As i put in Porn Of The Dead i have found memories as a late teenager finding such oddities as "Wet Dreams On Elm Street" and "Friday the 13th a xxx paraody" and of course ANYTHING Tinto Brass or Jess Franco put out in their hay days. But sadly as soon as i put this disc in i was welcomed to an obnoxious death metal soundtrack. Now i'll admit here and now i love death metal, but even this shit grated on my last nerve and i haven't even watched a second of film, well fuck me sideways it's gonna be a long day with this one. Let's get into the review shall we.
Our film starts off simple enough, a woman zombie is shambling down a road SUV drives by and a man with a crowbar jumps out to check on the woman, he puts her in the front seat and drives off. Back at his house he chokes her out and heads off to don bio-hazard gear, when he returns with a axe in hand to chop up the woman he notices shes now gone and nude. Alas our first sex scene as the woman attacks the man and rips his suit off and starts sucking his already hard cock (yea don't ask- if 1 was getting attacked by a naked zombie chick i wouldn't be hard either, gotta love bad porn).
Now as i stated before there is a death metal soundtrack to this on top of the moaning and groaning as such it kills any eroticism that possible could have been had as you can't single out the soundtrack like on other porn dvds- what a jackass Rob Rottin is for doing that. As for the zombie make up, it's beyond pathetic, i've seen better by high school kids during Halloween, these women basically just have a thick layer of blackish dirt to them, making them look more scrubby than true zombies.
The sex is sub par by porn standards these days and the acting is so horrible i wanted to fucking kill myself. Rob Rottin really had an original idea, i'll give him that much. But he fucked up on so many levels it's not even funny, the only true gore are a dime a dozen cock being bit off shots, and chicks fucking zombie cock. This movie is purely for the diehard (pardon the pun) zombie fans that must own all things zombie related. if your not into zombies or your not into being bothered by a fucking obnoxious death metal soundtrack, then by all means check this out otherwise stay clear of it like it was the plague! **stars (purely for it's unique concept only!)
AAahh everyone's sick fuck movie they love to hate but yet you can't help yourself from watching it. How does a film that's shot like a home movie start off? Well by having our camera man (Fred Vogul - owner of Toe Tag Pictures and director of the August Underground trilogy) searching for his girlfriend in their dilapidated house, ohhh he finds her alright and she's fucking her brother- gotta love Toe Tag and their complete mind fuck of a beginning, you know right away what your in store for with this film.
We're treated to a nice little bit of nasty fun when Fred and his girlfriend go to the slums and kill a couple of drug abusers, i won't get into much details but its safe to say your not supposed to use a claw hammer in the fashion. Next up for our serial killing duo is a couple, and i must say this scene is one of the more depraved scenes this writer has ever seen. Without ruining the setup i'll just state that a pair of scissors is NOT supposed to be used in that fashion and such as hell not on that particular male appendage, ohhh it got worse from there. The next five minutes or so of the film shows us our sick and twisted trio of killers in their everyday life, eating lunch, fucking around and of course there's that great scene where they "fake rob" a local video store and get kicked out by the owner/cashier.
Ahhh we've now reached the torture scene of the two young women were Fred's girlfriend in the movie starts to vomit all over the woman as there forced to make out and fuck- classic cinema trash by my standards. This scene drags on a good 20 grueling minutes as these sick fucks have there way with the women. Now i do have to state that this is probably one of the hardest scenes to watch in the entire film, however it does offer some great special effects, and watch out for the body cavity fuck scene (yes you read that right). As for the second girl she is suffocated to death in a brutal scene all it's own.
As the film progresses you see the trio at a night club checking out some death metal, and Fred's girlfriend cutting her brothers hair. Best scene ever for this movie? Besides the aforementioned entire film, a friend of Fred's has the trio go to a locked shack to "show them something special" care to guess what that is and what happens next- just watch and have your barf bag ready. And this brings us to our final gore setpiece, one person is dead in the tub, Fred's girlfriends brother is raping her dead corpse in the ass as you hear Fred in the background screaming at the two remaining victims. The trio goes to argue once again over the incest issue and it ends when the brother takes the knife to his throat. Overall i give it ****4 stars
"Angel Eyes" finally reveals himself to the Portersville in this episode. Jimmy O who plays Sally's arch nemesis serial killer, gets a little pissed off when the local news calls his slayings the work of gang activity and he demands recognition, so what's a serial killer to do? Well he calls Bobbie Swallows the local town news woman of course proclaiming to be the killer of this young man and many others.
You can cut the tension with a knife of if you rather a chainsaw in this episode as Ruby has run into some serious trouble of his own. For all our male viewers out there, you you'll laugh you ass off at one particular scene that's both horrifying and funny as hell all in the same scene. As the show progresses Ruby's day just gets better and better,as he peppered with questions by Sally when she gets home and trust me she's pissed. And for fans of Nurse Hatchet look for her in a special brief guest appearance. You'll be happy you did Sally fans, as she's main musical composer of the show and special effects artist.
Well what can be said about about episode two other than it's another internet masterpiece of gore film making. As our favorite anti hero asks Ruby, how many lumps do you want in you coffee! Beware of the consequences to that simple question. Episode two is indeed called "Filthy" for a reason, Ruby is forced by Sally after his little encounter with her from earlier to clean his room of the dead animals he has stored in there and to take a bath to get his nasty ass clean.
Sally leaves for her day job leaving Ruby home to finish his task. As the show progresses we meet up with our two dim witted cops on patrol talking and for what it's worth that scene is funny as ummmm "fuck" (you'll get the joke once you see the episode). Shortly there after were met with Angel Eyes and his cowering victim. There is an fabulously funny moment with Porterville's own mayor, it's a must see to believe. Surprise everyone, Troma vet Debbie Rochon pops up with a quest appearance as a uh hmmm "card reader" to Sally. You want sex, sensuality, and eroticism? Well folks look no further than episode two and make sure your computer screen doesn't fog up from all the hot action.
I can't ruin it, but Sally has a very unique kill of two punks in an alley. After said murders Sally is back at home and now it's time for Ruby's bath. While he is taking his bath he is told by Ruby to pick up the dead bodies. Ahhhh Bee got the ummm short end of the stick shall we say in this episode?
Yup my gore hound fans, you heard it here first. Two brand spanking new reviews for your reading and hopefully watching pleasure (these films are on the extreme side, so i'm gonna have to hunt for the trailers). Due up first is Fred Vogul's absolutely sick and twisted sequel to August Underground, It's August Underground Mordum- you've been warned get your barf bags ready! Second is a film i know you all want me to review as either you've heard of it, or are interested in seeing it, Rob Rottin's Porn Of The Dead (a XXX feature with extreme gore- teehee). I'll let the blood, guts and cum fly as i review two of the craziest films to come out of the first decade of the 2000's.. Stay bloody \m/ \m/
This is the second film in the trilogy of films that Lucio Fulci did dealing with opening the gates of hell. The First being The Gates Of Hell (aka: City Of The Living Dead) and the last one being House By The Cemetery. Each film brings you closer into the demented and sick mind that was Fulci. As a diehard fan of his i'm partial to The Beyond simply because it's horror film-making at it's best. Now onto the Review.
The film starts out eerily enough as there are two boatloads of touch baring people paddling towards a remote house in Louisiana circa 1927. The men reach land and burst into the hotel looking for someone in particular, they find this man in his room painting a very abstract and disturbing painting, they call him an "ungodly dreaded warlock" and beat him with chains before dragging him to the hotel's basement to crucify him. We are then switched to 1981 Louisiana with a young woman inheriting the hotel. A accident right away puts doubt in the new owners mind if she can even get this place fixed up.
Lizza The young woman finds that odd oil painting that the man from 1927 was painting before he was murdered. Through out the entire movie you keep seeing the number "36" pop up. There is a bad water leak in the hotels basement and Lizza calls on a plumber to fix it, as he goes downstairs and starts to trace the leak he accidently opens one of the Gates To Hell, and is killed by the now zombie painter from the beginning- cool little eye gag if you ask me. Next we see the mysterious blind woman Emily with her German Shepherd.
Arthors Mother goes looking for Joe our plumber and finds him dead and his face just completely melting off as tho' acid had been spilled on him (another great effect done by Effects master Salvati De Rossi). Our next scene of importance is of Joe in the morgue, he is there with the Zombiefied body that's been hooked up to a brain wave machine. His wife and daughter show up to bring him a rosary and a suit he'll be buried in. The wife keeps the daughter outside as she dresses him, she turns to see the zombiefied corpse and bumps into a table containing acid and her face is melted off is nice gory detail as the daughter runs in after hearing her screams, the floating mess of acid and body fluid chase her till she reaches the freezer and she opens it only to see reanimated corpses standing there, she screams and the film cuts to Lizza with the Doctor drinking.
As the film progresses Emily finally warns Lizza of the true evil behind the hotel and room 36. Lizza doesn't adhere to her advice and goes into the cursed room. Lizza finds the book EIBON and sees the man that was crucified to the wall there, she runs out screaming into the arms of the doctor. Ahhh everyone's favorite spider kill is due up next after a quick talk between Martin and Lizza and a stop off at an old odd book store. Martin is looking up the hotel's original floor plans when all of a sudden lightning flashes startling him and causing him to fall of the ladder he is using to look up the old plans, he seems to have broken his neck, he can't move and that's when those spidey friends of ours come out to play. Dozens of Tarantulas come out to attack Martin as he lay helpless on the ground, they start biting him on the face and soon after he's dead.
Our next scene shows the doctor breaking in the abandoned house that Lizza thinks is where Emily lives, he walks inside to find cobwebs and turned over furniture but as he progresses in the house he finds that missing book Lizza was talking about. Arthors mother goes into room 36 to dust and clean it, as she goes into the bathroom she drains the tub only to shocked to see a zombie Joe sitting up, horrified she starts to slowly walk back and nears a wall where there are two metal nails, i won't say the cool scene here but lets just say it's a classic Fulci gore setpiece. Emily meets her maker in the form of the painter, her German Shepherd attacks him but it turns on Emily and she is killed instead.
The doctor and Lizza read from the book downstairs in the basement of the hotel and it opens the gates of hell, blood starts to pool up in the already water logged basement, that creepy ass painting from the beginning starts to bleed blood and the two run for safety and get in the doctors car to get the fuck outta there. They reach the hospital looking for Harris the doctors friend, nobody is insight. All of a sudden zombies break through the glass door of the doctors office and there off to the races to the morgue. I won't give away the last 10 minutes of film but trust me it's one of the creeper moments in a Fulci film, it's classic southern gothic. I give this film *****5stars
The classic eerie score, as you see a lone car driving up a winding dirt road- yes folks the is indeed the "cult classic" Night Of The Living Dead. Filmed by and co-scripted by George A Romero. A film upon it's release in 1968 scared the crap out of eager audiences at the drive in-ins around the country. I can fondly remember seeing this at Halloween when i was a mere 5 years old on "the movie loft" a local Boston TV station that showed classic movies, and with that infamous line "there coming to get you Barbra" , yeah well tell that to a 5 year old and ee if they don't shit their pants! I was hooked at once.
All parties involved with NOTLD had this great DIY attitude that shows up through out the film, first you basically have one set (the farm house) in rural Pennsylvania yet Romero makes the best of this with a outstanding cast. As for the cast what can i say that hasn't already been said a million times over, Judith O'dea as Barbra- perfect fit of innocence and a person losing control. Then there is Duane Jones as Ben- the clear headed "let's stick together" male lead. Also as a surprise per say because he is a black man, but in my eye that doesn't matter and should NEVER MATTER in the process of Auditioning a role.
Now onto the film itself it's shot in black and white for budget reasons. The black and white acts as a cast member all its own (for those who have seen the color version of thi can attest to this)! The film starts out innocent and slow enough, a brother and sister are taking a drive to a cemetery to plant a wreath on their father's grave. The brother (Johnny) delivers the classic line "there coming...) and that's when we meet our first zombie- yay.
As the film progresses from the cemetery into the farm house we are introduced to new characters both likeable and not. Now as stated time and again this film is very much a anti Vietnam war movie, and just by looking at a few key scenes you too can agree (or disagree). First there is an all "death squad" kill without question attitude among the government, military and police. At the end of the film Ben being the lone survivor, is walking in the farm house as he is killed without thought by a cop as a 'copter is hovering overhead ('Nam?).
I want to start off in short stating this film is what birthed the "horror nut" i am to this day and the fledgling screenwriter i hope to become very shorty.
Onto the review, This film came out after Carpenter's Escape from New York (1981) which also starred the very talented Kurt Russell. Now the Film itself is based upon the short story "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campell. Knowing that there was a 1951 film made by the very similar name (The Thing from outer Space), i must state that this film stands on it's on two gory legs of true genius.
The film starts off with a terrific foreboding score by the master Ennio Morricone that grips you right from the first 5 seconds of the film, that my friends is what a great musical composer can do for you and your film. Suddenly we see a a space craft hurtling out of control and into the main title "The Thing", you just know it's gonna be good. Our next scene is of great importance, it's of the Norwegian expedition crew hurting that dog, but it's not the insanity of them hunting the dog that draws your attention, no it's the bleak and stark wasteland of the Antarctic winter, nothing for hundreds of miles, nothing but snow and ice for the men and the unavoidable thing.
Kurt Russell plays our hero "John MacReady" a hard nosed S.O.B. if there ever was one, and then there's his direct nemesis "Childs", a thick headed and take no bull kind of guy. The go out to the Norwegian camp to look for any other survivors after one of the U.S. camp members is shot and Garry is forced to shot the attacker. What they find is both baffling and horrifying to them all; a alien space craft and what looks like a chunk of ice where they took a body out from. Back at base camp 31, nobody knows what to make of it or the strange dog that starts to act funny. This i'll digress for a moment, i must state that Mr. Rob Bottin's practical special effects are still to this day horrifying and as brilliant as they were 30 years ago.
Back to the review, the so-called dog being held in the kennel erupts with such gore and utter disfigurement they don't know (no pun intended) what the hell it is. Once it starts getting to the camp members that's were the fun starts, everyone is on edge, the isolation and no hope for a rescue come into play as a unnamed cast member and i have to give Mr. Carpenter the highest praise for using his setting to it's fullest potential. Now as the thing starts moving from one cast member to the next and the rest of the cast lose the grips on humanity and sanity it's interesting to note that MacReady always stayed calmed and never once lost his cool truly like everyone perhaps wanted to see.
In the final reel we're treated to a very gory and in my opinion interesting scene, when Palmer is tide to the couch with Childs and Garry. Palmer is the thing at this point and starts to convulse and eruots from his seat tearing in half, he is killed off by Russel but my only complaint of the film is with the amount of blood being spilled in that scene wouldn't both men become the thing? The ending is of complete genius, who is the thing, is it the out spoken and hardass Childs or the level headed and understanding MacReady?? I give this movie ***** (FIVE STARS) AND IT'S A MUST WATCH
As the back cover states "how low would you go to win a million dollars?"- Welcome to the RED ROOM. It is a Japanese film based on the current onslaught of torture porn films such as the SAW series and HOSTEL. Four contestants enter the RED ROOM to play what is known as the "KING'S GAME" It is a card game in which the winner gets the "King" and forces the other contestants in a locked room to do vile and degrading things much like any Survivor episode you'll see on Prime-time TV (albeit with a sick twist).
All contestants are of course down on their luck (student loans, failed business, Ect) and they'll do anything necessary for the cash. Our first game starts off innocently enough the only male of the group orders the two youngest to french kiss, this however upset his wife who knows they needed a harder challenge. Our next challenge is a rather interesting one as it reminds me of what astronauts must go through "G-force" training, our contestant is put through 5-minutes of a continuously spinning chair, she passes and we move onto our next challenge. This is were the movie really starts to pick up, "number 1" has to use the blow dryer in the mouth on "number 3" (these are cards giving to the ones that are NOT the king) for 3minutes our victim is brutalized with the extreme heat from the blow dryer in his mouth- you can almost smell the burning flesh. For our fourth challenge we are greeted to pure degradation; one female is forced to drink the piss of another female; the scene itself just proves at what lengths these contestants will go to win the money.
As this film progresses we're treated to a rape scene after a forced domestic altercation by the "King". I want stop here and say i don't condone rape nor domestic violence however the Japanese are notorious for having both in their films. Back to the review. My favorite torture scene is up next, it is of our hapless male and one of the young women, he is forced to sexually assault her but he takes it a little too far and uses a glass light bulb in her vagina it of course shatters causing her much pain, blood. The next scene is of equal importance as the same female is again the "loser" (marked one) and is forced to have sex with the same man that broke the light bulb in her vagina, as she is giving him a blowjob she bites his penis off in revenge- a fitting ending.
Our last game involves our two young females, one is dead now, killed by the man's wife who was still alive, she jumps up and thrusts a spike through one of the girl's back killing her. The over girl seeing this happen jumps up from her seat at the table and fights with the man's wife, she takes control of the spike and shoves it down her throat killing her at once, but to end the game and win the money the young woman must make love to the dead body of the other young woman; she does so and the game is ended with her winning. The film ends by the woman being asked if she'd be interested in playing another game, she merely smiles at the camera as the credits start to roll.
As i sit here and write this review i have found memories as a child of running around my house yelling "brains", this movie is a classic horror comedy before there was such a thing. Dan O' Bannon wrote a very fun script, yet not a dumb script (he also directed this movie). His use of dark humor, people's real reactions to such an outlandish situation are pure gold. He found the right balance between funny and spoof funny (think the Scary Movie franchise). He also blended the cast perfectly of new and inexperienced actors with grisly vets.
Starting the movie you at once feel at home and care for these actors, you want them to survive this hellish thing happening to them. You greeted to the some of the typical stereotypes in a horror film (the good girl, the nerd, the slut, ect). And as the film progresses it's interesting to see how these characters act in their surroundings, take the slut (played here by Linnea Quigley) she freaks out and gets over taken by the hoard of zombies eventually becoming one herself. Our two main characters Freddy and Frank are played as medical supply warehouse buffoons who accidentally open the container that holds not only the zombie by the caustic gas.
Once the container is opened all hell breaks loose in the warehouse, half dissected dogs start to bark, a human cadaver in the meat locker starts to scream in pain, things don't look good for this two men; fear not they decide to call in their boss Burt. As Burt arrives he is briefed on the situation and he deducts the only thing to do is to cut up the cadaver and dogs and bring it to his buddy Ernie across the street at the local crematorium to dispose of the evidence. Ernie finally agrees after some sweet talking by Burt and soon we're greeted to that ominous fog coming out of the stakes and creeping over the old cemetery. Of course the three men don't know what they've just done a it begins to rain, bringing down smoke into the ground.
We finally see our first true zombie at the forty-four minute mark when the infamous Tar Man makes his appearance, he attacks Freddy's girlfriend Tina who is in a locker, she is rescued but one of the other punks isn't so lucky and gets his brain eaten. The surviving punks stare in disbelief of what they just saw as Tar Man utters "Mooooore Braiiins"; at that point they run up the stairs and lock the zombie down in the basement. They take off for what they think is the safety of the cemetery but as soon as they reach a large headstone there greeted to disembodied moaning, and the group separates to running back to the warehouse while the other three head to the crematorium. The two that headed into the supply warehouse lock themselves in there praying for someone to save them, as the other three knock on the door of crematorium. Ernie answers waving is gun, but lets them in when he hears that loud moaning coming from the cemetery.
Our film ends with Burt in the warehouse (he got there by driving Ernie's car till it died), he gets in and with the help of the two punks they kill the Tar Man to go downstairs to use a phone to call the cops "they got they cops...". After hearing the police being over run he calls the phone number on the Army container, a General answers, confirms a few things then sends a small bomb to destroy that area, it of course doesn't and it begins all over again with people complaining of "burning skin"...
This movie is much maligned by critics and fans alike for it's extreme gore, anti-Semitic tone and abuse towards women. The movie starts off right away with the following quote: "The Jews are not the men to be blamed for nothing" -Jack the Ripper, London England 1888; this is immediately followed by Nick Palumbo our director showing real clips of 9/11. It's all for shock value and in this writers opinion no relation to the former comment (IE- Nick is blaming 9/11 on the JEWS).
Lets get into the movie shall we. As the opening credits start to roll we're treated to a misogynist's wet dream a naked woman is tied to a torture chair, beaten and carved up, her nipple is ripped off, and the man behind it all starts taking pictures of her and speaking in German. The main character (actor Sven Garrett) holds a double life, he has a nice girlfriend with a little sister that's suspicious of him, and his night life as a true psychotic serial killer of beautiful young women. In perhaps a dumb (and cliched move), our main character's girlfriends little sister goes snooping around the upstairs of his house and happens upon a picture of Hitler with what looks like a General, our man Character finds her snooping and calmly states "that was my grandfather, he was a war hero during WW2 fighting the bad guys". The little girl looks at him and says "yea, but he was German.". It's in that exchange you can see his anger and hatred for America boil to an all time high.
In the ensuing scene, Sven (from here on i'll use his REAL NAME- just easy for both of us) he finds a young woman at the slots and he plucks in a "lucky quarter", it wins her a few bucks and soon were back at his studio as he taking pictures of her. Nothing becomes of it as he has a nosebleed and just lets her go. Our next scene everybody will love, our favorite "Chainsaw killer" has a cameo, Mr. Gunnar Hansen plays a gun dealing neo-nazi to Sven. The next scene i thought was a rather let down in the film, Sven goes to the strip club, picks up two of the women brings them back to his hotel and tortures them. However the torture/sex scene is cut very short, all you see is him slapping and and punching one of the girls as his is giving it to her doggy style, once finished he walks into the bathroom and just wields his knife at the disfigured face of the first girl and kisses her; what the hell is that? I wanted to see more from Nick Palumbo in this scene, i needed to see how truly distubred this man (Sven) really was.
Another cameo appearance people! This time from the candy man himself: Tony Todd. He is in a adult video store as a clerk as Sven walks in asking for a "snuff film" it is an inside joke because he is looking for "NUTBAG" Nick Palumbo's first film. As the scene progresses, Sven grabs Todd to kill him with a straight-razor, but before that can happen two masked men break into the place demanding cash. One of the masked men is Fred Vogul of Toe Tag Pictures fame. Sven saves the day by killing both men but then turns the gun on Todd killing him.
Our next scene would get any film banned... It is of sven again giving girl doggy style as she is chained up to a weight-bench as he beats her. For our next gore scene we have Sven driving nails through the wrists of a young woman who is again tied to that torture chair as she shits in a bucket, and he puts a noose around her neck. He also has a woman tied upside down who is bleeding and naked as he puts on a pigs mask on her face, he wraps chains and rope around her neck. Sven takes out dental appliances and starts to bite the women with his sharpened teeth. The next scene is pure and utterly sick, Nick Palumbo has Sven hide in the bathroom of a local park as a little girl comes in and he stabs her to death, this is beyond terror.
The end climatic battle between Sven and the little sister end when she stabs him with a pair of scissors and knocks him out cold with a two by four, her sister is dead by his hands. She walks down a pebble road to escape. You last see Sven get on a bus and take a liking to a new pretty girl across from him who he starts to take her picture. The Credits roll....
First before i do this review i must admit one thing, i am a diehard Jason fan and i actually have this "zombie jason" from Part 7 as a forearm tattoo (i'll post a picture later). On to the review, the film starts off with the retelling of part 6 in quick short clips, it ends with Jason being drowned in the lake once more with a chain around his neck. This is the first movie to star Kane Hodder as Jason who went on to play Jason in three other films (the only actor to do so in the series).
In a flashback scene we see our main character "Tina" as a young child run to the docks and jump in a boat after her father beat her mother, next thing she see's is the docks collapse underneath her father and killing him. You have a physiologist take her back up the to the lake with her mother to help her through he problem. Of course in the house next door is our cliched party kids, stoners, drunks, and the ones that want sex. The doctor is trying to harness her psychokinetic energy for his own purposes. She gets upset at the doctor and mother and runs back to the same docks where her father was accidentally killed, she "feels a presence" and uses her abilities to bring back what she thinks is her father but in reality its Jason.
It's a new concept to the Jason franchise but not new to horror, and i'll admit when i first watched this i said "They've done this shit before", but after years and years of watching it this film is a stand alone in the series. The director and special effects master behind what fans and critics alike call the best looking Jason ever is John Carl Buechler, he created a Jason that no one had before or no one has since, he's truly rotten appearance, spine showing, melted gooey face still brings a smile to this writers face when i see it.
This film originally was to be granted an X-rating do to its gore and body count, the producers obviously knew that would kill the film and they cut out a lot of gore, and it is in fact the most heavily edited Friday film due to its excessive gore. It's in this writers opinion that it hurt the film cutting the gore out, for non horror fans that wanted to see this film in it's heyday maybe; but for all the diehard blood and guts fans out there like me it ruined what should have been the sickest Friday The 13th ever, instead we get a watered down version that just doesn't hold a punch,
Now i want to stress i love this movie out of all the Friday's for a few main reasons, first Kane Hodder is one pissed off Jason (no one can top that man in this role), the make up of Jason is well worth a look, and then there are the very unique kills by Jason. Sure that's what every Friday is known for (that and the body count), but in this film they took inventive to a whole new level, Jason killing with a crazy looking weed-whacker? Yes indeed. This film also won Kane Hodder a world record for longest onscreen "burn" when he was lit on fire by Tina's psychic abilities during the climatic end scene. In the final scene, her dead father rises from Camp Crystal Lake and wraps the chain around his neck around drowning him in the lake again.
Sitting at my PC watching this 9 minute short gives me shivers down my spine. This short was filmed by the up and coming Blood & Guts Productions company out of Indiana. The box art although tame by today's standards holds the key to the true horror for what your about to witness. Director Stephen Corron brings to life a situation all so true and sad an elderly woman in her home; husband long dead, left to playing puzzles as her only companion.
It's in this you immediately feel for the lead, played here by: Madge Levinson she is just trying to find some peace in her life. This film reminds me of the great early Black and White works of early Jean Rollin, the atmosphere is pouring off the screen. As for the production of this short, giving it's very low budget it doesn't show and they get away by having the entire short shot in one location a house. As i stated before this film reminds of of Rollin's earlier work and that's for few reasons; first the terrific Black and White contrast, the twisted killer and the wonderful score done by: Warlock and Bradford.
The killer is played by: Athena Prychodko, and i won't give up the ending but it's a great one. Lastly i just want to add, whoever has completed those 500 or so odd piece puzzles knows what a pain in the ass they can be and how time consuming they are; so for the director, Mr. Corron to come up with an truly original idea based around those puzzles just goes to show that not is indie horror is where it's at but cinema as an artform isn't completely dead either. I reviewed the DVD and it comes with the following special features: Behind The Scenes, Special FX, Deleted Scenes, Promo Trailer
As i start Day Of The Dead, i'm reminded of the great Queen & David Bowie collaboration "Under Pressure"- it would be a very fitting song to start this film off with. You bare witness to a our only female character of the cast having a terrible nightmare that the zombies have gotten her, and it cuts into her being in a 'copter with a pilot, solider, and drunken radio man. Their in Florida searching for any hope of survivors of the zombie Apocalypse. Streets are bare and covered with the lost remains of human civilization, their dire calls of out for any survivors just bring the hordes of the undead to their doorstep.
Romero did a great job on what he has always stated in interviews should have been a bigger budgeted film, it's dark tone and total lost cause of searching for help and a cure is shown here perfectly. Romero's use of "us vs. them" within the human cast is one that not only would happen but is done with pure brilliance, it's Rhodes Army vs. the crew of the 'copter and Logan and his Doctors. All the soldiers have some sort of cabin fever, as they've all lost their minds and are basically brought back to the cavemen days.
The dark comedy to this film brings out Romero's sinister yet playful side as characters react in real ways to extremely fucked conditions. Captain Rhodes being the ringleader of the Army is one pissed off asshole, with attitude to burn. Then there is everyone's favorite "Frankenstein" Doctor Logan (the late great Richard Liberty), this man has completely lost his fucking mind, and is not only is he tearing apart the dead soldiers to look for clues but he's also turning zombies into what basically are pets; and that leads us to BUB- played brilliantly by Howard Sherman. As Sarah says "and all it takes is 15hours of fancy surgery that only a handful of trained surgeons can do" - Logan has lost sight of the goal, and that was of finding a cure, now he's trying to domesticate them. There is a pivotal scene that shows Rhodes complete lack of control and his psychotic nature, the entire team is in the dinning hall and he orders Steele to kill Sarah because she doesn't like there preschool antics and gets up to leave.
She sits down and its in this exchange we see how the pure and utter hopeless situation there truly in. As the film progresses we treated into a peak at how Billy (the radioman) and John (the pilot) live; there in a homey trailer that they've made into a typical home away from home as tho' the zombies don't even exist. Greg Nicotero of KNB special effects fame and Tom Savini of Friday The 13th fame did the special effects for this film and i have to say they are beyond great; in fact to this day you still can see people wearing Day Of The Dead masks nearly 30 years later.
Things start to heat up when Sarah's boyfriend Miguel gets bit by one of the zombies as the collar breaks that he's holding and causing two soldiers to die, he runs are away screaming in extreme pain and heads for John and Billy's trailer. Once there he gets his arm amputated by Sarah and she pleads to Steele and Rhodes that he's ok.
Sarah and Billy go for a late raid on supplies as Rhodes has cut off their supplies, and that's when we see Logan feeding Bub the remains of the Lieutenant. In comes Rhodes and his men and all hell breaks loose, Rhodes men strips the doctors and Billy of their weapons as Rhodes shots Logan in the chest in the meat locker. Miguel then awakens from his shock induced coma and heads up to the ground level and unlocks the fence, hordes of zombies start to stumble after him as he prays to god and starts the elevator down to the ground floor. I won't ruin any zombie kills here but the next 15 minutes of film are a must see! The film ends with Jonny, Billy and Sarah safely on a remote island living it up.
I reviewed the 2-disc Anchor Bay version, and it's loaded with killer extras: A commentary with Romero and Tom Savini, Behind the scenes, Theatrical Trailers, Tv Spots, Production Stills, Behind the scenes photos, and more...
