Nothing new really…except this awesome song from a really interesting weird punk band from 1980 Sweden…
Kitchen & the Plastic Spoons – Happy Funeral
Horrortober 2022 #28 & #29
The Werewolf of Washington (1973)
“A reporter who has had an affair with the daughter of the U.S. President is sent to Hungary. There he is bitten by a werewolf, and then gets transferred back to Washington, where he gets a job as press assistant to the President. Then bodies start turning up in D.C. . . .” – IMDB
The wolf costume is funny. Its all weird and over the top in a very 70’s kind of way. Its kind of grating.
Jaws of Satan (1981)
“A preacher whose ancestors were Druids battles Satan, who has taken the form of a huge snake.”
The “huge snake” is a large cobra, maybe 3 meters long. It is possessed by Satan and can control and influence near by cobras to do its bidding. There’s a lot of snakes.
Horrortober 2022 #26 & #27
Murder in Space (1985)
Staring Wilford Brimley and Michael Ironside. Its another TV movie. Originally broadcast without the ending to let the viewers try and solve the mystery of who the killer was. The ending was then shown at a later date.
The crew of a international space station are about to return to earth when an explosion happens and then someone starts murdering the crew. Its very much a standard who-done-it TV murder mystery with some Cold War anti Russian sentiment thrown in. The sets and costumes remind me of the TV series V. Oh, and Michael Ironside the American captain is the murderer. 1.5
Mutilations (1986)
Theres some very interesting but also poorly used effects, stop motion video and miniatures, the superimposing of claymation creatures directly onto other footage, lots of smoke and coloured lights to hide elements. Its an interesting watch for all that alone, there is some real strange stuff going on. The actual story is drawn out and I’m not sure if it is meant to be a comedy or not. For how terrible it is at some points, its a 2/5 because you’re just wondering the whole time about the choices made in this films creation. A real strange one.
Horrortober 2022 #24 & #25
Hotline (1982)
“A beautiful telephone operator is stalked by a murderous madman.” – IMDB
Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter. A classic telephone based horror? (I hope).
Lynda Carter lives in the early 80’s which is infested with sex pests. She works at a bar that looks like Cheers, and also gets a volunteer job doing some kind of crisis hotline work. A serial killer starts calling her and admitting to murders and she needs to find out who it is. There’s a few men in her friends circle and it ends up being an associate of one of them? Its really convoluted and I just got bored and unfocused too often. Oh, it’s also a TV drama. Lynda puts in a great effort, though, plus .5 for that.
1.5/5.
Horrortober 2022 #22 & #23
The Deadly Spawn (1983)
The version I watched was just called The Deadly Spawn, but it seems to be also called Return of the Aliens: The Deadly Spawn to try and cash in on the film Alien, which is just bizarre.
A meteor crashes and some young people go to inspect it. They are killed by something that was inside the meteor? Whatever it is then moves into the basement of a near by house and kills anyone who ventures down into it. A electrician who arrives to fix some fault discovers the basement is full of slug-like creatures. More people turn up, more people are killed. Some teens who I guess are the main characters turn up. Eventually they try and blow up the main large creature with a fake severed head stuffed with explosives, and succeed. People arrive to hunt the creatures. At night there is a rumbling noise near the house and huge super massive creature bursts from the earth. The end.
Really not much at all happens, people run around a house and are killed by cool looking monsters. But some of the gore effects are great and the thousands of teeth filled monsters looks fantastic. It rather sparse but enjoyable. 2.5/5.
Nigel the Psychopath (1994)
“Nigel the Psychopath was shot on super 8 film and VHS video as an amateur production between the years of 1986 and 1989”
Super B-grade. Super low budget. IMDB says “A psychotic maniac with a gas mask lurks the local playgrounds and kills all the children in his path” and yep, that’s about it. There’s some dialogue, maybe attempts at character development and maybe a story? Its generally just footage of kids and teens hanging around and then Nigel turns up they run away or he kills some/all of them. Difficult to really call this a film in some ways. A low budget oddity from the late 80’s. Its terrible but strangely enjoyable. 2/5.
Orion 75
Orion Breweries – Orion 75 Premium Series Pilsner, 5%ABV 350ml can. A bit of an oddity as you don’t generally see even normal Orion draft around here, let alone some special edition. Orion 75 Premium Series Pilsner. Smells like a Pilsner, funky but also light fruity notes, very light bready slightly toasty and caramel malts. It’s a golden amber in colour, has a nice big tan head on pouring which disappears rather quickly, carbonation is fine. The hopping is all bittering hops, standard for a Pilsner, but they are very up front and really hang around, not really any stronger than some European Pilsner hop bitterness, but I think these may be a modern hop, not like Saaz or other Pilsner standards? As it warms, and you get adjusted to the lets say bold hopping, a light but defined malt character appears that reminds me of basically eating actual Pilsner malt grains. Its all very refined and exactly what is says on the can. This is actually pretty good. 2.5/5.
Horrortober 2022 #20 & #21
This Island Earth (1955)
This is great. Cool sets, models, miniatures and dioramas of planets and spacecraft. Various cool special effects, too. Some of the aliens are just people painted purple, but that’s perfectly fine.
A doctor comes across a secret research project and is allowed to join it. Some of the other members are aliens working with earth scientists to fix a protective shield around their home planet as they are at war with another alien race. They travel to the good alien planet but are unable to save it and flee back to earth. Thats very basically it.
This is a great looking, well produced film, and like I have said above, the sets and effects and models are really enjoyable to see. 3/5
Night of the Demons (1988)
“Eat a bowl of fuck! I am here to party!”
One of the many, many, films to star Linnea Quigley, so you have an idea what this is going to be like.
Teens have a party at an abandoned mortuary where they have a seance and release a demon or demons. The teens all go off to try and have sex and the demons trap and possess them and uses them to kill each other. A generic 80’s horror set up, there are many crazy scenes and events, and dumb quotes and hilarious moments. Most of the teens are absolute turds. Don’t get me wrong, its still complete trash, but its enjoyable trash. 2.5/5
Horrortober 2022 #18 & #19
Frogs (1972)
“That night, now alone in his mansion, Jason witnesses hundreds of frogs breaking into the house
and staring at him”
Its called frogs but all of the attacks and killings are by other creatures like alligators, snakes and leaches. Normal frogs are seen though out the film, and during the big finale frog scene they are just normal sized frogs as well. They mention giant frogs, but you never see any.
A wildlife photographer canoeing through a swamp encounters a wealthy family who he stays with for a while, and then as people go about their business they are attacked by the swamps wildlife. Its hinted at that the “giant” frogs are caused by pollution. I think all the frogs they show are actually toads. 2/5
Heavy Metal Massacre (1989)
“This location was torn down in the early 1990s, when the current owners were made aware
this film had been shot there.”
This is super b-grade. Shot on video, with shitty in-camera effects and fades. Produced and written by I assume the main character, and I’m also going to assume its their shitty music all through the film. I guess this is what you call a vanity project. Despite the warning at the start there’s no gore or horror, and many of the scenes are really dark and out of focus. Not great, not even really fun in a dumb way. 1/5
Horrortober 2022 #16 & #17
The Haunting (1963)
“It ought to be burned down … and the ground sowed with salt.”
A source of early Skinny Puppy samples. A guy invites a select group of people to stay in an old house and decide if it is actually haunted or not. I found it very enjoyable Its a 2.5/5.
Spookies (1986)
Theres basically 2 films here. The scenes originally shot by the producers, crew, cast etc…and called Twisted Souls, and the scenes shot after the films financier fired them all and decided to complete the film himself. Easier to just quote the Wikipedia page for Spookies
I’m not sure the film would have been good had it been completed as intended, or if it had been fully produced by the financier, but the end result we do have is pretty crazy. I like all the monster costumes and effects. The 1985 stuff is just a mind boggling. Not intentionally as funny and enjoyable as it ended up being, it’s a weird mess. Farting zombies. 2/5.
Cavitation? Nucleation points?
Its one of those… in a beer glass.