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DanXIII

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Movie Review: Disco Italiana Box Set – Severin Blu-ray

Italian filmmakers well and truly got balls deep into any and all American genre cinema trends in the ‘70s and ‘80s in order to make some dough. That eloquent statement brings us to the subject of Discoploitation… yup, that’s right, or pals in Italy saw Saturday Night Fever and said “Fuck yeah, we can do that!” And they did… in a way… and now I’m going to take a gander at the results courtesy of Severin’s new Blu-ray boxset; Disco Italiana! Things kick off with American Fever (1978)… Our hero Tony (Mircha Carven, SS Experiment Love Camp) works as a mechanic by day and tears it up in his white suit on the disco floor at night… he’s also an aspiring actor. All isn’t carburetors and the Hustle however, and Tony finds himself getting involved with Lisa (Zora Kerova, Antropophagus, Cannibal Ferox)… yet another aspiring thespian that he talks down from a suicide attempt. While contending with that, Tony has

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DanXIII

Aug 8, 2026

DocumentariesIndieMoviesParanormalReviews

Movie Review: Paranormal Hollywood Haunting (2026)

British Faux-documentary filmmaker Carl Medland rocked my socks with his trio of funny n’ freaky supernatural investigations into a farm with some bad fuckin’ mojo in the appropriately named Paranormal Farm series (reviews of which can be read here, here, and here). Well, our haunt-seeking host is back with another journey into the bizarre with his latest offering, Paranormal Hollywood Haunting… Arriving in America, Carl sets out to explore the Hollywood mansion of film veteran Arthur Porter and author/health advocate Daniel P’Lopez; an abode nestled right smack in the legendary Hollywood hills. As Carl and his cameraman Mumtaz “Taz” Yildirimlar, begin their investigation, the expected ghostly goings-on begin, but there is a deeper, more personal side to the yarn at hand that soon rises to the surface… That’s the beautiful thing about Paranormal Hollywood Haunting; while treating us to another outré investigation we get a glimpse of a truly human experience. As the film carries on it’s exaggerated fictional preternatural

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DanXIII

Aug 7, 2026

ForeignIndieMoviesParanormalReviewsThriller

Movie Review: Laurin (1989) – Visual Vengeance Blu-ray

In a seaside 19th Century German Village, young Laurin’s (Dóra Szinetár) pappy, Arne (János Derzsi) is shipping out for another long sojourn at sea leaving our heroine with her mother, Flora (Brigitte Karner) and grandmother, Olga (Hédi Temessy). Meanwhile, a sinister cloaked figure stalks the fog-shrouded nights, putting a murder on the local child populace. One such murder is witnessed by Flora, and she ends up six feet under right quick! But has time passes, it becomes ever-more apparent that Laurin can seemingly receive visions from her mother from beyond the grave… visions of not only the face and corpse of her mother herself, but ominous portents such as a black dog and obsidian kite… but will she be able to identify the psycho terrorizing the village?!! Coming from Director Robert Sigl (who also co-wrote the picture along with Ádám Rozgonyi), Laurin is an atmospheric journey into a surreal, and at times sinister, world. While at it’s heart, the film

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DanXIII

Jul 26, 2026

IndieMoviesReviews

Movie Review – Troll (1986) – MVD Rewind Blu-ray

The Potter family; Harry (Larry Cohen regular Michael Moriarty, The Stuff) and Anne (former Charlie’s Angel Shelley Hack) along with their children Harry Jr. (Noah Hathaway, Battlestar Galactica, The Neverending Story) and Wendy Anne (Jenny Beck, the ‘80s V franchise) move into their new abode; an apartment building in San Francisco (though this was filmed in Italy… though we do get a fun matte painting of the Golden Gate bridge). As most apartment buildings in films are, this domicile is filled with crazy characters (besides Moriarty) such as Eunice St. Clair… a feisty elderly witch (the original Lost in Space’s June Lockhart… played in younger form by her daughter Anne… who was also in Battlestar Galactica) and her pet mushroom creature, a yuppie couple (real-life married duo Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Seinfeld and Saturday Night Live’s Brad Hall), a swinger (Sonny Bono of all people), a military/big game obsessed health nut (WKRP in Cincinnati’s Gary Sandy)… and an evil Troll named Torok

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DanXIII

Jul 20, 2026

IndieMoviesReviews

Movie Review: Fungicide (2002) – Visual Vengeance Blu-ray

Mad scientist-type Silas Purcell (David Weldon) spends all of his time playing with his beakers in the basement… so much so that his parents decide to send his ass on a li’l unscheduled vacay at a rural bed and breakfast run by a psychic hippie named Jade Moon (Mary Wascavage). Once there, Sinister Silas immediately trips and accidentally releases his latest concoction which spills on some mushrooms turning them into flesh eating, Silly String shootin’, monster fungi that can gain the abilities of anyone they consume! This becomes a serious pain in the ass to Moon and the rest of her guests… the likes of which include Pro-Wrestler Tony “Titus” Ignitus (Dave Bonavita), shady commercial real estate developer Jackson P. Jackson (Dave Wascavage… who also directed and co-wrote the picture along with the aforementioned Mary Wascavage… and while Mary’s on our minds, she sings an absolutely incredible theme song that has to be heard to be believed… I absolutely loved

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DanXIII

Jul 17, 2026

IndieMoviesReviewsSci-Fi

Movie Review: The Screaming (2000) – Visual Vengeance Blu-ray

There is something seriously wrong with the followers of New Age religion Crystalnetics. For starters, the robed practitioners of said “religion” like nothing more than to chase chicks around their centrally located pyramid headquarters and then getting unreasonably stabby… there’s also a monster involved, but we’ll get to that later… Enter: room-renting, chain smoking, Gen X anthropology student Bob Martin (Vinnie Bilancio), a gruff scholar with a deep interest in ancient supernatural rites and the ass of his landlady, Crystal (Wendi Winburn). Speaking of Crystal, with a name like that you just know she’s balls deep into that crazy cult and before long she’s introduced our hero to the benefits belief in Crystalnetics can bring… but will he see the truth of the cult and it’s star-born, demonic overlord! Coming from Writer/Director Jeff Leroy (Rat Scratch Fever), The Screaming is an incredibly entertaining satire of L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics/Scientology biz. We get the genre author turned New Age Prophet, the

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DanXIII

Jul 17, 2026

IndieMoviesReviewsThriller

Movie Review: Highway to Hell (1992) – Visual Vengeance Blu-ray

Psycho killin’ machine Toby Gilmore (Benton Jennings) springs himself from the Big House and sets off on a madcap murder spree. Along the way, Fran Tucker (Blue Thompson) witnesses Terrible Toby ventilate a dude’s skull on the open road and soon becomes Gilmore’s hostage. Hot on his heels is police chief Earl Dent (Italian peplum familiar face Richard Harrison), a lawman with a personal ax to grind with our footloose felon! Directed by Bret McCormick (Repligator), working from a script by Gary Kennamer (who we will get back to in a bit), Highway to Hell is down and dirty regional regional filmmaking that would be solid drive-in or Grindhouse material in days past, but in… well different “days past” it was one of many low budget flicks pumped out to video rental joints in the ‘80s and ‘90s. While the film certainly delivers some suspense and a bit o’ bloodshed… and a helicopter… the real stars are the Texas locales

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DanXIII

Jul 11, 2026

IndieMoviesReviewsThriller

Movie Review: Fathers (2026)

Peep this one cats n’ creeps… our heroine for Fathers, Natalie (Kaiti Wallen/Emilia Wallen in flashbacks) is found wandering ‘round the wicked woods with little memory of where she’s been since being snatched from outside her parent’s pad a decade and a half prior. With the dodgy details Natalie can provide we begin to learn, via that above mentioned flashback action, that she has been held by a man named Bobby (Harley Wallen, who also wrote and directed the picture at hand), who has convinced Nat that he is indeed her actual father and not ol’ Calvin (Jerry Hayes)… the dude she always believed to be her pappy… and worse than that, that he’s dispatched a squad of folks to steal her back! Can Natalie be able to discern what is truth and what is bullshit and get her life in order before something dire transpires? Wallen… Harley that is… weaves a complex and (obviously) non-linear narrative with Fathers. The

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DanXIII

Jul 11, 2026

MoviesReviewsSci-Fi

Movie Review: Creepy-Creatures Double-Feature – V.C.I. Blu-ray

V.CI. have gone creature crazy and have slapped two spine-tinglers from the golden age of Drive-in madness together on one Blu-ray disc titled (appropriately enough) Creepy-Creatures Double-Feature! This monster mash gets underway with The Crawling Hand from 1963… A manned space mission goes tits-up in the worst possible way resulting in a self-destruct request from an astronaut that’s miraculously lived without oxygen for over twenty minutes. The cosmic wreckage from said blast rains down over a small California beach town where it’s discovered by young science student Paul (Rod Lauren) and his Nordic gal pal, Marta (Sirry Steffen). Among the debris is one of our bomb-shattered astronauts arms with hand still attached (which is solid for title accuracy’s sake), and soon that arcane appendage is up and about causing that patented monster mayhem died-in-the-wicked-wool Monsterkids like us love six ways to Sunday… but, that horrid hand doesn’t stop there as it possesses Paul for a lil’ Jekyll n’ Hyde riffage!

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DanXIII

Jun 27, 2026

ForeignMoviesReviewsThriller

Movie Review: Helter Skelter (2012) – 88 Films Blu-ray

Lilico (Erika Sawajiri, a real-life model with her own troubled history who plays the role to perfection) has the modeling world by the short n’ curlies. Every woman wants to be her, every man wants to fuck her (good luck on that one unless you are a vacuous status-seeking pretty boy star or producer that can advance her career)… and while she rules the glamour world, her success may be fleeting… Controlled by an alcoholic “stage mom”, Lilico’s enduring flawless beauty is the result of experimental medical techniques that must be maintained regularly or else things begin to go shockingly south… and those rapidly spreading bruises are going to take a toll on her already fractured mental state! Brought to the screen by former fashion photographer turned director Mika Ninagawa (working from a screenplay by Arisa Kaneko adapting the manga from Kyôko Okazaki), Helter Skelter does the whole beauty and fame are fleeting bag and takes things to dynamic extremes.

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DanXIII

Jun 7, 2026

DanXIII

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