Nightmares

Director - John D. Lamond (Felicity, True Files)

Starring - Jenny Neumann (V, Hell Night), Gary Sweet (Hungry Ghosts, Dust Storm), and Nina Landis (Komodo, Neighbours)

Release Date - 1980

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "Many motion pictures promise you terror but this one is truly frightening!"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

      I've met several reviewers over the years that took on the rather ambitious task of reviewing every slasher to come out of the 80s.  I've subscribed to several YouTube channels that attempted the task along with a few blogs that tried.  Many of them tapped out after several years but it was fun reading and watching their thoughts on these films I had never seen or heard of before.  I've been fortunate enough to review some of those slasher since then after they received a mass release from companies like Shout Factory, Vinegar Syndrome, Umbrella Entertain, and so on.  A few weeks ago Umbrella Entertainment announced the blu release of Nightmares aka Stage Fright.  I had never seen this one before but I was familiar with it after seeing a few YouTube reviewers talking about it.  I reached out to them and they were kind enough to ship a copy my way for review.  Thanks guys!

     The film follows a little girl who is inadvertently responsible for the death of her mother when she was young.  Now, she has changed her name and is an aspiring stage actress.  Mentally, she has moments where she breaks down and to make matters worse someone is going around and killing members of the cast.  

     I'm not going to lie, I was extremely excited to check this one out.  I absolutely fucking love slashers and it's a rush when I get one in I had never seen before to review.  Sadly, not all slashers were created equally.  Nightmares was one that I just couldn't get into.  It had a few moments that I enjoyed but just couldn't deliver on the style and characters that make so many slashers enjoyable.  The acting in this one was a little underwhelming.  The characters lacked personalities and a lot of time they would blend into the background.  I'm used to slashers having at least one or two characters that the viewer could attach to.  However, here we get extremely cliched and one dimensional.  The cast doesn't try to do do anything memorable and several scenes were lazily done.  The story for this one has that slasher like story but somewhere along the way the cast and crew lost track of what they were doing resulting in a heavy film that doesn't do anything to stand out from the other slashers of the decade.  It looks like a rushed production that was intended to cash in of the slasher craze of the early 80s.  Finally, the film has plenty of blood and some boobs.  The death scenes have a lot of blood, and at times a lot of skin, but don't expect great practical effects and memorable kills.  Overall, Nightmares just didn't do it for me.  I was really looking forward to it but it was a film that offered up very little for the viewer aside from some skin.  Slasher fans may want to check it out but this is one I can't recommend.  

Easter Bunny Bloodbath 2: No More Tears

Director - Richard Mogg (Massage Parlor of Death, Bigfoot Ate my Boyfriend)

Starring - Kaitlyn Yurkiw (Teenage Slumber Party Nightmare, Frames of Fear 3), Kirk Munaweera (Earth Girls are Sleazy, Frames of Fear), and Shayan Bayat (Arrow, Tales from the Grave)

Release Date - 2020

Genre - Horror/Comedy

Tagline - "A bigfoot vs bunny film"

Format - DVD (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     Several years ago I found the very first Easter Bunny Bloodbath and with it a love for director Richard Mogg and his brand of indie horror.  I've watched and reviewed every release of his up to this point and he has not let me down.  His mix of humor and S.O.V. horror works so well together.  Most of his films are connected together by sharing characters.  This Mogg-verse expanded late last year when he released a follow up to Easter Bunny Bloodbath and Bigfoot Ate My Boyfriend.  This sequel, Easter Bunny Bloodbath 2: No More Tears, was recently released on DVD by Mogg and I had to snag a copy with Easter approaching.

     The film picks up five years after the events of the first film.  John Saurius (Munaweera) is a bigfoot investigator on the hunt for the elusive bigfoot when he comes across a house with a dark past.  When searching the basement for bigfoot he finds Peter (Bayat) in the basement bleeding with no memory as to what happened.  News of his discovery reaches a survivor of the Easter Bunny Bloodbath who has spent the last several years having her face skin grafted back on.  This sends her over the edge and the blood beginsto flow soon after.

     You have to be in the mood for a Richard Mogg flick.  His brand of humor and horror doesn't fit with some genre fans and that's completely understandable.  With that being said, I fucking love how silly his films are.  They never disappoint and are always a fun watch with friends.  EBB2 wasn't as good as the first or Bigfoot but it was still well worth my time.  It has some laughs and a few bloody moments that stood out.  The acting in this one is exactly what you expect from a Mogg feature.  The cast is underwhelming bad on purpose which delivers some laughs regardless if they were intentional or not.  Minaweera returns as John Saurius who has appeared in other Mogg features as the bigfoot investigator.  I love the way he lazily delivers his lines and some of his one liners are pretty funny.  The story for this one is pulling together two established films and it works for the most part but a lot of the scenes feel tossed together or rushed.  This is probably the most hectic and chaotic film from RickMore that I've seen but it still found a way to entertain.  I liked how both films were pulled together resulting in some seriously fun no-budget creature/slasher madness but some of the scenes feel out of place and odd.  If the story was a little more linear it would have been a lot more entertaining.  Finally, the film has several on screen deaths with some blood and cheap, but funny, practical effects.  If you are looking for top tier practical effects you won't find them here.  However, if you want birght red blood and a fake foam head then you are in luck!  Overall, Easter Bunny Bloodbath 2 is another no-budget insanity fueled film from Richard Mogg.  If you want Easter Bunny vs. Bigfoot action then this film is for you!  Check it out.  

Scare Package

Director(s) - Courtney Andujar (I Could've Been Sweet), Hillary Andujar (The Caterer, Parched Dreams), Anthony Cousins (Peek A Boo, The Bloody Ballad of Squirt Reynolds), Emily Hagins (My Sucky Teen Romance, V/H/S), Aaron B. Koontz (The Pale Door, Honor Student), Chris McInroy (We Summoned a Demon, Hellarious), Noah Segan, and Baron Vaughn 

Starring - Jeremy King (100 Tears, The Pale Door), Noah Segan (Knives Out, Breaking Bad), and Toni Trucks (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, Pizza with Bullets)

Release Date - 2019

Genre - Horror/Comedy

Tagline - "7 directors.  7 tales of terror.  0 working cell phones"

Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Back in October I decided to binge as many horror movies as I could which I think resulted in me watching and writing 80 some reviews.  That was my busiest month I've had in the almost ten years of writing reviews.  One movie I thought I would get in before Halloween was Scare Package.  This anthology was a Shudder exclusive that I had been interested in checking out for some time.  The movie didn't make it to me before Halloween but I did get it in a few days back.  I couldn't wait to check it out and I want to thank Wan PR for sending it over to me.  I really enjoyed this goofy horror comedy!

     The film begins with Chad of Rad Chad's Horror Emporium picking up a hitchhiker who tells him about his screenplay which involved a young man who is trying to find his place in life and soon finds himself in the perfect horror setting after accidentally killing two babysitters.  Chad drops him off before returning to his store where he hires his newest employee Hawn.  While Chad is training Hawn a shop regular comes in and tells him about the movie One Time in the Woods that he just watched about a group of campers who not only cross paths with a man infected with a fleash eating virus and a mask wearing slasher.  After talking about that tale we move into another called M.I.S.T.E.R. which follows a man who is at a low point in his life.  He joins a self help group for men but they are not as they appear to be.  In The Night He Came Back Again: Part IV follows a final girls that is continuously stalked by a slasher that kills all her friends and preventing her from having sex.  The next tale is Girls Night Out of Body that follows a group of ladies havinga sleep over that doesn't go according to plan.  On a tape marked "watch me" Hawn watches So Much to Do which follows a very busy man that possesses a woman and the two square off on an internal struggle.  The final story follows Chad who is then kidnapped and taken to an underground testing facility that is studying slashers and their supernatural abilities.  

     Scare Package is a great love letter to the horror films that many of us grew up on but it's gimmick is it's wrong doing.  I loved so much about this anthology but when it was done and over with I found myself not satisfied by what I had just seen.  I'll explain that in just a moment.  The acting in this one is very well done.  All the segments were very well acted with some amazing performances.  We get so many memorable characters and even an appearence from Joe Bob Briggs.  Also, I was happy to see Chase Williamson in this one.  He's one of my favorite indie actors that I wish would be cast more than what he is.  The stories for this one are of varying qualities.  Some of the segments really pulled me in but they were over as soon as they started.  The wrap around segment is a fantastic meta-slasher that not only parodies the sub-genre I love but builds upon the cliches to create something that we haven't seen since Behind the Mask. With that being said, there was others like Girls Night Out of Body and So Much to Do that feels like they were just rushed productions that have no real point to the story.  This was my biggest complaint with the complaint with the trilogy.  Some of the better segments are just too short while the others were just rushed and there to push the film's running time.  Finally, this film holds nothing back when it comes to blood and gore.  We get so many amazing kills, amputations, ooze, and so on.  The practical effects are damn near perfect and something that really makes this one stand out among it's peers.  With that being said, there is several instances of visual effects that just look cheap.  These few scenes are not impressive and ruins the tone of the scene.  Overall, Scare Package is a loving tribute to 80s horror but some of the segments are not on the same level as others.  The acting is phenomenal and the effects are to be seen to be believed.  Give this one a watch and but expect some inconsistencies.  

FrightVision

Director(s) - Todd Sheets (Bonehill Road, Clownado), Selena D. (War Ghost), Mike Trebilcock (Thone of Dracula, Werewolf Camp), Brad Twigg (Wrestlemassacre. Killer Campout), and John Ward (Meathook Massacre 4, Ghoul)
Release Date - 2020
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Get ready for your worst nightmares to unfold"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I've reviewed several indie horror anthologies the last few months.  It started in October and over the last few months I've found myself getting more and more in for review.  I'm not complaining though.  I love a good anthology and I always look forward to them.  A few days ago I was contacted by director Brad Twigg to review his newest anthology FrightVision.  Twigg directed and produced a few solid horror anthologies over the years so I was excited to see what he had brought to me.  Thanks Brad for allowing Horror Society and myself the opportunity to check this one out.  

     The film follows a couple going into a basement where they encounter a supernatural presence and then watch several stories unfold while fighting for their own lives.  The first story follows two beautiful women but there is more to them than it seems.  The second story follows a woman that has lost most of her family to big business and government and has reached her boiling point.  The third segment follows a lonely man who turns to sins of the flesh with a call girl but soon finds his life spirally out of control.  The final segment follows a brother and uncle seeking revenge on the woman that killed one of their own when she murdered a serial killer that was on a murder spree in a storage unit.  

     I'm a fan of Twiggs.  I first came across him when he was advertising on social media for his Milfs vs. Zombies film.  I love seeing a horror minded person from my state creating films and up to this point I've been a fan of his releases.  Sadly, FrightVision just wasn't for me.  I hate to write a negative review for an indie production and I hate to write one for a friend but I can't like them all.  The acting in this one is inconsistent from segment to segment.  The entire anthology lacks likable characters.  Sure, some of the women were gorgeous and a few of the shorts had a few laughs but the characters were not very likable.  They all lacked personalities and fell flat on film.  The stories for this range from fun to a struggle to finish.  I really enjoy Twigg's segment.  It reminded me a lot of the Tales from the Crypt episode starring Humphrey Bogart and the black comedy Office Killer.  The last segment, Axemas 2, is also somewhat entertaining but is missing an opening and a proper ending.  Director John Ward helmed this segment and the original Axemas which was on another anthology from Twigg if I'm not mistaken.  He would have something entertaining if he combined the two shorts to make it feel complete.  The other segments were a chore to get through.  The wraparound segment from Todd Sheets was a not that effective as a bookend segment and was extremely confusing to follow.  Honestly, I rewatched this segment several times and I still have no idea what the fuck is going on.  This, along with the first two segments, made the film a little rough to sit through.  Finally, the film does not shy away from the blood but the gore is a little on the weak side which is unlike previous releases from Twigg.  The effects range in quality from segment to segment but are still fun for the shorts.  Overall, FrightVision just wasn't a consistent experience.  It starts out rough but does get somewhat better as the film progressed.  Honestly, only two of the segments, out of the five, are worth watching.  I hate writing a negative review like this but I have to be honest.  This one just wasn't for me.  

10/31 Part 2

Director(s) - Jennifer Nangle (Spirit Board, Dare You), Tory van Buskirk (Come to Me Sister Mary, Alone), Stephen Wolfe (Dacula's Coffin, Doll Factory), Max Groah (Never Say Dead, Carpool), and Drew Marvick (Scared to Death, Pool Party Massacre)
Starring - London Grace (The White Witch, Ghosthunters), Jennifer Nangle, and R.J. Wagner (Terror Tales, Hans Crippleton: Talks to the Hans)
Release Date - 2019
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "More blood soaked tales of horror and the macabre"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Halloween is fast approaching and this is the most excited I've been for the holiday in sometime.  I've watched so many horror movies this month getting in the holiday spirit but with Halloween just around the corner I want to switch gears and check out some Halloween flicks.  Last year I watched the horror anthology 10/31 produced by Rocky Gray with segments directed by several amazing filmmakers.  The film was perfect for the Halloween season but the film was rather forgettable.  A few days back I was tagged in a post on Facebook by a friend.  Rocky was looking for reviewers to check out his follow up 10/31 Part 2.  Thanks Rocky for allowing me the opportunity to check this one out!

     The film begins with Malvolia who tells us the stories we are about to watch.  The first, A Samhain Liturgy, follows a babysitter who is watching a little boy on Halloween.  She sneaks her boyfriend over and find something unnatural living in the basement.  When they investigate they find themselves in the middle of a cult with their blood on the menu.  The second tale, Dead Lift, follows an Uber-like driver waiting for his next fair on Halloween night when a man dressed like a vampire approaches him.  What happens next is anything but your typical vampire tale.  The third, Apache Hatchet Massacre II (not a tomahawk but a hatchet), follows a group of party goers celebrating Halloween when they meet a gruesome end from a hatchet wielding maniac.  The fourth tale, Overkill, follows a masked wielding maniac stacking up the body count on Halloween when he spots his next victim.  However, he is not the only killer walking the streets.  The final tale, Sister Mary, follows a nun with a different past who has to deal with her own demons on Halloween.

     Halloween anthologies are the backbone of any Halloween viewing.  Most people toss in classic like Creepshow, Trick 'r Treat, and even All Hallow's Eve to an extent so I'm always open to check out a new anthology.  10/31, as I said earlier, was a fun movie but one you won't remember from Halloween to Halloween.  10/31 Part 2 once again delivers a Halloween filled fun anthology but some of the segments are not consistent.  The acting in this one is one of the few aspects of the film that is consistent.  Every segment is fairly well acted but some do have a little more entertaining characters than others.  The cast in each segment do a fantastic job portraying their characters and they move the stories along nicely.  The stories for this one is the biggest inconsistency of the film.  What makes anthologies so much fun is the wraparound segments.  These segments hold the whole film together while offering a nice and neat bookend to the film when everything is said and done.  I wasn't digging the horror host angle of the Malvolia: Queen of Screams wraparound.  It would have worked if the character had more personality like Elvira or Sister Sadie Safeword but she didn't.  Her segments just played through but they don't really pull the viewer in.  The first segment does a great job kicking the film off.  I really enjoy movies centered around Satanic or Pagan cults and this one was really fun.  In fact, I really wish it was a little longer.  The second tale, Dead Lift, was decent and an interesting story but the pacing of the segment was a little on the slow side which threw the anthology off beat somewhat.  Don't let the slow moving short fool you though.  It's enjoyable if you stick with it.  The third segment, Apache Hatchet Massacre II, is the shortest segment in the film and possibly one of the weakest.  With that being said, it does have the more memorable characters in the film.  It just feels underdeveloped and rushed.  The next segment, Overkill, is the highlight of the film.  The story is so damn entertaining and can be expanded upon in so many way.  Director Drew Marvick needs to give us more of this.  The final segment, Sister Mary, was the low point in the film to me.  The short has a decent story but the way it is told on camera makes for a bit of a boring experience.  Finally, if you want some blood you will find it here.  Each segment stands on their own in very different ways.  Some of the shorts are much more bloodier than the others but amazing practical effects can be seen pretty much throughout.  I really enjoyed the quality of carnage the film brought.  Overall, 10/31 Part 2 is another worthy Halloween horror film that should be added to your seasonal movie rotation.  One segment stands above the rest but the whole movie as a whole is enjoyable.  I highly recommend checking this one out this Halloween season.  

Grindsploitation

 



Director(s) - Tony Newton (Frames of Fear, A Taste of Phobia), Tommy Pistol (The Gruesome Death of Tommy Pistol, Beyond Fucked: A Zombie Odyssey), and Lloyd Kaufman (The Toxic Avenger, Tales from the Crapper)
Starring - Lloyd Kaufman, Sadie Katz (Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort, Party Bus to Hell), and P.J. Soles (Halloween, Carrie)
Release Date - 2016
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Everything.  All at once..."
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

 

     I started reviewing movie for Horror Society in 2013.  Before I was brought onto HS I was writing reviews for my small blog which I started in 2011.  I started out reviewing forgotten exploitation and action flicks but my obsession with horror soon took hold and I was reviewing anything and everything genre related.  Before long I started befriending filmmakers and actresses.  A few years later I heard about Tony Newton and his anthology/trailer compilation Grindsploitation.  I absolutely loved the title and couldn't wait to check it out.  Sadly, there was no release date scheduled for the film so I put it to the side and forgot about it.  Not long ago Troma announced that the film, along with two sequels.  Thank you Troma for sending this release my way.

     The film is a series of faux trailers and shorts ranging from horror, sci-fi, exploitation, Blaxploitation, and so on. 

     I originally went into this one thinking it was a traditional horror anthology but I was wrong.  Grindsploitation is actually a trailer compilation for the most part with almost all of the trailers being fake.  The film was still fun but the biggest crime here is that some of these amazing trailers would make some kickass films.  The acting in this one is not consistent and there is so much content in this 2 hour film that I would be here all day if I went over each segment separately.  Some of these segments had a stellar cast that really showed some acting chop and others were back yard fun with no acting experience.  The stories in these trailers really got me excited only to be brought down to Earth when I realized that they will never be turned into real films and if they are real films I can't find them on social media.  With that being said, the shorts scattered throughout the film tended to be very lackluster and unoriginal.  Most seemed to have similar stories and did not bring much originality to the film.  Finally, the film is a visual feast of special effects of different caliber.  Some of the trailers and shorts has solid practical and visual effects but others show their budget and experience.  They are not consistent and others do shine above others.  Overall, Grindsploitation was a little bit of a let down when I realized it was not a traditional anthology but I did enjoy what it brought to the table.  This one is well worth a watch so check it out.