October Horror Movie Marathon

[Inspector Abberline]

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If you fancy watching something different for Halloween,why not a western?
It does not take me to say that this is one of Eastwood greatest films from his 1970's period,and maybe the best western outside of his spaghetti western trilogy,no grumbling at the back we all know The Outlaw Josey Wales and Unforgiven are brilliant,but High Plains Drifter just has some rather memorable moments that are just sheer brilliance.The whole tone of the film with its rather ambiguous ending with that is he or isn't he the same guy? To me it does not matter because the story is so engrossing and Clints character is nearly as mythical as the man with no name. Its also a clever film managing to combine a not so subtle hint that Clint's character maybe a supernatural force? What makes it more than just a genre western is the music by Dee Barton,it such an eerie sound and a little disturbing that if you put this music on anything at all it would make it seem scary.If you had to level any criticism at all,it would be that its not a particularly subtle film,the whole revenge motif is pretty well worn even by the time this was made,and the look Eastwood gives every time a whip is cracked should be a good indicator that there's a troubled history,behind that look. Also Clint's character is not so much an anti hero but down right mean,no one can seem to shoot him and he manages to antagonise,annoy or just about kill pretty much everybody in town,in fact his character is nearly as vicious as the three main villains who have sworn to return to the town and reap there vengeance.Also the rape (and it is not consenting ) of Callie Travers seems to be rather out of place and makes it some what hard to understand his motives,you can understand him taking revenge on the town,but that scene does seem incongruous with the rest of the film. Made by Clint's production company Malpaso,its full to the brim of recognisable faces and his directorial style has a touch of Sergio Leone,which is no bad thing. A classic to be sure.

Marshal Jim Duncan—Rest in Peace.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Last Horror Film (1982)

I've never been able to decide if this Maniac lite film is dreary dross or too clever and knowing for it's own good. Filmed on location at the 1982 Cannes film festival, although not officially, much of it plays like a movie spotters dream, with posters and references galore, however the adhoc filming becomes a little dull, i mean there's only so many times you can show what is the equivalent of stock footage and it becomes extremely repetitive.

As a horror film it's virtually non-existent, the film within a film makes suspense redundant and the single stalk and slash sequence ends up being a joke as the largely excellent Joe Spinell chases Caroline Munro about a hotel until she runs through a large crowd of people in the lobby cheering her and out onto the Cannes streets. Munro of course looks gorgeous even sporting an odd blonde streak in her hair but even after all these years i still can't decide if she can actually act but i'll give her the benefit of the doubt as she's lovely to sit down and chat with.

My overall feeling with The Last Horror Film is that it's far too clever for it's own good and has ideas which don't quite come off, to the detriment of it's horror aesthetics.

[trebor8273]

Phantasm. 9.4/10




Wishmaster 2. 6.2/10

[platostotal]

Bloody good idea Treb, tonight's ABUKtober...

[trebor8273]

Originally Posted by platostotal

Bloody good idea Treb, tonight's ABUKtober...

im going to watch all the phantasm movies over the next few nights.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Halloween Night (2006)

Incarcerated for butchering fellow family members an inmate of a maximum security medical establishment escapes and goes back home on Halloween night and the killings begin again.

Sounds familiar? It won't be hard to believe if i say this film was made by The Asylum, a company renowned for ripping off more well known movies. But this one is a little different as it's not just a hack job, Fangoria magazine head honcho Michael Gingold is behind this one and for the most part it's rather enjoyable, very gory, full of naked lesbians ...you see now i have Nordy's attention!

i wasn't lying though, Halloween Night is exploitation at it's best, both exploiting the studios by ripping offer a better film and exploiting the punters with gruesome violence and T&A. Sure it's derivative but it's well made with great effects and some fun intricacies to the storyline outside the basic derisory premise. It only receives a measly 4.1 score on IMDB but i think it's a whole lot of Halloween horridness and do tend to watch it every October.

[Nordicdusk]

Film No.10

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Next up we are off to the land of my father and my father's father and my father's father's father and my father's fa...... you get the pictures we are off to the dangerous countryside of County Leitrim here in lovely Ireland

Martin and his girlfriend Helena are driving through the countryside when they knock a man down standing in the middle of the road. In a panic they pack the body in the back of his car but a few minutes down the road the passenger is less than grateful for the lift and bites into Martins neck. After disposing of the disgruntled passenger Martin sends Helena for help in a nearby farm house. Moments later Helena is attacked by the man she loves but she is left with no choice but to suck his eye out with a vacuum cleaner and escape into the wilderness alone and confused. Outside she meets Desmond the village gravedigger who explains that a local farmer was caught feeding dead animals to cows and since then the locals have gone crazy and started attacking anyone they see.

Dead Meat looks like it was made with a budget of a couple of hundred euro which makes what it accomplishes even more impressive. The people here are obviously not actors it's like they went out into town and pick the first few people that showed an interest in making a few bob and put them into the film and even that works in favour of the finished product. Im not saying the acting was bad and of course im not saying it was good but there is no stuttering through the lines it's just like listening to farmers talking anywhere in Ireland and thats where the humour works with some of the conversations. This is not a horror comedy by any means its totally done straight but there is humour to be found maybe its just because i have encountered characters like these in the real world.

Another impressive aspect of Dead Meat is the gore and kills for a small film with a tiny budget it's all practical gore from killing a cow with a hurley and sliotar ( what would an Irish horror film be without death by hurley ) or decapitating a zombie with a shovel it all looks great. The makeup effects on the zombies is nothing amazing but it does work really well. To be honest i was expecting this to be total shit but i was wrong it's great fun and the characters are very lickable because like i said they just seem like real everyday people no macho posers or pointless freaking out or falling for no reason when getting chased these are people dealing with the task at hand in a realistic way like you would envision it actually playing out if a zombie apocalypse actually happened. At times the score has a real Italian horror sound which was a nice surprise it's a pity they didn't use it throughout the film but when its there it adds a nice creepiness to it.

I loved this film you can tell that it was a labour of love with some great attention to detail not just thrown together to make a zombie film they set out to make a serious film and achieved that goal i would love to see them make something else with a proper budget and see how they could handle that. The influence for the film are plain to see from Romero's the Crazies to Fulci's love of eye horror but nothing felt like a rip off just a nod to the films that influenced the film makers. Dead Meat will definitely get repeat viewings.

8/10

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

The Vampires' Night Orgy (1974)



Spanish shocker with a twist of the macabre as a bus load of tourists (one of whom is a blatant Charles Bronson look-alike) decide to stop off at a small, seemingly deserted town after their bus-driver suffers a fatal heart attack. Unfortunately for them, said town is home to a society of vampires. As you would expect, the tourists start to become a meals-on-wheels for the village of blood-suckers.

There is a lovely build-up of suspense prior to the vampires appearing on the scene as our exhausted band of tourists explore the eerie town and decide to settle in for the night. Unfortunately this suspense is a little short-lived as the film gradually turns into more of a survival tale, as the tourists start to disappear one by one at the hands and fangs of the local vamps. The middle feels a little padded out at times but there's some blood and a bit of nudity, but nothing approaching the levels of 'orgy'. However, that said, the creepy vibe and the strange little quaint village was more than enough to hook me in and it has a bizarre charm to it that sits extremely comfortably with me.

If you can survive the awful music and bad dubbing there is an atmospheric, enjoyable slice of '70s euro-vampirism to be found here.

64/100

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Dead Meat is great. I have it as part of a collection called Fright Fest which i presume is films that had an airing at the horror festival one year. The Roost and the brilliant Eyes of Crystal are also in my collection from said series.

[trebor8273]

Phantasm 2. 8/10



Wishmaster 3. 5.3/10



Slugs. 6.3/10