Salem Horror Fest 2021 - Miracle Valley

 

Miracle Valley (2022) - Writer, Director and Actor Greg Sestero brings us a tale that he says is influenced by Race with the Devil (1975) and the story of couples on vacation, who run into a blood cult does run along the lines of the older film where two couples on vacation in a Winnebago see a satanic cult sacrifice and then have to run for their lives. Miracle Valley has a bit more to it and was quite enjoyable as a kickoff title for this year's festival. David (Sestero) and Sarah (Angela Mariano) are a couple whose relationship is in flux, Sarah having trouble dealing with her mother's terminal illness is stressed and recently had to get psychological help for the stress. David is waiting for the right time to call off the relationship but feels now is not it. A photographer trying to make a name for himself David is invited to the Arizona desert to try to get a photo of a rare silver hawk, that could make his career. Once there having met up with friends Scott and Jade and later another couple of friends find more than they bargain for after meeting a biker, preacher, couples counselor and cult leader Father Jake (Rick Edwards).  To remain spoiler free I will leave the plot of the blood cult and just talk about things that struck me during the film. Let's just say there is more too it than initially thought but unlike Race with the Devil where the threat grows and so does the characters paranoia in this film it feels the paranoia never develops and the main character never seem to really have to discuss it. Also unlike RWTD this film is not a road chase film with tons of high priced stunts. In that film we never really know the cultists they are just this dangerous threat, but in Maricle Valley we get to know them quite well. Instead it just takes some surprising and shocking, if predicted turns into crazy-ville. Compared to it's influence I like that the female characters have a hell of a lot more agency that Loretta Swift and Lara Parker in RWTD.

  The plot was fun in that it had several little turns and surprises including a cold open that came back into play in a big way later with the character Erika (Louisa Torres). The relationship troubles worked to setup a bit of tension that facilitates Sarah being taken in with Father Jake and allowing him to build trust with her. The silver hawk hunt gets them where they need to be and the added couples raise the body count. It all worked to get the film into gear. The music in the beginning and the a scene at the end really gave me a Tarantino vibe whether intentional or not.  The film sounds good throughout and the horror cues were pretty right on.  Later the crazy cult twins Ellie Smith and Amy Smith, playing Mira and Kelly did their best Manson girls imitations was kind of fun to watch. There were a couple cheap jump scares but that is perfectly alright. The film appeared to be filmed primarily in Arizona but Sestero says he was thrilled to be able to use Frank Lloyd Wrights falling waters house in Pennsylvania for a scene at the end of the film. It's harder to comment about the acting, or if some of the writing put me off but it felt a bit uneven to me. Much of the film is carried by Edwards as Father Jake, but at times I was the wished for a more likable personality that turns dark and threatening. It may be that the introduction he had was the opposite, a threatening manner that quickly turned gentle after seeing Sarah. He also have to turn on the charms later but some of the friendly stuff, even though I knew there was menace behind it didn't come through as evil as I wanted it to be. Overall I enjoyed the film so even though I did not stay around to talk to the film makers, (too tired)  and it was a great start to the Salem Horror Fest

The Shrine (2010) Horror Demon

The Shrine (2010) - The film opens with an American traveler strapped down and then brutally sacrificed in a ritual. That quick little start without back story or character development is all that is needed. The next sequence explains it all and sets up the film including the character development needed to get the players where they need to be. Carmen (Cindy Sampson) is an aspiring journalist at a small paper  who has been shunted to the community interest section after stepping on too many toes. She is driven, the kind of reporter who does not give up on a story and this gets her in trouble. It has also strained her relationship with her boyfriend Marcus (Aaron Ashmore), a photographer who wants her to be more present in their relationship when they are together. Carmen not excited about writing about missing bees works in secret with her intern Sara (Meghan Heffern) on a story about missing travelers in Europe, explaining the first scenes. She and Sara recruit Marcus to travel with them to Poland to investigate the area our opening scene victim vanished. Armed with his journal and a whole lot of moxie the trio do one of the scarier things for most Americans, they head to a foreign country to an area where they will not be welcomed. This outer threat is a good way to put the audience on edge.
  Eric Taylor the hiker who disappeared mentions in his journal that there is a strange fog near the village he was visiting at the time of his disappearance. With this knowledge our leads know they are in the right place. The initial trips into the fog were great creepy things. The statue a demon holding a heart is well designed. Carmen after venturing into the fog to find Sara comes across it and there is a nicely chilling scene of her investigating. Both Sara and Carmen make it out of the fog separately and both have seen the statue. This is significant that the two women see the idol but not Marcus and as the story progresses it all becomes clear.
  Children leading you around in a strange place where you can't speak the language should be frowned upon whenever traveling. Our group fresh from the fog are lead by the little girl Lidia (Julia Debowska) to the body of the missing hiker. Going down the dark shed to a place where they could be trapped is never the smart thing.
"Hey guys Eric has to be in one of these"  (didn't like that line)
 They find him and he has a mask with the same symbol of the church. Lidia vanishes and locked them in. The scene does a few things which is always a positive thing in screenwriting. First it reconciles the search for the hiker, he is found and the group can report him dead. Second it adds knowledge about the mask; it attaches to the face deeply so its a spiked mask like in the great film Black Sunday (1960). In that film the masked placed on a witch played by Barbara Steele as a why to trap her evil spirit in the body. Knowledgeable film goers now have a hint about this film. Third it keeps the players in one place long enough to allow the townspeople to catch up to them, making the next chase scene possible. This really is how to approach screenwriting, make your scenes settle something, give some new information and set up something. I always appreciate it when this happens and this film is smartly written by Jon Knautz.
The capture sequence includes another thing I liked but may have accidentally foreshadowed the outcome for some of the character. Carmen apologizes 40 minutes into the film usually that does not happen until it is too late. So what will happen to Carmen. hmmm.
Some of the village back in time things is also a bit weird. I get that these are people who want to stay out of the larger world. They have a secret to hide and don't want strangers coming around. Still some of the clothes and technology implies they never have contact with the outside world. One would imagine there is still need for commerce. Some interaction with the world have to be possible. There is after all a government in Poland. Why is Henryk (Trevor Matthews) using an antique cross bow?
  Brought to the priests, who stares them down. I like that all the polish and there is no translation so they really do not know what is going on. The girls separated from Marcus are brought back down underground and are stripped of their cloths (awful lot of ripping there) so sacrificial dresses that match the coffin people can be put on them. Sara is brought to the alter while Carmen is caged. There is another really good thing going on here as we see Sara the first into the fog is having some really creepy hallucination. The change in her was signified by her vomiting which also foreshadowed the same problem for Carmen.  Set up like poor Eric from the opening she sees monster faces around her Now we see a fuller view of the mask and its worth the wait. We are also starting to understand what is going on. While this is going on Marcus gets to dig his own grave, one of the villagers is questioning their behavior. There is some doubt for the first time that not everyone agrees with there actions.
Slamming spiked masks onto people is really not the way to attract tourists. They will fight back and this is what Marcus does. He manages not only to free himself but Carmen too. Now we are primed for the final sequence. Carmen is throwing up and hallucinating, something in the ether? Chosen so now her body is getting ready? Shouting in English to people who don't understand it is always something that never works. Carmen is seeing demons now so I don't think she is getting out of this. Carmen is freaking out a bit while Marcus is trying to get the keys to a families truck. Shaking house and demons with everyone she looks at. Little kid says she has seen the statue which I am not sure needed to be revealed. At this point the astute audience member could be piecing it together. but I guess the writer felt it was not clear enough. So seeing the statue is what causes the hallucinations and as we see a lot more.
 Significance of rain brings the final third of the film, a classic trope that I notice every time it is used.  The final scenes fighting the demon are great for not being in English.  Really a strength of the film to leave the characters guessing through their circumstances at what they should be doing or trying to relay to those around them. The good demon fight at the end with casualties and close calls all around was really enjoyable.   Henryk who to this point seemed like an antagonist finishes it with Marcus help. The storm ends and the plot is finished.  Next day we learn that Henryk  knows some English and I am begging the screen for him not to try to explain to Marcus about the fog. I have all I need in this story. It is complete and I get it. Let there be a bit of mystery. It is good the explanation was short and in broken English saving me from ridiculing the ending. It is painful when a plot must be was felt to need an explanation when it is over. That should have happened during the film. In this case it was short enough not to detract from what was an enjoyable film. So Even though the IMDB is a bit hard on this film only a 5.6; I give it a hardy recommendation. There is a lot in both the writing and directing by Knautz that really works well. The acting is good and the story very well drawn.

Nothing Left to Fear (2013) Horror Cult

Nothing Left to Fear (2013) - The attraction to this film came primarily from the fact that it was produced by Slash who also had a hand in the music. Probably not the best reason to seek out a film. The story itself is one of those "this is why you can't trust small town America" stories. The town has a dark secret and the new arrivals are of course going to be the targets. The first story like this I remember is The Dark Secret of Harvest Home (1978) with Bette Davis and Rosanna Arquette. The final twist on that one really made it clear that moving to the country was for fools. In this film it is Minister Dan (James Tupper) and his family who are the unsuspecting targets of small town malice. His loving wife Wendy (Anne Heche) two daughters Rebecca (Rebekah Brandes) and Mary (Jennifer Stone) and son Christopher (Carter Cabassa) have no idea that they are part of a long line of sacrificial families. What seems like a struggle to adjust to a small town and the bordom that comes with it soon becomes a fight for survival.

  The story centers around a set of rituals that unfortunately were poorly explained in the film. The current minister Pastor Kingsman (Clancy Brown) and his flock have a ritual that satisfies a demon in their midst. At one point he says that there are no angels to fight this demon so they must do what is necessary to sate it's hunger. This involves blood rituals to call the demon into poor Mary who once possessed will hunt down and kill her family. Like in the film Jug Face (2013), the mythology is left sketchy at best, I guess not wanting long expository dialog to try to fill out the myth they went with this is how it is accept it. It is always hard to accept with something so crazy. In Jug Face the use a pit in the woods to heal the community even though they could get care in town, with the negative side that they regularly have to sacrifice members of the community to the pit to keep it happy. In this film we have a community feeding unsuspecting outsiders to the demon instead of reaching out to the Vatican or what ever and getting help. Its always hard for a city dweller like me to understand why anyone would live in small town America anyway. Always portrayed as insular and singular in their approach to the world, having a real lack of knowledge of diversity of cultures. It makes you wonder why anyone stays. Every scene in these small towns make then look boring and uninteresting.
  Once the plot becomes clear and poor Mary starts doing her deeds, the townspeople huddle in their homes marked in lambs blood like Moses in the old testament had the Jews mark their doors. They will not help because they are willing to sacrifice outsiders to protect themselves. How very Christian of them. Rebecca being led through her part in the ritual by hunky Noah (Ethan Peck) seems to be fleeing but in the end is lead to the final ritual place by her new boy friend. When the cycle completes leaving the orphan Rebecca in the community we realize that this will happen again. The last scene with the newly arriving sacrificial family is a corny add on not really needed.

  Overall this film took way too long to develop running time is 100 minutes and for most of that we have the introduction to the family and small town creepiness. The creepiness comes from the fact that there are really only three people in the town who take the time to get to know the new family. Considering that they town folk know these are lambs to slaughter it makes sense but you would think the family would notice how they are being shunned. When we finally get to the mostly unexplained demon possession you have to wonder how this ritual was built up over the years. Was it Pastor Kingsman who realized there was a demon? Human sacrifice seemed like the thing to do about that? When was the first episode of cutting  and doing the blood ritual to raise the demon? Why not avoid raising the demon, does it come anyway? How did this start? Considering how much time they spent boring the audience with small town family life you would hope they would have explained something about the origins of this creature and how they came to know what steps to take to deal with it.  After the ritual ends and the one family member is welcomed into the new town. Why the fuck is she not finding every gun she can and blowing the heads off these assholes who just killed her entire family? So many questions are left by this story that it is not very satisfying. So I can't really recommend this film as it left me a bit pissed off at the lack of realistic responses to the situation.

Satan's Blood (1978) Horror Cult

Satan's Blood (1978) - "Escalofrio" The opening scene of Satan's Blood has little to do with the film's main story other than to establish the precedent that Satanic cults have rituals and that those rituals involve sex and murder. It has no bearing on the plot at all. The woman is forced onto the alter and the old horny priest kneads her breasts like dough and then mounts and fucks her until he stabs her in the chest. This really is an artifact of the type of film it is. When horror films became popular in the 1970's in Spain where this film was made, many were co-produced with other countries, particularly Italy. Strict Spanish censorship kept many from being screened in Spain at all or the versions were chopped up to make them clean. When the dictator General Franco died in 1975 within two years censorship was abolished and a new class of movie was developed the "Clasificada S". It meant that the film contained strong sex scene violence and horror. "Satan's Blood" is one of those movies, lots of sex, bursts of bloodshed but placed in a way that could be edited out for markets that did not allow such scenes, and yet the story could somewhat hold together. Produced and Directed by Juan Piquer Simon who is famous for the slasher "Pieces", this earlier work has some very promising parts to it. -- paraphrased from Peter Tomb's description in the Mondo Macabro DVD extras.

The story concerns a couple, "The As" Andy (Jose Maria Guillen) and Annie (Mariana Karr) in the dubbed version I have. The film makes a point to let us know Annie is pregnant and later that they have had a miscarriage in the past. So one would think that this was important information. They are looking for something to do for the weekend and while out are flagged down in there car by another couple, Bruno (Angel Aranda) and Mary (Sandra Alberti). Bruno seems to know Andy from school but Andy can't remember him. They are invited to come out for drinks at Bruno's house and agree to follow them there. At the house there seems to be inconsistencies in Bruno's story but Andy is still taken with the couples friendly attention. Strange that Andy and Annie's current address is on the back of the school photograph. the hosts are a bit off but not startling so. What is even weirder?

1. There is a guy other than the gate keeper roaming about the house trying not to be seen.

2. Mary has an amazing gaze that can mind control the dog Blackie.

3. When Annie comes into the kitchen she finds Mary bent over the counter her head in a bowl eating what appears to be raw meat without her hands. That's weird, and making dog noises. It leaves you thinking that she may be a werewolf or something.

They start talking about talking to the beyond with the Ouija board. Everyone is open to the idea as it seems like it might be fun. At this point pregnant Annie has been drinking wine and smoking, I guess it was not the same approach to pregnancy then as it is now.

By the dreadful day of judgement.

By the four beasts before the thrown.

Having eyes before and behind.

By the fire which is about the thrown.

I command thee to grace us with your presence, to enrich our poor souls, to take us into your heart.

Talk to us O powerful one...

The seance brings out some personal information about both Bruno and Annie and ends with Annie fainting. When she comes to they are going to leave but the storm outside they will have to stay the night. Another nudity scene is interjected and then we get to Andy thinking about the photograph. Going over the points in Bruno's story that don't make sense. They hear Blackie their dog and then we see that the thing is dead and being dragged by someone outside. Strangely though that night Annie is awake late and hears the dog again, she gets up and goes downstairs only to run into the stranger, who promptly tries to rape her. Since all she has over her lovely thin body is a bathrobe he comes damn close before being kneed in the balls. This is it for our couple so they dress to leave. When they get to the living room they see the couple in the middle of a ritual, nude in a pentagram. They somehow get enchanted and there starts a long night of foursome sex. You can see the magic in the air as they are all rubbing oil on each other and doing satanic rituals. It doesn't seem to go completely right, Mary after having Bruno blood smeared on her abdomen screams a frightful scream.

Seeming to have forgotten all of the nakedness Annie the nurse by trade tends to Mary only going off with Bruno to look for something to give her. Mary back in the bedroom with Andy makes her move so that Annie will walk in as she is passionately kissing him. Create conflict in your duped couple, this is a smart idea. Divide and conquer to keep them from leaving together. When Andy goes after his pissed wife Bruno and Mary go at it making animal noises. The strange rapist wanna be watches Bruno from outside but the gatekeeper comes up behind him and kills him.

Insert a dream scene where a creepy doll walks into the room and Mary in a shear black nightie tries to seduce Annie and you have the makings of a freaky night.

Everything conspires to keep the A's at the house including Bruno and Mary taking their car and going to town to drop there own car at the shop. They arrive back to find the slightly pissed of A's who have been snooping around. They made it up to an upper room where they found a picture of themselves. Something is definitely not right and they are getting out of there. They do not even remember the photo being taken. Bruno of course pulls a wire in the car so they are going no where. Where the hell is that dog too?

There are some really freaky scares and it gets really out in the open after the moment where Mary's shadow scares the shit out of Annie and then they see Blackie hanging dead in the pantry. Annie has had it and a lot of the veneer goes off the other couple. They are in the other room when we hear a gunshot. Bruno is injured in the head. They watch him die. Mary goes off on a moped before they know it and returns with a doctor who accuses Andy of killing Bruno. He orders the As to stay and await the authorities and leaves. They are not sure what to do next but when they realize they have not seen Mary in a while they find her slit wrists in the tub. Putting her in a bed she suddenly pops upright and in a demon voice says she is not dead yet, kill me kill me. Andy stressed at this point does just that???

We move toward a climax and a as Andy and Annie go to leave. Mary is there dead and standing with a gun, the struggle for the gun and Andy kills the woman again. They stage it like she is still in the tub, why? Who the fuck knows at this point. Again they go to leave except now we see Bruno's body is no longer on the couch. They get to the car but have to go back for Annie's purse. Bruno is there back from the dead, Annie shoots his ass. Then the freak doll... bang, then a scream from beyond the grave and the doors of the house start slamming shut. They find the body parts of the wannabe rapist and then get out of the place.

When they arrive home there is one more climax scene which leaves you thinking that maybe they we dead all along. Nothing ever came of the baby in the oven thing and the film does a twilight zone final shot that leaves you perplexed. Overall for what it is it is a reasonable confusing film but one that it not terrible. If only it made just a bit more sense. Maybe Andy and Annie were already dead and this is some sort of private hell. Suicide played a part in the personal stories of both Bruno and Mary, so maybe they were ghosts playing a part in that hell. Certainly the violent ending scene and then the one to follow could support such a hypotenuse. The nudity scenes are plentiful and the people are attractive to look at. If you like that then you are in luck, at least with the cut I am reviewing here. This is really a borderline recommendation because I can see a lot of you really hating this. There era though produced so many more horrible films than this.

Rating (5.5) 5.0 and up are recommended.

The Devil's Plaything (1973) - Horror Vampire

The Devil's Plaything (1973) - "Der Fluch der schwarzen Schwestern" Also known as Veil of Blood or Vampires Ecstasy. A rather sleazy erotic horror film that tells an at least semi interesting story between its scenes of swaying topless acolytes and lesbian suggestive interactions. 1970's erotic film master Joseph Sarno gives us not a great film, hell maybe not a good film but a film that is competent and complete but is really for those with a taste for this kind of thing. There is lots of nudity mostly in the form of swaying cultist as they do their spells.
The story is that at a castle in Germany there is a cult that wants to bring a vampire Countess back into the world by allowing her soul to posses one of the two beautiful young descendants that have been lured to the castle. Helga (Marie Forsa) and Monika (Ulrike Butz). Monika is accompanied by her cross dressing companion (Flavia Keyt), they are surprised when they learn they can not share a room. It was really thrown into the script so I threw it in here too. The fact that they are lesbians only serves the purpose that later on the character played by Flavia joins the cult to support her companion. Shortly after those three arrive a storm picks up and Dr. Julia Malenkow (Anke Syring) and her brother Peter (Nico Wolferstetter) arrive, saying their car has broken down. There is a look that passes between the housekeeper Wanda (Nadia Henkowa) and the superstition studying Julia. Did they really break down?

That night the drums of a ritual are heard in the depths of the castle. They are really African drums which is strange for this German castle. A bunch of women including Wanda dance and cast a spell apparently on Peter who tosses and turns in his sleep. Sister Julia comes upon him and touches her own breast watching as he appears to have a wet dream. When he wakes she makes sure he has his cross of garlic on and says he should never remove it. It is protection against the magic she suspects is afoot.

We learn the superstition of the baroness who was supposed to have drank the blood of her subjects. She did black magic and well, was a vampire, but was burned at the stake some three hundred years ago. The priestess, Wanda and the swaying nude woman cult are working towards bringing her back into the world. Thank you Julia for the expository story about the baroness.

Helga finds herself drawn to Peter and very soon they are in the horse barn doing the nasty. There is some weird editing in this scene that makes you think it was cut drastically. They read the will of the aunt and we learn they(Hilga and Monika) have to stay in the castle for a year to inherit the place. Helga is enchanted by the cult of priestesses, they surround her and stare intently, then the event is culminated with fingering her. She is now initiated. So to strengthen that we get more swaying cultist scenes and Helga and Monika staring at the portrait of the baroness.

Julia is onto Wanda and lets her know it. The garlic protects Julia in her battle of wills but Wanda is no fool even when her intense staring fails she has options. She does the divide and conquer by putting spells on different characters to weaken Julia. They suck in the Flavia character as they try to get closer to Monika. She is initiated into the cult. We learn that Julia and Peter are descendants of the people who burned the baroness at the stake and there is some vengeance to be had here.

Meanwhile those damn sexy drums are really driving Helga crazy, and she needs to pleasure herself with a candle giving the audience a facial expression of satisfaction.

Julia is really worried that things are coming to a head but she doesn't know what it is. Now Peter wants Helga and expresses his love. Wanda uses that relationship by making Helga super horny and saying it won't stop until she gets Peter's cross off him. She is driven to this end and we here the distant sounds of bees buzzing during this scene.

On the night of the Vampire which occurs once every nine years, Wanda is gloating to Julia that she can not be stopped and the spirit of baroness Vaga will be back soon. Peter and Helga talk and he has given her his cross and she is no longer driven crazy.

So much is happening, Peter and Helga are part of the ceremony to bring back the baroness. To keep Julia out of the way she has spells cast on her to confuse her on the grounds. She ends up in a barn and the most ridiculous bats pull her clothes off. The bats are really black gloves with wings on them. Hilarious!

Peter and Julia try to get Helga to leave. Julia believes the vampire is back but Helga does not feel she needs to leave her inheritance. Peter is frightened by a sound in the woods and they have to return. Monika is the baroness and now things are moving along. She comes to the gathering of them all and says "Our winged cousins of the night they call me, they call." wonderful. A reference to Dracula, the film of course not the book.

They use Peter to go to his sister and come on to her. Julia likes it, the incest feelings are strong in her, and he tries to get her to take off the cross, dirty trick. She does and now they will get to her too. She realizes it and they struggle until she gets her hand on it again and saves herself by getting the cross back on.

This convoluted plot has Peter making love to Monika and her biting him. Then she drinks from Helga who is in the corner being felt up by some cultists. Julia tries to get in and has to fight off a couple cultists herself. They his like cats but the garlic cross keeps them at bay. Peter somehow makes it to her in the room she has locked herself in and she sees the weakened man has been bitten. She gives her cross to him.

The cult is chanting up a storm now not in the cellar but in the main room of the house. They believe they have won. Julia falls under this spell and proceeds to touch herself. Out on the woods Helga is on a hanging platform, Julia will take Helga's place and Monika will have her blood. In a slick move Julia gets into position near the platform and is able to pull a piece of wood free and use it to stake Monika as she comes in for the kill. Suddenly the spell is broken and people are stumbling about and wandering off. The cults power is gone and the cultists are all free from the power of the baroness.Although the plot is interesting in this there is so much strange shit that I will not recommend this. The pace is pretty slow and really the nudity although abundant is not the sexiest you can see.

Rating (4.4) 5.0 and up are recommended

Blood Feast (1963) - Horror Killer

Part of Terrorthon 10 at the Somerville Theater in Somerville MA
Blood Feast (1963) - A woman comes home and gets ready for a bath, she turns on her really cool radio, a Zenith Royal 250 to hear reports that women in town have been killed and to stay home after dark. Since she keeps her book of Ancient Weird Egyptian Rituals nearby and the camera lingers on it we know it is important. Suddenly as she relaxes in her bubble bath a man appears and stabs her to death and then after she is dead takes a leg as a trophy. So begins this 1963 gore movie, some would argue started the genre of gore in movies.
This is not a good movie, it is poorly written, acted and lots does not make sense as you watch. An example of this is the two cops that are featured. The Capt. Frank (Scott H. Hall) overly dramatic with every line repeatedly through the film states there are no clues to who the killer is. That's because in this work the police have yet to develop the ability to take fingerprints. The killer makes no effort to wear gloves or avoid smearing blood all over the place, but apparently the police don't know the existence of fingerprinting.
Nor does this movie attempt to hide the killer from the audience. We learn in the first three scenes who the killer, Fuad Ramses (Mal Arnold) is, what his motivation is and what his larger plan is. I won't be spoiling anything here by saying that he worships the Goddess Ishtar and wants to perform the Blood Feast that will bring her back to life. Where our killer runs a catering service and has some kind of mind control abilities he easily convinces Dorothy Freeman (Lyn Bolton) to have such a Feast for her daughter (Connie Mason). It is not a spoiler because 15 minutes into this you are shown everything. So the rest of the film is about the inept cops learning it.
I love that the killer worships a store mannequin dress as the Egyptian Goddess. He is a strange character who overacts and limps badly but somehow is completely silent and can easily surprise the most cautious victim. Needing more body parts the killer heads out to the beach to find Tony and his girl making out. She wants to go home but he wants her to hang and "prove" her love. Fuad dragging his dead leg behind him in the sand, knocks out Tony and kills the girl. For some reason there is a boa constrictor on the beach, when the police arrive they do not have a clue and state that fact. Since they did not tape off the area all the walking around must have erased the trail left by the killer as he dragged his leg behind him. It could have gone something like this.

Capt. Frank: Well guys we are here a bit late again. If we could just find a clue to what direction the killer went.
Officer: Capt Frank there is this clear path here in the sand, looks like someone dragged something from over there, to where the kids were attacked and then off that way with something dripping blood behind it.
Capt.Frank: Good work kid, What's your name? Hey lets fallow that blood trail and see where it goes.

BUT NOOO! Instead they talk to Tony who is awake again and crying like a two year old who had his candy stolen. Then they bring the parents of the latest victim in to ask if they know who did it? You see this scene would not be necessary except that the writer Allison Louise Downe wants to introduce that Det. Pete Thornton (William Kerwin) is connecting the book from the first scene to this murder. Since there are more body parts needed for the feast there are more murders to come. The Captain and Tanielle return to a Miami motel drunk, we only see them from a distance but can tell they are drunk from their bobbing and weaving. Capt does not get to go into Tanielle's room probably saving his life. Ramses drags himself to her room using the railing of the walkway but since there are no finger prints in this world leaves no clues when he kills her and rips out her tongue. I loved that we know she is dead because she crossed her eyes.
Now we get filled in on the feast and it is through a lecture that Thornton goes to with his girlfriend Suzette Fremont (Playboy playmate Connie Mason) the daughter who will have the surprise feast. They are both interested in Egyptian culture and history and besides how will Ramses ever get caught if Det. Pete doesn't have a way to make connections.
There are more murders and on the night of the party the police close in on the killer. When they get to his catering store and find the latest victim they are shock and then figure out that Ramses is the killer and is at Suzette's house right now!
Suzette comes close to having her number punched but Ramses has to flee the cops before the deed is done. Dragging his bad leg behind him he manages to stay ahead of a bunch of cops for a very long time until he can hide in the back of a garbage truck. You can guess his outcome. The gore effect were pretty effective and I had a better feeling about this film after seeing the Herschell Gordon Lewis documentary after this feature, but as a film itself it was really poor.
Rating (3.2) 5.0 and up are recommended, In the Zombiegrrlz system I would tell you to Skip It!

The House of the Devil (2009) horror

The House of the Devil (2009) - A wonderfully delightful surprise from writer director Ti West. The throwback to a period when horror movies built up to an overpowering dread is captured in this well done little film. The story is simple, in the 1980's a young college women, Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) has a need to earn some cash quickly. She calls for a sitter job at a house in the country that will solve her financial problems. Things are not quite how she envisioned them when she arrives to meet the couple, Mr and Mrs Ulman (Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov) they are strange but not too scary. Instead of sitting for kids she will be minding the house with the old mother upstairs. She negotiates a good price and sends her friend Megan (Greta Gerwig)home until the end of the job and settles in for a night of studying. Megan never arrives home and Samantha is a bit creeped out by the house, it builds and the reveals are well done to keep the tension growing. When the finale arrives the action is quick and well done. The ending is unexpected but follows the movie title well. Building off the satanic cult themes that were rampant in the eighties Ti West crafts a perfectly fitting story. Being a teenager in the 80s I had a real appreciation for the feel of the movie and the slow burn it is. The newer flash and cut method of film making sometimes gets on my nerves but West doesn't do that he brings us along on Samantha's ride without trying to shock us every two seconds. I was so impressed that I actually watch the movie a second time to make sure I was not creating a fantasy about it. Sure enough it is a solid horror movie that truly pays homage to the era it is set in.

Rating (7.8)
P.S. Check out the amazing Finalgirl review of this film at http://finalgirl.blogspot.com/