31 days of horror part 5: the Final Frontier.

[Newt Cox]

TITLE-Brain Damage
SOURCE-Shudder Streaming Service

Ahh Brain Damage. A film I read about in Fango years ago. Back in 90 or so found the old VHS for rent and grabbed it. While I liked the film it didn't connect that well with me back then. It wasn't until I got the DVD release that I really loved this film. Part of that might be the VHS I rented was the cut version. With most of the blowjob scene missing.

Set in a grimy late 80s NYC Brain Damage is about 2 brothers sharing an apartment. Seems one of their neighbors has a purple turd looking creature. That eats brains and in exchange for the brains gives it's owners this blue fluid. That is highly addictive. The creature leaves the old couple and ends up with one of the brothers.

Once this brother has gotten a taste of the blue fluid he is hooked. And the rest of the film is him either trying to find brains for Alymer,the creature,to eat or trying to over come his addiction to the blue fluid.

Made by the cult director Frank Henenlotter this film is Frank's parable about drug addiction. And it is a nasty one. There is piles of great gore. Like in the previously mentioned blowjob scene. The lead is in a club. A woman approaches him. And they end up in an alley. The lady goes to blow the guy and when she unzips his pants Alymer jumps out and rips her brains out through her mouth.

I love all the little touches Henenlotter gives the movie. Like how Alymer is voiced by famous Northeast horror host Zacherle. Or how the lead guy from Basket Case makes an appearance ,along with his wicker basket! Plus it is always nice to see a film that was shot in NYC back when it was sleazy and grimy.

Brain Damage gets a A-.

And today Cody covered Zombies of Mora Tau

[Newt Cox]

Tried watching the Poughkeepsie Tapes and was horribly bored. Found footage done wrong. Then came The Barn (2016) another retro slasher homage that I missed. Pretty fun. Kids get killed. Gore. Blah blah blah. Fun slasher.

BTW it is on Tubi:

https://tubitv.com/movies/491603/the_barn?tracked=1

Doing a movie night Friday with my lady and some friends might watch The Barn. Been wanting a new unknown slasher.

[Newt Cox]

TITLE-Puppet Master The Littlest Reich
SOURCE-Shudder streaming service

This came out in 2018 and is the 12 official film in the Puppet Master franchise. Yea Puppet Master vs Demonic Toys doesn't count as an official film. I had heard this was a damn good film but never saw the dvd for sale. Then months ago got Shudder,which is AMC's horror streaming service,and saw Shudder had the movie.

Thomas Lennon is a comic book artist that works in a comic shop. Him,his girlfriend and his boss from the comic shop goto a convention near the hotel from the first Puppet Master film. The convention is based around Andre Toulan.

Most of the people that come to the convention bring with them puppets. Lots of which were stolen from Toulan. And fairly quickly the puppets come to life and start killing people.

And wow this is the bloodiest film in the franchise. Get to see Torch burn a Jewish couple alive. And see the flesh slowly liquefying. Then get to see Blade cut a guy's achilles tendon and wow is it bloody.

A neat thing is Barbara Crampton is in the film. As an Ex-cop. Which comes in handy cause the last 30 minutes of the film has all the cast trapped in a hotel with only a few guns.

This entry in the series really feels like the original. But with a bigger budget. The puppet effects look really good. The gore is well done. And the cast is a nice mixture of people you know and unknowns.

The best part is so many new puppets get introduced. Like the Lil Hitler puppet that possesses a guy. Or this puppet that is half puppet half flying drone.

Anyways if you enjoy the Puppet Master films and want something closer to the good entires this is worth tracking down.

Puppet Master the Littlest Reich gets a B+.

And Cody covered Pharoh's Cure 1957

[Ignatius]

Day 5: KONGO (1932) - Sweaty, sleazy pre-code fun. Absurdly racist of course, but if you can look past that there are plenty of things to enjoy, chief among them being Walter Huston's gleefully vicious lead performance. It's not one of the best pre-code films - there are some disconcerting plot jumps and the direction can be a bit sloppy - but it sure as hell is one of the nastiest.

Day 6: BAD DREAMS - Some fun gruesomeness and neat fire effects aren't enough to save this one. The main threat never feels particularly threatening and the climactic reveal doesn't make much sense. It's never a good sign when the scene that perks you up and makes you think things are going to get really interesting turns out to be a dream.

Day 7: VISITING HOURS - An interesting little film that keeps falling short of its potential. An older heroine, a focus on the killer's escalating attempts to gain access to her, an avoidance of obvious expendable victims, a couple of upsetting home invasion scenes; plenty of reasons this should be a superior stalk'n'slash thriller but it just doesn't gel. The main issues are pacing and storytelling, with Lee Grant's character being sidelined for long stretches of the film and the tension deflating far too often. There are also plot details that make no sense at all once you start to think about them, and the script has a tendency to dance around the consequences of the killer's actions. Plenty of interesting little thematic threads get brought up in the dialogue, but never expanded upon or tied into the action. Lots of missed opportunities.

The real saving grace is the actors: Lee Grant does solid work with an underwritten role, Michael Ironside is just as great as you'd expect, and Linda Purl is so engaging I had to look her up afterwards to see what else she's done. The answer is 'lots of TV work' but based on her performance here I'd say it's a shame she never got more big roles. Oh, and William Shatner is there for no good reason. I'm not saying I'd rather have less William Shatner, but his character serves absolutely no purpose in the script.

Worth a look, but lower your expectations on the way in.

[Gary Banks]

GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS (2019)-Giant monsters beating the shit out of each other and destroying large cities. Count me in. Yeah, it is pretty dumb, but once in a while you need to turn your better judgment off and just roll with it.

1-Guru, The Mad Monk 2
2-House Of Evil 3
3-Starship Troopers 7.5
4-The Robot Vs The Aztec Mummy 4
5-Tarantula 7
6-Rodan 6.5
7-Horror Hotel 10
8-Castle Of Evil 7
9-et Mourir de Plaisir 8.5
10-Godzilla,KOTM(2019) 8

[Alex K.]

Tried watching the Poughkeepsie Tapes and was horribly bored. Found footage done wrong. Then came The Barn (2016) another retro slasher homage that I missed. Pretty fun. Kids get killed. Gore. Blah blah blah. Fun slasher.

BTW it is on Tubi:

https://tubitv.com/movies/491603/the_barn?tracked=1

[Gary Banks]

I've watched the fit two episodes of Evil and it hasn't really done a lot for me. Not sure how much longer I'm staying with it.

[Mark Tolch]

My daughter was over, we watched last year's Halloween. I fell asleep in the same spot, but I'm going to attribute that to whiskey flu therapy.

[Darcy Parker]

Watched the second episode of Creepshow tonight, and the first two episodes of Evil.


3 for 3 on the shit pile.

[Newt Cox]

Seen some horror tonight,but it was a bad southern indie IPPV. Some of the worst I have ever seen.

Going to watch second episode of Creepshow later. Then try to squeeze in a film before I crash out.

[Alex K.]

I couldn't find the Fright Night docu on Shudder. I found a page but it didn't load so it must be some weird streaming thing.


A re-watch of Return of the Living Dead 3. Still a really fun zombie film.

And Joker. Is it horror? Kind of. Close enough, it counts. Fucking AMAZING film. I loved it.

[Newt Cox]

Day 5 Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer Airing on Last Drive In with Joe Bob

Figured everyone here has seen Henry many times. Nice that Joe Bob got a chance to show it. Saw Darcy the mail girl on Twitter hinting that there is sometime big gonna happen on Shudder Halloween night.

[Newt Cox]

I had no idea this was on Shudder. I checked the site and nothing. I went through the movie list twice and nothing. Filtered by docu and nothing. Finally I just googled the movie + Shudder and finally found it. Their website is pretty badly organized.

I have never used their website. Always connected thru the VRV or the SHudder app.

SHudder also has the Hellraiser documentary,the Pet Sementary one and I think Not Quite Hollywood. THeir newist Horror Noire Documentary is interesting. Rachel True seems to never age.

[Alex K.]

TITLE-You're So Cool Brewster the story of Fright Night
SOURCE-Shudder Streaming Service

I heard about this documentary a few years ago. Wanted to see it,but never saw it for sale anywhere. Got Shudder earlier this year and saw the documentary was on there. I have watched it 3 times now.

Fright Night was a Mid 80s vampire movie. William Ragsdale is a horror obsessed teen. And suspects his new neighbor is a vampire.

This documentary manages to get pretty much every person who is still alive and had a major part in the film. And there is a lot of info I had never heard before.

The documentary only really covers the original film. I would have liked more info on the sequel. And am still trying to forget that the horrid remake exists.

I do wish they had done a bit more on the Fright Night comic. A few years back I got a complete run of it. And was surprised at how good it is.

If you have Shudder or any other way of watching this documentary do it. It is a bit over 2 hours long. But flies by. You're So Cool Brewster gets a B.

I had no idea this was on Shudder. I checked the site and nothing. I went through the movie list twice and nothing. Filtered by docu and nothing. Finally I just googled the movie + Shudder and finally found it. Their website is pretty badly organized.

[Newt Cox]

TITLE-You're So Cool Brewster the story of Fright Night
SOURCE-Shudder Streaming Service

I heard about this documentary a few years ago. Wanted to see it,but never saw it for sale anywhere. Got Shudder earlier this year and saw the documentary was on there. I have watched it 3 times now.

Fright Night was a Mid 80s vampire movie. William Ragsdale is a horror obsessed teen. And suspects his new neighbor is a vampire.

This documentary manages to get pretty much every person who is still alive and had a major part in the film. And there is a lot of info I had never heard before.

The documentary only really covers the original film. I would have liked more info on the sequel. And am still trying to forget that the horrid remake exists.

I do wish they had done a bit more on the Fright Night comic. A few years back I got a complete run of it. And was surprised at how good it is.

If you have Shudder or any other way of watching this documentary do it. It is a bit over 2 hours long. But flies by. You're So Cool Brewster gets a B.