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Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: He Came from the Swamp: The William Grefé Collection (1966 – 1977)

Exploding from the Everglades of Florida comes William Grefé; a dude that has directed an impressive array of schlock… but alas schlock I’ve never set my eerie eyeballs on. That’s something I aim to fix right quick… and what better way to do it than with the new Blu-ray collection from Arrow Video (along with MVD Entertainment); He Came from the Swamp: The William Grefé Collection! Disc one begins with the creature feature Sting of Death (1966), and what a doozy this putrid picture is my cats n’ creeps! College gal Karen (Valerie Hawkins) spends her vacay visiting her marine biologist father (Jack Nagle, who possesses a seemingly magic headwound that grows and shrinks throughout the picture) in his remote island laboratory cum home deep in the Florida Everglades, along with her cadre of comely female friends. Everything is absolutely keen as beers are downed and everyone gets their collective rocks off doing the hot new dance craze “The Jellyfish”,

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Feb 7, 2021
Horror Fuel

Short Film Review: The Ghost of Weatherton Hall (2021)

Under perpetually dark, and oft times stormy skies, sits Weatherton Hall; the former Gothic abode of a clan of aristocratic misanthropes and know the dread dwelling of paranormal perils that gather in the dark shadows of the walls of the manse. We soon learn of the source of the festering malignancy; one of the lords of the arcane abode (himself a rather vampiric fellow) decides his sister must be put to an end for her cruelty and does the act one winters night via the cruel blade of an axe! Utilizing an impressive array of authentic props, elaborate miniatures, silent film techniques, and puppetry (which will bring to mind the ghostly glory of the old ViewMaster Dracula reels… ans that is a wickedly wonderful thing indeed my cats n’ creeps!); writer/director Mark Dickinson has truly created a bite-sized monsterpiece that is a feast for the eerie eyeballs through and through! As our marionette cast (created by the artisans at Czech

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Feb 6, 2021
Charlotte Kirk Set to Star in Neil Marshall's Cat-and-Mouse Horror-Thriller 'The Spiral Down'

Movie Review: Neil Marshall’s ‘The Reckoning’ Will Cast A Spell On You

Neil Marshall is a name you should be very familiar with. He’s the director behind movies such as The Descent, Dog Soldiers, and Tales of Halloween. He’s back with a new film, The Reckoning. Set in England in the late 17th century, the Great Plague is raging as the witch trials cause hysteria, people begin to fear their friends, neighbors, and family, may be witches. During this time in history in real life, over 1,000 innocent people were imprisoned, tortured, and killed with ninety percent of the victims being women. All it took was a whisper for these people to be condemned. This is a key element in The Reckoning. In the opening scene, we see Grace (Charlotte Kirk), an exhausted mother kiss her baby before retrieving a sword from a chest. Struggling, she drags the Scottish Claymore through the mud as she stumbles across her yard. That’s when we see him, her dear husband hanging from a tree. Clawing

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Feb 1, 2021
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: The Mary Millington Movie Collection (1977 – 2015)

Mary Millington, the saucy queen of England’s swingin’ sexploitation (hardcore and otherwise) scene of the late ’70s/early ‘8os, set hearts a-flutter… and the crotch of men’s pants a-tightening… lived a mere 33 years, but her legacy continues to flourish… which brings us to the latest Blu-ray release from Arrow Video (along with MVD Entertainment); The Mary Millington Movie Collection! The Collection contains five main features; Come Play with Me (1977), The Playbirds (1978), Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair (1979), Queen of the Blues (1979), Mary Millington’s True Blue Confessions (1980), as well scads of extras, and the documentary Respectable – The Mary Millington Story (2015). Come Play with Me concerns two codgers (Alfie Bass and George Harrison Marks… the latter of which wrote, produced, and directed the picture), forgers by trade, who decide to lay low at a health facility… a facility packed to the brim with horny nurses! While not the star per se, Millington definitely stands out

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jan 31, 2021
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Mean Man: The Story of Chris Holmes (2021)

Chris Holmes, the legendary guitarist on the first four studio releases from 1980’s shock-rockers W.A.S.P. (whom I bet more than one of you horror hounds out there were major fans of), and he of the vodka-drenched pool-set interview in Penelope Spheeris’ documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years gets the solo spotlight in the latest Blu-ray release from Cleopatra (along with MVD Entertainment); Mean Man: The Story of Chris Holmes! Immediately we learn Chris is alive and well (a miracle in and of itself), married, living in Southern France, and touring with his latest band Mean Man (for which he performs vocal and guitar duty). As we follow the band on tour we get to see a great slice of “life on the road”… but of course stories are soon told of Holmes’ tumultuous days in W.A.S.P., and his near constant battles with frontman Blackie Lawless (who both screwed him over constantly, and got him on

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jan 30, 2021
Horror Fuel

Book Review: Flash Gordon: The Official Story of the Film (2020)

Back in December of 1980, my desire to see Flash Gordon was at an almost unbelievable level…and my parents blew my mind and agreed to drive me, and the prettiest girl in the second grade who agreed to be my date, many towns over (yes, I grew up in the literal middle of nowhere) to see the film… but mother nature had other plans; and a nor’easter (to those not in the know; Upstate New York has about 14 months of winter per year… at least it did back then) kept us in town, and Altman’s Popeye was what it had to be (and for the record, that is a charming film and a ton of fun… but it sure as hell isn’t Flash Gordon). Flash (pun intended) forward a bit to the traditional Sunday dinner at my grandparents, and after an amazing fried fish dinner courtesy of my Nana, we all gathered around the TV to catch the HBO

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jan 30, 2021
Horror Fuel

4K Ultra HD Review: Tremors (1990)

Valentine McKee (Kevin Bacon) and Earl Bassett (Fred Ward) are two shit-kickin’ handymen kickin’ shit around the near non-existent desert town of Perfection. But all doesn’t stay broken fences and tumbleweeds for our heroes, as soon they are up to their asses in missing people, of which the town truly doesn’t have any to spare! The boys soon find out the culprit behind it all… the totally reasonable answer of giant mutant earthworms (nicknamed Graboids), as one would have surely guessed. Now it’s up to them, along with graduate geology student Rhonda LeBeck (Finn Carter) and survivalists Burt and Heather Gummer (Family Ties‘ Michael Gross and country-crooner/sit-com star Reba McEntire respectively) to save P-town and end that wicked worm menace once and for fuckin’ all! With it’s desert setting and ‘nature gone amok’ antagonists, you may make the assumption that the creators of Tremors may have been channeling the fright flick drive-in fare of the 1950’s when creating this putrid

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jan 30, 2021
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Synchronic (2019)

Paramedic Steve (Anthony Mackie… ol’ fearless Falcon from the MCU) and his partner Dennis (Jamie Dornan) tear ass around a nocturnal New Orleans saving lives n’ shit… but soon that gig turns a bit ‘weird as all fuck’ when they begin responding to calls with ever-increasing outre elements… all of which seem to lead to the new designer drug, Synchronic. Soon Dennis finds himself in dire straits, and Steve attempts to lend a helpin’ fucking hand… which results in him taking Synchronic himself… a fact that leads to all manner of fresh hell since a tumor on his pineal gland makes him ultra-receptive to the drug’s unique effects… but also puts a deadline on his efforts to aid his partner’s plight… emphasis on the word dead, what with that tumor biz and all… Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (who also served as the film’s cinematographer) take what could be a mean streets procedural and turn it into a psychotronic mind

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jan 28, 2021
Horror Fuel

George James Fraser’s ‘Scaring Sheri’, Part Of ‘United States Of Horror’ Series, Is Awesome AF

George James Fraser, the director behind Happenstance and Gore Theater is back with his short film Scaring Sheri, the first installment of the upcoming horror collection United States of Horror, featuring a massive fifty films from all over the US. Shot at the world-famous Haunted Overload in Lee, New Hampshire, Scaring Sheri stars Sheri Lee (Doll House) and Johnny J. Gordon who is making his film debut. Scaring Sheri plays out against an absolutely amazing backdrop featuring hundreds of lit pumpkins and monsters making it spooky AF and adding to the tension because you’re on guard not knowing when or where a scare is going to come from. The cinematography for the eight-minute, fifteen-second long film is fantastic. With a rich look, a nice pace, and good effects, watching Scaring Sheri was a pleasure. And the fact that we get a feisty lead character that actually has some fight in her is a major bonus. The soundtrack is pure metal

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jan 27, 2021
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Tales of the Uncanny (2020)

Director David Gregory (Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson, Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau) sets his sinister sights on the wicked world of arcane anthologies with his latest documentary effort; Tales of the Uncanny, which comes to us on Blu-ray courtesy of those crafty lil’ minxes o’er at Severin! Gregory, along with author and founder of The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies Kier-La Janisse, take a chronological journey through the putrid plethora of anthology-style fright flicks that have tickled the fiendish fancy of horror hounds world fuckin’ wide… from the silent era, to the truly suburb Amicus flicks of the shockin’ seventies (and the pictures created by Milton Subotsky after the legendary studio folded), to television (The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, et al.), to Creepshow and it’s descendants… all is paid heed (though some all too briefly, such as one of yours cruelly’s fav anthology films; Joseph

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jan 27, 2021

More from #review

Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: He Came from the Swamp: The William Grefé Collection (1966 – 1977)

Exploding from the Everglades of Florida comes William Grefé; a dude that has directed an impressive array of schlock… but alas schlock I’ve never set my eerie eyeballs on. That’s something I aim to fix right quick… and what better way to do it than with the new Blu-ray collection from Arrow Video (along with MVD Entertainment); He Came from the Swamp: The William Grefé Collection! Disc one begins with the creature feature Sting of Death (1966), and what a doozy this putrid picture is my cats n’ creeps! College gal Karen (Valerie Hawkins) spends her vacay visiting her marine biologist father (Jack Nagle, who possesses a seemingly magic headwound that grows and shrinks throughout the picture) in his remote island laboratory cum home deep in the Florida Everglades, along with her cadre of comely female friends. Everything is absolutely keen as beers are downed and everyone gets their collective rocks off doing the hot new dance craze “The Jellyfish”,

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Feb 7, 2021
Horror Fuel

Short Film Review: The Ghost of Weatherton Hall (2021)

Under perpetually dark, and oft times stormy skies, sits Weatherton Hall; the former Gothic abode of a clan of aristocratic misanthropes and know the dread dwelling of paranormal perils that gather in the dark shadows of the walls of the manse. We soon learn of the source of the festering malignancy; one of the lords of the arcane abode (himself a rather vampiric fellow) decides his sister must be put to an end for her cruelty and does the act one winters night via the cruel blade of an axe! Utilizing an impressive array of authentic props, elaborate miniatures, silent film techniques, and puppetry (which will bring to mind the ghostly glory of the old ViewMaster Dracula reels… ans that is a wickedly wonderful thing indeed my cats n’ creeps!); writer/director Mark Dickinson has truly created a bite-sized monsterpiece that is a feast for the eerie eyeballs through and through! As our marionette cast (created by the artisans at Czech

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Feb 6, 2021
Charlotte Kirk Set to Star in Neil Marshall's Cat-and-Mouse Horror-Thriller 'The Spiral Down'

Movie Review: Neil Marshall’s ‘The Reckoning’ Will Cast A Spell On You

Neil Marshall is a name you should be very familiar with. He’s the director behind movies such as The Descent, Dog Soldiers, and Tales of Halloween. He’s back with a new film, The Reckoning. Set in England in the late 17th century, the Great Plague is raging as the witch trials cause hysteria, people begin to fear their friends, neighbors, and family, may be witches. During this time in history in real life, over 1,000 innocent people were imprisoned, tortured, and killed with ninety percent of the victims being women. All it took was a whisper for these people to be condemned. This is a key element in The Reckoning. In the opening scene, we see Grace (Charlotte Kirk), an exhausted mother kiss her baby before retrieving a sword from a chest. Struggling, she drags the Scottish Claymore through the mud as she stumbles across her yard. That’s when we see him, her dear husband hanging from a tree. Clawing

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Feb 1, 2021
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: The Mary Millington Movie Collection (1977 – 2015)

Mary Millington, the saucy queen of England’s swingin’ sexploitation (hardcore and otherwise) scene of the late ’70s/early ‘8os, set hearts a-flutter… and the crotch of men’s pants a-tightening… lived a mere 33 years, but her legacy continues to flourish… which brings us to the latest Blu-ray release from Arrow Video (along with MVD Entertainment); The Mary Millington Movie Collection! The Collection contains five main features; Come Play with Me (1977), The Playbirds (1978), Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair (1979), Queen of the Blues (1979), Mary Millington’s True Blue Confessions (1980), as well scads of extras, and the documentary Respectable – The Mary Millington Story (2015). Come Play with Me concerns two codgers (Alfie Bass and George Harrison Marks… the latter of which wrote, produced, and directed the picture), forgers by trade, who decide to lay low at a health facility… a facility packed to the brim with horny nurses! While not the star per se, Millington definitely stands out

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jan 31, 2021
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Mean Man: The Story of Chris Holmes (2021)

Chris Holmes, the legendary guitarist on the first four studio releases from 1980’s shock-rockers W.A.S.P. (whom I bet more than one of you horror hounds out there were major fans of), and he of the vodka-drenched pool-set interview in Penelope Spheeris’ documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years gets the solo spotlight in the latest Blu-ray release from Cleopatra (along with MVD Entertainment); Mean Man: The Story of Chris Holmes! Immediately we learn Chris is alive and well (a miracle in and of itself), married, living in Southern France, and touring with his latest band Mean Man (for which he performs vocal and guitar duty). As we follow the band on tour we get to see a great slice of “life on the road”… but of course stories are soon told of Holmes’ tumultuous days in W.A.S.P., and his near constant battles with frontman Blackie Lawless (who both screwed him over constantly, and got him on

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jan 30, 2021
Horror Fuel

Book Review: Flash Gordon: The Official Story of the Film (2020)

Back in December of 1980, my desire to see Flash Gordon was at an almost unbelievable level…and my parents blew my mind and agreed to drive me, and the prettiest girl in the second grade who agreed to be my date, many towns over (yes, I grew up in the literal middle of nowhere) to see the film… but mother nature had other plans; and a nor’easter (to those not in the know; Upstate New York has about 14 months of winter per year… at least it did back then) kept us in town, and Altman’s Popeye was what it had to be (and for the record, that is a charming film and a ton of fun… but it sure as hell isn’t Flash Gordon). Flash (pun intended) forward a bit to the traditional Sunday dinner at my grandparents, and after an amazing fried fish dinner courtesy of my Nana, we all gathered around the TV to catch the HBO

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jan 30, 2021
Horror Fuel

4K Ultra HD Review: Tremors (1990)

Valentine McKee (Kevin Bacon) and Earl Bassett (Fred Ward) are two shit-kickin’ handymen kickin’ shit around the near non-existent desert town of Perfection. But all doesn’t stay broken fences and tumbleweeds for our heroes, as soon they are up to their asses in missing people, of which the town truly doesn’t have any to spare! The boys soon find out the culprit behind it all… the totally reasonable answer of giant mutant earthworms (nicknamed Graboids), as one would have surely guessed. Now it’s up to them, along with graduate geology student Rhonda LeBeck (Finn Carter) and survivalists Burt and Heather Gummer (Family Ties‘ Michael Gross and country-crooner/sit-com star Reba McEntire respectively) to save P-town and end that wicked worm menace once and for fuckin’ all! With it’s desert setting and ‘nature gone amok’ antagonists, you may make the assumption that the creators of Tremors may have been channeling the fright flick drive-in fare of the 1950’s when creating this putrid

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jan 30, 2021
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Synchronic (2019)

Paramedic Steve (Anthony Mackie… ol’ fearless Falcon from the MCU) and his partner Dennis (Jamie Dornan) tear ass around a nocturnal New Orleans saving lives n’ shit… but soon that gig turns a bit ‘weird as all fuck’ when they begin responding to calls with ever-increasing outre elements… all of which seem to lead to the new designer drug, Synchronic. Soon Dennis finds himself in dire straits, and Steve attempts to lend a helpin’ fucking hand… which results in him taking Synchronic himself… a fact that leads to all manner of fresh hell since a tumor on his pineal gland makes him ultra-receptive to the drug’s unique effects… but also puts a deadline on his efforts to aid his partner’s plight… emphasis on the word dead, what with that tumor biz and all… Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (who also served as the film’s cinematographer) take what could be a mean streets procedural and turn it into a psychotronic mind

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jan 28, 2021
Horror Fuel

George James Fraser’s ‘Scaring Sheri’, Part Of ‘United States Of Horror’ Series, Is Awesome AF

George James Fraser, the director behind Happenstance and Gore Theater is back with his short film Scaring Sheri, the first installment of the upcoming horror collection United States of Horror, featuring a massive fifty films from all over the US. Shot at the world-famous Haunted Overload in Lee, New Hampshire, Scaring Sheri stars Sheri Lee (Doll House) and Johnny J. Gordon who is making his film debut. Scaring Sheri plays out against an absolutely amazing backdrop featuring hundreds of lit pumpkins and monsters making it spooky AF and adding to the tension because you’re on guard not knowing when or where a scare is going to come from. The cinematography for the eight-minute, fifteen-second long film is fantastic. With a rich look, a nice pace, and good effects, watching Scaring Sheri was a pleasure. And the fact that we get a feisty lead character that actually has some fight in her is a major bonus. The soundtrack is pure metal

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Jan 27, 2021
Horror Fuel

Blu-ray Review: Tales of the Uncanny (2020)

Director David Gregory (Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson, Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau) sets his sinister sights on the wicked world of arcane anthologies with his latest documentary effort; Tales of the Uncanny, which comes to us on Blu-ray courtesy of those crafty lil’ minxes o’er at Severin! Gregory, along with author and founder of The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies Kier-La Janisse, take a chronological journey through the putrid plethora of anthology-style fright flicks that have tickled the fiendish fancy of horror hounds world fuckin’ wide… from the silent era, to the truly suburb Amicus flicks of the shockin’ seventies (and the pictures created by Milton Subotsky after the legendary studio folded), to television (The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, et al.), to Creepshow and it’s descendants… all is paid heed (though some all too briefly, such as one of yours cruelly’s fav anthology films; Joseph

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jan 27, 2021
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