Highway to Hell

Director - Bret McCormick (The Abomination, Repligator)

Starring - Benton Jennings (American Horror Story, Dexter), Richard Harrison (Terminal Force, Empire of the Dark), and Blue Thompson (Blood on the Badge, Ozone: The Attack of the Redneck Mutants)

Release Date - 1990

Genre - Action/Horror

Tagline - "A one way ticket to terror!"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Visual Vengeance has been pivotal in releasing some seriously underrated or long forgotten S.O.V. horror to blu.  One of my favorite releases over the last several years is VV's release of Bret McCormick's The Abomination.  They later released anothr McCormick film Repligator on blu.  I really enjoyed both films and was surprised by just how different these two were.  They showed how versatile McCormick was as a filmmaker.  Recently, VV released another McCormick film that I had never seen before.  The film, Highway to Hell, is an action horror flick that I've wanted to see for several years now but never had the opportunity to check out.  I want to thank Visual Vengeance and MVD for sending this one along for review.

     The film follows a serial killer who has escaped prison and flees into the desert.  He continues his murderous ways while he is hunted by a cop who is seeking revenge for what this sicko did to his daughter (or sister?).  Caught in the middle of the cat an mouse game is a young woman taken hostage by the escaped serial killer.

     I went into Highway to Hell very excited to finally see the film.  This is one I had heard about for years but never had the opportunity to check it out.  While it does share a name with a film from 1991, these two films are very different.  With that being said, the movie just wasn't as fun as I had hoped for.  You can't compare this one to the previous films from McCormick that I had mentioned.  Repligator is a sci-fi horror mash up that completely embraces the campy side of the genres while The Abomination is one of the greatest no budget splatter films that I've seen.  Highway to Hell had an interest premise but it had trouble trying to find it's own identity.  The acting in this one is very stiff and corny.  The cast really hams up the screen but I wouldn't call it bad acting.  We just don't see a lot of conviction with the dialogue delivery and absolutely no emotional range unless you consider screaming to be an emotion.  The story for this one feels like it wanted to be an action flick centered around a serial killer but budget and other constraints prevented it from being what the director had envisioned.  The movie itself has a lot of identity issues.  One scene flows like a horror flick while another scene is set up like a drama with a cat and mouse story.  We don't have a lot of cohesion which makes me really curious as to what the original idea for the film actually was.  Finally, don't expect to see a lot of blood and gore.  This film is character driven with a lot of focus on the relationship between the two leads.  Overall, Highway to Hell is a confused film that had a story that I could have really got behind if they just stuck with it.  An action thriller about an escaped serial killer with a hardened cop hunting him could have been a film you would never forget.  I seriously wanted to like it but it just wasn't for me.  This is still an awesome release from Visual Vengeance especially if you are a collector but the movie this movie isn't going to be for everyone.  

Whispers

Director - Miroslav Petkov (Paranoia, Room #4)

Starring - Miroslav Petkov, Simona Rose (Creep Footage 3: Night Nurse, OnlyFangs), and Nikol Topalova

Release Date - 2025

Genre - Horror

Tagline - The park is listening"

Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I've been asked to review several indie features over the last month or so.  Some have been fun while others were clearly not for me.  While I didn't care for some of them, I still enjoyed watching them.  I love to experience indie movies and see all the hard work that goes into the feature.  That includes movies that I may not have liked.  Sometime back I was asked to review Whispers from Miroslav Petkov.  I loved the poster for the film and quickly agreed to check it out.  In fact, I took a break from reviewing the Exorcismo set from Severin just to watch it.  Sadly, it wasn't for me but I respected what Petkov was going for.

     The film takes place in a small town with a paranormal presence.  Several people have gone missing with their loved ones frantically searching for them.  However, as they get close to the cause, they start to witness something sinister.

     I went into Whispers completely blind which is my preferred way to watch indie flicks that I'm going to review.  I didn't care for the film itself but there was some things I did enjoy.  The acting in this one is very uneven.  Some of the performances are extremely flat with forced dialogue and zero emotional range.  However, we do have some fun performances scattered throughout the film.  It's evident that we have a cast consisting of experienced and inexperienced players.  The story for this one is an interesting idea that only learned was a sequel to two previous films.  While I had never seen the first two films, I can only assume watching them beforehand would have answered a few questions that I have here.  As for just this film, I found the pacing to be all off.  What we have is a solid base for a supernatural tale but the awkward character interactions and horrible pacing makes it difficult to finish.  Finally, don't expect a film with a high body count and memorable deaths.  The film uses the story to get chills to the viewer.  It almost succeeds but the pacing and lack of tension makes it impossible to achieve.  Overall, Whispers is a film that could have been so much more but the fails to really gain any traction.  I really wanted to like it but it wasn't for me.  I'll circle back around and check out the first two films before revisiting this one.  

Violent New Breed

Director - Todd Sheets (Bloodthirsty Cannibal Demons, Zombie Bloodbath)

Starring - Mark Glover (Lady Street Fighter, Zombie Bloodbath 2), Nick Stodden (Clownado, Vampire Holocaust), Rebecca Rose (Slave Farm, Maid Service)

Release Date - 1997

Genre - Horror/Crime

Tagline - "A brutal look at the future... like you've NEVER seen it!"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Genre fans often bash 90s horror and I see why.  The 90s saw a lot of shitty horror films hit video store shelves but I'll be damned if there wasn't some serious heavy hitters release in the 90s.  We have Army of Darkness, Children of the Night, Savini's Night of the Living Dead, Scream, Nightbreed, and Candyman just to name a few.  The 90s, just like every decade, has the good and the bad and I feel that it is truly unfair to say it's the worst decade for horror.  The 90s was also the decade in which we saw more no budget films due to the rise in technology and lower cost of older obsolete technology from previous years.  I've seen a lot of indie and no budget features from the 90s that absolutely fucking rocked.  I've also seen a bunch that were difficult to finish. A few weeks back I received the press release from Visual Vengeance for their blu release of the 1997 horror crime flick Violent New Breed.  This was a Todd Sheets film I was unfamiliar with and I had to remedy that.  I reached out to Visual Vengeance and they sent me over to MVD who were kind enough to send a copy over for review.

     The film follows two shitty cops who are forced with tracking down a new drug that is wiping out the streets.  They expect to find an underground kingpin or a conspiracy of international drug lords but what they find is that the drugs are being manufactured by a group of demons who are using the drug the create a "new breed" that the anti-Christ will control.  To make matters even worse, one of them has his wife and daughter kidnapped by the new breed forcing the pair to go deep into their underground lair to stop them and the anti-Christ.

     Todd Sheets is a filmmaker I truly respect.  This mother fucker has been writing and directing movies since the mid 80s and hasn't really slowed down with his most recent film having been released in 2023.  That is one hell of a career and Violent New Breed is one of his films that I actually enjoyed.  His movies can be hit or miss with me but this one was fun for the most part.  The acting in this one leaves a lot to be desired.  I had saying that, especially about an indie film, but the acting in this one is a bit rough.  The try their best in a lot of the scenes but inexperience is obvious for most of the cast.  This creates some forced dialogue delivery and emotions that just don't fit the scene.  The story for this one borrows from several classic 80s films and I'm damn sure it inspired a movie that I reviewed not too long ago.  We follow a pair of cops tasked with stopping the spread of a new drug (Robocop anyone?) while a demon brings about the end of the world.  If you swap the demons out for a group hellbent on taking over the city then you would have Robocop all over again.  With that being said, it was still fun even though it was very predictable.  I like the characters and how they related to the story.  I also liked the anti-Christ angle even though I fell like it wasn't fully explored.  I would have loved to see more time spent on that angle.  Finally, we have some make-up effects that look great and a few scenes with some solid effects but the deaths are not that enjoyable.  They fit the film very well but are not that original as I had hoped.  Overall, Violent New Breed is a fun horror crime flick with drugs, demons, and a little blasphemy tossed in for good measure.  It is a movie that struggles in some areas but still finds a way to work.  Check it out on blu from Visual Vengeance.  You will not be disappointed.  

Date with a Vampire

Director - Jeffrey Arsenault (Vampire Playmates, Dracula's Guest)

Starring - Lori Thomas (Stab 2, End of the World), Robin Macklin (Teach Me, Morning Glory), and Cynthia Polakovich (Tinsel Town, Nocturnia)

Release Date - 2000

Genre - Horror

Format - Blu (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

      I grew up on vampire flicks.  While I loved the Universal Dracula and Hammer horror vampire flicks, I was obsessed with Fright Night, The Lost Boys, My Best Friend is a Vampire, Vamp, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Children of the Night, Subspecies, and so many more.  Vampires were an essential part of my childhood and a sub-genre that I still enjoy.  It's not often that I cross paths with a vampire flick that I've never seen but when I do you can bet your ass I'm going to check it out.  A few weeks back I got a press release for Date with a Vampire from my friends over at Visual Vengeance.  This was a new one to me so I rushed to my email and hit up Visual Vengeance for a review copy.  They sent me over to MVD and a few days later I had a copy to check out.  I want to thank VV and MVD for sending this one over!

     The film follows Violet (Thomas) who is a vampire that not only craves blood but is a sex addict.  She suffers from an endless cycle of bringing victims, male and female, back to her bed for sex before feeding on them.  However, her most recent victim is more than that.  

     I was excited when I went into Date with a Vampire but I quickly saw that this was not for me.  I have nothing against the films that explore the sexual side of vampirism.  There has always been a sexual allure to vampires that can be traced back to the very beginning of the vampire mythos and has been shown in films since Universal's Dracula.  With that being said, it can't be the only part of the story.  The viewer needs something else to sink their teeth into so to speak.  The acting in this one is not the worst I've seen.  While the cast does show a great deal of inexperience, they really got into their roles.  There was a few scenes where the dialogue was extremely awkward but the acting was decent for the most part.  The story for this one is a bit repetitive and one sided.  A female vampire wants to screw and then feed.  Literally the extent of it.  No real action, drama, or twists to hold the viewer's attention.  If the film would have embraced the sex and became a sexploitation then it would have became a bit more fun.  Finally, we have some make-up effects that looks solid for what it is but that is really the extent of the effects we have with this one.  Overall, Date with a Vampire is one I really hoped I could get into but it just wasn't for me.  The story was severely lacking and the absence of fun deaths made this one a tough one to finish.  Collectors will want to snag this release but those looking for something fun to watch may way to skip it.