The Hideout

Director(s) - Denny Barnes (It Could Be Love) and Ken Moralez (Holy Toast)
Starring - Anthony Fitzgerald (Chromeskull: Laid to Rest II), Patrick Lazzara (The Bunnyman Massacre), Jadi Stuart (Iron Ridge)
Release Date - 2014
Genre - Horror/Crime
Tagline - "Trust no one.  Not even yourself"
Format - Streaming (online screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     The zombie film has saw it's rise and fall many times over the year with each one coinciding with one film (or television show) soaring so high they become embedded in pop culture.  1978 saw the release of Dawn of the Dead and for several years we saw hundreds of zombie films (and even a few rip offs) released to the masses. We have had many films spark small booms in the zombie sub-genre but the television show The Walking Dead has made the sub-genre as popular as ever with film after film popping up using plots involving the undead.  That brings me to the new film The Hideout.  I was asked to check this film out and I can't say no to a zombie film.  Sadly, my wife's health prevented me from seeing this film until now and for that I would like to apology for taking so long to review. 
     The film follows a petty criminal who takes on a job to hold up a place to pay off his debt to a loan shark. He takes the job and, along with three other criminals and a girl, hit the place up and leave with the cash in hand.  They head out into the desert to hand the cash over and snuff out one of their men for being a police informant.  However, their boss never shows but dozens of infected people do.  They seek refuge in a old cabin but their greed starts tearing them apart until only the petty criminal and the young girl are left to fend of the hungry dead so they can make off with the cash. 
     I like when films try to cross genres and step outside of the norm. When a horror film steps out of the blood and gore covered path to become something different usually leaves something very unique in it's wake.  When I first started watching this film I immediatly got the Cockney's vs. Zombies vibe.  I had never seen that film other than the trailers but it felt very close to that.  It did lack the humor that film showed (in it's trailer at least).  The story did incorporate a great deal of crime drama and horror which was refreshing.  Sadly, the story was unable to build on the characters and give us some we could like.  Instead, the film gives us characters we could care less if they died or not.  The acting in this film was actually pretty damn solid by the entire cast.  They all showed tremendous amounts of talent which helped this film along tremendously.  Finally, the film does have a few on screen kills with most using practical effects which were pretty solid.  However, the undead did not have that great amount of practical effects applied to them which made for some confusion.  The undead and the living looked the same which made it hard to tell them apart.  If more of the special effects were applied to the undead then the film would have went a long way.  Overall, The Hideout is a great zombie crime drama.  If you like criminals and the gut-munching undead then this film is right up your alley.  Check it out!

Naked Zombie Girl (2014)

(out of 5)

Naked Zombie Girl

Directed by:  Rickey Bird

Starring Meghan Chadeayne, DT Carney, Joshua Kieth, Ali Dougherty

Format:  Online Screener



      Wow!  Simple word that pretty much sums up my impression of a movie short I figured would be a gory schlock style piece of fun at best.  Glad to be wrong, so glad.  I really hope they turn this into a full feature because as always with shorts I want more, minutes are never enough for me and out of the many, many shorts I've seen I can't think of one I liked as just a short.  But I digress from this short's greatness...

         Again I went in with very low expectations judging a movie by it's title which made an ass out of me because what a neat little zombie flick this turned out to be.  The effects in this went way beyond expectations for any of the current zombie flicks.   In my opinion the grand majority of them nowadays are no good, not scary, just kind of there.  As you can see here these zombies aren't the usual comedy zombies thrown around in today's zombie cinema world and thank the movie gods for that. 
     Our actress Meghan Chadeayne was quite on point and while she didn't have a lot of lines in the 20 plus minutes of screen time there really was no need.  Her facial expressions, her mannerisms all right on point with the overall feel of each scene.  I really don't want to get into too much of the actual story since it's a short but looking at the pics posted here ought to wet your taste buds enough to check this one out.  Oh did I mention her weapon of choice is a chainsaw, enjoy!

Bloody, gory, naked good time!

The Burning Moon

Director - Olaf Ittenbach (No Reason, Beyond the Limit)
Starring - Beate Neumeyer, Bernd Muggenthaler, and Ellen Fischer
Release Date - 1997
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "When the moon is full, the blood tide rises"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     Many of you may have noticed by now that I rarely venture out of my comfort zone when it comes to the movies I watch and review. I mostly stick to the American indie horror flicks that typically involve some light humor and over the top characters.  I rarely venture to the dark pits of horror full of guts, violent sexual acts, and buckets of gore.  However, I did step out of my comfort zone and watch a few Asian splatter flicks.  These films were amazing and made me want to open my horizons so I turned to amazon.com where I found film after film of Asian splatter flicks.  After looking for what seemed like hours I came across a film called The Burning Moon.  It didn't look Asian so I did a little looking and discovered it was German.  It was a decent price so I ordered it where it sat on my shelf gathering dust like so many other films.  I decided it was time to take the plastic off it and give it a go.

     The film follows a junkie slacker who would rather get fucked up and fight a rival gang than he would get a job and be a responsible citizen. After a night of getting fucked up and whooping ass he returns home to find out that his parents are leaving town and forcing him to babysit his little sister.  He fights with his dad and they leave.  He shoots up and then goes to her bedroom to tell her two stories.  The first story is Julia's Love.  This story follows Julia who is down on her luck and thinks she will never find true love.  However, that changes when she meets a young man who is smart and handsome.  They go out to dinner and where they both hit it off.  After dinner he is taking her home and exits the car for the moment so Julia listens to the radio.  She hears an all points bulletin about an escaped murder and learns that it is the man she is with.  She gets out of the car and runs home but leaves her wallet behind.  Once home she forgets about her traumatic experience while her mother prepares dinner and her father watches T.V.  The man enters the home and kills everyone there before revealing his love for Julia.  The second story is called Purity and follows a priest who likes to rape and brutally murder young girls.  However, one day he rapes a young woman and a bunch of backwoods farmers kills the wrong man.  That night the priest is then taken to his own hell with his own demons and torture.
     When it comes to foreign splatter one starts to think of so many other flicks but Germany has several that go unnoticed. The Burning Moon is one of those films that really need to be seen and talked about more in the horror community.  This film had the splatter, as well as, a solid story which is rare when it comes to most splatter films.  The acting in this one is not that great but the cast did show a lot of heart and determination.  They really tried to make the film fun and succeeded but their inexperience showed in many of the scenes.  The story for this one is fucking hardcore and gruesome.  I was not expecting that when I threw the movie in but it was a welcomed surprise.  Most splatter flicks skip on story and goes straight for the bloodshed so this film gets my respect for that.  Finally, the film has a shit load of blood and gore with some decent effects.  Thought they are not as good as Tom Savini or KNB Effects they still did their job.  Overall, The Burning Moon is one bloody film that is bat shit crazy.  If you like gore and a solid story then you will enjoy this one.  Check it out!

Barricade (2007)

 

(out of 5)

 

 

Barricade (2007)
directed by:  Timo Rose
starring:  Raine Brown, Joe Zaso, André Reissig, Manoush, Thomas Kercmar, Andreas Pape, Sabastian Gutsche, Stefan Lenger
special effects:  Timo Rose, Manoush
Format:  NTSC Region 1:  Personal Collection
Tagline:  Welcome to Hell, Welcome To Barricade

     Talk about a splatter film!  Timo Rose is one of my favorite german splatter directors for one reason and one reason only...Barricade.  I watch this film quite frequently usually 4 or 5 times in a year at least.  Sometimes with two other films Carver and Scarce if I can but this is by far my favorite of my reoccurring triple feature.  Why?  Well the gore effects for one done by none other than Timo himself.  Reason number two Raine Brown she is a personal favorite of mine in the indie world and has starred in more than one of Timo Rose's films. 

Barricade is a pretty simple formula but there's nothing simple about the delivery in my opinion.  Did it scare me?  No.  But this film wasn't about being "scary".  Just outright freaking you out with the gore and antics of the family of murderers living in the woods somewhere in Germany. 
     It starts off with Nina visiting her friend Michael in Germany.  Michael has other intentions other than just a friendly visit as he has fallen in love with his friend Nina.  Michael's  best friend David just loves to dig on him about it and continues to do so when Nina arrives and the three of them go on a nice comfy camping trip.  Everything seems so right in the world.  The only problem is they go camping the Black Forest far too close to a family of murdering psychos and when I say psychos I'm being nice.  Anywho add in a few extras for kills and let the onslaught begin. 
     My favorite of the family being the mother played by Manoush who has starred in several horror films overseas including a few of Timo's other films.  She can be really scary when she wants to be and fit the role perfect as she has done in everything I've seen her in. 
   The fx really go off the charts in this and as stated before Timo does the work himself.  The fx are what stuck with me the most in this movie.  Very realistic to say the very least.  German splatter at it's finest.  Only the man himself Olaf Ittenbach rivals Timo in the awesomeness of German splatter in my opinion.  Schnaas was my first introduction into German splatter with the Violent Shit films but Barricade has such a serious tone it remains at the very top of my list for the sub-genre.  That and the well ranged performance of Raine Brown just make Barricade for me to be the best. 

     Will Michael ever get the girl of his dreams and survive Barricade.  Well my reviews don't tend to spoil it all so go see it for yourself...any gorehound won't regret it.  Very highly recommended.

Snuffet

SNUFFET
Writers:Dustin Wayde Mills, Brandon Salkil, Allison Egan
Director:Dustin Wayne Mills
Starring:Brandon Salkil, Janet Jay, Allison Egan
Availability:DVD available at http://dmp.storenvy.com/
Rating:

    Have you ever watched an episode of Sesame Street and felt the world would be a much better place if someone would do something about all those fucking puppets?  Well, Dustin Mills feels the same way, and his new movie explores the hard hitting reality of what life would be like if someone finally put those puppets in their place.  To some, it could be seen as exploitation.  To those of us who harbor a strong resentment towards those cuddly little bastards, it's poetic fucking justice!

    A few years back, I saw my first Dustin Mills flick.  It was a charmingly offbeat little flick called The Puppet Monster Massacre.  Being a huge fan films like Peter Jackson's Meet The Feebles, I was immediately drawn to this flick.  It didn't take long before he became one of the few indie horror directors I followed religiously.  Every film he makes is something unique, and his Crumpleshack Films line is showing him branching out into films that are a lot more dark, demented, and depraved.  Her Name Was Torment was a fascinating piece of extreme, experimental cinema.  Snuffet takes that formula and adds puppets.  The results, needless to say, won't be for everyone, but for folks like me, it's a breath of fresh air.

    Brandon Salkil, yet again, proves why he is the perfect muse for Dustin's strange cinematic universe.  He is absolutely menacing in his role as a man who wants to rid the world of the menace that is puppets.  Janet Jay is equally fantastic as the woman who shares his passions, and wants to join him in his pursuits.  Throw in a porn star by the name of Giggles Mouthworthy (what a name, right?) and you have one of the oddest, most eccentric group of characters you're likely to encounter in a film for quite some time.  These aren't cardboard cut-outs.  These are characters that truly feel alive.  With each film he makes, Dustin's ability with actors proves immensely.  He has found a group of actors willing to "go there," because they believe in his mad, funhouse vision.

    Snuffet is a movie that plays around with structure.  There are moments where it captures the serial killer home movie feel of Fred Vogel's August Underground.  There are also interviews, webcam footage, autopsy footage all coming together to form one of Dustin's most radical experiments yet.  That he is able to juggle all these elements in a way that's not only compelling, but somehow brilliant, is a true testament to the skills that Dustin possesses.  Despite the presence of puppets, the movie never feels lightweight.  It's disturbing, revolting stuff, with just the right balance of genius and madness.  Watching it is an experience that's hard to shake.  This is what underground cinema is all about.  I'm fed up with shock cinema, slasher homages, and all that other rubbish.  This is a movie with some real imagination.  It's a beautiful myriad of haunting images and surrealist perversions.

    In a career that has already carved two bona fide masterpieces with The Ballad Of Skinless Pete and Kill That Bitch, Snuffet definitely fits into the top tier of Dustin's movies.  It's an hour long assault of the senses, including senses you didn't even realize you possessed.  It's fascinatingly strange, dementedly funny, endlessly inventive, and maddeningly brilliant.  It's a film tailor made for those who love their cinema weird, dark, and wonderful.  When you consider that the film was made for a paltry sum of around 500 dollars, you wonder why more people aren't just picking up a camera and following their dreams.  Snuffet's a thing of beauty in a world of tainted mediocrity.

    Until next time, my fellow freaks and weirdos...
 

Snuffet

Director - Dustin Mills (Easter Casket, Bath Salt Zombies)
Starring - Brandon Salkil (Her Name Was Torment, Zombie A-Hole), Janet Jay (Easter Casket, Revenge of the Spacemen), and Dustin Mills.
Release Date - 2014
Genre - Horror/Exploitation
Tagline(s) -  "His wrath will be felt" and "His judgement will be felt"
Format - Streaming (online screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     In the indie world filmmakers often find their own little niche in which they excel.  Some are good at making bloody and gory films while others are exceptionally well at making comedies with superb stories. However, we rarely get a filmmaker who can make visually stunning films like Dustin Mills.  His films are visually appealing which is refreshing when you typically watch films that look like they were made on less than $100 (most of the time they are).  Dustin has now changed things up a bit and turned away from the films he is known for and started making films that appeal to his underground horror fans.  These films are rough and are typically not as polished as his DMP films.  These films will be released under his new production company amply labeled Crumpleshack Films.  The first, Her Name Was Torment, was a great film but was not as good as his DMP films.  For his second outing for CF he returned to puppets which is what his fans have been begging for.  This film, Snuffet, really got me excited.  I can't remember the last time I was excited for a film's release but Mills was able to evoke that emotion.  I ordered the film and was waiting for it to arrive this week sometime but Dustin surprised me with a screener link.  Thanks Dustin!
     The film follows the leader of an underground group known as The Flame who is anti-puppet.  They believe that God made man in his image which makes puppets an abomination.  He created an online community where he posts videos and rants about the superiority of man over puppet but after ten years he has decided to step it up a notch.  He kidnaps a puppet and then kills him on camera.  He then performs an autopsy on the dead creature before uploading the video.  This attracts a young woman who shares the same beliefs as him.  She creates a video confessing her loyalty to him and he invites her over.  The two, donning a pig and frog mask, go on a killing spree killing puppets and puppet fuckers alike.  She kills the puppets because she believes it is the right thing to do but he is killing them because he has a deep, dark secret.
      With Crumpleshack, Mills wants to make films that can assault your senses and leave you feeling uncomfortable.  With Her Name Was Torment he succeeded but I wasn't sure how he would be able to pull of that same feat with puppets.  However, after seeing the film I can say that he did, indeed, pull that off.  The acting in this one is among the best I have seen in an indie film.  I have said this before about Mills and his films.  That is because he often casts the amazing Brandon Salkil as his lead and once again Salkil knocked it out of the park.  His on screen presence is always dominating which is why he is one of my favorite indie actors.  I always look forward to seeing him in any film.  Janet Jay also provided a solid performance but it was sadly overshadowed by Salkil's.  The story for this one is batshit crazy.  The film is able to go over the top while staying grounded.  We do have puppets but the film is done in such a way that it does draw on your emotions.  The puppets could easily be replaced by someone that is homosexual, transgendered, or even a minority.  The film is really a satire at it's finest.  With that being said, the story is a bit on the slow side which makes it hard to stay focused at times.  Finally, this film does not have the visual effects that we all love.  Instead, the film relies on beautiful cinematography and an unnerving story.  Overall, Snuffet is a unique film that shows you the darker side of humanity.  This is one sick and depraved film.

    

Rats: Notte di terrore

aka Rats: Night of Terror

Director(s) - Bruno Mattei (Zombi 3, Hell of the Living Dead) and Claudio Fragasso (Troll 2, After Death) 
Starring - Ottaviano Dell'Acqua (Gangs of New York, Escape from the Bronx), Geretta Geretta (Warriors of the Lost World, Demons), and Massimo Vanni (Warriors of the Wasteland, The House by the Edge of the Lake)
Release Date - 1984
Genre - Horror/Sci-Fi
Tagline - "Mutants of a nuclear disaster" Format - BluRay (Personal Collection) (Screener) 

Rating (out of 5):

     When it comes to horror everyone has that one sub-genre that has films that gets under your skin.  For some the concept of rape can be severely unnerving for the viewer while others have a hard time sitting through films that involve clowns.  When I was in middle school I thought it would be cool to camp out in the yard with the new tent and sleeping bag my dad got me.  I couldn't get the tent put together properly so me and a friend just slept on the ground in our sleeping bags.  Sometime during the night a river rat crawled into my sleeping bag.  It didn't hurt me but scared the shit out of me.  As I got older I started to hate rodents with a passion.  They do not scare me but I want to kill them all.  Kill them until they die!  Anyway, some people (my wife included) have a crippling fear of rodents.  This is sparked several films to use these filthy creatures to pull on those strings.  In 1984 Italian director Bruno Mattei made the post-apocalyptic horror flick titled Rats: Notte di terrore or Rats: Night of Terror.   I had never seen the film until Blue Underground was nice enough to send me a review copy.  Thanks guys!

     The film takes place centuries after a bomb went off and devastated the world.  The humans that survived sought refuge underground but after decades of living like rats they came back to the surface leaving the civilized underground.  We then meet a group of nomads as they travel from ghost town to ghost town scavenging what they can.  They stop by a bar and discover a large group of rats along with several crates full of food and cooking ingredients.   The push the rats away and feast.  They quickly discover several bodies stripped of their flesh and brush it off as a turf war over the food.  They find military style cots and head to bed for the night but two lovers are slaughtered soon after by the flesh eating rodents.  The remaining members of the group believe that the young man killed his fuck buddy during the night but soon discover that these rats are not your typical cheese eaters but a flesh eating mutation caused by the bomb.
     I love the late 70s and 80s post-apocalyptic movement.  These films are cheesy but are wildly fun while giving us an over exaggerated look at the future. These usually crossed paths with the gang exploitation films from the same time period.  It was not uncommon for the two to collide.  Anyway, this time saw a huge influx of post-apocalyptic biker flicks from the U.S., as well as, Italy, but very few cross over to the horror genre. This film is able to keep that post-apocalyptic vibe going while giving us a great horror flick.  The acting in this one not consistent which is a problem that I had with another Mattei film, Hell of the Living Dead.  The cast has a hard time determining if the film is meant to be cheesy and over the top or serious.  Some cast members try to give a performance of a life time whiles others are dramatic and unrealistic.  If the acting was consistent with the mood of the film it would have helped this film out tremendously.  The story for this one is fun, and to be honest, I fucking loved it.  I love post-apocalyptic films and when you mix it with bikers and murdering rodents you have a recipe for a damn good Italian flick.  I also loved the ending and did not seeing it coming at all.  It had great build up and an amazing twist.  Bravo to Bruno for pulling that off.  Finally, the film has some great practical effects and kills.  Most of the kills take place off camera which is understandable due to the complexity of filming with rats.  However, the special effects are great and really makes the film work.  Overall, Rats is a superb Italian horror flick that has camp, sex, bloody rodents, and an amazing twist ending.  Check this 80s classic out now!