October Horror Movie Marathon

[Paul Zombie]

Female Vampire.

The Countess Karlstein(Lina Romay) is a mute who lives on the island of Maidera in Spain with her also mute manservant, and is a vampire who likes to wander about in nothing but a cape, a belt, and a pair of boots.
she is also a sex maniac and enjoys numerous encounters with both men and women and afterwards she kills them to suck on their life force.

Jess Franco directs this fun but absolutely ridiculous film with nice music, which is not very well made. The camera work is awful at times with zooms and many scenes out of focus.

Lina Romay is gorgeous though and makes a very striking vampire, especially in the first opening shots were she emerges in the foggy woods showing off her wares to the full advantage including a very impressive 70's lady garden.

but there's very little horror in this film and is more of a soft porn film with Romay even getting it on with a bedpost and giant pillow.

Jess Franco himself also co stars in a small role of a pathologist and another chap plays the creepy Dr Orloff who has a unique way of examining a dead ladys bite wounds , and Jack Taylor also stars as a baron who recites poetry who falls in love with the Countess.

Yes, this is very silly eurotrash but is still entertaining with some nice images including a flapping bat on the Countesses car and also with beautiful locations 71 out of 100.

[BAKA]

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[#14] Pyewacket
There’s something hypnotic about movies that feature a character incanting, the rhythmic recitation has a thrall to it. Frustrated with her mother, who is struggling to keep it together and plans to move to an isolated house in the woods, Leah turns to a black magic ritual, creating a pact with an entity known as Pyewacket to relieve her of her mother. Laurie Holden plays Leah’s Mother, and convinces with her anguish in such a way that makes the audience struggle to connect with Leah’s rebellion. There’s a notion that a ritual will only have an effect if the person performing it believes in it, which is compelling, but little else feels authentic. A slow burn with a misjudged planting of a psychological seed in the denouement leaves the viewer unsatisfied, lacking closure.



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[#15] Mandy
Panos Cosmatos’ Mandy is ethereal, feeling both of a distant plane and steeped in the grimiest recesses of the physical now, a film that may lose you in the metaphysical, but pull you back with its grotesque visceral set pieces. From the son of one of the directors of one of the Rambo sequels, Mandy has an unmistakeable ‘80s pulp aesthetic. Feeling a smorgasbord of influences, there’s a Manson family-like unit that make a pact with a biker gang tripped out on a spiked strand of LSD, resembling a mix of the cenobites from Clive Barker’s Hellraiser, and mutated apocalypse survivors from George Miller’s Mad Max franchise. The screen is bathed in colour, reminiscent of Dario Argento’s Suspiria, arresting in its visual acuity. One of those rare films that live up to the hype and then some, with instant cult classic carved into its scorched fleshy husk. The size of that chainsaw… the size of that phallus… talk about skewered.



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[#16] Jeepers Creepers
There’s an elephant, a really ****ing big elephant, that’s a little impossible to sidestep. I tried to write this a couple of times, avoiding the obvious, and it just didn’t flow. You can’t escape director Victor Salva’s past, especially in connection to this film, because the parallels between him and the Creeper are uncanny, and the use of ‘Here Comes The Boogeyman’ over Salva’s name as the credits roll is a little disconcerting. But Jeepers Creepers is a great film, and the product of more than a tainted director.

The way the tension ramps up in the opening, that escalation of dread as the Creeper’s rusty truck pulls up behind bickering siblings Trish and Darry is overwhelming. The unfurling of the narrative, mysteries and perverse revelations propelling and stalking the protagonists, the over the top characters they encounter, from Eileen Brennan’s Cat Lady to Patricia Belcher’s ominous foreteller. There’s an undeniably subversive homoerotic subtext, the pulling of the rug of the Creeper’s focus, which in retrospect is obvious, but was very much an unexpected push against genre tropes at the time. That bizarre scene where it appears the Creeper is making out with the cop's severed head, before the devouring sound effect kicks in. Justin Long gives a superb performance, an insufferably annoying brother that eventually captures your heart with his virtue. Perhaps it takes a creep to best convey a Creeper.



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[#17] Jeepers Creepers 2
Jeepers Creepers 2 lacks the subtlety of the original in its subtext, it’s genuinely a surprise how far the producers allowed the limits to be pushed for such a mainstream release. The Creeper’s predilections are more obvious, perversely licking its lips and winking its way through a line of boys in one of the more bizarre sequences. The camera has a lingering eye that feels invasive, sleazy. The school bus set up, as the football team make their way home cross-country after a match, is effective, bubbling under with homophobic and racial tensions. The film feels like a freak show, there’s an initial impact at the grotesque sights, but none of the lingering psychological scars the original supplanted. There’s less of an attachment to the characters because of the superficial way the film objectifies them. Ray Wise’s character brings the film back to a more conventional framework for a satisfying climax.



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[#18] Jeepers Creepers 3
Jeepers Creepers 3’s production values, and the length of time between the prior entries of the franchise weigh heavy, feeling more typical of a direct to video release than the lavishly budgeted predecessors. Sporadically there’s the flair evident of an experienced director, but the execution of set pieces relay the constraints of the budget. The Creeper feels static, less pliable, the film relying more on the Saw-like contraptions affixed to the Creeper’s truck than the creature effects previously exhibited in the franchise. Jeepers Creepers 3 completely eschews the sexual subtext of the prior films, feeling more conventional, rudimentary. Meg Foster gives a haunted performance, far beyond the grip of sanity, as she converses with her dead son on the hill, her terror-stricken eyes unnerving. Fans of the original will lap up the epilogue, but as a whole Jeepers Creepers 3 feels a diminishing return.



First two duds of the marathon. But the next lot of reviews includes a complete blinder, Michael Winner's Scream For Help is genuinely incredible, even if Tom Holland hates it.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by BAKA

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[#14] Pyewacket
There’s something hypnotic about movies that feature a character incanting, the rhythmic recitation has a thrall to it. Frustrated with her mother, who is struggling to keep it together and plans to move to an isolated house in the woods, Leah turns to a black magic ritual, creating a pact with an entity known as Pyewacket to relieve her of her mother. Laurie Holden plays Leah’s Mother, and convinces with her anguish in such a way that makes the audience struggle to connect with Leah’s rebellion. There’s a notion that a ritual will only have an effect if the person performing it believes in it, which is compelling, but little else feels authentic. A slow burn with a misjudged planting of a psychological seed in the denouement leaves the viewer unsatisfied, lacking closure.

I quite liked Pyewacket. Not an awful lot happens as such but it felt nicely brooding and the ending came as a bit of a shock.

[Crimson Blade]

Scream of Fear(1961).

Penny Appleby is a wheelchair bound young woman who goes to live with her father and stepmother on the French Riviera after the death of her mother and suicide of her best friend. And finds that when she arrives he has supposedly gone on a business trip. Her sanity is then in question when she starts to see his corpse around the house.

Directed by Seth Holt this is a superb psychological horror/thriller from Hammer. Susan Strasberg is excellent as the paralysed young girl and gives an extremely convincing performance.
Ann Todd is also great as the stepmother who is too good to be true, and Ronald Lewis as the chauffeur who becomes Penny's only ally. Christopher also stars but only has a small role as the doctor, Pierre Gerrard.

Definitely recommended, with some genuinely eerie moments and nice twists. 8/10.

[Paul Zombie]

Kiss of the Vampire.

A couple of newlyweds Gerard and Marianne Hardcourt(Edward de souza and jennifer Danial) get stranded in a small european village at the turn of the century when there car runs out of petrol. and they attract the attention of a cult of vampires run by the charasmatic Dr Ravna who intends to initiate Marianne into the cult of the undead.

This i found was a very good and atmospheric film from Psychomamia director Don Sharp. There are no major stars like Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, but its very well acted nevertheless. and Jennifer Danial who i remember from The Reptile is a very nice actress and such a sweet looking girl and does a good job in this. and Clifford evans from Curse of the werewolf plays a Van Helsing type chap who has some unique ways of dispaching the vampires.

a excellent recommend, beautifly gothic with nice colours throughout. and stand out scenes including the masked ball and a swarm of rubber bats 79 out of 100.

[Demoncrat]

Bride Of Chucky (Ronny Yu)

It's still quite ridiculous that this country treated this franchise the way it did .... in this spirit I watched BOC. A first rate comedy horror this. Jennifer Tilly excels as Tiffany, all round wanton strumpet who reanimates our plastic predator. Laugh? Only nonstop. Was so pleased that that last one had half of Bride's cheek ... at least. Recommended to those who haven't seen it ....

[Demoncrat]

Down A Dark Hall (Rodrigo Cortes)

This had promise, as tempered with familiarity as twas ... an isolated institution receives new inmates ... it just sort of fizzles out. Anna Sophia Robb, the girl I never remember , is among that intake, and what with obligatory demons to wrestle and a new regime to adjust to .. the stage is set for an exciting enough ride. Tis based on a novel. Rebecca Front pops up as do a few other Brits.
It's just that the conclusion wasn't "all that"
That it's produced by Stephanie Meyer shouldn't put you completely off . I can't believe I have just. typed. that.

Next!!!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Return of the Living Dead (1985)

A fine, fun and inventive zombie film with nods to Romero from Alien screenwriter Dan O'Bannon. A film that spoofs the genre without sacrificing the shock value. It's superior black comedy which borders on the hysterical at times and for every laugh out loud moment "Send more paramedics" "Send more cops" there's the equal in gut wrenching gore.

The Skull (1965)

Peter Cushing is in fine form as an antique collector driven to murder after he purchases the skull of the Marquis de Sade from the shady Patrick Wymark.

A fine cast and some innovative and eerie photography ensure The Skull to be in my opinion the best film to come out of the Amicus stable.

[bleakshaun]

Puppet Master 3: Toulon's Revenge
Andre Toulon and his wife Elsa are sought out by the Nazis when a soldier discovers he is mocking the fuhrer, they discover he has the ability to bring puppets to life and end up killing his wife.
So this prequel is great, if not for the puppets, then definitely for Richard Lynch who stands out as being a cold hearted Gestapo officer.

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[MrBarlow]

House Of Witchcraft 1989.

A man has a dream of a house where a witch is cooking his severed head, his wife suggested that they go away, they arrive at the house that is in his dreams.

Another installment of house of doom made for TV movies, this one is directed by Umberto Lenzi, this is a very much low budget movie that does start slow and the pace quickens up, there is very much little gore and no jumps but does play on the psychological side rather than horror/terror, does help to pass time to watch.