31 Days of Halloween 2018

October 13:

  Dorm of the Dead (2006) Writer Director Donald Farmer brings us this loooooooow budget video gem about a zombie outbreak at a college. How can that happen you as. Well a professor at the school decides instead of telling the student he is sleeping with that the relationship is over he gives her zombie blood from Haiti which turns her into a zombie. She bite and then the people she bites bite and before you know it you have an outbreak. Allison (Adrianna Eder) and Sarah (Ciara Richards) are friends going to the school and unfortunately they laugh at the wrong girl, Clare (Jackey Hall) who also uses the zombie blood to change Sarah from vegan goth to meat eating zombie. This little act of revenge seems a bit over the top, as is most of this film. It has a story but the rough filming style and editing leave this in the not so good category. Add in what seemed many beginner actors and you have a film that is hard to get through. On top of that the hard rock shots of Sarah walking around looked to be added just to extend the films running time. To get some name recognition into the film they hired Tiffany Shepis to play Amy a woman turned into zombie who spend most of her screen time being a zombie. The film is a bit of a mess with scenes of nudity for nudity sake all from the point of view of the male eye. It is not well acted or directed or edited for that matter but it is a zombie film and this is the 31 Days of Halloween so it will have to do.

October 14:
Jack-O (1995) - Halloween is upon us and so it's time to view a film with the holiday in mind. The setting of a small Florida neighborhood on Halloween night is not necessarily the creepiest of settings but it will do for this story of a cursed family and a pumpkin headed demon seeking them out. Steve Latshaw made this unique attempt of a film with some skill but also some obvious money issues. Some unprofessional actors including I think his son as the lead child as well as a script that leaves even the professionals sounding flat; reducing this film from what could have been an entertaining independent horror film into a clunky attempt. Still somehow he managed to get some great horror actors like John Carradine, Linnea Quigley and Brinke Stevens to appear in the film. It is true the nature of Carradine and Stevens is unclear to me. Where they are featured in a film within the film it could be borrowed footage? Of course I over rate these actors because I do love me some low budget films and they are staples in those films. Quigley though playing the protective babysitter can't save this film. As stated above this film is not hapless. Latshaw creates a clear well defined mythology for the curse and even though I am pretty sure some of the logic of is it flawed; this writer is not willing to watch a second time to find the flaws. Still it was impressive that some of the actors in the film were bigger horror name people.Because the film is less than top quality it is even more impressive.
  The story goes as we see through some flashbacks that there was a wizard in the small town who was found out and killed. He cursed the town and in particularly the Kelly family. A monster called Jack-O terrorized the town in the early 1900s. Arthur Kelly managed to trap the beast in a shallow grave with a magical cross through the creature's heart. Then there is some stuff about the sixth son of Arthur could do the demon in for good and stop the curse but that seemed tacked on later in the film. So the Monster trapped under the ground for six generations is accidentally freed by a few partying teens and the killing starts anew. The Kelly family, the Dad, David (Gary Doles) a Halloween crazed fellow with a corny haunted garage knows the legend. As does his wife, Linda (Maddisen K. Krown) and son, Sean (Ryan Latshaw) In fact the whole town has the mythology down. It is part of what makes the film a bit interesting. Like the chant we hear in A nightmare on Elm St. this film does a nice job making the legend believable. It gave the film probably more potential than it may deserve. Everyone can recite the sayings around the pumpkin man and do somewhat regularly.
  The Monster a larger pumpkin headed fellow with a scythe as a killing tool is certainly menacing enough to fit the myth. Add to this the character of Vivian (Catherine Walsh) a descendant of the wizard who has come around to help end the curse. It all plays out as expected, derivative of other horror films and in the end just a routine film with low production values.
  The plot of the film after the killer is raised from the dead is a hunt and slash variety. Jack-O is drawn to young Sean Kelly the sixth generation Kelly. On the way he slices and dices his way through town folk with the intent to kill the kid that can extinguish the curse. A boy of about 10, Sean is going out trick or treating with his babysitter Carolyn (Linnea Quigley). As the killer moves through the town looking for Sean he is out walking, trick or treating. Eventually the family and Vivian realized the truth about the curse being alive and well and go out hunting for the kid also. There is not a lot more than that, run, hide, almost die, repeat. The kills are not very impressive with practical effects and stretegic cutting so not to show too much happening but more the effects of the violence. You see the scythe swing, then cut to it in the gut of the victim, then the face close upwith a blood spit. This is really where the low budget of the film shows itself. Latshaw knows how to shoot these scenes but the nature of the lower budget just does not make it the most satisfying scenes.What it does have is what seems a required Quigley shower scene and also a flash of breasts by the actress player her sister Rachel Carter. This writer would be the last person to say that these scenes add anything to the film.
  When we finally get to the the climax and we have the slowest burying alive scene in the history of film, it is an underwhelming and quick finish. Overall this film is not really up to par and can not get a recommendation from this blog. Too many flaws and lacking the biting satire or depth that could get a low budget film a recommendation. It really does not even have any humor except the unintended kind. So you can probably skip this film unless you are punishing yourself for something.

Femme Fatales Magazine

Femme Fatales Magazine was a B-Movie sci-fi horror magazine I read from the late 90s to about 06, So I was in my thirties and so very much into genre film at the time. I loved this magazine for the focus on small independent films filled with scream queens and horror and gore. When I first started reading it it was smaller and focus more in my interests but after 2003 or so it became more like Maxim or FHM and I started to lose interest. The wiki page in the link gives a nice concise history of the magazine. I would say though that for me it introduced me to some of my favorite horror actresses. Debbie Rochon, Tiffany Shepis, Brinke Stevens and too many others to name. It covered the independent horror scene in detail and with enthusiasm, giving the writers producers, directors and actors a forum to promote their work. Femme Fatales brought the actresses on board as writers giving an opportunity for these woman to not only be the object of the magazine focus in front of a camera but also contributor to the discussions behind. After the shift to a more objectifying presentation in 2003 I have to say I moved away from this  and my collection ends in 2006.  They got into the Sexiest Women's list and the such that all these teaser magazines were doing at the time and as entertaining as that can be it was not really why I was reading Femme Fatales.
Yeah yeah I know you want to know who the top ten sexiest women in 2006 were. It is ten years later and you have to wonder what they are up to now.
10. Sophia Bush -  At the time an actress on One Tree Hill and Nip Tuck she is a successful television actress who has a recurring role of Erin Lindsay on the Chicago Fire, Chicago med, Chicago PD and Law and Order Special Victims Unit. @SophiaBush
9. Amber Smith - Spokes-model and actress she gain fame through modelling and for a while was a very hot item. She was featured in Michelob Ultra amber lite beer campaign where she shuttled around the country doing promotions. She has acting career with regular gigs in soft pornish adult shows Sin City Diaries 2007 and Lingerie 2010.  Maybe a real account on Twitter? @AmberLeeSmith
8. Jessica Alba - Successful businesswoman and actress with the face of an angel. Recently watched her in The Veil (2016) which I have not gotten around to writing about. At the time of this list she was a 25 year old who just finished the first Frank Miller's Sin City (2005) film.
7. Masuimi Max - They list her claim to fame as being the world's most notorious German-Asian fetish model. Ten years later it seems her career is still oing strong Facebook page here and website here. @masuimimax
6. Stacy Fuson - At the time she was the St. Pauli Girl! She now describes herself as a Business Executive | Model | Actress | Entrepreneur | Philanthropist | Playboy Playmate | Poker Shark and is all over the social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and a website. This woman knows how to promote herself.
5. Emmanuelle Vaugier -  Fresh off a part in House of the Dead 2 this lovely lady came in the fifth position. This actress singer is still working hard in the industry. An actress and singer she can be found on Twitter, and her own website.
4. Ziyi Zhang - Having just been in several high profile films, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon(200), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) and 2046 (2004) she was and is a fine actress but at the time of the list was at a peak in recognition.
3. Charlize Theron - Probably still making sexiest women lists, she was in an off time with a couple not great movies in a row after the Oscar worthy performance in Monster (2003). Still she is one of the loveliest women around and recently is killing it with the awesome role of  Imperator Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). On Twitter
2. Scarlett Johansson - described at the time as America's most respected barely legal sex symbol, Scarlet's fame has certainly grown over the last ten years. She is massive at this point in her career and still if not more beautiful.
1. Angelina Jolie - Yeah you should have expected this one. So big she does not need to use social media she and husband Brad Pitt are in the entertainment news constantly. A little research and even a decade later she is making lists. These things are definately for the young and marketably hot at the time of construction. So where she has been more raising children than  selling herself we can understand her slipping to #72 in the recent FHM poll.

The Summer of Massacre (2012) Horror Slasher

The Summer of Massacre (2012)  When starting this film the first impression was that it was a student film, some aspiring computer effects artist experimenting with After Effects and trying different ways to layer and record the carnage that is on screen. It is really a poor film and one has to wonder if this film was done on a home computer in Joe Castro's spare time. There is no story structure in the wrap around that can be seen in the opening. As the film progresses and the wrap around is filled out and a theme comes through about serial killers who have escaped and are killing together in an LA warehouse, but the first visit is bizarre torture images police and bullets. Flashes of horrors in a semi animated layering of imagery which evokes feeling but does not really get one into a story. Then as I watched the film which is four stories one wrap around and three other stand alone it occurred that maybe this was an artistic surrealist take on the slasher anthology. An artistic collage that is designed to evoke emotion and leave the viewer to fill in the details of meaning. Where the computer effects were so equally bad and distributed through the film it makes you question that it was designed to be bad. Countered with some very effective practical effects you can see that there is some skill on the film. So to see such amateur computer graphic made it hard to believe that those cartoonish parts were anything but for some artistic purpose.  To sully out what was going on meant a second viewing with the director commentary turned on. Unfortunately that experience confirmed that there was no greater artistic merit to this film. The writers Joe Castro and the single named Schroeder and executive producer Steven J. Escobar really just wanted blood and guts. Castro learning the after Effects tool just did the best he could.

The first chapter after the opening is entitled "Rampage"and is the most puzzling of the set. A young muscular man, Chris (Tim A. Cooley) is assaulted while out jogging. Beaten and mutilated something goes wrong in his brain from the trauma which makes him get up and start killing. No explanations not plot about who or why just this beating turned him into a killing machine and we are subjected to at least a dozen kills each highlighted by some unique and poorly executed digital effects. Castro says in the commentary that he has always wanted to do a story that was just killing. Although there needs to be a reason to start he just wanted everything in the frame to be carnage. It is an interesting experience watching this film with the commentary on. The makers of this film really love what they have done. They believe the digital work to be good and laugh and congratulate Castro on it sincerely. You feel the love and enthusiasm come through as they discuss each kill and how they make it happen. It is a real counterpoint to the viewing experience of ridiculous kills and horribly unrealistic cartoon effects. It  goes to show that there is a wide gap between an the ideas and the journey of film making and the experiencing of the final project from the outside. Viewing this film it is hard to believe that there is an audience for it, and from the six IMDB reviews one could say there may not be. Of course such a small sampling should not make or break this film. It's 2.4 of 10 rating probably does not even phase the makers of the film. So you have to ask yourself, if you were part of creating something, really loved the process and the final product, how would you deal with it if it was panned when you presented it to the world? 
  The second chapter "Lump" is a complete tale about a hermaphrodite cripple Lori (Nick Principe) whose place in the family is despised by most of the members. A mother, Mrs Williams (Brinke Stevens) so tired of the constant care of the dying child that she hatches a plan to rid herself of the burden. Even though there is a new steroid treatment in effect she asks her daughter Beverley Ann (Lisa M. Garcia) to take the wheelchair bound sibling and dispose of her. She and her brother and a couple friends take Lori to a nearby park. When pushing her off a cliff  does not kill her there is a shift in the film as the steroid treatment changes the handicapped pariah into a being capable of seeking revenge. This is a very complete story probably the most coherent of the four.
Chapter three "Son of the Boogyman" is the story of Jesse (Jerry Angelo) who is telling the story of his Father the infamous murderer rapist the Boogyman (Scott Barrows) to his fiancee (Kimmarie Johnson) only to  find out during the telling that the killer is free and looking for him and his Mother (Tchia Casselle). What fallows is a superhuman or supernatural encounter with the hulking killer that can only end in death and destruction.
Chapter four "Burn" is a campfire tale come to life as firefighter lovers die together fighting a forest fire in the park the campers are holding there retreat. Sent to die by other firefighters in a hate crime that is hard to imaging the two are fused together from the heat and the curse created by their deaths has them wandering the woods looking for descendents and connected people to the crime so they can exact their revenge. Lisa (Lauren Boehm), Vinnie (Felipe Winslett), and Carmen (Justin Marchert) are the unfortunate campers who get to live out the curse.
The wrap around "The Warehouse" we cut too throughout the film as interviews with serial killers from prison, talking about the wonders of the kill and how much they love it. By coming back to this, filling in the pieces of who they are it changes the tone of the film. They, Richard Khan (Joe Manetti), George Vic (Bahram Khosraviani) and Dax (Dan Lovell) are the carnage creators in the beginning of the film and their outcome finishes the movie. Its a shame because their story is the least interesting and throws a pall over what are some inventive anthology entries. They are the least interesting but are the most built up. Who really cares what a serial killer is thinking or that they are destructing for the sake of destruction. Its boring and predicable as is the ending to their story with the obligatory naked female and no matter how beautiful her body it can not save this kind of story.
 In the end I would say that the story Lump is the best of the set and although it speaks to the nature of bullying and how the lesser of humankind are often the most harmed. Still even though some of the stories are decent ideas the execution of the digital effects takes the viewer out every single time. Its a shame because there is so much of those effects you really do not go a minute or two without them interrupting the flow of the film. So there is no recommendation for this film but maybe I will look at another Joe Castro experience, one before he discovered the magic of after effects.

Severe Injuries (2003) Horror Comedy

Severe Injuries (2003) - Melvin Hubble (Charlie Fleming) is a very unsuccessful serial killer, in overalls and a welders mask and toting a machete, in the first scene we see him chasing down a woman in the woods. Like in all classic slasher films she falls as he closes in ready to dismember her. Wait though she grabs a stick and attacks, the best defense is a good offense, she is successful in beating him silly and getting away. Melvin downtrodden from his failure has to tell his Dad (Bill Watt) of his failure and wonders aloud if he is suited for mass murder. It is the way of the family explains his father, a family tree full of lunatics but no relatives that were good at becoming mass murderers.  He humorously goes through several of the ancestors and even explains how he failed in his attempt at mass murder. When Melvin hands him the fork his Dad uses to accidentally electrocute himself on the toaster his father is so proud. His son killing him, things are looking up for the family. Now it is up to Melvin to carry on the family tradition of wanting to kill kill kill. You know from these opening scenes that this is a comedy based on slasher films.
It is not a film that will take itself serious and that light hearted direction is what makes this film fun to watch.  Off to the Ro Ro Ro (your boat) sorority for a weekend of partying and maybe murder. Its a Friday night and the girls at this college want to party, Suzie (Robyn Griggs), Tina (Stacey Bartlebaugh-Gmys) and Amber (Jenna Bull-Trombold) invite their guys over for a party. They will even include the older sorority sister Lauren (Amy Lynn Best) in their plans. This weekend they are trying to make their feminist literature Professor (Debbie Rochon is an amusing cameo) proud by following the lead of Lysistrata. Basically not allowing the men in their live to have sex for the weekend. The guys, Ed (Francis Veltri), Steve (Bill Hahner) and Brad (Michael Athey) as well as Ed's brother Neal (Bill Homan) can't be happy to learn that the party is going to turn into a night of popcorn and chick flicks. Of course that's not the only problem for the guys, and the girls for that matter. Stalking them all is Melvin and he is determined to finally be the killer his father always hoped for.
  It is important to point out now before I start talking about what I like and dislike that this is not a good film. It feels more like a bunch of friends getting together to have some fun spoofing slasher films.  I have a dilemma on one hand I really enjoy sort of poor horror if there is personality to it. On the other hand if I recommend a film that fits just my tastes and everyone hates it I lose credibility as the reviewer. So this film will probably have a low score but I thought it was kicks.  The sound quality is poor and the framing is not particularly interesting. The script is a bit juvenile with cartoonish characters and silly comedy.
That said I get a certain enjoyment from this type of film that no normal person should. I like it all, the father talking to Melvin about his less than stellar lunatic family, to Melvin's ridiculous stalking of people on the way to Ro Ro Ro, or the worst thing of all the house mother man dressed in drag playing the old lady. Seeing the "Moron's guide to the Clifford notes of Lysistrata I laughed. My daughter Joy watching with me just rolls her eyes and leaves the room but me I can't wait for the next bit. The twist of the two killers where every time Lauren seems to be making progress with Neal he needs to sneak off for a fresh attempt at a kill is great. Or the bit where one of the girls talks about the sorority's promises during the non-sexual paddling. You see my problem, most of this stuff is cute but not great. There are some intelligent exchanges between Lauren and Holly (Lilith Stabs) but most of the female characters are drawn to be ditsy young college girls. The guys as hormonal clods have just a poor development and really only Neal is even remotely intellectually astute, and he is a killer maniac. I guess if there is one thing that comes out of this film to take away it is the three rules of watching a chick flick with your girl. Even still writer Mike Watt needed to get the rules more defined than they were.
  The competing killers are funny and the idea is a solid one. Melvin probably the first sympathetic serial killer in film finally succeeds in his dreams of mass murder. Once he gets that first kill he really gets rolling too. In the end the house was really much more full of people than first thought as easily 6 additional bodies are shown in the climax even though those characters never existed. When the final girl Lauren finds her way to Holly's room she struggles for survival. Luckily for her her roommate rides her boyfriend in a cowgirl suit and with loaded six shooters. The final two scenes with the indomitable Lloyd Kaufman and Brinke Steven's (in her last shower scene ever?) were a cute addition. So you see I am torn, I really had fun with this film and have a soft spot for really independent no budget horror films. A lot of the ideas although cute are juvenile humor so most people will hate them. The lighting is almost non existent and the sound is poor but the crew seems to be having a good time. Still I think 70 percent of people who view this film will absolutely hate it.
Rating (3.7) 5.0 and up are recommended, some more recommended than others.