Climax

 



Director - Gaspar Noe (Enter the Void, Love)
Starring - Sofia Boutella (The Mummy, Star Trek Beyond), Romain Guillermic (Elektro Mathematrix), and Souheila Yacoub (Rouge, Les Sauvages)
Release Date - 2018
Genre - Drama/Horror
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

 

      Writing for Horror Society has been a wild ride to say the least.  Before Horror Society I was obsessed with slashers, horror comedies, and zombie flicks.  I started to lose interest in zombies after The Walking Dead because of the overabundance of copy cats popping up everywhere.  I had to step out of my comfort zone once I joined Horror Society.  Since then I've reviewed so many different types of horror and thrillers that I would have never imagined watching beforehand.  A few days ago I was sent the arthouse drama horror film Climax from director Gaspar Noe.  I didn't know what to expect when I tossed it in but I knew it would be an unforgettable experience. 

     The film follows a dance group celebrating a successful rehearsal in an old building.  As the night progresses they realize that something is wrong but it's too late when they discover someone has spiked the punch with LSD.  This makes everyone panic and madness ensues resulting in some deaths among the paranoid dancers.

     My experience with arthouse style horror films is very limited but I have seen several.  They are very hit and miss with me.  I've liked a few but there was just as many that I did not like.  Sadly, Climax was one I just couldn't get into.  The acting in this one is decent.  The cast has very demanding roles and they do a great job with it.  With that being said, they all have the same personalities and it's difficult to tell the characters apart.  They are written very poorly and the cast doesn't give them any distinguishable traits to stand out.  The story for this one may be entertaining if you enjoy dance shows or films centered around dance numbers but not for someone wanting to see a horror flick.  The first hour or more had me begging to be put out of my misery.  I couldn't find any entertainment value in the dance numbers and the lack of character development really ruined it for me.  I did like the last 20 minutes of the film but I was so broken down by that point that I couldn't really enjoy it.  Finally, the film has a few practical effects that I really dug but the way the film is shot takes the viewer away from them so you can't appreciate how great they were.  We do have a few deaths but we don't get to enjoy those as well.  Overall, Climax just wasn't for me.  I'm sure someone that enjoys dark dramas and highly stylized dance numbers will enjoy this one but I sure as hell didn't.  You can call me uncultured and uneducated but this one just wasn't for me. 

 



Matriarch

 



Director - Scott Vickers (Real Crime, River City)
Starring - Charlie Blackwood (Great Expectations, Mel), Julie Hannan (Fresh Meat, Coronation Street), and Scott Vickers
Release Date - 2018
Genre - Horror/Thriller
Tagline - "Mother knows best"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

 

 

     After spending almost a month reviewing 70s and 80s horror and exploitation flicks I wanted to return to some modern horror.  I jumped on Henrique Couto's newest Haunting Inside before moving on to Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's newest horror comedy Slaughterhouse Rulez.  The latter of the two was a bit of a disappointment.  After checking these out I went ahead and tossed in the UK based horror thriller Matriarch which was sent to me for review on DVD.  The artwork looked fun but, sadly, the movie was nowhere near as fun as I was hoping.  I actually fell asleep a few times trying to watch it.  I had to start it over twice because I had nodded off while giving it a spin. 

     The movie followed a married couple who is expecting their first child.  They have a car accident while traveling through the country and walk to a nearby farm where they meet an unusual family.  They are sad to hear that a storm has knocked out their phones lines.  The situation turns from strange to deadly when their weird mannerisms and deep religious views come forward and they are not allowed to leave.  The young couple tries to sneak out but they are caught and the family's real intentions are revealed.

     I went into this one thinking it was going to be a twisted tale centered around a deranged baby or some sort of demon possession flick.  I guess I should have read the press release.  Sadly, it was neither and what I was given was another hixploitation flick centered around a devout family with deranged behavior.  The movie actually wasn't bad but it was extremely slow and what could have been a very dark religious horror film just fell short.  The acting in this one wasn't bad.  Charlie Blackwood and Scott Vickers are fantastic together.  They both delivered solid performance but their characters were very flat, generic, and easily forgettable.  With that being said, I really enjoyed Julie Hannan and Alan Cuthbert are the real stars of the film.  They brought so much to the scene and truly deserve any praise they get from their performances.  The story for this one has so much potential.  Religion is a scary thing to me.  I don't care the religion.  Christian, Islam, Hindu, and Judaism can all be scary.  All organized religion can be turned extreme and when it does it can be deadly.  This is truly terrifying if you think about it.  So having a secluded heavily religious family killing in the name of their savior with a child obsession could be fucking terrifying.  Instead, this only goes so far into the store before it takes the backseat and the viewer is giving boring scenes of a women chained to a wall and religious men that are sexually frustrated.  It will try the viewer's patience.  Finally, the film has a few deaths.  We have one pretty brutal shotgun kill that I was not expecting but the rest are easily forgettable.  The effects work for the kill but there is nothing innovative or groundbreaking.  If you have watched horror before then there is nothing haven't already seen.  Overall, Matriarch had a story that I could get behind but failed to reach it's full potential.  Sadly, the slow moving story and a film with mostly unlikable characters will make it difficult to finish for some.  



Slaughterhouse Rulez

 



Director - Crispian Mills (A Fantastic Fear of Everything)
Starring - Finn Cole (Peaky Blinders, Dreamland), Asa Butterfield (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Ender's Game), and Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Star Trek)
Release Date - 2018
Genre - Horror/Comedy
Tagline - "Bloodius, Hellius, Maximus"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

 

     When I was in high school I can remember seeing ads for Shaun of the Dead on Upcoming Horror Movies.  I had been visiting the UHM message boards for years by that point and I did not recall hearing about that film until I saw those ads.  When it was released I remember hitching a ride with my dad to Wal-Mart and I grabbed a copy.  The trailer sold me on the film and the day I bought it I became a fan of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright.  A few years go Nick Frost had a small role in the sci-fi horror film Attack the Block that was pretty entertaining.  Last year Simon Pegg wanted in on that monster madness and partnered with Nick Frost again in the horror comedy Slaughterhouse Rulez.  A few days ago I was lucky enough to get a copy for review.

     The film follows a prestigious British boarding school called Slaughthouse where the wealthy and the elite send their children.  Don (Cole) lost his dad sometime ago and inherited some money.  His mother decides to send him there to give her son the best she can but she doesn't know that the headmaster of the school has made a deal with a fracking company that has inadvertently unleashed subterranean creatures that are now turning the students and faculty into snacks. 

     Whenever I see Simon Pegg or Nick Frost attached to a project I immediately become interested.  When I received word about Slaughterhouse Rulez I couldn't wait to check it out but it seemed liked it took forever to get an American release so I eventually forgot about it until I received the press release.  Sadly, the movie just didn't do it for me.  I was bored for most of the movie and when the action hits you find yourself wanting the monsters to win.  The acting in this one is decent.  The cast gives amazing performances especially Pegg, Frost, and Michael Sheen but the characters are just so fucking unlikeable.  The only character that the viewer doesn't want to see die is Pegg's Meredith Houseman just because he is the only one with a personality.  The rest of the characters are just very unlikable.  The story for this one is mostly Attack the Block except taken out of the urban environment and placed in a boarding school with rich white characters.  The movie is painfully slow at first with some character development for no-so-interesting characters along with some background that does nothing for the story.  The last portion of the film is the bread and butter of the movie.  If you haven't turned it off yet you will be given some unexpected carnage and some laughs.  If the pacing in the last 30 minutes was evenly spaced throughout the film you wouldn't feel like you wasted an hour.  Finally, the film has several bloody kills on camera.  They have great practical effects and plenty of gore for those of you that likes the brutal side of horror.  Overall, Slaughterhouse Rulez sounded like a dream project for fans of Pegg and Frost but it does fall short.  The last 30 minutes is worth a watch but the build up hurts.  You will be bored to tears.  Check it out but don't expect a movie that you will keep revisiting. 

    





Haunting Inside

 



Director - Henrique Couto (Alone in the Ghost House, Awkward Thanksgiving)
Starring - Joni Durian (Scarewaves, Her Name Was Torment 2), John Bradley Hambrick (Paranormal Shopping Network, Ragmork), and Erin R. Ryan (The Girl in the Crawl Space, Kill That Bitch)
Release Date - 2019
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "She loves to play games"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

 

    

     The last month or so I've been in a 70s and 80s mood.  I started watching and reviewing some of the AGFA releases in conjunction with Bleeding Skull and Something Weird.  I then moved on to some stellar releases from Umbrella Entertainment.  Watching the new Godzilla film last weak recharged my batteries and I am now ready to check out some indie horror again.  I was going to toss in something from Wild Eye when I saw a post from Ohio based indie director Henrique Couto about looking for reviewers for his newest film Haunting Inside.  I don't review Henrique's movies that often because I prefer to collect his work but I didn't want to wait.  Thanks Henrique for sending this one over.

     The film follows a young autistic woman who lives with her older brother who is an aspiring author.  She is seeing a doctor for her mental issues but their insurance is not going to cover anymore visits so he is forced to get a job which leaves her alone most of the day.  She turns to an Ouija board to kill time and accidentally unleashes some spirits in her home.  They start out as friendly at first but soon her brother's life is placed in jeopardy forcing her to pick between him or her new friends. 

     Horror comes in so many different flavors and it's impossible to love them all.  Many people struggle with that.  I don't know if they feel like they are the center of attention or what but horror films are not meant for everyone.  Henrique's films are like that with me and just because I don't like some of them doesn't mean they are bad.  In fact, the ones I didn't like are still good movies.  They just didn't interest me.  I thought at first that Haunting Inside was going to be one of the few films from Henrique that I didn't like but it did grow on me.  By the end of the film I had enjoyed myself and appreciated what he delivered.  The acting in this one is actually pretty solid.  Joni Durian portrays an agoraphobic young woman with autism who relies on board games to keep her stable.  She does a great job with the role which only helps move the story along.   With that being said, John Bradley Hambrick really carried the film.  His performance was great and his portrayal of a loving brother was emotional at times.  The supporting cast was great as well.  Henrique did a great job with the casting in this one.  The story for this one was not what I was expecting.  The title made me think I was about to get into a supernatural haunted house horror film with some great suspense and tension.  Similar to a few other films from Henrique but this one wasn't like that at all.  The film was actually fairly mild and really put me in the mindset of an episode of Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark?  It was darker as the film progressed but I could totally see this same story applied to a single parent and a child instead of a brother and sister pair.  The movie does move rather slowly but the story is entertaining enough to really hold your attention.  Finally, if you want blood and gore you wont find it here.  The movie relies solely on character development which works for what it is.  Also, the film does not have the dark atmosphere or tension that you would expect from a haunted house flick either.  Overall, Haunting Inside works.  The story is simple and the characters are well written which results in a fun horror film that shows that you don't need extreme violence to entertain horror fans.  Check it out.  

Sidecar Racers



Director - Earl Bellamy (V, The Quest)
Starring - Ben Murphy (The Drew Carey Show, In the Heat of the Night), Wendy Hughes (Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Outsiders), and John Clayton (Farscape, Water Rats)
Release Date - 1975
Genre - Action/Drama
Tagline - "Two guys, one girl, and no brakes"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

 

     I've been watching several releases from Australia's Umbrella Entertainment lately.  There was a mix up between them and myself so they sent me their May releases to check out that was already on store shelves.  I tried to work through these as quick as possible.  They sent over some quality stuff.  The first one I checked out was their Howling III: The Marsupials release which is part of their Ozploitation Classics line.  The next was their Howling Collection which consisted of Howling III, IV, V, VI.  The first and last film in the set was solid but the middle two films was a rough one to sit through.  I then moved on to their Two From Hell double feature with Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects.  I was obsessed with these films when they were released and it was nice to revisit them both.  The last film sent to me was one I had no experience with.  This 1975 Ozploitation film Sidecar Racers was a new one to me and I couldn't wait to check it out.  Thank you Umbrella for sending this one my way.

     The film follows American Jeff Rayburn (Murphy) who is traveling Australia trying to figure out life when he meets the beautiful Lynn Carson (Hughes) on the beach.  He is immediately taken by her beauty but quickly learns that she is in an unusual relationship with sidecar racer Dave (Clayton) who recently lost his sidecar partner in an accident.  Lynn also takes a liking to Jeff and suggests he can be Dave's new partner.  With some work they realize that they click very well together and put together a winning streak that could land them on the circuit in Europe which is where the real money is.  Their racing on the track does not reflect the boiling tensions between the two men who are fighting for Lynn's attention along with the other perils of sidecar racing. 

     I didn't know what to expect going into this one.  I loved the artwork for it.   There is just something about 70s and 80s movie posters that always build excitement and imagination for a new movie.  Sidecar Racers did not disappoint.  It was a little too love triangle'd for me but the storytelling was able to move passed that.  The acting in this one is fantastic.  Ben Murphy and Wendy Hughes was great.  Their characters are fun and they worked very well together.  While looking for trailers or images to use for the review I couldn't help but noticed that a lot of sites that covered this film was hung up on Ben Murphy.  That's cool but the real star of the show is John Clayton.  He was a fantastic actor and his character in the film was the highlight of the whole movie.  His desire to win mixed with his asshole bravado worked very well.  Easily the scene stealer.  The story for this one mixes drama, high speed action, with a little dash of romance.  The whole love triangle thing always bored me in films.  It felt like a cheap ploy to make boring characters seem more interesting than they really are.  Sidecar Racers doesn't use that as the focus of the film.  It's a story element but one that takes the backseat through most of the film. The action comes and goes.  It is evenly paced through the film to help hold the viewer's attention.  Some of the scenes are dialogue rich but the dialogue isn't bad.  It's actually pretty fun.  Finally, if you want blood and gore you won't find it here.  We have a few deaths but they aren't gruesome or dragged out for slasher fans.  They hit quick and move on with no practical effects.  Overall, Sidecar Racers was a fun watch.  If you are looking for some 70s entertainment I highly recommend this one.  The DVD quality isn't the best but the movie itself is well worth it.  Check it out.   

 



Godzilla: King of the Monsters

 



Director - Michael Dougherty (Trick 'r Treat, Krampus)
Starring - Kyle Chandler (Super 8, The Day the Earth Stood Still), Vera Farmiga (The Conjuring, Bates Motel), and Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things, Intruders)
Release Date - 2019
Genre - Horror/Sci-Fi
Tagline - "Prepare for battle"
Format - Theatrical

Rating (out of 5):

 

     Like many horror fans I'm a fan of Godzilla.  I watched it growing up with my grandma when one of them would randomly air on sy-fy.  After catching a few that way I started renting them at the local video store.  I really enjoyed them but I wasn't obsessed with them like some of my friends.  When I was in elementary school I had watched a good portion of the Godzilla flicks when the 1998 American Godzilla was released.  It was nowhere near as good as the other Godzilla flicks I had seen but it wasn't bad.  However, watching it in theaters made me want to collect all the Godzilla films which is something I've continued to do to this day.  This Toho property was once again Americanized in 2014 with Godzilla which was the beginning of a MonsterVerse series followed by Kong: Skull Island and most recently Godzilla: King of the Monsters.  This was one if those releases I refused to skip a theatrical viewing of and I'm glad I did because it was fantastic.

     The film picks up five years after the events in Godzilla with the organization Monarch still conducting research on the 17 titans scattered throughout the globe.  Monarch believes that humans and titans have to live side by side in order to survive but the government is pressuring them into destroying the titans for fear they will wipe out the human race.  Doctors Mark and Emma Russell lost their son when Godzilla rampaged through San Fransico and has since split where Emma has kept her daughter Madison while she continued her research with Monarch while Mark became a nature photographer.  Emma has been working on a machine that will admit sounds that resemble an alpha predator codenamed Orca and uses it when Motha hatches it from her egg and is in her larva state.  An eco-terrorist group breaks in and captures Emma, Madison, and the Orca where they plan on using it to release all the titans so they can wipe out most of mankind Monarch enlists Mark to help track the Orca machine so they can stop the terrorists but they discover that Emma is actually part of it and now his daughter is in danger.  Now Mark and Monarch has to save her and Orca while aiding Godzilla as he battles Ghidorah for domain over the world.

     There was so many things I loved about this film but there is a few things that really got under my skin.  Not enough to ruin the film but just enough to stop it from being perfect.  The acting in this one is solid.  The characters are pretty much generic but the cast does a phenomenal job in their performances.  Sadly, no one is memorable and by the time the next installment roles around I won't remember any of the characters from this film but let's be honest, you watch these films for the monsters and not the people.  The story for this one is a little complex for a Godzilla film and I loved that.  The mythology and backstory is so compelling to me.  I love the rich history they give the titans in this one and they left so much room for more films and even more monsters.  They included Mokele-Mbembe and Bunyip which is known in the crypto-zoology community but they did not include other notable Godzilla foes.  I'm sure others will appear as the series progresses but it would be cool to see some of the other monsters appear.  The pacing in this one is solid.  We get some great tension building, lots of action, great character development and even more monster carnage.  As much as I'm all for character building and backstory I felt this one has a little too much on the happy family now broken by Godzilla.  This was shown at the beginning of the film and countless other times as the film progressed.  We were given the same family portrait over and over again meant to remind the viewer how Godzilla split this family up and they all once loved each other.  This was very redundant and once or twice would have been enough.  Finally, this film is a visual feast.  Usually a movie full of visual effects would look cheap but this movie was fucking gorgeous.  I loved the look of all the creatures especially Behemoth but Mothra just left me speechless.  All of her scenes were breathtaking.  I loved the creature designs and the visual effects are the best I've seen in a long time.  Overall, Godzilla: King of the Monsters is an amazing theatrical experience.  The action and historical aspect of the film kept me invested while the effects kept me mesmerized.  The 2014 Godzilla film was a decent watch but the MonsterVerse was kicked up a notch with Kong: Skull Island but Godzilla: King of the Monsters is the pinnacle of this series.  I can't imagine Godzilla vs. Kong being better than this.  I highly recommend checking this one out. 





The Devil's Rejects

 



Director - Rob Zombie - (31, Lords of Salem)
Starring - Sid Haig (Spider Baby, Aftermath), Bill Moseley (Night of the Living Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), and Sheri Moon Zombie (Halloween, Halloween II)
Release Date - 2005
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "This summer, go to hell"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

 

     When House of 1000 Corpses was released on home video I became obsessed with it.  I watched it so many times I could almost quote it from beginning to end.  I did this for a few years until Rob Zombie announced his follow up The Devil's Rejects.  By this point I was burned out on the film but I didn't want to skip the opportunity to see this one.  A theater had just opened near my home so I was able to check it out.  I absolutely fucking loved it and was shocked.  Not only by how much he had grown as a director but by the route he took the film.  I was not expecting that at all.  I loved the film even more than the first but I was smart to not burn myself out on it.  It has been a few years since my last viewing but it was time to check it out on blu sent to me from Umbrella Entertainment.  Thanks guys!

     The film begins with the police invading the Firefly farmhouse with an investigate by Sheriff Wydell (Forsythe).    They capture Mother Firefly (Leslie Easterbrook), kill Rufus (Tyler Mane), while Baby, Otis, and Tiny gets away.  Tiny goes into hiding while Otis and Baby go to a their planned spot to meet Captain Spaulding who is actually Baby's father.  Wydell is hot on their trail and he hires two bounty hunters, The Unholy Two, to track them down.  Baby and Otis meets with Spaulding and goes to Spaulding's brother's whorehouse to lay low but Wydell knows about their aliases and plans an ambush at midnight.  He captures them and tortures them at their farmhouse before freeing Baby for a game of cat and mouse but Tiny is able to save her and kill Wydell.  The three try to ride off into the sunset but a police roadblock stands in their way...

     House of 1000 Corpses gives fans a dark and relentless horror film that takes a story similar to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and builds upon it.  The Devil's Rejects does the opposite.  It is brutal in it's own rights but it has an old exploitation feel to it.  It almost feels like a modern day hixploitation film and many could argue it is.  Either way, this film is superior to the first film.  The acting in this one is fucking fantastic.  Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, and Sheri Moon Zombie kills it.  Sheri Moon Zombie didn't sell me on her character with the first film but she brought it with this one.  Her character is not as annoying as the first film and she pulls together a wide range of emotion.  She did a fantastic job.  The same can be said for the entire cast.  Mosely, Haig, Ken Foree, Leslie Easterbrook, Geoffrey Lewis, Danny Trejo, and so on absolutely kills it.  Every scene is perfect.  With that being said, no one brings the intensity that William Forsythe does.  He absolutely steals every scene he is in and his character truly deserved his own spin-off.  The story for this one builds up on what the first film created but added even more unforgettable characters.  It took the claustrophobic atmosphere from the first and replaced it with a road trip type film.  It makes the film feel bigger in scope.  I also liked how the film turned three iconic horror villains into anti-heroes of sorts while the film's authority figure takes on the role of villain.  It was great.  Honestly, I can't find a problem with the story outside of the masked killer in the first one being Tiny's father while Baby's father is Captain Spaulding.  I get that they are a dysfunctional family but that's stretching it.  Finally, this film was hit and miss with the effects.  The practical effects and gore are fucking top notch.  The effects team really out did themselves here but the visual effects were shit.  I know it was almost 15 years ago but these visual effects were so bad.  I'm talking Syfy bad.  Who approved them?  Overall, The Devil's Rejects is an iconic horror film that I would be shocked to meet a horror fan who hasn't seen it.  This release from Umbrella is a must for horror fans and fans of Zombies' films.  

 



House of 1000 Corpses

 



Director - Rob Zombie (31, Lords of Salem)
Starring - Sid Haig (Spider Baby, The Devil's Rejects), Sheri Moon Zombie (Halloween, Halloween II), and Bill Moseley (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Evil Bong)
Release Date - 2003
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "The most shocking tale of carnage ever seen"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

 

     When I hit high school I was a full fledged horror fan.  I was obsessed with it and spent every cent of my allowance buying movies and comics.  This was the time where I was an avid Rob Zombie fan.  Like most metal and rocks fans of the time I was obsessed with him thanks to the Twisted Metal games which featured him on the soundtrack.  In 2003 I was a sophomore and he announced his first horror film House of 1000 Corpses.  I fucking shit my pants at the news.  Sadly, there was no theater near me at the time so I had to wait for a physical release.  When it was released on DVD I had to have it and I'm glad I bought it.  The DVD menu alone was worth the price.  To this date I have yet to find a DVD with a menu as fucking cool at that one.  I loved the movie and watched it so much I burned myself out with it.  With news of Zombie's third film in the series Umbrella has released the first two films House of 1000 Corpses and it's sequel The Devil's Rejects on blu and was kind enough to send a review copy my way.  Thanks guys!

     The film follows two couples who are on their way home after traveling the country and documenting roadside attractions.  They stop at Captain Spaulding's Museum of Monsters and Madmen where they hear about the legend of Dr. Satan.  They decide to investigate it further and meet a female hitchhiker named Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie) who takes them back to their house for a Halloween they will never forget. 
    
     I always loved this film.  As I said earlier, I pretty much watched this one non-stop for a few years before giving the DVD a retirement.  It's been about 10 years since my last viewing and I have to say that it did not hold up well.  Don't get me wrong, the movie is fantastic but some of the things that I didn't mind so much are actually working against the film.  It's still a fantastic modern horror film but it doesn't have it's faults.  The acting in this one is fucking fantastic.  Zombie wrote some unforgettable characters with this one and pulled together a cast that brought them to live.  These performances are unparalleled in horror and almost every character is one you will never forget.  Their actions hold the scenes and the lines will be quoted for decades.  Bill Moseley and Sid Haig were already genre icons before this film but they moved to pop icons with their performances here.  We also get some great performances from two other pop culture icons Rainn Wilson and Chris Hardwick who was relatively unknown at the time.  They all do fantastic jobs and make these characters larger than life.  The story for this one often gets compared to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  I can see why.  A farmhouse out in the country that is home to a family of serial killers.  I can see why people compare the two but there is more to the story here than TCM.  We get urban legends, medical oddities, a group of characters that you follow compared to TCM's one.  The story has a lot going on which is also it's biggest flaw.  The movie struggles to figure out what kind of movie it wants to be.  We have a road trip horror that leads to the TCM style set up that ends with the evil doctor and his medical experiments.  Its a solid movie but it just doesn't know it wants to be.  There is also these random inserts that will remind viewers of Rob Zombie's music videos.  They serve no purpose to the film but do extend the running time.  Finally, this one has some fantastic effects.  We only get a few deaths here and there that are mostly gun shots but we do get some insanely amazing effects later in the film.  We get some top notch practical and costume effects that are still amazing even by today's standards.  The film isn't as gory and as brutal as other horror films of the time but it very effective at creating atmosphere.  Overall, House of 1000 Corpses is a fantastic horror film.  It was very ambitious for the time but it did not age well.  The characters are now iconic and the effects are insane but there some things this young director should have done differently. 





Howling VI: The Freaks

 



Director - Hope Perello (Pet Shop, St. Patrick's Day)
Starring - Brendan Hughes (Torchwood, Return to Horror High), Michele Matheson (Kingpin, Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation), and Sean Sullivan (Wayne's World, Back to the Future III)
Release Date - 1991
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Vampire vs. werewolf.  The ultimate clash of the forces of evil"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

    I know Howling VI: The Freaks is not the last in the Howling series.  If memory serves I think there is two more after this one but I knew this would the last one in the set so I didn't have high expectations.  This 1991 horror film is often mentioned in groups and compared to the first Underworld series that features a werewolf/vampire hybrid.  People often bashed The Freaks but referenced it when Underworld was released.  I had never seen The Freaks until now and I finally understand why people compared the two.  Way different stories but the beast is very similar.  I was not looking forward to this one but it actually surprised me and I liked it.  This box set begins and ends with solid films while the middle is murky. 

     The film follows an English handyman who goes to a small town during a drought looking for work.  A preacher who is a single father hires him to help restore the church in hopes of inspiring others in the community during this troubling time.  Everything goes smoothly until the night of a full moon.  The handyman changes into a werewolf and the owner of a traveling carnival that is traveling through knows exactly what he is so he cages him to use in his sideshow.  The preacher's daughter is in love with him and tries to free him but discovers that the sideshow owner is harboring a dark secret as well.

     I didn't know what to expect from this one but at the end of the day I really enjoyed it.  It was just as flawed as the previous installments but I really enjoyed myself.  The acting in this one is actually pretty entertaining.  We get some rather enjoyable characters with some great development mixed with some very forgettable characters.  The cast does give the scenes everything they have to offer but there is a few where it just comes up short or falls flat.  With that being said, it is leagues better than Howling IV.  The story for this one really held my interest.  I've always enjoyed horror films centered around traveling carnivals and sideshows.  Carnies have such a horrifying appeal to me.  They could be roaming serial killers that bounce from town to town or vampires that drains entire towns during their visits.  The possibilities are endless.  With that being said, I really liked how it was added to the Howling universe and even expanded upon.  However, there is several scenes that are painfully slow to watch as the film progressed.  The first 45 minutes or so coasted by but the film does start to wonder after the hour mark.  Finally, the film has some solid practical effects.  We get some blood and great practical effects and the creatures are great with the exception of the one werewolf scene where he is caged.  He was very laughable.  Overall, Howling VI: The Freaks may not be perfect but it doesn't deserve the shit that it gets  It definitely deserves a watch.