28 Weeks Later. 2007.

With the help of the U.S. Army, a part of London is now a safe area, families are reunited. Don who fled from a farm house leaving his wife believing her to be dead but is alive and unaware that although she shows no signs of infection she is a carrier for the Rage disease.

Sometimes sequels work and sometimes they don't but this was a bit of a hit and miss for me, at the start I did scream at Robert Carlyle leaving his wife while he hauled and saved his own ass. Sanctuary time in London and you know there is nowhere to run if there is a outbreak and then the shit hits the fan.

Using John Murphy's score in a tense moment is greatly done during the "Code Red" scenario. The actors done a good job there is no fault there but the quick movement of the camera is a bit of motion sickness part for me. I do rate it highly and recommend for the story line but not for the cinematography.

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Beyond The Door. 1974.

In San Francisco, a mother and loving wife becomes pregnant and the baby growing at a fast rate she begins to to show signs of demonic possession.

After watching the cheesiest Exorcist rip-off movies over the years and really never upset any other film studios yet this one tops the list with the near make-up effect of the possessed Jessica with the screaming kids who seem that their screaming was dubbed in. Richard Johnson is always good to watch as the cult member who wants the baby to be born in the devil woman. I take it the Italians love doing the ending freeze frame with their films??

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Graveyard Shift next

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DAWN OF DEAD (1978)

A change of version for me this time. My preferred version is the Directors cut or the Cannes cut being the longer version. So this time I watched the theatrical cut for a change. The thumping Goblin score over the credits and for various other scenes, I miss watching the Cannes version all the time and of course this version takes me back to the VHS days. I wish there was a seemless branching version where you could have the UK title of ZOMBIES on screen.
On another note. I've started reading the book with the Signal One box set. Some of the writings on the movie by these film scholars are almost unreadable. I'm like.. "what the frack are you talking about"? Talk about over analysing a movie!

Graveyard Shift. 1990.

A run down textile mill with a rat infestation where accidents happen, a drifter taking on a job uncovers something bigger in the basement.

One of Stephen King's short story that seems to be bypassed a lot, some like it and others hate it yet i'm in the minority of liking this. This does have some good solid acting from David Andrews playing the drifter John, looking to make some money and move on to other things. Stephen Macht plays the prick of the boss Warwick and rules the mill with a iron fist and the town. Brad Dourif plays the wacky exterminator who seems to be loving his job.The pace can be a bit slow then speeds up in some parts, there is a good atmosphere in the building set up in the mill and towards the end it of walking in to the unknown and finding something you didn't want to find. Enjoyable enough if you like seeing a lot of rats.

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The bd steelbook mate.

CREEP – ‘Creep’ is another rewatch that seems different in the present tense, this time for the better. In the past I’ve quite enjoyed it, but I never really thought of it as great or anything – watching now, I see more in it. It’s taut and well-spun and rattles along, not wasting any time in nailing the horror and quite often hammering it home. But what stood out this time more than anything was the magnificence of the nearly unrecognisable Sean Harris. He’s the titular creep and really does a bravura job with a fairly limited role that, in anyone else’s hands, might just have amounted to a bit of gurning and a few sinister looks; here, his ghoulishness is so palpable, pathetic and menacing, his twitchy mannerisms and unreadable stares betokening a blueprint of selfhood that could only have been based on the sewer’s rodent population. There’s an intensity about it that would be beyond the reach of a film that was only relying on make-up for impact. There was more blood than I remembered from last time, and just generally more disturbing bits – a couple of scenes in the underground lab which hint at a historical off-radar medical experiment really got under my skin, particularly the sequence where ‘the creep’ builds up to mutilate a victim with a machete, aping the surgical preparations he must have witnessed as a captive of whichever freak surgeon was operating down there. The atmosphere seemed a little more gothic this time – ‘Creep’ isn’t really Gothic at all of course, but the filmmakers knew how to get mileage out of tunnels and shadows and flickering lights, narrow passageways opening into cathedralic vast space etc. Very impressive all round – if I had to pick out its strongest quality besides Harris, it’s the fact that it just goes for it and lays on the horror without really caring what it all means. A really deft mix of social commentary and latter day (ish) exploitation. UK indie horror was pretty strong in the noughties, what with this and films like ‘Isolation’ and ‘The Descent’ etc etc.

October 3rd
 

31 (2016)

Five carnival workers are kidnapped one Halloween and held hostage in an abandoned, hell-like compound where they are forced to participate in a deadly game, the goal of which is to survive twelve hours against a gang of sadistic clowns.

The problem with Rob Zombie's 31 is that it's a largely plotless affair that feels like it should be some sort of sequel to The Devil's Rejects as all the characters feel very familiar even if they actually aren't. Whilst it's well made, fairly graphic and fast paced, It felt as if Zombie was treading water rather than exploring new levels as i felt he had dome with the rest of his movies.

Like the Firefly clan films this is full of anti-heroes and proves a decidedly grubby and seedy affair. The language is coarse throughout and sex when it's on screen looks dirty rather than any kind of titillating. The clowns depicted are scary, filthy smeary white make up coloured red with congealed blood especially Richard Brake's chief clown sicko.

Oh hell, when i come to think about it how can you knock a film whose first murderous clown is a Mexican midget with a Hitler moustache and Swastika daubed on it's chest?

Meanwhile it's lovely and to be honest very refreshing that Zombie still casts older performers in his films rather than teens. Say hello Meg Foster, Judy Geeson, Malcolm McDowell etc.

However the ending, playing out to Aerosmith's Dream On, was excellent and like the aforementioned Devil's Rejects ending, will stick in the memory long after viewing as will another classic Rob Zombie tracking shot throughout the end credits.

I wasn't struck on this first time around but after last night's viewing (Third or fourth) i'm starting to love this grubby slice of pulp exploitation.

I've started to prefer the Argento edit these days, I like the tighter editing and the soundtrack is even more pounding than the Theatrical cut. I wasn't planning to watch it this month but I'm quite fancying it now actually :D

Night stalker.


Journalist Kolchak is investigating the gruesome deaths of a number of women , as the case goes on he believes this is the work of a vampire , his boss and the police think he's nuts and a nuisance. When no one believes him he sets out to kill the vampire himself.

Always loved these movies and the series largely thanks too the wonderful Darren McGavin.


Night strangler

After the events of the last film Kolchak is now in Seattle telling people tales of vampires. He bumps into is old boss who gets him a job at Seattle newspaper his first case is the strangling and crushing a number of womens necks.

As he continues he investigation he finds that small amounts of blood have been taking from the victims , but more bizarrely they have been similar killings ever 20 years since 1868 that have been commit by a army surgeon.

Another enjoyable tale with McGavin, who is joined this time by John Carradine and grandpa Munster.


Up next

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n11Iv7--bFQ


Also been listen to some horror radio dramas with Vincent Price called the price of fear.

The Manitou. 1978.

A psychic's girlfriend who has a lump on her her back is a fetus that is growing of 400 year old Native American spirit, and is encouraged to find a medicine man to fight the spirit.

Based on the novel Graham Masterton, William Girdler who gave us Grizzly switches things up to a almost Exorcist rip-off...what am I saying...clearly it is a rip-off. A young woman being possessed, a Native American calling all the spirits to attack the spirit of one who they see as the devil.

Tony Curtis performance can be a bit over the top at times as the psychic who freaks out a little bit. Susan Strasberg play the victim of the Indian spirit who screams seem to be out of sync. Michael Ansara plays the medicine man and does take the role seriously and able to pull it off. Burgess Meredith does appear but only has about 6 minutes of screen time as the professor pf anthropology.

Given the films budget this was done decently but towards the end the visual effects do seem a bit naff with the final confrontation, but then you go with what you can do, just a shame the sequels to the books were never made.

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Up Next House On Haunted Hill 1999.