, psychedelic murders, non-linear story telling and red herrings and oh, the titles of the films, the titles alone are a story on there own. Combining these rich artistic elements can either make a normal horror viewers head spin and shake your fist at the screen or only cry out for more.

The Godfather of this movement came from Mario Bava. He exploded on the scene in 1960 with moody and thick atmosphere black & white supernatural masterpiece Black Sunday, then moved into rich color and lighting with Black Sabbath and Blood and Black Lace. These films had the suspense of a Hitchcock film but also incorporated a level of Art House horror by paying attention to special set and lighting details.

In 1970 Dario Argento, who was heavily influence by Bava, redefined the Giallo films with Bird with the Crystal Plumage. The financial success of that film created a frenzy of Italian film makers to shoot more colorful and gory films. Which launched the success of other Italian film-makers such as Sergio Martino and Lucio Fulci and then later Lamberto Bava (son of Mario) and Michele Soavi, who many credit his film Dellamorte Dellamore 1994 to be the last of the true Giallo films.

 Thanks to the cult following of these films, many of the reputable films have been beautifully transferred to DVD and and have come out of obscurity. Now, Giallo fans can clutch onto copies of their favorite Italian Slashers that have the clarity and color treatment those films deserve.

Recommended Giallo's and Supernatural Italian Horror.

Black Sunday
Black Sabbath
Blood & Black Lace
The Whip and the Body
Twitch of the Death Nerve
Bird with the Crystal Plumage
Cat O' Nine Tales
Four Flies on Grey Velvet
Suspiria
Inferno
Tenbre (Unsane)
Opera
Two Evil Eyes
Macabre
Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only Have the Key
The Strange Vice of Mrs.Wardh
Case of the Scorpion's Tail
Case of the Bloody Iris
All the Colors of the Dark
Black Belly of the Tarantula
Torso
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times
Seven Blood Stained Orchids
Who Saw Her Die?
What Ever Happened to Solange?
The House with Laughing Windows
Short Night of the Glass Dolls
The Beyond
A Lizard in a Woman's Skin
Don't Torture a Duckling
Stagefright
The Church
Dellamorte Dellamore