31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 15: HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON 1970 (IMAGE)

Powerful Mario Bava film.

Stephen Forsyth stars as John Harrington, a wedding dress designer. In the first 5 minutes of the movie we hear John in the narration telling us he is a crazy murderer who enjoys killing women.

He has to keep killing women until he unlocks a repressed memory from his childhood. His marriage to his wife Mildred (Laura Betti) is not a happy one, but she refuses to give him a divorce.

The police suspect john of the murders we haven't seen, and one Inspector Russell (Jesus Puente) fights to prove John is a killer, but every time he comes close, John seems to have good luck and gets away.

John manages to kill his wife, and then n an interesting turn thr film becomes outright horror as her ghost haunts his every move. This bizarre film moves along at a breakneck speed to a climax that is very fitting for the material.

The others in the cast include Dagmar Lassander (wow), Femi Benussi (wow...wow), Antonia Mas, Luciano Pigozzi and Gerard Tichy.

This film has been avalable for years on various formats and is also available on streaming. It's Bava, it's Italian and it has Lassander and Benussi in it. What more could you ask for??

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Lynn Lowry is 77.

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 14: DR. JEKYLL AND THE WEREWOLF 1972 (MONDO MACABRO) BLU-RAY

This is yet another movie I have written about several times.

Mondo Macabro finally managed to get this released on Blu-ray and it makes my favorite Paul Naschy film look better than ever.

Naschy stars as Waldamar Daninski once again. This time he rescues a very beautiful woman from an attempted rape by three men who also killed her husband.

The woman is called Justine and is essayed by the incredibly gorgeous Shirley Corrigan. She takes him to London where she introduces Waldarmar to Dr. Henry Jekyll (Jack Taylor) who is the grandson of the famous doctor.

Henry believes that he can cure Waldamar. Jekyll's assistant Sandra (Mirta Miller) is jealous overt he fact that Henry still loves Justine and thereby sets out to destroy everything.

In case you haven't seen this, I won't say too much ore on the plot, but it's a wild one. Some of the set pieces are unforgettable such as the elevator scene where Daninski is stuck and changes into a monster, the disco scene and many more.

There were no less than four different versions of this movie released in 1972. What we have on this great presentation is the "clothed" Spanish version which contans no nudity and then we have the "export" version which contains all the nudity and some extra violence.

The export version is culled from the original negative and other sources to make the best possible print. It's dubbed into English and is the version I prefer.

The Spanish version is subtitled. I guess I prefer the export version because it's the only one I ever saw, and seeing Corrigan topless as well as the other Spanish beauties is alway a plus.

This came out several months ago, and if you haven't already done so, I think you should really check it out. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Udo Kier is 80, Stacy Keibler is 45, and Cliff Richard is 84.

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 13: FATAL GAMES 1984 (VINEGAR SYNDROME) BLU-RAY

I actually found this to be a fun slasher film.

A mad killer stalks an athletic school where young people are training for the Olympics.

This is very much like the movie "Graduation Day" but I found it to be more entertaining. The killer uses a javelin as a murder weapon and in this movie he goes after both men and women.

As is so usual in these kinds of movies, some of the characters are nothing but annoying and others are the kind you'd like to know. The movie is a swift 88 minutes and the presentation on the Blu-ray is nothing short of amazing considering the other prints I have seen of this.

I will say the casting director knew how to pick very sexy women for the roles. The cast includes Sally Kirkland, Lynn Banashek, Teal Roberts, Spice Williams-Crosby, Melissa Prophet, Angela Bennett, Lauretta Murphy and Nicholas Love.

If you haven't seen the movie I can't say too much without destroying the very twisted ending, but when you see it you'll know where they got their idea from, and I believe they used it very well. I never saw it coming...lol.

I recommend this little thriller and hope it slowly becomes better known after this release from VS. It deserves better.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Ashanti Douglas is 44, Demond Wilson is 78, and Judy Bamber is 88.

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 12: ILYA MUROMETS 1958 (IMAGE)

Another fine adventure/fantasy film from Russia.

Any fan of fantastic cinema has seen this film under the US title "Sword And The Dragon" which was very entertaining, but this is the original Cinemascope version and it blows the other away.

Ilya Muromets (Boris Andreyev) is a man with legs that don't seem to work. He helps some lost travelers and they give him a potion that makes him walk again.

He immediately sets out for adventure and prove to his King that he is a great warrior. Along the way he encounters a wind demon that he easily overcomes, fights Tugars and then a weird being known as The Noid, a huge man-like being that reminded me of a balloon or something like that.

During the course of the film Ilya is framed for a crime he didn't commit but finally gets out of jail and helps his kingdom finally defeat the Tugars once and for all.

The dragon is still impressive for the mid 1950's but come to think of it the entire damned movie is impressive. Communist Russia had some very talented actors, actresses and movie people in general.

Everything in the film looks so "fantasy" like and it really works well. This is a magical film and one that should be seen by anyone who appreciates solid entertainment.

The film is in Russian, but has English subtitles.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Deborah Foreman is 62, Susan Anton is 74,and Robin Askwith is 74.

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 11: REPULSION 1965 (CRITERION) BLU-RAY

An all time classic.

Very simply put, this is a story of madness coming to the surface.

Beautiful Catherine Deneuve stars as Carol Ledoux, a very quiet and somewhat disturbed woman who lives with her older sister and works as a manicurist.

Carol is repulsed by men and even more so by the thought of one touching her or kissing her. For this reason she hates her sister boyfriend. Her sister Helen (Yvonne Furneaux) decides to go on a trip with her boyfriend Michela (Ian Hendry) and this, of course leaves Carol alone.

She slowly decends into madness as she imagines cracks in the walls getting bigger and hands come out to grab her. She dreams of a man raping her and she never leaves the apartment. She kills a young man who kicks in her door and then she also kills the landlord who comes to collect the rent and then wants more from Carol.

The bodies are hidden in the apartment as Carol slowlt goes insane. I find this movie to be one of the best horror films of it's time, and of this time to be honest.

The images Carol sees and dreams of are the stuff of nightmares and madness. This woman really has some problem let me tell you. The rest of the cast includes John Fraser, Patrick Wymark, James Villiers and Reneer Houston.

I cannot recommend this enough. This is a MUST see.

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 10: THE BLOODY JUDGE 1970 (BLUE UNDERGROUND) BLU-RAY

It has been a while since I saw this movie, and I just had to pick it up on Blu-ray.

The look of the movie is a great improvement over the old DVD release and so is the 4K-UHD version, of course. Call me what you will, but I bought this for the somewhat perverse but alluring package.

I consider this to be one of Jess Franco's best movies. The story surrounds one Judge Jeffries (Christopher Lee) who uses the justice system to satisfy his own sexual and political whims.

This is based on a real character in British history and in some cases Franco stayed true to history, others he went off on wild tangents, but this is to be expected.

There are some excellent scenes involving the war going on at the time. The movie veers many times into witch hunting and it is the many torture scenes that have made this movie famous.

After all you have incredibly sexy women like Diana Lorys, Margaret Lee and Maria Rohm in various state of undress and being tortured, and that is considered cinema gold.

The rest of the cast includes Leo Genn, Hans Hass, Jr., Maria Schell, Peter Martell, Howard Vernon, and Serena Vergano.

If you haven't seen this, give it a try. I really think you might like it. It has everything a movie like this should have and you can tell Franco had some money behind him on this one. The Blue Underground presentation is nothing short of spectacular.

Lastly, the print has the title "Night Of The Blood Monster" on it, but "Bloody Judge" is much better.

RIP ELISA MONTES 1934-2024

The beautiful Spanish actress has passed away.

Montes made many, many movies and TV shows in her 55 year career.

Some of the movies you might remember her from include "Samson And The Mighty Challenge", "Eric The Viking", and "Django The Honorable Killer".

Her beauty was really on display in such fare as "Island Of The Doomed", "99 Women" and "Girl From Rio" which are the three films she is most remembered for by US audiences.

She had quite a career and I loved her in everything I saw her in. Elisa Montes passed away on October 8th, 2024 at the age of 89.

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 9: BEAKS 1987 (TUBI)

I found this to be fun...stupid but fun.

A gorgeous reporter named Vanessa Cartwright (Michelle Johnson) is given a story she really does not want to cover. Who can blame her, it's a story about a farmer being attacked by his chickens!

Before long she and her cameraman Pete (Christopher Atkins) learn that large flocks of birds are attacking all over the world. This leads to some great slow motion attacks by birds and close ups of them pecking and tearing skin as well as eyes out of their sockets.

This is a movie that was sold in Italy as being a sequel to the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock film "The Birds"!!

It has an abrupt ending as all of a sudden the attacks stop as Vanessa makes a plea to people over international TV that we must all live in harmony with nature.

Just then director Rene Cardona, Jr. throws us a curve by having us hear all minds of buzzing in the backgound as I can only assume it's bees, or maybe flies...who knows.

It's always good to see Michelle Johnson in anything, and she does make this very watchable. If you wanna have some fun then check this movie out.

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 8: DEMENTIA 1955 (KINO)

Since most of you already know of this movie and I have talked about it before, I will make this short and sweet.

This is the original version of the film "Daughter Of Horror". It does not contain the narration from Ed McMahon, but it still works on every single level.

The movie has no dialogue and it one of the best trips into an insane person ever conceived. Everything in the film is a nightmare and twisted as a young woman tries to escape her inner mind.

All I can say is this is MUST viewing. Either version is fine, and I don't have a preference. This was my first time seeing the original version.

Check it out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Olive Sturgess is 91.

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 07: BLOOD STORY 2013 (BRAIN DAMAGE)

Another so-so thriller from the modern age of filmmaking.

This story revolves around three stranger who are gathered at a villa. All are there to find the fabled Fountain Of Youth.

However there is an evil force working behind the scenes. Camden Toy is Francis, the leader of a cult of people who worship Elizabeth Bathory.

One of the three people at the villa, Madison Scheffield (Mindy Robinson) finds that the bathing in blood actually works as it removes scars from her breasts, and when she discovers that there is a treasure hidden there, she vows to return.

One year later she returns and this sets up many twists and turns with things not exactly like she thought they were. I won't say too much more in case you want to see this thing.

Robinson is a very, very attractive woman except for her tattooed back, but then what can I expect in a modern movie. There is some light gore and even lighter bondage. It's like the director felt he had to hold back in order for the movie to work. He shouldn't have held back so much.