CategoryReviews
Honest horror reviews of films, series, games and books — no hype, no spoilers, just whether it is worth your time and your nerves.
3,432 stories
ForeignMoviesReviewsTrue CrimeTrue Story
Bernard (Peter Baldwin), a sad sack novelist, decides to use that classic cure-all, namely horniness, and sets off to rekindle a relationship with his ex-lover Tilda (Virna Lisi); who works as a maid at a remote hotel located next to a lake. Everything seems hunky-goddammned-dory with the hotel’s owner, Enrico (Salvo Randone) and his daughter Irma (Valentina Cortese)…but it seems Tilda has pulled a David Copperfield and vanished. Having fuck-all to do, Bernard begins investigating the disappearance and ends up spiraling farther down a rabbit hole of perversion, insanity, and murder! The Possessed, comprised of it’s heavily art house influenced style and dark and deadly themes definitely stands as a strong and stylish fore-runner of the beloved murder heavy giallo genre. Directors Luigi Bazzoni, Franco Rossellini present the material with gobs of style and chiaroscuro visuals, but there are definitely moments where the concentration on aesthetics definitely hamper the clarity of the film’s storytelling (a problem also present in a
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IndieMoviesReviews
An ex soldier named Ariel (played by genre legend Bill Oberst Jr.) strolls through a forest, unaware he is about to enter hell…or a very close approximation of it. You see, those trees hide one bad motherfucker that is cultivating a garden of magical mandrakes, and he needs killer kum to make those wicked weeds grow strong and tall! While the above sinister synopsis may seem a tad light (and with a film that runs sixty minutes light plot can be expected) I can promise you that you are in for one hell of a fucked up ride with Dis. Let’s start off with the more refined side of things and offer praise for leading man Oberst Jr.; this dude is an acting powerhouse and always brings a sense of weight and realism to any role he plays, and this is no exception…hell he brings a ton of gravitas to the first twenty minutes of the film and he doesn’t
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
Anthropologist Harry Beckmeyer (Barry Otto) witnesses some old-ass footage that purportedly shows a werewolf, and hears of a lycanthrope on the prowl in Siberia, so does what any rational human being would do; contacts the President of the United States and warns him of a worldwide werewolf epidemic. Spoiler: Prez blows that shit off. Wonder why? Meanwhile, comely marsupial werewolf Jerboa (Imogen Annesley) has fled from her abusive home and has been discovered living on the streets by Donny Martin (Leigh Biolos) who gets her a gig starring in the fright flick ‘Shape Shifters Part 8′. Jerboa reveals she is a real life werewolf, but Donny being the typical red-blooded male fucks her anyway…I mean, it’s only half bestiality, so it’s all good, right bro? (shudder) Soon Jerboa’s estranged family come a-lookin’ for her, and Beckmeyer crosses their path…and falls in love with a werewolf ballerina…and then ancient phantom werewolves are summoned…and there’s an award show…and a baby werewolf…and…and…ME FUCKIN’
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IndieMoviesReviews
Brian Barnes (Clint Carney, who also wrote the film) is a major league fuck-up. He’s pissed his life away with drugs n’ drink…and now he’s decided to retreat to a remote cabin (always a shit-hot idea in a fright flick) to try and dry his ass out with the help of his pal Anna (Jaymie Valentine). Complicating matters is the constant intrusion of a local sheriff (Kelton Jones, who directed the film as well), and some pesky, and sanity threatening, hallucinations and ghosts that may just reduce Barnes to a quivering mass of jelly before the yarn unspools! Oh Dry Blood, you magnificent, wildly uneven, bastard. For the first half of this film, you will doubtless ask yourself “Why on Earth am I trudging through this nonsense?” Scenes go on forever, Carney is a rather unlikable lead, and Valentine…well, let’s just be charitable and say her acting (and wig???) leave a shit-ton to be desired (though after the picture ends
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
With the new year comes a veritable ass-load of short fright flicks that fine fiends have asked me to lay my putrid peepers upon (or like three…but one man’s small amount is another man’s ass-load I never say…). So without further ado, here comes some bite-sized revoltin’ reviews! Slash (2018): Callum (Michael Mowen) is just tryin’ to enjoy a sinister slasher pic, but his gal pal Sydney (Chloe Carroll…who also produced the film) is riding his ass like a cheap suit calling out every beloved stalk n’ slay trope and giving it a savage roasting that will have you wishing ol’ C-dawg would throw her out on her ear. Of course soon the tables turn, and Sydney finds herself in just the situation she so mercilessly took jabs at, but will she fare any better than the characters on the silver screen? Running at a brief eight minutes and change, Slash is a great skewering of that one mother fucker
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MoviesReviews
Willie Dynamite (Roscoe Orman…who you may know as Gordon from Sesame Street) cruises the streets in a lavender automobile roughly the size of a small continent while wearing a lampshade as a hat (go ahead and convince me otherwise) as his theme song plays (Willie! Oh, Willie D.!!) before collecting a hefty sum for the snapper he sold the local Shriner convention. But as fate would have it, pimpin’ ain’t easy, and Willie must contend with a late trick…and not a top earner as well. At least he can rely on the camaraderie of his pimp peers…peers who take the advice of Bell (Roger Robinson in a performance so flamboyant it would make Elton John blush) and decide to play the game in delineated territories in order to maximize profits and stay ahead of the law…a plan that goes over like a fart in a submarine to enterprisin’ Willie D. Before long, our hero has to deal with the ever-growing
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
In 1970, three children were born during an eclipse (presented in the cheapest way imaginable, and a real treat for those of you that dig on still photos of a solar eclipse and V.O. exposition…). Flash forward ten years, and these hellions (played by Elizabeth Hoy, Billy Jayne, and Andrew Freeman respectively) are making 1980 a real shitty year for their suburban neighborhood. Engaging in everything from spying on Julie Brown (Earth Girls Are Easy variety, not ‘Downtown’…) dancing around naked, to locking other kids in abandoned refrigerators, to straight up murder (victims include, but are not limited to: their parents, teachers, and rando horny teens). Soon it’s up to Timmy (K.C. Martel) and his sister Joyce (Lori Lethin) to try and put an end to these tiny terrors armed only with astrology (?!!) and their wits…my money’s on the killer kids… The first thing that will doubtless pop into your fevered lil’ brains as you watch Bloody Birthday is
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MoviesNewsReviews
The most highly anticipated horror film of the year, Halloween, is now out on digital and of course, I had to see it. The film opens with two podcasters arriving at Smith’s Grove prison mental asylum where Michael Myers (Nick Castle) has been for the past 40 years. The two arrive on the eve of Michael’s transfer to a more secure hospital. As the two enter the yard where Michael and several other patients are chained. We see that Michael has aged, he is balding and sporting a white beard. One of the podcasters, played by Jefferson Hall, reaches into his bag and pulls out Michael’s mask. While Michael doesn’t turn around the other patients go into hysterics. During Michael’s imprisonment, Laurie has never stopped training, waiting for her chance to kill him. During that time Laurie had a daughter who has become a mother herself. Unfortunately, Laurie and her family have a strained relationship with many believing she has
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MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
After kids begin to disappear around their town in 1984, a group of friends begins their own investigation. After spending their summer gathering evidence they zero in on a suspect, their neighbor officer Wayne Mackey (Rich Sommer). The closer they get to the truth, the more danger they face. Graham Verchere, Judah Lewis, Caleb Emry, Cory-Gruter-Andrew, Tiera Skovbye, Jason Gray-Stanford, and Rich Sommer star in Summer of 84. Directed by the trio of François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell, Summer of 84 is a dark, brilliant, pulse-pounding throwback to the thrillers of the eighties’. When we first meet the boys, you can understand how their parents could believe they’re jumping to conclusions, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. They will soon face a serial killer. The young cast did an absolutely fantastic job of not only projecting the innocence of their age but also their character’s fear and determination to find out who is behind the missing
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
Lonely (and rich) housewife Minou (Dagmar Lassander) spends her time pining for the affection of her husband Peter (Pier Paolo Capponi) who is never around. While walking alone one night, Minou is accosted by a weirdo who tells her Peter is, in fact, a murderer. She pays this insanity no mind, but soon the evidence appears to back up the stranger’s claims, and Minou finds herself tumbling into an ever deeper abyss of blackmail at the hands of the devious (and horny) creeper. Will Minou be able to regain a semblance of a normal life and escape this ordeal with her sanity intact or will she be destroyed by the blackmailer’s game? The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion appears to be a giallo, but honestly it isn’t; no black gloved killer appears…hell, no murder appears in the film at all…but what the film is is a mystery with giallo window dressing. Director Luciano Ercoli has infused the piece
Continue reading →
More from Reviews
ForeignMoviesReviewsTrue CrimeTrue Story
Bernard (Peter Baldwin), a sad sack novelist, decides to use that classic cure-all, namely horniness, and sets off to rekindle a relationship with his ex-lover Tilda (Virna Lisi); who works as a maid at a remote hotel located next to a lake. Everything seems hunky-goddammned-dory with the hotel’s owner, Enrico (Salvo Randone) and his daughter Irma (Valentina Cortese)…but it seems Tilda has pulled a David Copperfield and vanished. Having fuck-all to do, Bernard begins investigating the disappearance and ends up spiraling farther down a rabbit hole of perversion, insanity, and murder! The Possessed, comprised of it’s heavily art house influenced style and dark and deadly themes definitely stands as a strong and stylish fore-runner of the beloved murder heavy giallo genre. Directors Luigi Bazzoni, Franco Rossellini present the material with gobs of style and chiaroscuro visuals, but there are definitely moments where the concentration on aesthetics definitely hamper the clarity of the film’s storytelling (a problem also present in a
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
An ex soldier named Ariel (played by genre legend Bill Oberst Jr.) strolls through a forest, unaware he is about to enter hell…or a very close approximation of it. You see, those trees hide one bad motherfucker that is cultivating a garden of magical mandrakes, and he needs killer kum to make those wicked weeds grow strong and tall! While the above sinister synopsis may seem a tad light (and with a film that runs sixty minutes light plot can be expected) I can promise you that you are in for one hell of a fucked up ride with Dis. Let’s start off with the more refined side of things and offer praise for leading man Oberst Jr.; this dude is an acting powerhouse and always brings a sense of weight and realism to any role he plays, and this is no exception…hell he brings a ton of gravitas to the first twenty minutes of the film and he doesn’t
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
Anthropologist Harry Beckmeyer (Barry Otto) witnesses some old-ass footage that purportedly shows a werewolf, and hears of a lycanthrope on the prowl in Siberia, so does what any rational human being would do; contacts the President of the United States and warns him of a worldwide werewolf epidemic. Spoiler: Prez blows that shit off. Wonder why? Meanwhile, comely marsupial werewolf Jerboa (Imogen Annesley) has fled from her abusive home and has been discovered living on the streets by Donny Martin (Leigh Biolos) who gets her a gig starring in the fright flick ‘Shape Shifters Part 8′. Jerboa reveals she is a real life werewolf, but Donny being the typical red-blooded male fucks her anyway…I mean, it’s only half bestiality, so it’s all good, right bro? (shudder) Soon Jerboa’s estranged family come a-lookin’ for her, and Beckmeyer crosses their path…and falls in love with a werewolf ballerina…and then ancient phantom werewolves are summoned…and there’s an award show…and a baby werewolf…and…and…ME FUCKIN’
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
Brian Barnes (Clint Carney, who also wrote the film) is a major league fuck-up. He’s pissed his life away with drugs n’ drink…and now he’s decided to retreat to a remote cabin (always a shit-hot idea in a fright flick) to try and dry his ass out with the help of his pal Anna (Jaymie Valentine). Complicating matters is the constant intrusion of a local sheriff (Kelton Jones, who directed the film as well), and some pesky, and sanity threatening, hallucinations and ghosts that may just reduce Barnes to a quivering mass of jelly before the yarn unspools! Oh Dry Blood, you magnificent, wildly uneven, bastard. For the first half of this film, you will doubtless ask yourself “Why on Earth am I trudging through this nonsense?” Scenes go on forever, Carney is a rather unlikable lead, and Valentine…well, let’s just be charitable and say her acting (and wig???) leave a shit-ton to be desired (though after the picture ends
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
With the new year comes a veritable ass-load of short fright flicks that fine fiends have asked me to lay my putrid peepers upon (or like three…but one man’s small amount is another man’s ass-load I never say…). So without further ado, here comes some bite-sized revoltin’ reviews! Slash (2018): Callum (Michael Mowen) is just tryin’ to enjoy a sinister slasher pic, but his gal pal Sydney (Chloe Carroll…who also produced the film) is riding his ass like a cheap suit calling out every beloved stalk n’ slay trope and giving it a savage roasting that will have you wishing ol’ C-dawg would throw her out on her ear. Of course soon the tables turn, and Sydney finds herself in just the situation she so mercilessly took jabs at, but will she fare any better than the characters on the silver screen? Running at a brief eight minutes and change, Slash is a great skewering of that one mother fucker
Continue reading →
MoviesReviews
Willie Dynamite (Roscoe Orman…who you may know as Gordon from Sesame Street) cruises the streets in a lavender automobile roughly the size of a small continent while wearing a lampshade as a hat (go ahead and convince me otherwise) as his theme song plays (Willie! Oh, Willie D.!!) before collecting a hefty sum for the snapper he sold the local Shriner convention. But as fate would have it, pimpin’ ain’t easy, and Willie must contend with a late trick…and not a top earner as well. At least he can rely on the camaraderie of his pimp peers…peers who take the advice of Bell (Roger Robinson in a performance so flamboyant it would make Elton John blush) and decide to play the game in delineated territories in order to maximize profits and stay ahead of the law…a plan that goes over like a fart in a submarine to enterprisin’ Willie D. Before long, our hero has to deal with the ever-growing
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
In 1970, three children were born during an eclipse (presented in the cheapest way imaginable, and a real treat for those of you that dig on still photos of a solar eclipse and V.O. exposition…). Flash forward ten years, and these hellions (played by Elizabeth Hoy, Billy Jayne, and Andrew Freeman respectively) are making 1980 a real shitty year for their suburban neighborhood. Engaging in everything from spying on Julie Brown (Earth Girls Are Easy variety, not ‘Downtown’…) dancing around naked, to locking other kids in abandoned refrigerators, to straight up murder (victims include, but are not limited to: their parents, teachers, and rando horny teens). Soon it’s up to Timmy (K.C. Martel) and his sister Joyce (Lori Lethin) to try and put an end to these tiny terrors armed only with astrology (?!!) and their wits…my money’s on the killer kids… The first thing that will doubtless pop into your fevered lil’ brains as you watch Bloody Birthday is
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviews
The most highly anticipated horror film of the year, Halloween, is now out on digital and of course, I had to see it. The film opens with two podcasters arriving at Smith’s Grove prison mental asylum where Michael Myers (Nick Castle) has been for the past 40 years. The two arrive on the eve of Michael’s transfer to a more secure hospital. As the two enter the yard where Michael and several other patients are chained. We see that Michael has aged, he is balding and sporting a white beard. One of the podcasters, played by Jefferson Hall, reaches into his bag and pulls out Michael’s mask. While Michael doesn’t turn around the other patients go into hysterics. During Michael’s imprisonment, Laurie has never stopped training, waiting for her chance to kill him. During that time Laurie had a daughter who has become a mother herself. Unfortunately, Laurie and her family have a strained relationship with many believing she has
Continue reading →
MoviesNewsReviewsTrailers
After kids begin to disappear around their town in 1984, a group of friends begins their own investigation. After spending their summer gathering evidence they zero in on a suspect, their neighbor officer Wayne Mackey (Rich Sommer). The closer they get to the truth, the more danger they face. Graham Verchere, Judah Lewis, Caleb Emry, Cory-Gruter-Andrew, Tiera Skovbye, Jason Gray-Stanford, and Rich Sommer star in Summer of 84. Directed by the trio of François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell, Summer of 84 is a dark, brilliant, pulse-pounding throwback to the thrillers of the eighties’. When we first meet the boys, you can understand how their parents could believe they’re jumping to conclusions, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. They will soon face a serial killer. The young cast did an absolutely fantastic job of not only projecting the innocence of their age but also their character’s fear and determination to find out who is behind the missing
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
Lonely (and rich) housewife Minou (Dagmar Lassander) spends her time pining for the affection of her husband Peter (Pier Paolo Capponi) who is never around. While walking alone one night, Minou is accosted by a weirdo who tells her Peter is, in fact, a murderer. She pays this insanity no mind, but soon the evidence appears to back up the stranger’s claims, and Minou finds herself tumbling into an ever deeper abyss of blackmail at the hands of the devious (and horny) creeper. Will Minou be able to regain a semblance of a normal life and escape this ordeal with her sanity intact or will she be destroyed by the blackmailer’s game? The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion appears to be a giallo, but honestly it isn’t; no black gloved killer appears…hell, no murder appears in the film at all…but what the film is is a mystery with giallo window dressing. Director Luciano Ercoli has infused the piece
Continue reading →
