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DanXIII

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Movie Review: The Ugly (1997) – Unearthed Films Blu-ray

One rainy eve, Dr. Karen Schumaker (Rebecca Hobbs) arrives at a dilapidated high-security mental institution to begin her assessment of serial killer Simon Cartwright (Paolo Rotondo)… and what an institution it is, ruled over by orderlies that look and act like thugs and watched over by the strange Dr. Marlowe (Roy Ward) who’s odd demeanor, outre fashion sense, and opulent koi pond-surrounded office make him a real stand out among the peeling paint and exposed wires of his stompin’ grounds. Anyway, our heroine goes on a journey through Simon’s troubled past… a past that includes an absolute aversion to being picked on, an abusive mother, and a high body count… which truth be told aren’t unreasonable things to encounter in a serial killer’s past… but what really begins to make Karen’s ears stand up is Simon’s insistence that some outside force whispers in his ears to do all that murder biz! Writer/Director Scott Reynolds delivers a stylish thriller (with a

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DanXIII

May 9, 2026

IndieMovies

Movie Review: The Actor’s Curse: A Tale of Twisted Fate (2026)

Recently a new arcane anthology flick was laid before my eerie eyeballs… The Actor’s Curse: A Tale of Twisted Fate, to be precise… so let’s give it the ol’ revoltin’ review! Ahhh showbiz… it can be glitzy and glamorous, and it can be sleazy and laden with debauchery… naturally we are going to go with that latter portion, with a nice dash of my personal fav, supernatural shenanigans! We begin with Ye olde Wraparound Segment in which a frustrated actor (Joe DeBartolo) decides to do a little bit of soul searching and put pen to paper to craft some terror tales about the various types of shit-heels he’s encountered in his career (all presented in shorts from various directors)… Derek Braasch’s The Director’s Demise concerns a real shit wipe of a director (Robert Gutierrez-Spagnoli) who brings in a new actress who is more than game to partake in his brand of hostile filmmaking… but is she just an actress with

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DanXIII

May 8, 2026

DocumentariesForeignMoviesParanormalReviews

Movie Review: Exorcismo: Defying A Dictator & Raising Hell In Post-Franco Spain Boxset – Severin

After the Franco dictatorship ended ‘round about the mid ‘70s, Spanish cinema found themselves with a new freedom, through which filmmakers could now express themselves via tales of sin n’ Satan (and death… lots of it) all over that silver screen! Recently, Severin boxed up a selection of those fearless flicks (and a doc to bring us all up to speed on the genre)… so why not dip our terror toes into Exorcismo: Defying A Dictator & Raising Hell In Post-Franco Spain! Things kick off with that aforementioned documentary, Exorcismo: The Transgressive Legacy of Clasificada ‘S’ from Director Alberto Sedano. Exorcismo takes the viewer on a journey through just what we can expect from the features contained in this box-set (bet you couldn’t have guessed that one), and gives us both a historical understanding of the heavily censoring of filmmakers work under the regime of Francisco Franco, as well as the unbridled freedom they received after Franco’s death in 1975,

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DanXIII

May 7, 2026

ForeignMoviesReviewsThriller

Movie Review: The Creature (1977) – Severin Blu-ray

Christina (Ana Belén) has it all, she lives a comfortable life with her husband Marcos (Juan Diego), the host of a truly ridiculous variety show, and she is expecting the couples first child, but… A brief “attack” from a black German Shepard causes Christina to miscarry, so Marcos whisks Christina off for a romp on the beach where they spent their honeymoon, but in a shocking twist of fate (though definitely nothing compared to what’s to come), Christina befriends a stray dog of the same breed as the one who hassled her earlier. Now there’s no way to say this gently… Christina has an affair with the dog (sex implied, so there’s that), and soon a choice has to be made between Marcos or the dog. It isn’t much of a Sophie’s Choice level decision, as Marcos is a pretty terrible human being… I can’t believe I’m typing this… wait, yes I can… Anyway, what could have been a mega-sleazy

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DanXIII

Sep 29, 2024

IndieMoviesParanormalReviews

Movie Review: Late Night with the Devil (2023) – RLJE Blu-ray/DVD combo

In the 1970’s Jack Delroy (the amazing David Dastmalchian, 2021’s Dune and The Suicide Squad) makes a bid to dethrone Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show which doesn’t quite succeed. Following the death of his wife, Jack takes a sabbatical before returning with a tweak to his format where controversy and shock value is introduced among the schtick and corniness. Flash forward to Halloween night, 1977 and Jack has a pretty stellar line-up sure to appeal big-fucking-time to the Occult obsessed ’70s including celebrity clairvoyant/fraud Christou (Fayssal Bazzi) and paranormal debunker Carmichael Haig (Ian Bliss), but the real showstopper is parapsychologist Dr. June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon) and her young charge Lilly (Ingrid Torelli… more on her in a bit), a girl rescued from the fiery stand-off between law enforcement and a Satanic cult. About Lilly, she’s two things; incredibly strange and purported to be demonically possessed… and Jack is all about proving that particular topic to be a fact to improve

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DanXIII

Sep 29, 2024

ForeignMoviesReviews

Movie Review: Exhuma (2024) – Well Go USA Blu-ray

Lee Hwa-rim (Kim Go-eun) and Yoon Bong-gil (Lee Do-hyun) are a shaman duo that offers their services to those that are plagued by the vengeful spirits of deceased family members… like the one plaguing the wealthy Park family, and let me tell ya, this one’s a fuckin’ doozy of a creepy case. So complex is the job, that our heroes call in the help of geomancer Kim Sang-deok (Choi Min-sik) and his coroner partner Go Yeong-geun (Yoo Hae-jin) to assist in the exhumation of the relative’s coffin via a traditional ceremony after which the coffin and remains will be cremated. No matter how seasoned our shamans are, things go tits up with the quickness once a rain delay keeps that corpse from getting crispy (can’t burn ’em on a soggy day… bad luck) and of course some ass just has to go and open the coffin setting the evill spirit free to go on a supernatural bender that spells bad

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DanXIII

Sep 28, 2024

ForeignMoviesReviewsSci-Fi

Movie Review: The Million Eyes of Sumuru (1967) – Blue Underground 4K/Blu-ray Combo

Sumuru (Goldfinger‘s Shirley Eaton) is one deadly woman, she’s also a near-comic book styled super-villain hell bent on replacing the powerful male leaders of the world of the Swinging Sixties with her cadre of her murderous all-girl army, members of whom kill men with their thighs for kicks! One such attempt of Sumuru’s evil plan leads to a threat being made on the life of the leader of Sinonesia, President Boong (played by noted lunatic Klaus Fuckin’ Kinski) which results in horny C.I.A. operatives Nick West (George Nader) and Tommy Carter (Frankie Avalon sans beach, blanket, and bingo) being called in to investigate by by the head of British Intelligence, Sir Anthony Baisbrook (Wilfrid Hyde-White, whom you may remember from the original Battlestar Galactica, or that Star Trek-ass second season of Buck Rogers). Our (occasionally) hammered heroes are hot on the case and travel from Europe to Hong Kong where they are soon up to their asses in the machinations

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DanXIII

Sep 28, 2024

IndieMoviesReviewsThriller

Movie Review: Intensely Independent: The Micro-Budget Films of Blake Eckard – Synapse DVD

Intensely Independent: The Micro-Budget Films of Blake Eckard could easily be titled Fucked-Up Families… but then you wouldn’t know what you are buying exactly… but it would be apt regardless… Things kick off with 2011’s Bubba Moon Face… The ironically named Horton Bucks (Tyler Messner) is a penniless mother fucker who blows back into his hometown due to his mother’s demise… and there he’ll stay since he can’t afford repairs for his junky jalopy… and he’ll be staying at his brother Stanton’s (Joe Hammerstone) house located in the woods because hotel rooms cost money… it’s a complete ouroboros really… Now these two aren’t great at funeral planning, which results in the day ending at a local watering-hole where Horton encounters his (formerly jail-bait) ex… drinks and mistakes ensue, Hunter wakes up with a new baby… supposedly Stanton’s conceived with a woman named Sabetha (Sylvia Geiger) who wants absolutely zero to do with the kid… apparently neither does Stanton as he

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DanXIII

Sep 26, 2024

ForeignMoviesReviews

Movie Review: Beast Fighter: Karate Bullfighter (1975)/Karate Bearfighter (1975) – Eureka! Blu-ray

Picture it, Kyoto, 1949. A ratty hermit enters a renowned Karate tournament held by Japan’s Karate masters and absolutely sweeps the event due to his mastery of “real” Karate, as opposed to the showier style of his peers. That man, Masutatsu Oyama (played by action master Sonny Chiba, 1974’s Street Fighter series of films from Toei, who also produced this picture) was a real-life, Korean born Karate master that not only had a true passion for murdering bulls with his bare-hands, but also was Chiba’s sensei… but this film is based more on Karate Baka Ichidai, the manga-version of Oyama’s life (created by Ikki Kajiwara, Jirô Tsunoda, and Jôya Kagemaru, here adapted by screenwriter Norifumi Suzuki) than the actual events, which thankfully means less bull deaths are involved… but I’m getting ahead of myself… Oyama’s victory means jack shit to him (because it was against inferior Karate remember) and after a show of strength and ability against a gaggle of

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DanXIII

Sep 11, 2024

IndieMoviesReviewsThriller

Movie Review: Flesh of the Unforgiven (2024)

Author-type Jack Russo (writer/director Joe Hollow) has got it tough all over… he’s got writer’s block like a mother fucker, and his marriage to his wife, Sienna (legendary Scream Queen Debbie Rochon), has seen better days. So, to try and get their life and Jack’s work back on point, the couple schlep out to a remote cabin which goes South rather quickly once Jack checks out a mysterious videotape he receives in the mail. Said VHS is some real Videodrome (the show within the movie) type shit… all sexual violence and murder biz, which repulses our hero before becoming an object of fascination that leads to Jack entering a demonic fugue state. Sienna falls sway to the dark influence as well, and soon their paths cross with a woman named Vivienne (August Kyss), who just so happens to have had major family problems that leads to a Faustian deal with an entity known as the Death Dealer that may spell

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DanXIII

Sep 11, 2024

DanXIII

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