The Witch (2015)

Director: Robert Eggers

Writer: Robert Eggers

Composer: Mark Korven

Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger, Lucas Dawson, Julian Richings, Bathsheba Garnett, Sarah Stephens, Daniel Chaudhry

More info: IMDb

Tagline: A New-England Folktale.

Plot: A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Wow!  Congratulations to writer/director Robert Eggars on his impressive film debut.  I loved it.  The atmosphere is thick and dreary, much like how I suspect it would've been living like they did.  It's a story that I suspect will be enhanced with a second viewing.  And the music!  Wow!  Mark Korven's score perfectly compliments the dreariness and the mystery.  The only thing that bothered me were the couple of jump scares where a hand or something appeared out of nowhere with a loud bang in the music.  Other than that, it was one of the most creative scores I've heard in a long time.  The movie is only an hour and a half long but it feels longer and that's a good thing.  After the first few minutes I was captivated.  The story unfolds slowly but deliberately.   The last act gets justifiably frantic when the shit goes down and the ending is just fantastic.  It's so nice to see a small film like this that feels so fresh and takes its subject so seriously.  I watched some of the extras and there was a lot of care taken to make this film and it shows.  Highly recommended. 

Mark of the Devil Part II (1973)

Original title: Hexen Geschandet und zu Tode Gequalt

Director: Adrian Hoven

Writers: Michael Armstrong, Fred Denger, Adrian Hover


Starring: Erika Blanc, Anton Diffring, Percy Hoven, Lukas Ammann, Jean-Pierre Zola, Astrid Kilian, Ellen Umlauf, Harry Hardt, Rosemarie Heinikel, Dietrich Kerky, Johannes Buzalski, Reggie Nalder

More info: IMDb

Tagline: More Horrifying Than the Original!

Plot: A tribunal interrogates, tortures and murders "witches" and "heretics" during the Inquisition.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I watched MARK OF THE DEVIL (1970) nine years ago.  That's one benefit of keeping track of what I watch is knowing when I watched what.  I really enjoyed that one.  It was fun and grisly.  I'm surprised it too so long to watch the sequel.  The internet says it sucks but I liked it.  Anton Diffring steps into role similar to Herbert Lom's in the original and the unmistakable Reggie Nalder is back as the Witchfinder General's right hand man...

That's not makeup, by the way.  Nalder was in an accident that burned a third of his face and he took advantage of that unfortunate incident.  This picture does well enough as a sequel in trying to tell its own story by keeping up with one aspect  the original did so well and that's torture, pain and suffering.  The downside is that there's not as much as the first picture and it's not as gory and harsh but there are several scenes that at least try.

Even though this picture echoes the original in many ways, it's got nice location shooting in Austria (their beautiful forests look like something from an old fairy tale) as well as a dirty, lived-in world.

I'd almost be inclined to watch it again if I came across a better print and after seeing the first one again.  I honestly don't understand the hate some films get but there are a variety of reasons and that's something that I like to discuss in person.  Stuff like that intrigues me and I enjoy engaging with other movie fans.  Don't go into this thinking it's a lousy sequel to a very good film.  Enjoy it for what it is.  I did and I'm happy for it.

The Lords of Salem (2012)

Director: Rob Zombie

Writer: Rob Zombie

Composers: Griffin Boice, John 5

Starring: Sheri Moon Zombie, Bruce Davison, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Judy Geeson, Meg Foster, Patricia Quinn, Ken Foree, Dee Wallace, Maria Conchita Alonso, Richard Fancy, Andrew Prine, Michael Berryman, Sid Haig, Lisa Marie

More info: IMDb

Tagline: We've been waiting ... we've always been waiting.

Plot: Heidi, a radio DJ, is sent a box containing a record - a "gift from the Lords". The sounds within the grooves trigger flashbacks of her town's violent past. Is Heidi going mad, or are the Lords back to take revenge on Salem, Massachusetts?

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Minutes after finishing I was ready to watch it again.  That's very rare.  I was mesmerized.  This is Zombie's most mature film yet.  It's visually stunning.  You can tell that a lot of time and thought went into much of the scenes and I get the impression that Zombie asked himself a lot, "What would Stanley Kubrick do?".  It was a little distracting at times seeing the Kubrick influences because they were plain as day, so much so that my friends and I were blurting out which of Kubrick's films he was paying homage to.  The music score is the best he's had so far.  It's perfectly moody and atmospheric.  The marriage of sound to visual was gorgeous.  You also have to pay attention although you might find just going with the flow and letting the film take you on a journey a better way to go.  Has anyone seen this wasted?  I'm not one for that but it felt like it could play well to being in an altered state.  The performances are great and I particularly loved Davison.  Sheri was very good here and it's her best work I've seen so far.  She's not a seasoned actor and because of that she usually gets on my nerves but not here.  She nailed it.  Are there boobs?  Damn straight!!!

Soak in those leather saddlebags!  Actually, there's a lot of nudity and its not all meant to be erotic (although I'm sure there's someone out there who just deposited the above picture into their spank bank).  The Blu-ray image looks fantastic and it's a definite improvement over the DVD.  The Anchor Bay release has only one extra and that's a commentary track with Rob Zombie.  Really?  That's it?  I expected more from AB & RZ as something like this would usually get a lot more love.  Unfortunately the internet has chosen to hate on this guy and he gets a lot of undue criticism.  I dig this guy's work and I think he's got a fresh voice with one foot in the past.  He's a true fan of horror cinema and he's in the enviable position to take it to he next level. 

Woman Who Came Back (1945)

Director: Walter Colmes

Writers: Dennis J. Cooper, John H. Kafka, Lee Williams

Composer: Edward H. Plumb

Starring: John Loder, Nancy Kelly, Otto Kruger, Ruth Ford, Harry Tyler, Jeanne Gail, Almira Sessions, J. Farrell MacDonald, Emmett Vogan

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Hate-filled eyes...Accusing fingers...Whispered words...All repeated this dread phrase..."LORNA WEBSTER IS A WITCH!"

Plot: After a bus accident, a woman comes to believe that she's actually a 300-year-old witch.

My rating:  6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

SPOILERS AHEAD...YARRRRRR!!!

I've now seen three Nancy Kelly movies and this is the second one where she's paranoid as hell (the other being the wonderful, THE BAD SEED (1956).  She plays that well but when that's mostly what you see, it starts to wear thin by the finish line.  Now with the film, it's pretty good at stringing Lorna (Kelly), everyone around her, and us into thinking that she really is the embodiment of the witch that was burned at the stake (with her dog) 300 years earlier.  I dug the little things that happened to support that belief like her feeding a little girl's fish with rat poison knowing full well she gave them fish food.  It's morbid stuff like that that help sell me the goods.  Then in the final few minutes, her fiance and the old coot/town historian just happened to find hidden in an old desk, a 300 year old letter written by the man who sentenced the witch to death saying he coerced the simple woman to sign a confession just to satisfy the town's bloodlust.  The chase is on to keep Lorna from losing her shit completely and kill herself by jumping off a cliff and into the water below.  Her fiance, Dr. Matt Adams (Loder) dives in and saves her.  The final salt in the wound is a cheerful as hell, we-want-everyone-to-feel-happy-and-cheerful closing scene like you'd get at the end of a bad TV sitcom.  The picture was ruined for me from the moment the letter was discovered.  Everyone did such a fine job up until then.  It's a shame they ruined it with such a silly and insulting ending.  It would have been a little unusual in 1945 (especially in December, months after the close of the War) to end this on a dark note but that's how I feel about it.

The Witch (1966)

Original title: La Strega in Amore

AKA: Strange Obsession

Director: Damiano Damiani

Writers: Damiano Damiani, Carlos Fuentes, Ugo Liberatore

Composer: Luis Bacalov

Starring: Richard Johnson, Rosanna Schiaffino, Gian Maria Volonte, Sarah Ferrati, Margherita Guzzinati, Vittorio Venturoli, Ivan Rassimov, Ester Carloni, Giovanni Ivan Scratuglia, Elisabetta Wilding

More info: IMDb

Plot: A historian goes to a castle library to translate some ancient erotic literature. While there he discovers what he believes to be supernatural forces at work.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

It held my interest until the last half hour which is weird because that's when shit really gets crazy for Sergio (Johnson).  Until that point they do a pretty good job of weaving strange goings on with a nice atmosphere, camerawork, performances and pacing but after a while it started fatiguing me and that's when the crazy shit ramps up.  I was kind of done at that point and by the time it was over, so was I.  That's not to say it's not a good movie, it is to a point, but it does meander longer than it should.   The last scene is good but it's after an hour and 40 minutes of only so-so compelling storytelling. 

The Night of the Devils (1972)

Original title: La Notte dei Diavoli

Director: Giorgio Ferroni

Writers: Eduardo Manzanos Brochero, Romano Migliorini, Gianbattista Mussetto, Aleksei Tolstoy

Composer: Giorgio Gaslini

Starring: Gianno Garko, Agostina Belli, Roberto Maldera, Cinzia De Carolis, Teresa Gimpera, Bill Vanders, Umberto Raho, Luis Suarez, Sabrina Tamborra, Rosita Torosh, Stefano Oppedisano, Maria Monti, John Bartha, Tom Felleghy, Renato Turi

Tagline: Creatures of the Living Dead

More info: IMDb

Plot:  The patriarch of a family fears that he will show up one day in vampire form. Should this happen, he warns his family not to let him back in his house, no matter how much he begs them.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

You never know what you're going to get when you watch some early 70s Euro Horror except one thing...it's probably going to be slow.  No exception here.  The pacing issue makes this feel more of a horror/drama than straight up horror in the sense of what you'd think. The performances are fine (the copy I had was dubbed in English so it's hard to tell how the acting is sometimes as you've got two people working the same part).  Gaslini's main theme is lovely and it gets a lot of mileage, adding to the pacing issue.  There is some gore, kills and boobs (yay!) which helps a lot but that 86 minutes feels a tad longer when you're in the middle of it.  It's got a good ending.  Hmmm, so I guess the only thing that detracted for me is it being a little slow.  Still, not a bad film.  It feels like ages since I dabbled in the Euro Horror genre of this period.  I really need to make it more a part of my cinema diet as well as 70s Euro Crime, 60s Euro Spy, 70s Pinky Violence and so on.  I feel malnourished now.

Witchouse (1999)

Director: David DeCoteau

Writers: Benjamin Carr, Matthew Jason Walsh

Composer: Jared DePasquale

Starring: Ariauna Albright, Matt Raftery, Monica Serene Garnich, Ashley McKinney, Brooke Mueller, Dave Oren Ward, Marissa Tait, Dane Northcutt, Kimberly Pullis, Jason Faunt, Ryan Scott Greene

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Evil beyond evil.

Plot: On Mayday 1998 in the town of Dunwich, Massachusetts, Elizabeth gathers together a group of specially selected friends for a rather odd party. It turns out that she is the descendant of a malevolent witch named Lilith who was burned at the stake precisely three hundred years ago. Now Elizabeth hopes to resurrect her dreadful ancestor and has a specific (and murderous) need for the guests she has chosen.

My rating:  5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

There are two things keeping me from giving this dumb as fuck movie a lower score.  Jared DePasquale's ballsy score and the dialogue and acting is so ridiculously bad that I laughed a few times.  I don't recommend watching this alone.  You should watch this with friends and liquor.  Some of the actors do alright but there are a couple that are downright horrid.  That's where the laughs start.  Then you've got this so-bad-it's-funny dialogue.  It's over the top and silly stupid.  The effects are fine except someone went chimpshit over using thunder and lightning effects. This is made by Full Moon after all so you're going to get some good effects.  They know how to get the most of out their limited bucks.  Anyone looking for nudity can move onto something else.  And, being a Full Moon picture, the running time is pretty short (thankfully) at an hour and twelve minutes.  It's a bunch of kids making a movie.  I'll throw down some cash that they enjoyed making it a lot more than you will watching it.  The Full Moon DVD is fullscreen, which is probably as it was filmed, and the only extras are trailers for more FM movies, DEAD WANT WOMEN, KILLJOY'S REVENGE, ZOMBIES VS. STRIPPERS, EVIL BONG 3, KILLER EYE: HALLOWEEN HAUNT, GOOBERS, SHANDAR, and HAUNTED CASINO.  I picked up the box set that has the second and third film in the franchise for two bucks.  Not bad but I won't be watching the rest of the set. 

unusually long opening credits but with a great music cue from

Blood Suckers (1970)

Original title: Incense for the Damned

AKA: Freedom Seekers

Director: Robert Hartford-Davis

Writers: Julian More, Simon Raven

Composer: Robert Richards

Starring: Patrick Macnee, Peter Cushing, Alexander Davion, Johnny Sekka, Madeleine Hinde, Edward Woodward, William Mervyn, Patrick Mower, David Lodge, Imogen Hassall, John Barron

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Hideous witchcraft rituals cast their spell!

Plot: A group of friends search for a young English Oxford student who has disappeared whilst researching in Greece. They are shocked to find that, wherever he has been, certain unsolved murders have taken place. Not believing that their friend could be the perpetrator of such acts, they press on with their search, finding him under the spell of a beautiful Vampire, whose blood-sucking methods include the use of sado-masochism. Believing they have killed her, the group return home, unaware that their friend is now a Vampire.

My rating: 4/10

Will I watch it again? By the power of Satan's horned donger....NO!

This took me three attempts to get through all 80 minutes of it.  I can't blame it on the cast; they all do an admirable job.  The Greek location shooting was nice.  It does take a long while before our troupe discover what's been going on.  Once we're back in England (the final third of the picture) it drags.  We know something's up with Richard (the man Derek (Macnee) and pals are looking for) at this point but we're not sure what. His big speech at the university is great and from that point on it picks up quite a bit with the chase.  One of the problems is tha it's at night and the print is dark, not allowing us to see much except shadows.  Otherwise the print is OK for fullscreen.  Wide would have been preferable, of course.

It's clear that Macnee (above left) was brought in to sex things up for the kiddies.  There's a blood orgy and more nudity in this picture than you'd expect (which helps) but ultimately it's routinely dull.  It'd probably take another viewing with toothpicks keeping my eyelids open to find out the precise reason but it's not worth revisiting.  I'm probably being more generous than the film deserves but then it's got Macnee, Cushing and Woodward which, alone, make the compelling case that if you're fans of these cats, you're gonna want to see this regardless of what anyone says.  It's the first half of a Something Weird Video double feature DVD with BLOOD THIRST (1971) along with two fistfuls of trailers, shorts and intermission goodies.  Even if the other movie sucks these SWV DVDs are welcome on my shelf just for the extras.

The Witchmaker (1969)

Director: William O. Brown

Writer: William O. Brown

Composer: Jaime Mendoza-Nava

Starring: Anthony Eisley, Thordis Brandt, Alvy Moore, John Lodge, Shelby Grant, Tony Benson, Robyn Millan, Warrene Ott, Helene Winston, Burt Mustin, Rudy Haydel, Teska Moreau, Kathy Lynn, Sue Bernard, Howard Viet, Nancy Crawford, Patricia Wymer, Carolyn Rhodimer, Larry Vincent, Gwen Lipscomb, Valya Garanda, Diane Webber, Del Kaye, L.Q. Jones

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Their Form Is Human But They Have Crossed Over ... Is There Sex After Death?

Plot:  A series of brutal witchcraft-oriented murders has taken place in a lonely southern bayou. Moore takes a research group deep into the bayou to investigate suspected paranormal events. One of his crew is the descendant of an ancient witch. When the local group of witches finds this out, they decide that she must be brought into their satanic web.

My rating: 5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

The first half hour is quite good.  The atmosphere is great (I watched a really dirty widescreen print that gave it that groovy drive-in vibe), the performances were good, story, music, etc.  There was a lot of promise.  But then the second half hour felt like more than twice that.  I hit the timer button and there was still another half hour left to go. The last fifteen go by pretty quickly and the ending was great but there's no escaping the incredible drag you get in that middle third.  It was tough to get through.  If something were done about that this would be a pretty good witch flick in the swamps of Louisiana that would be great to see on the big screen.  Sadly, giving the many opportunities they had for nudity, it was always cleverly or humorously circumvented. 

See that fella in the middle?  That's John Lodge playing Luther the Berserk.  What's weird is that when he's inside his cave home, he's articulate and smart.  Outside...he's a child like oaf.  Strange.  It was AWESOME seeing Alvy 'Hank Kimball' (GREEN ACRES) Moore. 

He's always a welcome sight when he shows up in a picture and he's got a big role, too.  I guess that's not surprising since he was an executive producer.  I loved him on GREEN ACRES, along with everybody else on that show.  It really pains me that this didn't have a tighter mid section.  The movie is probably twenty minutes too long, with at least one long scene of exposition too many.   It was neat seeing that L.Q. Jones was also an executive producer.  He and Moore must have been pals since they worked together as actors and producers for a number of films.  That's neat.

Left Bank (2008)

Original title: Linkeroever

Director: Pieter Van Hees

Writers: Pieter Van Hees, Christophe Dirickx, Dimitri Karakatsanis

Composer: ???

Starring: Eline Kuppens, Matthias Schoenaerts, Sien Eggers, Marilou Mermans, Frank Vercruyssen, Robbie Cleiren, Ruth Becquart, Tinneke Boonen, Sara De Bosschere, Jamahl Boukriss

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Sometimes the truth is better left unsaid.

Plot: Eline Kuppens stars as Marie, an emotionally troubled and socially isolated girl from a broken family, who finds meaning in her life by committing to intense athletic competition. Sadly, Marie soon catches an infection, which triggers an immediate physical collapse and forces her to rest for a lengthy period of time. She nonetheless finds solace in a new paramour, the archer Bobby. He not only imparts reassurance and provides an emotional anchor, but exudes an optimism and a zeal for life that prove contagious and even prompt Marie's mother to invite comparisons with Marie's dad. Then, just when it seems that the young woman could not possibly feel more joyous or content, her life turns a dark corner. She agrees to move into Bobby's flat on the "Left Bank," a dank and slightly menacing housing project in a seedy neighborhood. In seemingly no time, she learns that a previous occupant vanished under inexplicable circumstances, which adds to her overall sense of paranoia; she also suffers physically, from encroaching headaches, nausea and sleeplessness, and becomes convinced that the place is wreaking havoc on her mind and body. Meanwhile, her mistrust of the incredulous and skeptical Bobby also builds to a fever pitch.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Maybe.

Disregard the first trailer. It's made to look like a stupid Hollywood movie and with cheesy narration that is completely wrong for this film. It's terrible and exudes what's wrong with the popular American system.  The second one is closer to the right tone.  Much better, right?  I really dig foreign cinema.  They have a different sensibility and perspective than we Americans do.  Sure, every country turns out some real stinkers but over here in the U.S. we tend to find out about the good ones, much like a filter.  LEFT BANK is from Belgium and it kind of has a ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968) and THE WICKER MAN (1973) vibe but don't look too far into that because those two films won't begin to spoil the story here.  It's just a feeling, really.

Some might be turned off by the pacing but I found it just about right.  It's engaging and curious.  What's going on here?  Is it going to end like other movies I've seen?  Nope.  I didn't see it coming.  The film has moments of surrealism and sometimes things don't make sense.  There are short dreams and scenes that will leave you scratching your head until the end.  Then there's the ending itself.  Hmmmmm.  I'm giving it a slightly higher score than I originally intended because I think my questions will be answered on a second viewing BUT it might turn out there are no answers and the film makers were just being pretentious fucks for the sake of art.  Either way, it's still an interesting and nice film to watch.  The score, acting, cinematography, effects all work well.  It's an easy going horror thriller that is a nice, relaxing and intriguing ride even if it's not 100% coherent on the first watch.  What else ya got, Belgium?

Witchcraft VI (1994)

AKA: Witchcraft 666: The Devil's Mistress

Director: Julie Davis

Writers: Peter E. Fleming, Julie Davis

Composer: Miriam Cutler

Starring: Jerry Spicer, Debra K. Beatty, Shannon McLeod, Craig Stepp, Kurt Alan, John E. Holiday, Bryan Nutter, Stephanie Swinney, Jennifer Bransford

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The most erotic witchcraft ever

Plot: A serial killer targets young women wearing gold crosses; Detectives Lutz and Garner enlist Will Spanner to help with the occult angles of the case.

My rating: 3/10

Will I watch it again? Absolutely not.

I don't know why I bother with Troma movies anymore.  Every time I watch one I regret it.  Even with the DVD cover stating it's Mr. Skin approved (you know, the site that thrives on nudity in film), it felt like an empty endorsement.  There wasn't THAT much nudity in it.  You get a little in the first few minutes and then it's a good 45+ before you see any more and when you do, it's just little bits here and there.  That's hardly enough to have a big Mr. Skin endorsement on the cover.  The production values are cheap.  They couldn't even make a bar look decent.  The counter in front of the bartender wobbled and they had maybe 8 bottles of booze on the shelf.  It's that kind of 'we don't care' attitude that cheeses me off.  At least try, even if you've only got $80 to work with.  The dialogue is generally poor but there are moments where they're trying for laughs which usually don't work.  The acting is low budget, some bad and some OK.  The scenes move slowly, the main bad guy takes forever to deliver his lines and move, and the music is often non-existent (where it would help the film) and when it's not, it's a below average synth score that just adds to the cheapness of the picture.  At 88 minutes it was twice too long.  They should take a page out of Full Moon's book and not be restricted by the 90 minute run time.  I don't think a Troma movie from the 80s on ever hit the theater.  I'm pretty sure just about everything they've ever made went straight to video.  That means they shouldn't have much reason to want to make their movies that long. What's wrong with an hour?  If it helps the picture, and believe me it would help this picture, then why not keep it shorter.  It'd cost less and that's the kind of thing that seems important to this company.  I won't learn, I'm sure.  Someday I'll watch another movie from this company.  I can say for certain that I'll never see WITCHCRAFT 1-5 or 7-13.  Woof.

The Undead (1957)

Director: Roger Corman

Writers: Charles B. Griffith, Mark Hanna

Composer: Ronald Stein

Starring: Pamela Duncan, Richard Garland, Allison Hayes, Val Dufour, Mel Welles, Dorothy Neumann, Billy Barty, Bruno VeSota, Richard Devon, Maurice Manson, Aaron Saxon, Don Garett, Dick Miller, Paul Blaisdell

More info: IMDb

Tagline: A thousand years of naked terror!

Plot: A beautiful woman is sent back in time via hypnosis to the Middle Ages where she finds she is suspected of being a witch, and subject to being executed.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

This is an unusual departure for Corman in that it feels like a horror-themed Shakespeare drama.  It's a good film, too.  Corman pictures are hit or miss with me but I do enjoy them more often than not.  Most of the performances are quite good.  Richard Garland (as Pendragon) is at times the weakest link in the acting chain.

I really dig the story.  Sure, it's rather silly but if you suspend your disbelief for that one concept of regression hypnosis then you'll be OK for the rest of it.  And it's got a nice atmosphere as well.  I don't know why this has such a low IMDb score but it's a much better film than it's being given credit for.  Check it out.  It's different.

The Covenant (2006)

Director: Renny Harlin

Writer: J.S. Cardone

Composer: tomandandy

Starring: Steven Strait, Laura Ramsey, Sebastian Stan, Taylor Kitsch, Chace Crawford, Toby Hemingway, Jessica Lucas, Kyle Schmid, Wendy Crewson, Stephen McHattie, Kenneth Welsh

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Only the power of hell can help them.

Plot: Four young men who belong to a supernatural legacy are forced to battle a fifth power long thought to have died out. Another great force they must contend with is the jealousy and suspicion that threatens to tear them apart.

My rating: 4/10

Will I watch it again? No.

What this boils down to is rich, young, pretty people with well-developed abdominal muscles working out their angst in college but with witchcraft and shit.  I honestly don't know why I bothered except that it was directed by Renny Harlin which isn't much of a reason now that I think about it.  It's your standard young pretty things in an expensive, effects-laden Hollywood picture.  Anyone over the age of 20 need not bother. The young, pretty males fight with each other and when that's over they have sex with the young, pretty females until one of the young, pretty males gets super jealous of another young, pretty male and kidnaps his young, pretty female lover as bait for for said young, pretty male to accept his challenge for a duel.  I would have preferred gloves slapped across the face and pistols at dawn.  It's a much more civilized manner of doing in one's enemies.

Horror Hotel (1960)

Director: John Llewellyn Moxey

Starring: Dennis Lotis, Christopher Lee, Paticia Jessel, Tom Naylor, Betta St. John, Venetia Stevenson, Valentine Dyall, Ann Beach, Norman Macowan, Fred Johnson, James Dyrenforth, Maxine Holden, William Abney

More info: IMDb

Tagline: 300 years old! Human blood keeps them alive forever!

Plot: A young coed (Nan Barlow) uses her winter vacation to research a paper on witchcraft in New England. Her professor recommends that she spend her time in a small village called Whitewood. He originally cam from that village so he also recommends she stay at the "Raven's Inn," run by a Mrs. Newlis. She gets to the village and notices some weird happenings, but things begin to happen in earnest when she finds herself "marked" for sacrifice by the undead coven of witches. It seems that the innkeeper is actually the undead spirit of Elizabeth Selwyn, and the "guests" at the inn are the other witches who have come to celebrate the sacrifice on Candalmas Eve.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Probably not.

I've seen this one a couple of times before but it was easily 15 or more years ago since the last viewing.  It's a good, atmospheric flick that makes great use of the limited sets (I dig the fog and the darkness of the town, forcing limited visibility).  Christopher Lee is fun and foreboding as usual.  Unfortunately the only prints I've ever watched were pretty poor and soft.  I'd love to see a crisp remastered copy someday, and if I watch it again that's how it will have to be...and on a big screen.

The Demons (1973)

Director: Jesus Franco

Starring: Anne Libert, Britt Nichols, Doris Thomas, Karin Field, Cihangir Gaffari, Luis Barboo, Howard Vernon, Alberto Dalbes, Rosa Palomar, Andres Monales

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Erotic horror... Torture... Witchcraft.

Plot: An old woman is tried and tortured for Witchcraft. As all the signs are conclusive evidence she is a handmaiden of Lucifer, she is sentenced to death by burning. As she burns she curses the three culprits who sentenced her to the flames, Lady de Wynter, Judge Jeffries and Thomas Renfield. Further witterings reveal that she will be avenged by her ‘daughters’. Jeffries’ speculates that this refers to fellow practitioners of the black arts. Unconvinced, Lady de Wynter and her protectorate Renfield visit a convent at Blackmoor to investigate any ‘orphaned’ women that could fit the bill and be the witches’ siblings.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

Part of the Nunsploitation Project (July & August 2013). Click here for more naughty nun insanity!

Neat flick.  It's got plenty of eye candy and some neat scenes.  I'm lovin' this Nunsploitation stuff!

After Renfield (or someone else whose name escapes me) nails the nun, he's overcome with love and whisks her away.  The upbeat, groovy music busts out and the two of them are running out of the castle, slaying anyone that gets into their way.


Classic.  The film's nearly two hours long.  Franco filled it with lots of nudity but it's not done in a soft core sort of way.  He does take his time with the women, staying just long enough to soak in the beauty but not enough to overstay his welcome.

It's really weird but the movie as a whole is kind of trans-like.  It's leisurely paced and it ends at a point where I'd like it to keep going for no other reason than I was in the groove and wanted more.  Jean-Bernard Raiteux's score helped. I rather dug this picture. It's less sleazy than a lot of Franco's work which I think helps and I dig the time and place.  I'm looking forward to giving this another go in a few years.  Plus, I want to see how close the camera can get to a nun's butt!

That close!