BARBAZUL 2012 (VERMEERWORKS)

Amy Hesketh returns with another classic!!

It has been a long time in coming, but I finally watched Barbazul and it is another mind blower.

This is a stunning take on Bluebeard and Jac Avila does an excellent job as the suave and outgoing ladies man that happen to have a need to kill women by strangling them. His performance in this film is absolutely wonderful and I know many an actor that should watch and take lessons from him.

The movie starts with Barbazul (Avila) meeting Soledad, played by lovely Mila Joya and proposing marriage and then taking her to his plantation. She knows he has been married before but doesn't think much of it. He leaves for a while and he gives her the keys to the plantation on the stipulation that she will not enter a certain room.

She does and she finds a diary and starts reading about the other women he has killed. The movie gives us a good chance to see what the women are like in his life and there are nothing but excellent touches all through the film.

The entire cast is very well versed in what they do and Amy's direction is right on the mark. The scenery and especially the music are highlights. I love the score to this film..it really adds to what is going on without being overbearing.

The ending of the film is a good twist and will take you back to the good old days of Giallo filmmaking. This is Amy's second directing job, and if this is any indication we have a lot of good movies still coming from her. The cast, as usual is the stock company made up of Avila, Joya, Hesketh herself as a very sexy victim of Barbazul, and Roberto Lopez L as "Walter".

I have to take a few lines here and say that the character of Walter is a good a character as I have seen in a film in a very long time. He plays the Butler of Barbazul and calmly helps him clean up the dead bodies and bury them. He is always peeking around corners and making sure all is well for his master. He is both creepy and touching at the same time. His part in the ending of the film is sly and witty.

The deaths of each of the women was interesting and seem to always be a bit different. Amy's character of Jane is whipped before she is strangled and buried alive and the demise of Soledad is very unpleasant and hard to watch, but that is what makes Amy such a damn good director. She and the cast pulled it off flawlessly.

I could go on all day with my thoughts on this film, but if you like Giallo and great mystery films I cannot see why you wouldn't like this. One of the best films I have seen so far this year and easily one of the best releases of 2013!! I am just sorry it has taken me so long to finally see the film.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Deborah Gibson is 43,and Mickie James is 34.

THE OUTING 1987 (SHOUT FACTORY)

Interesting horror film.

Three thieves break into the home of an elderly woman and let loose a murderous genie from a lamp that proceeds to kill all of them.

The lamp soon comes to a museum where it it studied and the evil genie takes possession of the daughter of the museum director. She and her friends are trapped in the museum when the monsterous genie fianlly appears and starts killing all the hapless teens in the museum.

Pretty cool monster effects here and the acting isn't too bad. I had never seen this film until now and it is another one of those lost 80's flicks that should have more exposure, and now thanks to Shout Factory it's getting that exposure. It is included on the set "All Night Horror Marathon" along with Schizoid, The Godsend and The Vagrant.

it does appear that this disc has been pulled from the market and a new on sent out that has What's The Matter With Helen instead of Schizoid. nevertheless, check it out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Peggy Lipton is 67, and Don Pedro Colley is 75.

THE GODSEND 1980 (SHOUT FACTORY)

Very odd and engrossing film.

A strange women, played by Angela Pleasence comes to a home of six people and has a baby. Soon after she disappears and the young couple decide to keep the child.

When the child grows up a bit disaster strikes all of the other children. One by one they die horrible deaths and it soon becomes apparent that something is terribly wrong. The father sees it right away, but the mother refuses to believe anything.

The evil child is played by Wilhelmina Green, and for such a young child she can really look evil. It will be her face that will stay with you long after watching this film.

Not a bad film and it does have a rather interesting ending and it should please horror fans.

DEATHBED: THE BED THAT EATS 1977 (CULT EPICS)

Probably the most unusual movie I have ever seen!!

I really don't know where to start here except to say that a demon possesses a bed and consumes all who happen to lay on it. Now if that doesn't make you sit up and take note, I don't now what will.

It seems the bed is cursed from many years ago when a demon tried to make love to a woman and the woman died so the demon cried tears of blood and they landed on the bed causing the bed to become possessed. This is explained to the viewer by a painter, a victim of the bed who is imprisoned in the painting across from the bed.

Various people come to the castle where the bed is and get eaten and this includes three women who decide to spend the night there. One really disturbing scene has a beautiful black female whose legs were inside the bed manage to crawl away and almost finds freedom until the bedsheets grab her again and take her to the bed's stomach.

This film was considered lost until a bootleg copy was made and the director found out about his film from a board on the internet. He decided to give it a release, and I for one am very glad George Barry did this. You cannot really put this film in any category as it simply defies explanation, but I do recommend it to anyone who wants to watch something completely different and entertaining.

It is bizarre, it is entertaining and it is like nothing else. Now, go buy it and enjoy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

David Soul is 70.

COMING ATTRACTIONS.....

It looks like Shout Factory and Scream Factory are bringing more great old horror and action films to DVD in four packs. On Oct. 1st they will release "Timeless Horror Classics" which includes "I Bury The Living", "Snake Woman", "Four Skulls Of Jonathan Drake", and "Face Of Marble". On Nov. 12th they will release "Action packed Movie Marathon" which includes "Bulletproof", "Bamboo Gods and Iron Men", "Trackdown" and "Scorchy".

I hope they keep this up and the prices cannot be beat. Especially looking forward to seeing "Face Of Marble" again.

HOUSE OF SEVEN CORPSES 1974 (SEVERIN)

One of my faves from the mid 70's.

John Ireland stars as a movie director who is making a movie at an old mansion where seven people were murdered. The caretaker, played by John Carradine warns them of the evil around the house but they do not listen.

Faith Domergue is the actress who is always belittled by Ireland an who hates working in the old house. There are a couple of slow spots in this film, but it gets really cool when the film crew starts dying at the hands of a revived corpse that has come to life after one of the actors read from the Book Of The Dead.

Carole Wells is Anne, a beautiful actress who is actually taken to the grave at the end of the film!! It is bizarre. It is weird, but it's pretty good, and you can actually see the night scenes now that is has been remastered onto blu-ray. Charles Macauley is also on hand as an alcoholic actor..

I recommend this shot in Salt Lake City horror film and hope Severin continues to release such lost little gems.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Tuesday Weld is 70, and Barbara Bach is 66.

COMING ATTRACTIONS....

I have been so busy lately that I have neglected several things...one of them being another interview with and a review of the latest films from Amy Hesketh. Amy is one of the best filmmakers going today and in about a week i will have a review posted of Barbuzal (Bluebeard) and a short talk with lovely Amy about this film.

THE VAGRANT 1992 (SCREAM FACTORY)

Truly bizarre.

This unique black comedy stars Bill Paxton as yuppie who moves into a house he just bought and soon finds he has the company of a vagrant, who looks very demonic. Paxton cannot seem to get rid of this "boogeyman" and soon he finds that people around him are being killed.

Michael Ironside is a dumb as rocks cop who believes Paxton is committing the murders. There are several classic exchanges of dialogue in this film that will have you rolling on the floor. Chris Walas directed this sometimes uneven, but always entertaining film. I can't quite put this film in any catagory as it is one of the most unusual films I have ever seen.

Mitzi Kapture looks hot as always and she plays Paxton's girlfriend who cannot take his obsession with getting even with the Vagrant, which she has never seen. Produced by Mel Brooks.

Do yourself a favor and get a copy of this film and watch it. Recommended!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Francine York is 75.

THE FOG 1980 (MGM)

A fantastic John Carpenter horror classic.

Adrienne Barbeau is a woman living with her son in a small California fishing village called Antonio Bay, which is celebrating it's 100th anniversary. On the day the town was founded however, a man plotted to kill a small group of lepers and steal their gold which he did.

Now, 100 years later the ghosts of these men come back to seek revenge and get their gold. They come back in a mysterious Fog that defies wind direction and is very cold. Hal Holbrook is the minister of the church who finds a diary about the murderous events, Jamie Lee Curtis is a young hitchhiker, Janet Leigh is the woman who put the celebration together.

The cast works very well together and Barbeau is a standout as the woman who runs a radio station and tries to warn people where the fog is headed..and she also looks damn sexy in a white nightgown!! The effects by Rob Bottin are top notch as always and the music tracks are used to perfection. The rest of the cast is rounded out by carpenter regulars including Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, and Nancy Loomis. Also look for George "Buck" Flowers and John Houseman.

This is the way horror films should be made and forget the crappy remake as it sucks as do almost all remakes. Highly recommended for any horror fan.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Sean Connery is 83, Tom Skerritt is 80, and Gene Simmons is 64.

LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN 1971 (SCREAM FACTORY)

An early Lucio Fulci gem.

A woman, who is the daughter of an English politician has a recurring dream in which she murders her ultra kinky neighbor who lives downstairs. Did she really murder the nympho or is it a dream?

This Fulci mystery is full of red herrings and plot twists and many other things as well, but it does make you watch and sometimes wonder. The ending really comes a no surprise if you're paying attention, and it is kind of fun getting to that conclusion.

I would recommend this film for Giallo fans as well as Fulci fans. Scream Factory has released this along with three other films "The Vagrant", "The Outing" and "The Godsend" all of which I will have here soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Vince McMahon is 68, Raven De La Croix is 67, and Connie Mason is 76.

ECW UNRELEASED VOL. 2 2013 (WWE)

The follow up to Vol. 1

Joey Styles and Tommy Dreamer host this second volume of never before seen Extreme Wrestling matches from ECW.

This is a three disc set that contains over 7 hours of ECW as you have come to expect. Matches include Cactus Jack Vs. Sabu, Raven vs. Tommy Dreamer in a Holiday Hell match, Public Enemy vs. The Gangstas and much more.

This is bloody and violent, just the way I like it. They don't do this kind of wrestling anymore as the WWE and TNA are PG-14 kiddie slop, but it was something to be seen back in the day.

This is a MUST for wrestling fans, and I can only hope they do a volume 3.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Barbara Eden is 82, and Vera Miles is 84.

TOWER OF EVIL 1972 (SCORPION)

What a great movie!

This is not your average run of the mill horror films. The film opens with two men discovering the dead bodies of several murdered people and suddenly a young, naked woman comes screaming out of a room and stabs one of the men to death.

Then we switch to a group of archeologists who visit the island and discover why these people were murdered and how. It's a very thick plotted film and it's handled very well by director Jim O' Connolly who also directed "Valley Of Gwangi".

Bryant Halliday and Jill Haworth are two of the archeologists and Dennis Price is a Museum owner who wants the buried treasure that he believes is on the island. Candace Glendenning is the naked crazy woman at the beginning of the story, and the one who puts the pieces together for the police. The rest of the cast is rounded out by Anna Palk, George Coulouris and Robin Askwith.

This film is also known as "Horror On Snape Island" and it seems that something else lives on Snape Island and it enjoys killing people. Very bizarre and bloody with ample nudity and unabashed sadism, this film should please even the most jaded fan of horror films. Scorpion brings us this film totally uncut for the first time and in a beautiful print. It is hosted by the gorgeous Katarina Leigh Waters and she has an interview with David Del Valle as an extra on the disc.

This is a highly recommended addition to your collection.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Honor Blackman is 88.

CRACK IN THE WORLD 1965 (OLIVE)

Thanks to Olive, this finally is on DVD.

Dana Andrews is a scientist who attempts to tap the energy source inside the earth and his attempt causes a crack that threatens to break the earth in two.

The premise of this film is brought to realistic heights by all of the actors involved, especially Kieron Moore, as Ted Rampion, a scientist who suspects what will happen and tries his damnedest to stop it. Alexander Knox is is Sir Charles Eggerston, who actually gives permission for the project to begin in the first place and Janette Scott, one of the sexiest women to ever appear in film is Andrews long suffering wife an fellow scientist.

The scenes of mass destruction are very well done and there are some very shocking scenes such as a train attempting to cross a bridge and a scientist falling into a volcano while working on a way to try and stop the crack.

Good stuff for sci-fi film fans that finally comes to DVD via Olive. I reviewed this a long time and thought it was time to redo it. If you haven't seen this yet, please do.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Clarence Williams III is 74, and Patty McCormack is 68.

QUATERMASS 2 1958 (ANCHOR BAY)

One of the most influential films of my life.

Brain Donlevy again stars as Bernard Quatermass who is still trying to fight Government bureaucrats and get his rocket program off the ground.

He soon finds himself involved in an investigation about a small town that has vanished and a "Moon Project" just like his that has sprung up overnight near the town. He finds that aliens have made their base there and are breeding giant creatures to take over the earth.

Donlevy gives his usual great performance as the no nonsense scientist who does things his way and no other. He again enlists the help of Inspector Lomax and both these men slowly uncover the insidious plot.

This is extremely well made British sci-fi and a film that shouldn't be missed by anyone. The rest of the cast includes John Longdon as Lomax, Bryan Forbes, Michael Ripper and the gorgeous Vera Day. Highly Recommended film.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.......

Rossana Podesta is 79.

WORLD OF HAMMER: SCI-FI 1990 (ANCHOR BAY)

Another fine episode of this short lived show.

Oliver Reed narrates this episode which focuses on classic Hammer sci-fi films such as "Quatermass Xperiment", "Quatermass 2", "Quatermass & The Pit", "X The Unknown" and more.

Brian Donlevy was an excellent choice for the first two Quatermass films in the 50's, and those two films influenced me so much that I have incorporated that character into most of the work I have done either in movies or writing.

"X The Unknown is a film I would very much like to see again some day as well. Hammer had a good hold of what really worked in science fiction, even back in 1949 with "Dick Barton At Bay".

If you are unfamiliar with Hammer, these episodes are a good place to start. This episode is of the disc of "Quatermass 2".

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Jill St. John is 73, L.Q. Jones is 86, Debra Paget is 80, Angus Scrimm is 88, and Darby Hinton is 56.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Don Keefer is 97.

SCHLOCK: THE SECRET HISTORY OF AMERICAN MOVIES 2001 (PATHFINDER)

Documentary on the bizarre.

This 90 minute documentary showcases exploitation films of such luminaries as Doris Wishman, Roger Corman, H.G. Lewis, David Friedman, Harry Novak and many others.

Many of the above named people are interviewed and talked to about their films and how they managed to take on the big studios and come out on top. Actors such as Dick Miller and Vampira elaborate on some of the more bizarre aspects of these films and a lot of pretty cool clips are shown as well.

I used this movie to teach a small film class a few years ago and the students loved it. They even made their own low, low budget horror film shot in two days!! Ahh yes filmmaking as it should be. Anyway, this is a highly entertaining look at how things used to be and probably should still be in the movie making business today.

I would recommend this to anyone with a serious interest in bizarre movie and their makers.

DEATH RIDES A HORSE 1967 (MILL CREEK)

Good Italian western

John Phillip law is a man seeking those who killed his parents and his sister when he was a child and Lee van Cleef is a man who happens to be tracking the same men.

There is plenty of gunfights and a lot of sadism in this violent western, but the eyes of both leading men tell the story better than any dialogue could. Law soon finds that Van Cleef was actually part of the gang that killed his family, but he lets him live as the two fight off a horde of bandits in the explosive climax.

If you like spaghetti westerns you will like this. It's a classic and not to be missed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Maureen O' Hara is 93, and Belinda Carlise is 55.

NIGHTMARE 1964 (UNIVERSAL)

A very good Hammer psychological thriller.

Hammer was and will always be known for their classic horror films with Dracula, Frankenstein and others, but there was a much darker side to their films such as this little black and white shocker about a young woman who has some wild dreams about seeing her mother who is locked in an asylum coming after her with a large knife.

These dreams finally drive her to being in a mental hospital and that is where the film switches gears and concentrates on the two minor characters from the first half of the film. Turns out they have been trying to drive the poor girl insane and they think they have succeeded.

Jennie Lindon is the young woman they are trying to drive insane and she gives a very good performance. The rest if the cast is very good, even if you've never heard of them before in a Hammer horror film. If tyou like horror that slowly builds and great plot twists you'll like this film.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Julie Newmar is 80, and Ann Blyth is 85.

HANGER 18 1980 (OLIVE)

Olive continues to bring us some of the best films around.

One of the best and most topical UFO films ever made. Distributed by Sunn Classics and directed by James L. Conway, this film tells the story of a UFO that crashes into a space satellite and falls to earth and the huge US Government cover up that follows.

A pair of the astronauts attempt to fond out the truth, but their search becomes dangerous when the government decides it does not want to secret out about the UFO or it occupants.

Gary Collins and James Hampton are the astronauts hunted by the government. Robert Vaughn is a vicious agent who is more interested in the upcoming Presidential election than anything and want the cover up to continue at all costs. Joseph Campanella is Vaughn's flunkie.

The ship is taken to Hanger 18 and investigated by Harry Forbes, played by Darren McGavin. They manage to get inside the craft and find some startling facts abut human existence and the aliens. The government and Vaughn decide to destroy everything connected with hanger 18 an they fully intend to kill everyone involved.

This movie plays like the US Government is being run today...full of cover ups and lies and that is why it is so good. This story is very plausible and possible. All of the actors do an excellent job and if you watch this with a very open mind, you will understand a lot more. Highly Recommended film.

A personal side note: My mother used to work for Sunn Classics and she recommended this film for me to see, and it took me 33 years to finally see it. Don't you wait that long.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Natasha Henstridge is 39, Lori Nelson is 80, Barbara Bouchet is 70, Mike Conners is 88, Pat Priest is 77, Mike Henry is 77, Abby Dalton is 78, Gaylen Ross is 63, and Uschi Digard is 65.