August Underground's Mordum (2003)

Directors: Jerami Cruise, Killjoy, Michael Todd Schneider, Fred Vogel, Cristie Whiles

Writers: Jerami Cruise, Killjoy, Michael Todd Schneider, Fred Vogel, Cristie Whiles

Starring: Jerami Cruise, Killjoy, Michael Todd Schneider, Fred Vogel, Cristie While

More info: IMDb

Plot:  Degenerates go on a torture/killing spree, take a break to party and get some piercings before torturing and killing again.

My rating: 3/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I kind of liked AUGUST UNDERGROUND (2001) but this sequel is definitely a huge step down.  The characters in the film that are making the film are annoying as hell (much like the first film).  Yeah, they're revolting humans but they're also way too childish to like.  But you don't watch these pictures for the characters, you watch them because you want to see some fucked up shit.  I'd like to tell you that you see some fucked up shit but the camera shakes like Katherine Hepburn in a blender.  It's more off-putting than the people that take turns holding it.  Like the first film, there's a musical interlude of sorts where our filmmakers go to a party with loud, harsh music. The Toe tag DVD  has the film presented in anamorphic widescreen which is odd considering the purposefully shitty VHS quality of the movie.  The extras you get are 20 minutes of footage (in night vision) of the U.S. premiere where there are maybe 60 people in attendance.  There is a brief Q&A at the end of it but it's abruptly cut short mid-sentence.  The trailers are two crudely animated half-minute pieces that do nothing to promote the film.  It's the same stuff that serves as the background to the menu and there are 7 deleted scenes (17 minutes total).  The first one at least sets up the motivation for why these people are torturing their victims which seems like it should have been included in the film.  I was wondering what the motivations were instead of being an act of randomness.  I really wish the DVD had a behind the scenes featurette but the closest you get is a 14 minute slideshow of behind the scenes pictures which is the best thing about the whole disc.  At least you get some of that making of stuff and the images are still for a change.  HA!  Have you ever wanted to see a woman's stomach gutted and then a guy sticks his dick in her wounds and fucks her?  You're wait is over.

Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970)

Director: Hy Averback

Writers: Hal Captain, Don McGuire

Composer: Jerry Fielding

Starring: Brian Keith, Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine, Ivan Dixon, Suzanne Pleshette, Tom Ewell, Bradford Dillman, Arthur O'Connell, John Fiedler, Don Ameche, Christopher Mitchum, Eddie Firestone

More info: IMDb

Tagline:  The motion picture that will melt your chocolate bar.

Plot: Tensions grow between the small army base and people from the nearby town. Despite well intentions of people from both sides it all escalates after the big dance in town.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

There's something about movies directed by people who directed a lot of TV that their movies feel like made for TV movies and this is one of them.  From the first few minutes I had that vibe and then I looked at Averback's credits to see that he mostly directed in television.  This anti-war comedy feels at home for the period it was made.  I didn't laugh but I enjoyed spending time with Keith and Dixon.  Borgnine was really good at being a bastard, wasn't he?  The finest moments happen between Keith and Dixon in talking about whether or not to continue serving in the Army and when Keith and Dillman share a bottle of whiskey and talk about life.  It's odd that what I liked best were the dramatic moments that snuck into this comedy.  The last 20 minutes get stupid and ridiculous with Keith and Dixon driving a tank, fighting the local police reserves (who somehow have a fleet of bright yellow cars), on their way to blow up Borgnine and his jail (Curtis is unjustly in jail). It's interesting that Ameche took a 13-year break from feature films although he did a few TV shows and movies in the interim.  John Fielder is always fun. You can't go wrong with that guy.  The songs and music are way too comedic.  I'm really surprised that the score came from Jerry Fielding.  I hadn't heard that side from him before.  I did get a kick out of having his music and Ivan Dixon working in the same picture.  They previously shared a credit on the TV series HOGAN'S HEROES.  If you watch it make sure you watch Curtis' lips when he delivers the last line.  The music suddenly comes in when he gets to, "...fucked this shit up.".  OK, so I finally laughed after all.  The MGM DVD has a great looking anamorphic widescreen print but that's it.  There are no extras. 

Necropolis (1986)

Director: Bruce Hickey

Writer: Bruce Hickey

Composer: Don Great

Starring: LeeAnne Baker, Michael Conte, Jacquie Fitz, George Anthony-Rayza, Andrew Bausili, Vicki Bell, Norris Culf, Anthony Giola, Nadine Hartstein, Jett Julian

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Beneath the metropolis is .. Necropolis

Plot: Reincarnated "Satanic Witch" from New Amsterdam, circa 1600's comes back to revive her cult members by sucking the life force out of people.

My rating: 5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I thought I'd lead off with the best thing in the movie...six lactating demon boobs!  Growing up a teenager almost at the beginning of the 80s put me around 16 about when this came out, the ripest age I think for low budget horror from the period.  I'd never seen it until now and time can help some movies depending on how long the distance is.  Not this one.  Horror fans get some gore and boobs (not much) but you also get some cheesy dialogue and questionable acting.  The pacing is OK but even at 77 minutes it drags.  It doesn't help that (I think) all of the film is set at night and the print isn't that great.  Plus there are many scenes that go on WAY too long.  There's no doubt this was made in the mid-80s with the hair, music, shot-on-a-camcorder look and makeup.  Still, it's got some moments that will makeup for the slowness and dullness of the picture but not enough to make this a recommend.  For horror buffs only who are looking for a blast from the magical 80s past.  The Full Moon DVD (Grindhouse Collection) has some extras like an intro from Charles Band (while fun, it feels like it's the same intro you'll get in every FMGC release) (8 minutes), a 3 minute trailer for the FMGC and 6 trailers for other FM films (but not including this film).  All of the extras are geared toward selling FM's other films and there's nothing specific to this film. 

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.

Campfire Tales (1991)

Directors: William Cooke, Paul Talbot

Writers: William Cooke, Paul Talbot

Composers: Kevin Green, Stan Lollis

Starring: Gunnar Hansen, Robin Roberts, Tres Holton, Courtney Ballard, Lora Podell, H. Ray York, Johnny Tamblyn, Jeff Jordan, David Avin, Kevin Draine, Michael R. Smith, William Cooke

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Once Upon a Time...You're Dead

Plot: A grizzled derelict tells a quartet of horror tales to a trio of young campers.

My rating:  4/10

Will I watch it again?  No..

With horror anthologies, there's usually at least one good story in the bunch.  That's all this one has.  One out of four.  The killer Santa Claus segment was my favorite because it was short (the shortest of all of them) and it got to the point quickly.  It didn't overstay its welcome.  It's the third in the lineup.  The first two were OK but they lingered too long.  Then there's the fourth and final tale, the pirate one.  The fist three tales took up a combined 50 minutes.  This last one was 35 and it felt like 90.  There's a scene with the pirate captain and a former slave where A LOT of exposition is meted out.  8 minutes of exposition!  Harold Odom, who plays the slave, does a pretty good job with what he's been handed to deliver but it's over the top in that cinematic way.  But then you have Laurence E. Campbell that's taking it even further with the stereotypical pirate-y 'yarrrrrrr' dialogue and his accent is way too phony.  It's already a loooooong story that could've been told in nearly half the time.  Still, the zombie effects were good.  This whole experience wasn't helped by the fact that the print I saw was a crappy fullscreen one.  I don't know what kind of budget these guys were working from but it looks like a decent-ish effort from some first time feature filmmakers (which explains some of the film's shortcomings).  It's better than I would've done and I know...I've never made a movie so I'm jealous from the start.  They and some of the cast would return a few years later with another horror anthology, FREAKSHOW (1995). I'm not getting in line to see that one but I may give it a shot someday.

Suddenly (1954)

Director: Lewis Allen

Writer: Richards Sale

Composer: David Raksin

Starring: Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden, James Gleeson, Nancy Gates, Kim Charney, Willis Bouchey, Paul Frees, Christopher Dark, James O'Hara, Kem Dibbs, Clark Howat

More info: IMDb

Tagline: SINATRA... tears loose with a gun in his hand! SINATRA... out to get the No. 1 man in the nation! SINATRA... as a kill-hungry hoodlum!

Plot: In the city of Suddenly, three gangsters trap the Benson family in their own house, on the top of a hill nearby the railroad station, with the intention of killing the president of the USA.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

Very good little picture.  The performances and dialogue will probably feel stiff by today's standards but I like the way they work.  I love Sterling Hayden.  He shines when he's playing tough but when he's trying to be sweet on Ellen (Gates) he's rather wooden and forced.  It is surprising that Baron (Sinatra) and his boys are not much more than common criminals hired by someone much bigger to kill the president.  You'd think for a half million bucks someone more professional would have been hired instead.  But that's not the point.  There is some flag-waving patriotic propaganda going on but I don't mind it.  This is a film clearly of its time.  Director Allen delivers a taut thriller and there's a lot packed into the 75 minute run time.  It's on Netflix streaming but since it's in the public domain you can find it almost anywhere for free.

Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie (2008)

Director: Jay Delaney

Composers: Ben Colburn, Justin Riley

Staring: Dallas Gilbert, Wayne Burton, C. Thomas Biscardi

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Do you believe in the American Dream?

Plot: Through the experiences of two amateur Bigfoot researchers in Appalachian Ohio, we see how the power of a dream can bring two men together and provide a source of hope and meaning that transcend the harsh realities of life in a dying steel town.

My rating:  6.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

You might know that I don't subscribe to the belief that there is such a thing as Bigfoot, yet I enjoy watching movies and documentaries about the subject.  I love the passion that the active hunters and researchers have and I have no doubt that a lot of them actually believe the things they say and experience.  Such are the two men, Wayne and Dallas, in this picture.  They're old friends who enter the forests looking for hard evidence.  They've seen them, as many as 15 in one day.  They also have over 150 photographs, most of which have the creatures in the distance behind trees and bushes, leaving the viewer's imagination to fill in the blanks.  This film is a series of interviews and excursions which, at one point, include a podcaster and researcher.  One member of a group excursion says that these creatures are very spiritual, that they can communicate with each other through telekinesis and that the next logical step in their evolution after telekinesis was the ability to levitate just a little off the ground which explains why we don't see many of their footprints.  This documentary doesn't bring us any closer to seeing a real one (bwahahahahaha) but it's yet another snapshot into the minds and lives of those who are confident that we someday will know the truth.  Most of us know it already but others refuse to believe it...but they sure make it entertaining for those who do.  The Oscilloscope DVD has an anamorphic widescreen image with extras including a commentary track with the director, Dallas, Wayne and cinematographer Shane Allen Davis, 9 deleted scenes (about 9 minutes total), a 3-minute primer from Dallas on Bigfoot hunting in 8 easy steps, the 13-minute short film from 2001 that was the initial kernal that led to this film and a photo gallery with about 40 pictures taken by Dallas showing you his best photographic evidence.