Author

DanXIII

1,294 stories

Blu-ray Review: Room 37: The Mysterious Death of Johnny Thunders (2019)

On April 23rd, 1991, former New York Dolls guitarist and notorious heroin addict Johnny Thunders was found dead at the St Peter House in New Orleans. How this happened as long been one of rock n’ roll’s greatest unsolved mysteries, as an autopsy report found only a minimal amount of drugs in his system (he was attempting to get clean at the time)…but murder has always been a strong contender in his demise. Written and directed by The Cordero Brothers, Room 37: The Mysterious Death of Johnny Thunders presents a fictionalized version of the events surrounding Johnny’s (played to razor sharp perfection by Leo Ramsey) exit from this mortal coil. As our protagonist rolls into town he’s a broken man; his wife has left him, he hasn’t seen his kid in ages, and he’s trying to give up chasing the dragon. Johnny manages to continue his career in The Big Easy, and find some small companionship with hotel staffer Iris

Continue reading →

DanXIII

May 18, 2019

ForeignMoviesReviewsThriller

Blu-ray Review: Double Face (1969)

Tycoon John Alexander (the ever sedate and totally sane Klaus Kinski) has found himself in a marriage with the comely Helen (Margaret Lee) who gets the seven year itch five years t early and begins an affair with her friend Liz. John gets wise to this but Helen soon finds herself tits up as her car crashes due to an explosive device planted on the vehicle. How does our hero deal with his never-ending grief at his wife’s demise? Why by attending one of those “hippie parties” that the kids are so into these days, with a chick that decided to take up residence at his pad while he was away. At that soiree John featuring a chick (sporting a veil) with the same ring and scar Helen had! John then attempts a mad quest to find the woman… Since Double Face contains elements of murder and mystery, and was directed by Italian Riccardo Freda, you may expect this flick

Continue reading →

DanXIII

May 18, 2019

ForeignMoviesReviews

Blu-ray Review: A Record of Sweet Murder (2014)

You know how sex and violence oft times collide in our beloved horror biz? Well, wait until you feast your putrid peepers on A Record of Sweet Murder… Sang-joon (Yeon Je-wook) is a murder machine on the lam for the kill krazy antics he has pulled all over town. Enter journalist So-yeon (Kim Kko-bbi) who takes it upon herself to interview that rascal, in truth a childhood chum who got stabby to right a wrong that has plagued the pair for a damn sight, along with her cameraman (played by Writer/Director Koji Shiraishi) in the loon’s claustrophobic, grungy-ass apartment in the hopes of gleaning a bit of knowledge as to the deadly goings-on. What does our heroine discover? Why that if Sang-joon kills all 27 poor souls on his shit list (he’s on 25 for the record) then all his victims, and the one he is trying to avenge, will magically rejoin the land of the living. Seems reasonable. Soon

Continue reading →

DanXIII

May 17, 2019

ForeignMoviesReviews

Blu-ray Review: Severin New Release Bonanza!

Hey cats n’ creeps, our dear fiends at Severin have got a beastly bounty of new and upcoming exploitation and horror monsterpieces that are going to make your (severed) heads spin…and I’m gonna slap my patented revoltin’ review magic upon each and every one of them! First up we have a sleazy lil’ number called: Emanuelle and Francoise (1975) Francoise (Patrizia Gori) arrives home from her modeling sesh to find her abusive ass of a lover Carlo (the legendary Big George Eastman) chin deep in the crotch of another. This causes ol’ Franny to commit that hoary ol’ chestnut; train assisted suicide. Enter Emanuelle (Rosemarie Lindt), Francoise’s sister who anonymously saunters in to Carlo’s life and begins the ol’ seduction bag (along with drawing unflattering pictures of herself…as one does). Soon she drugs that big ape and the fun really begins as she drags his ass into her torture room (hidden behind a moving wall in her apartment!!) where she

Continue reading →

DanXIII

May 16, 2019

MoviesReviews

Short Film Review: Báthory: Virgin Blood (2019)

‘Round this time last year I gave you lot my thoughts on Panther Ridge (which you can read here)…a demented deep dive into the world of BDSM. Well, lo and behold; Writer/Director Ryan Swantek is back with another sinister short, this time featuring a take on legendary real-life vampire Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed! Comprised of a single sequence, Báthory: Virgin Blood shows our vicious vamp (Darryl Sposato) doing what she does best…namely liberating a comely virgin (Kaylee Giza) of her precious life’s blood, and then ensconcing herself in that sweet red sauce in order to maintain her beauty eternally. Lit by sensuous candle light and featuring those glorious ’70’s occultism trappings such as inverted crosses and pentagrams that your’s cruelly just can’t get enough of…along with an aesthetic of beauty being derived from the grotesque; this production easily brings to mind the best qualities of the glory days of the Euro-horror genre…right down to those lesbian vampires! The only

Continue reading →

DanXIII

May 9, 2019

MoviesReviews

Movie Review: I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu (2019)

The original I Spit on Your Grave (a.k.a. Day of the Woman), Meir Zarchi’s 1978 exploitation masterpiece was a revolution when released. Here was the story of a woman taking control of a male influenced society…and while the flick dealt in metaphor (the debasing rape wasn’t far removed of how a male-dominated society felt about women at the time…a mere object to be dominated and played with; but seldom considered an equal…so you can imagine the liberation the women in the audience felt when Camille Keaton’s Jennifer exacts her vengeance…including castration, on the lethal Lotharios what did her wrong), the message was loud and clear; sisters can indeed do it for themselves! Flash forward to our turbulent times, when women rightfully consider themselves marginalized, and lo and behold Zarchi returns with a direct sequel to his ’70’s masterpiece; I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu. Will it be the vicious voice of a new distaff generation in the horror biz

Continue reading →

DanXIII

May 8, 2019

IndieMoviesReviews

DVD Review: The Punished (2018)

Wolfgang (Robert Amstler) is an Austrian mercenary murder machine; a real bad cat who you surely would not want to cross paths with. But as nasty a customer as he is, Wolfgang has an emotional side that comes to the fore as he befriends a sick orphan girl named Maria (Leia Perez) while convalescing in the hospital after receiving some war wounds during an assignment, and becomes the father figure in her life, as well as growing close to the comely local tour guide, Lisa (Nicole Stark), he hires to help plan good times for his pint-sized charge. Of course our “hero” continues carving folks a new asshole for those sweet greenbacks…but soon he must decide between his career and protecting the innocents that need him most. Brought to life by Writer/Director Rene Perez (of Death Kiss fame…which I reviewed right here), The Punished is another fun throwback to cinema the likes of which would fill the shelves in the

Continue reading →

DanXIII

May 8, 2019

IndieMoviesReviews

Movie Review: Redcon-1 (2018)

The world, in particular London, is going to hell in a hand-basket due to a blood-borne disease turning folks into raving, zombie-like lunatics…but unlike the myriad of other creatures exactly like these in this overcrowded genre, these fuckers retain some memories and skill sets. Fortunately, the disease has been corralled in a quarantine zone…a zone in which resides Dr. Raynes (Robert Goodale), the asshole responsible for this whole mess, and the one voted most likely to be able to fix it! Enter Captain Marcus Stanton (Oris Erhuero) and his team of shit-kickers who are sent in to retrieve that egghead with the quickness! Will they have the stones to complete their mission and save the world, or will they lose their asses to a gaggle of marauding maniacs? While there is plenty of derivative goings-on in Redcon-1; Director/Co-Writer Chee Keong Cheung still manages to tap a few new veins here and there; most noticeably in having the fury ensconced “zombies”

Continue reading →

DanXIII

May 8, 2019

IndieMoviesReviews

DVD Review: Virus of the Dead (2018)

If there’s two things that cats what love the horror biz dig it’s arcane anthologies and zombies…so it stands to reason that many of you boils n’ ghouls would be curious to check out a flick that combines those things right? Well, you’re in luck because the flick I’m slapping my putrid peepers on today, Virus of the Dead, is an anthology that weaves together multiple (and I mean multiple) tiny terror tales together to present various views of a world balls deep in the middle of a zombie holocaust! Running through the film is a constant, that folks will simply not give up their vain phone usage and social media no matter how many frothing gut-munchers are at the door. It’s a good carry through, and sadly realistic…but whateves; it gives us a fly on the wall view of all that shamblin’ dead chaos that unspools for nearly 2 hours over fifteen sinister segments. Speaking of those segments they

Continue reading →

DanXIII

May 5, 2019

News

Movie Review: Dark Sister (2018)

Cassie (Amanda Woodhams) is an artist havin’ a rough go of things. You see, our heroine is plagued with dreams of the murder biz, which she works through with the help of her shrink (Nicola Bartlett) and by creating violent tableaus on her canvas. Of course this being a fright flick and all, those violent visions end up spilling over into Cassie’s wakey-wakey world and those close to her start going tits up, forcing C-dawg to confront her troubled past and use her visions to try and stop the killer before they cause any more horror! Simply put, Writer/Director Sam Barrett (along with Co-Writer Robbie Studsor) has created one of the best giallos to not come from the golden age of the genre…or even Italy (more on that in a tick).! Comprised of a solid murder mystery, fever-dream logic and imagery (appropriate given the emphasis on nightmares in the narrative), absolutely gorgeous lighting (shout out to Cinematographer/Editor Ivan Davidov for

Continue reading →

DanXIII

May 4, 2019

DanXIII

More from DanXIII