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Originally posted by Vincent Dawn Jr
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Thinking that is from Ernest goes to Jail or Ernest goes to School.
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The things I learned from watching Dracula Has Risen from the Grave:Originally posted by BW Haggar View Post
1. Dracula can enter a woman's room without being invited in.
2. You need to say a prayer after staking a vampire or else he will rise up from his coffin and remove the stake.Comment
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10/30
105 - Beyond the Darkness
106 - City of the Living Dead
107 - Late Night with the Devil
108 - Devil's Nightmare
Beyond the Darkness is such a great oddity, there is so much going on in it and it's all mostly bad. Some pretty decent gore, funny dialog, and Iris, an old slut. lol It was the first "Euro cult" movie I had ever seen but before I ever heard that term and before seeing this I had never heard the name Joe D'Amato before, it set the bar high. Whenever I watch a Fulci zombie movie I wonder which is the best (this one, The Beyond, or Zombie; House by the Cemetery barely counts to me...) but it is impossible; this one was an easy choice because of it was so close to Halloween. Late Night with the Devil I really enjoyed and this was probably the third time I've seen it but it was still just as good as the first. It's a bit different but it seemed like a great lead-up to WNUF and WNUF 2 later today. Finished off the evening with a top-tier gothic, Devil's Nightmare. I never tire of this one and find it makes a great double feature with The Vampire's Night Orgy but I wasn't in the mood for that.Comment
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https://doubletsblogofreviews.blogsp...pt-of.html?m=0
TITLE-Crypt of Dark Secrets
SOURCE-Severin Blu Ray
Jack Weis is a filmmaker I had never heard of until the last 10 years. Saw Mardi Gras Massacre and wanted to see more from this NOLA based director. Then back during late Spring,Severin had their big sale. This double feature was cheap and the day my order finally arrived I opened this up and watched both movies.
Set in New Orleans and the swamps and bayous that are right outside the city Crypt of Dark Secrets has a generic as fuck title. Makes me think of some pre-code EC Comics ripoff from Avon or Standard.
A Nam vet is living on the island out in the bayou. The island rumored to be haunted. People claim to have seen a snake that can change into a naked woman,named Dambella,in this area of the swamp.
The cops come out to see the vet and warned him about keeping his money there at his home. Talking him into visiting a bank in the city.
While at the bank,and the bank worker unsuccessfully talking our vet into getting a bank account,a sleazy local overhears that this vet is just cashing his military checks and leaving it under his bed.
This local plots with his best buddy and his wife to go rob the vet. So out into the swamps they go. Sneaking onto the island and waiting on the vet to return.
When he does they knock him into the swamp and it appears he has died. They make off with the money,and we see a snake coming up. It turns into a naked lady and starts to dance above the dead vet.
Snake Lady is magical and by shaking and rubbing her naked body on recently deceased people she can bring them back to life.
Our robbers start seeing blood appearing on the money they stole. And being idiots go turn themselves into the cops.
Which leads to the cops and the robbers returning to the island. Now with the Vet back alive and Snake Lady made cause he was killed.
Wow this was obviously made cause Weis found a really attractive "exotic" looking woman who was willing to dance and dry hump people while naked.
Running under 80 minutes if you cut out the long dance parts this would be under an hour. Not complaining about naked hot lady dancing. Just explaining how little there is to this film.
The plot feels like it was rejected by the Scooby Doo writers for being too basic. Thankfully the locations make up for that. It was great seeing the swamps by NOLA. And then mid 70s New Orleans. Not sure when I made my first visit to the city of southern sin. Guessing it was late 70s. So much of what I saw of the city in this film looked the same last time I visited.
The acting....well it goes from ok to wow I guess no one else was available. At least our three robbers appear to be from the area so you do not have horrible fake CAJUN accents.
The FX is low budget. But works for this film. I am sure this was made to be the second or third film on a double or triple feature at some southern drive in.
Crypt of Dark Secrets gets a C.
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Night #30 - Dr. Giggles
Man, I didn't remember how bad this was.
Released back in 1992, Dr. Giggles has to be the blandest slasher I've ever seen. Larry Drake, who at the time was a hit TV star, could have made a truly terrifying deranged psycho. He's got the size and he can do a demented glare, but they made his character a cheesy dad-joke cracking goof. He's not intimidating at all.
The story itself is incredibly thin and seemingly unimportant. All you get is Drake stalking a victim, delivering a zinger and then gruesomely killing that person with some sharp medical instrument. Granted, the special effects by KNB are done well, but, at least for me, that wasn't enough to hold me attention.
I don't want to sound like too much of a pig here, but if you're not going to write a compelling story or any interesting characters, and you're already going to get an R rating for all the gore, how about throwing in a little T&A? I mean, it is a slasher movie. Sex and violence, you know? They hired three attractive actresses (Holly Marie Combs, Michelle Johnson, and Sara Melson), all of whom have scenes that are just begging for a sexy ensemble if not straight up nudity, and what do they do? They dress these women in burkas! Ok, well, maybe not exactly, but you know what I'm saying. There's literally one scene where Holly Marie is spread out on an operating table, and she's wearing a full length nightgown, something I'd imagine an Amish woman would sleep in. What a waste.
Rating: 2/10Comment
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I can't in any way claim it's 'good', but I love 'Crypt of Dark Secrets' - it's exactly the kind of spaced out / plotless regional hippie weirdness I adore... all the more-so for the fact that the guys making it weren't hippies at all - they were just sleepy and drunk.Originally posted by Newt Cox View Post
The extras on the Severin disc are fantastic too.Comment
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Day 31: Halloween Ends. We wrap up things with the final film in the Blumhouse trilogy, which is definitely among the more "off-the-beaten-path" entries in the Halloween franchise. On the one hand, I do applaud the filmmakers for taking the risks they did, and I do think the movie has a lot going for it and is very interesting overall, but like the other movies in the trilogy, I think it's far from perfect. Anyway, happy Halloween everybody, and I hope to do this again next year.
https://codysfilmandtvblog.blogspot.com/Comment
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Last year I watched 55 movies and only repeated four of them this year. Finished "strong" by watching 5 movies on Halloween. wound up watching 68 movies, with 20 being either 1st time viewings or first in ten years.
Ratings: ack (honks on bobo) to 10. In bold 1st time viiewing, 1st time in ten years or I forgot when it was last viewed.
001-Die Sister, Die 4
002-The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals 1.5
003-Devil's Express 0.5
004-Dungeon of Horror 2.5
005-Lurkers ack!
006-In Search of Dracula 4
007-Dear Dead Delilah 6.5
008-Torture Chamber of Dr Sadism 9
009-Lifechanger 6.5
010-ABCs of Death 2 1.5
011-Xtro 3 Watch The Skies 4
012-God Told Me To 10
013-Strangler of Blackmoor Castle 10
014-Endgame 4
015-Asylum (1972) 6
016-The Beast Within 6.5
017-Almost Human (2014) 4.5
018-Wrong Turn 3 Left For Dead 4
019-We Are What We Are 3
020-A Ghost Waits 10
021-Curse of the Stone Hand 4
022-the Mad Monster 3
023-Beyond The Door 3
024-The Legacy (1978) 7
025-Spirits of the Dead 5
026-The Mask (1961) 7
027-Crypt of the Vampire 6
028-Late Night With The Devil 6
029-Blue Monkey (Insect!) 4
030-Doctor X 7.5
031-The Beach Girls and the Monster 1
032-Shock (aka Beyond the Door II) 3.5
033-The Crazies (2010) 8
034-The Catman of Paris 4.5
035-Xtro 6
036-The Slayer (82) 5
037-Legend of the Witches 4
038-The Black Abbot (1963) 10
039-Superbeast 6
040-The Witches Mountain 2
041-Castle of Blood (US cut) 10
042-Creepshow (82) 8
043-Scarecrow County 2
044-She Killed In Ecstacy 4
045-City of the Dead 10
046-Chilling Visions 3
047-The Veil (2016) 5.5
048-Monster Zero 4
049-Werewolf of London 7
050-Lake of the Dead 8.5
051-Warriors of the Wasteland ack!
052-Rabid (2019) 4
053-X The Unknown 7
054-Night of the Demon (1983) 6
055-The Curse of Frankenstein 10
056-I Walked With a Zombie 10
057-Found Footage 3D 1
058-Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy 7
059-Village of the Damned (1960) 10
060-Mom & Dad 3.5
061-Here Comes The Devil 6
062-The Mill of the Stone Women 10
063-Ring of Terror 0.5
064-The Raven (1935) 5
065-The Mummy (2017) 6.5
066-100 Cries of Terror 6
067-the Beast of the Yellow Night 8
068-Creature with the Blue Hand 7.5 #20"The popcorn you're eating has been pissed in. Film at 11".Comment
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10/31
109 - Garfield's Halloween Adventure
110 - The Midnight Hour
111 - Carnival of Souls
112 - Horror Hotel
113 - Blood Feast
114 - The WNUF Halloween Special
Garfield's Halloween Adventure isn't a movie but it's so much fun that I had to count it anyway. Garfield's greed for trick or treat candy leads him and Odie to an isolated island where pirate ghosts return for their treasure. It's silly and it's Garfield but there are some creepy moments here and the pirate ghost animations are so cool, this one is really enjoyable even as an adult but like most things like this I wonder how requisite liking it as a child is to like it now.The Midnight Hour, Carnival of Souls, and Horror Hotel/City of the Dead are Halloween regulars for probably obvious reasons but this year I went for the Horror Hotel version of The City of the Dead for whatever reason. Other than the different title and slightly shorter running time I couldn't actually say what is different here but it's the same excellent horror movie no matter which version you go with as far as I'm concerned. Blood Feast!!! It's just so cool with it's 'first gore movie' status and the fact that it just delivers, on multiple levels, from start to finish. The first of its kind but it also outdoes a lot of other 'gore' movies that would follow. I wanted so badly for Out There Halloween Mega Tape to arrive before Halloween and it did but I just didn't feel like watching it, I was worn out after doing The WNUF Halloween Special although that should not be taken as a comment about this excellent movie! Perhaps before the night is over I'll do one more...
It's been a great month, 114 movies and of them 35 were first time viewings.
Really hope you all had a great Halloween!!! I know I did!Comment
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I do love it. So glad i got that disc and Mardi Gras Massacre. Need to find the other Weis films that are out.Originally posted by BW Haggar View PostComment
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43 movies done in the month. Was gonna watch NOTLD68,but realize there was not enough time to finish it before midnight.
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#35
Tales of Terror
(Roger Corman, 1962)
This was actually my wife’s suggestion, after she expressed a desire to to re-watch, “that movie where Vincent Price tastes all the wine”; happy to oblige!
It occured to me this time around that, were it not for Price and Peter Lorre’s absolutely wonderful comic turns in the second story (which are the main thing everyone remembers), in most other respects is probably the gloomiest, most morbid entry in the Corman-Poe cycle (which is saying something). As is so often the case with Matheson’s writing, the script is raddled with misery and despair, and the ‘Morella’ and ‘M. Valdemar’ tales are both total downers.
But, it’s the sight of Vince trying not to corpse (ha) as Peter staggers about in improv-heavy drunk mode, singing his “WHO DAT, WHO DAT” song, which rules the day. What a double-act; no wonder Corman made their interplay the main focus of his next picture.
So long Roger, and thanks for all the movies.
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#36
Bride of Frankenstein
(James Whale, 1935)
So far this October, I’ve managed to take in at least one appearance a piece from Cushing, Lee, Price, Pleasence, Lorre, Lugosi, Atwill, Naschy, Shiela Keith - but, no Karloff.
So, time to correct that, and to add Elsa Lanchester to the list for good measure, by squeezing in this absolute, mad masteriece of pop cinema artistry - still as rich, complex, bizarre, disturbing, funny and beautiful 90 years down the line as anything the 21st century has come up with thus far.
“It's a perfect night for mystery and horror… the air itself is filled with monsters!”
Nuff said.
A+Last edited by BW Haggar; 11-01-2024, 07:32 AM.Comment
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Night #31 - Queen of Black Magic
I ended these 31 nights of terror with the 1981 Rapi Films classic Queen of Black Magic. The stunning Suzzanna plays a young woman accused of witchcraft, tossed off the side of a cliff and left for dead. Her dastardly ex-boyfriend heads up the lynch mob that tries to destroy her, and to add insult to injury, he slaps the piss out of her elderly mother, and burns the family's house down! Suzzanna survives and is taken in by an old hermit that teaches her the esoteric black magic rites she can use to get revenge on her ex and his cohorts.
The special effects are low budget but well done with flying decapitated heads, bubbling skin boils, and swarms of what appear to be live bees suffocating the poor victims of Suzzanna's curses. I wish they spent a bit more time on the actual black magic rituals (like the Hong Kong films that were coming out around this time) but that's a small criticism for an otherwise enjoyable flick.
It's interesting too to see what the filmmakers were able to get away with at that time in Indonesian culture, in terms of violence and sex. There's no real nudity in this, although a few scenes appear to have optical censoring on the version I saw. (I have bootleg sourced from a Canadian VHS tape, but Mondo Macabre did release a DVD a few years back.) The real selling point here is Suzzanna, a beautiful woman with a fierce on screen presence.
Rating: 7/10Comment
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SHOCKTOBER 2024 Recap:
FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE (Kevin Connor, 1974) The last of the Amicus Horror Anthology films, and one of their best. The wraparound is pretty simple with Peter Cushing playing the proprietor of an Antiques shop full of oddities and curiosities.. Each of the four chapters is based on stories by R. Chetwynd-Hayes. FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE works in the way the best portmanteau movies do – all of a piece. Cushing is very good showing both sides of the charcter – a slightly doddering older gentlemen while providing a delicious taste of menace.
FRANKENSTEIN (1910) Thomas Edison's production is crude but it tells the very basic story in one reel. Notion that Dr. Frankenstein's warped mind creates the monster. The creature is grown in a cauldron like a witch's brew. Disappears as if it were all a figment of his imagination.
THE STONE TAPE (1972) A BBC production that is notable for a quite fascinating teleplay by Nigel Kneale. Expanding upon themes Kneale explored in Quatermass And The Pit and You Must Listen, The Stone Tape explores the connection between science and the supernatural.
ODDITY (2024) Damian McCarthy's Irish shocker has a couple of very well timed shock cuts that break up the brooding pace. The title entity is a macabre life-sized wooden doll which Darcy insists on propping up in plain view. It's genuinely gripping. Unfortunately, once the tale behind the tale is revealed, it comes off as a bit of disappointment. McCarthy leans too much on misdirection and shifting POV. It's one of those movies where everyone has to act in a certain specific way for it to 'work'.
AUDITION (1999/2001 U.S.) – Takashi Miike's creepily effective psycho-thriller lulls the viewer in by having the first two acts function as mostly a light drama. AUDITION is sturdy stuff. No matter one's personal interpretation, it forces the viewer to sit up and pay attention – whether they may be the auditioner or auditionee.
STRANGLER OF THE SWAMP (1946)– Atmospheric Poverty Row (PRC) thriller about a wrongly executed man (Charles Middleton – Ming from Flash Gordon) who returns to avenge those who put him away. Future Pink Panther filmmaker Blake Edwards plays the love interest. Director Frank Wisbar remakes a German film he had made, outfitting it with the more exploitative PRC style. It's effective even at barely an hour long.
ASYLUM (1973) Solid anthology entry. The wraparound story is integral to the Amicus film which keeps it percolating from start to finish. The classical music by Mussogorsky hints right away that they are taking things more seriously here. ASYLUM is worth visiting – maybe, not to stay....but....you never know!
KISS OF THE VAMPIRE (1963) – Like a number of Hammer fans, this is one I hadn't seen probably because it didn't have Christopher Lee nor Peter Cushing. It's quite good. The acting may not have the charisma and panache of the Lee-Cushing films, but KISS' writing and direction more than make up for any small deficiencies there. Indeed, the irony of Hammer may be that the two best “Dracula sequels” may very well be KISS OF THE VAMPIRE and BRIDES OF DRACULA (which had Cushing but not Lee).
ENYS MEN (2023) – Writer-Director Mark Jenkins' compellingly odd metaphysical tale set on a foreboding isle (the title translates as Stone Island). Jenkins and his very small team create their own world. The physical movie itself is like an artifact from the 70s. ENYS MEN is a film to be experienced and contemplated. It won't satisfy those who want clear explanations, but, it's the kind of film that haunts the soul.
MAXXXINE (2024) Ti West's wrap up to the Maxine/Pearl trilogy is an eminently watchable, if disappointing thriller, set in the mid-80s. For all of Mia Goth's fine work (and, to be fair, West's technical skill) it can't help but feel like an empty exercise. For all its attitude it still ends up being just a grindhouse exploitation movie itself. West has talent, but, his retro obsession is becoming a dead end.
THE AMUSEMENT PARK (1975/2019) Shot in 1973 and shelved after a couple of showings in 1975, George Romero's public service film is a pretty remarkable document. It's a one hour semi-surrealist nightmare about an elderly man (Lincoln Manzel, who also does the introduction) who goes to an Amusement Park. There, he experiences the nightmare rides of his life
MONSTER CLUB (1981) – Always wanted to see this anthology film which matched up Vincent Price and John Carradine. The pair are the linking device to three tales. Carradine is a horror writer, Price a vampire who introduces the scribe to real monsters at an underground club. Amicus had a lot of the same issues as Hammer Films in adapting their horror formula to the then modern world (Price's character quips about how it's “cheaper” to shoot present day, not period). Real locations such as the Shadmock's estate are a lot better than the bargain budgeted sets. THE MONSTER CLUB is worth wading through once to see Price and Carradine - and for a few moments here and there.
MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (1935) Tod Browning's thriller is still an enjoyable mystery, even despite allegedly being shorn of some 20 minutes of footage. You get both Lionels – Barrymore and Atwill – plus, Bela Lugosi as Count Mora and Caroll Borland as Luna. The ending remains controversial among horror fans, but this is a well mounted film beautifully shot by the master of light, James Wong Howe. MGM could afford production values that Universal could only aspire to back in the 30s.
OCTAMAN (1971) Writer-Director Harry Essex tried to recreate the basic template from THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON which he wrote the screenplay. A mutant half-man sea creature (this time an Octopus hybrid) wrecks havoc on a scientific expedition, grabbing the lone female, attacks their boat, baits and traps them, gets caught in a net etc. Mainly notable for Rick Baker and Doug Beswick's monster design. The screenplay is weak as his Essex' direction.
THE BEAST (2024) Henry James meets AI. Bertrand Bonello's very loose adaptation of James' novella “Beast In The Jungle” takes the kernel of the author's 80 page work and expands it into an 145 minute epic spanning three time frames some 130 years apart. THE BEAST is a sharp looking film. The central ideas are powerful, and Lea Seydoux is superb. It's a movie worth exploring as much for noting it's flaws as admiring its moxie.
THE MASK (1961) – Julian Roffman's THE MASK is a true oddity. A semi-experimental Canadian horror film that alternates between audio-visual inventiveness and routine. THE MASK is no classic, but, the shock scenes are genuinely thrilling and make this a fun film.
THE SHOUT (1978) An arty psychological horror film by Polish Director Jerzy Skolimowsksi. The acting of the lead trio is exemplary. Alan Bates is quite commanding and Susannah York pulls off the trickiest of the roles here. John Hurt is very good. Tim Curry has an important supporting role, and future Oscar winner Jim Broadbent appears as one of the patients in his first credited role. As with many films dealing with mental illness going back to CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, the question becomes: “Who is really sane?”. Skolimoski pulls it off fairly well, even if parts of the storyline may disappoint in retrospect. There are some genuinely chilling moments along the way, and the film does have a certain haunting quality.
SAINT MAUD (2021) – Rose Glass' first feature is a dark psychological British horror film about an ex-nurse, Maud (Morfydd Clark). It's a nightmarish picture that give hints of the style of Glass' recent LOVE LIES BLEEDING displayed more fully, but this one is very insular. It's effective to a point, but it's more illustrative of Clark and Glass' potential than a fully realized picture.
SPEAK NO EVIL (2022) A nasty bit of business in the oddly burgeoning 'Travel nightmare' subgenre. The acting is fine with van Huet's faux cordgialness being particularly sinister. Still, this is one of those pictures where credibility is strained numerous times. One simply can't believe that no matter how “weak-willed” the Danes are, they wouldn't simply leave when they have the opportunity. For this kind of set-up to truly, believably, tick, Patrick and Karin have to display more carrots and not just stick, stick, stick. There was a 2024 American Remake, which I have not seen – should I??
DEAD OF NIGHT (1977) Not sure why I have no memory of this one. I'd be certain that having seen Dan Curtis' Dark Shadows, Dracula, Norliss Tapes, Night Strangler, Trilogy of Terror etc. that I'd have circled it in my TV guide! Anyway, it's not a bad anthology, each of the three segments written by Richard Matheson.
IL DEMONIO (1963 aka The Demon aka Il Demonia) Rewatch. Brunello Rondi's remarkable drama takes a very naturalistic approach to its tale of Witchcraft and Possession in Southern Italy.
King Klunk (1933) Parody short of King Kong done that very year is an episode of the Pooch the Pup series . It's decently done with a laugh or two.
The Simpsons: “Treehouse Of Horror XVIII” S19.5, 2007. E.T. GO HOME is ok, but weak ending. MR. & MRS. SIMPSON is non-halloween. Eh. HELL HOUSE is the best segment with decent riffs
The Simpsons: “Treehouse of Horror XXXIII” S.34.6, 2022. Parodies of Babadook and the Westworld TV series. Both are pretty good and spot on. Most interesting is 'Death Tome' which is done Anime style and a take off on 'Death Note'.
Twilight Zone: “One More Pallbearer” (Ep.3.17) A very rare episode I had never seen. It's talky but decent. A twist on bomb shelter stories. Joseph Wiseman is commanding and appropriately unsympathetic as a very rich man who build the shelter. He's gathered three people he feels wronged him. Actress Katherine Squire is very good as an upstanding teacher who crossed him (Trivia: Her last performance was in WHEN HARRY MET SALLY). The ending is suitably chilling.
Twilight Zone: “Parallel” (Ep.4.11) The last, I believe, of the one-hour TZ episodes that I had never seen. It's an interesting one that justifies the one-hour format (one of only a couple). Serling wrote it, and it looks forward to theories on quantuum physics and parallel universes. It has echoes of The Outer Limits' “Cold Hands, Warm Heart” episode as well as JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN (both were filmed after this one). The hospital bedroom scenes call to mind the bookends in Ulmer's BEYOND THE TIME BARRIER. The acting good with Steve Forrest as the astronaut, and, especially, Jacqueline Scott as his concerned spouse.
Lights Out – “Dead Man's Coat” (Ep.3.38, 1951) Invisible Man tale with a supernatural twist (suggested by a Lights Out type TV character. no less!). Basil Rathbone stars as a servent to a mean rich boss, Francis (William Post Jr). In contrast to most invisible man stories, Francis is already a mad man before he attains his invisiblity. It's a good episode with Rathbone slowly gaining the upper hand.
Lights Out - “Last Will of Dr. Rant” (Ep.3.37, 1951) Interesting if a bit convoluted tale from beyond the living. Leslie Nielsen stars. He's a bit melodramatic. Still, the episode basically works.
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