Event, Films

Horrortober 2024: #3 & #4

#3 Hiruko the Goblin (1991)

Strange. Confusing. Weird inconsistent tones, is it a young adult film, a comedy, serious, not serious?
Then someone get turned into a fountain of blood.
Huh, a music interlude…
Holy shit its a fucking spider-head!

It is really entertaining. 100% recommend.

A school was built on one of the Gates of Hell, behind which hordes of demons await the moment they will be free to roam the Earth. Hiruko is a goblin sent to Earth on a reconnaissance mission. He beheads students in order to assemble their heads on the demons’ spider-like bodies. Hieda, an archaeology professor, and Masao, a haunted student, investigate the gory deaths and eventually battle Hiruko. – TMDB

★★★


Archive.org
Wikipedia IMDB

#4 Neon Maniacs (1986)

“When the world is ruled by violence. And the soul of mankind fades. The children’s path shall be darkened. By the shadows of the Neon Maniacs”

This feels like it has an Italian director.

It’s a standard slasher story. But its cheesy as shit because Italian Director. kind of that weird feeling Troll 2 has. Oh, and instead of one weird killer its a bunch of weird killers. Theres a samurai guy, a goblin with a crossbow, a reptilian thing with sharp teeth, an undead biker, a Hills have Eyes dude, a caveman!?…

There is no reason or explanation given for anything.

★★★★

IMDB Wikipedia

A caveman bounces on the roof of a van, while a samurai? and a clay dude? smash in the windscreen.

Event, Films

Horrortober – #1 & #2

#1 Bloody Muscle Butcher From Hell (1991)

Trapped inside a haunted house, a body builder must save himself from a gruesome ghost hell-bent on revenge.

This is not B or Z-grade, this is just low budget and a sincere attempt to make an independent film within certain restrictions. And it’s great. The initial exposition is a bit slow but at a total length of one hour it soon gets to the crazy haunted house. Despite the obvious similarities to Evil Dead, this definitely has enough of its own originality and inventiveness. Really awesome.

★★★★

IMDB TMDB

Its online at Archive.org and Tubi

#Number

Six high school seniors embark on a camping trip but are suddenly ambushed by murderous hillbillys who sell the remains of their victims to a local fast food restaurant.

That’s about it. The laughs aren’t funny. All the characters are off-putting, they seem to be trying to do an unhinged Texas Chain Saw Massacre sequel thing. It feels gross to watch.

★

IMDB Wikipedia

Films

Horrortober 2022 #1 & #2

HauntedWeen (1991)

“Nobody knows it really happening – People are dying, and people are laughing.” – IMDB review

Some kid named Eddie Burber accidentally kills a girl in a Halloween haunted house run by his family and has to leave town. Skip to 20 years later, he is living in the woods with his mother who suddenly dies and he decides its time to return home. A fraternity in the town need to raise money to pay for fees and they decide to use the “Old Burber House” to host a Halloween haunted house event, the same house where Eddie killed the girl 20 years earlier. A stranger appears at the fraternity and says they should use the house and gives them a key.
During the Halloween event Eddie turns up in a mask and starts executing the fraternity members running and acting in the event, and none of the townsfolk attending know its real.
A surviving fraternity member eventually kills Eddie.

Its rather low budget, the generic characters and setting don’t require any fleshing out, the general idea is a good one, and it goes rather fast for 127mins. Its still only a 2/5 being generous.

★★

IMDB

Malignant (2021)

“In 1993, Dr. Florence Weaver and her colleagues Victor Fields and John Gregory treat a violent, disturbed patient named Gabriel at Simion Research Hospital. Gabriel is able to control electricity and broadcast his thoughts via speakers. He kills several staff members. Dr. Weaver determines that he is a lost cause and the “cancer“ must be removed.

27 years later…” – Wikipedia

Yeah there’s a weird and convoluted storyline. The important parts are all the weird WTF moments, the straight acting, the genre and style mashing, the style choices generally, the creepy shit, and the insane action scenes and horror. It feels kind of like a collage of genres and styles from different films, that meld and even overlap each other even in the same scenes. It feels ridiculous and that is in no way a bad thing.
Argento films, Homicide: Life on the Street, Possession, Blade, Exorcist 2? I have no idea…

It makes no sense to watch a film like this and rate it low for being this ridiculous, that’s not how the Horror genre works. And the more confusing and ridiculous it got the more I liked it.
Its a fucked up ride. 3.5/5.
(The “Where is my mind” musical stabs were the dumbest part)

★★★★

Wikipedia
IMDB

Films

Halloween Horror #24 & #25

#24 – Winterbeast (1991)

In a wintery kind of town somewhere, people are being killed off by possessed totem poles.

B-grade acting with crazy claymation monsters, awesome stuff. This looks like it was filmed in the early 80’s not ’91. Kind of confusing story, wishy-washy acting and dialogue, weird characters. You’re only going to ever watch this is for the monsters, but this is a very strange film all round.
2.5 stars mainly for the claymation.

★★★

#25 – Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989)

A 1989 Horror-Comedy staring Bruce Campbell. What the hell is this, I’ve never heard of it and have no idea when or why I downloaded it.

Reclusive vampires lounge in a lonely American town. They wear sun cream to protect themselves. A descendant of Van Helsing arrives with hilarious consequences.

What a very strange, very 80’s film. 2.5 stars

★★★
Books

All That the Rain Promises, and More…

“probably edible.”

“In leafing through these pages, you may wonder what all the ‘fanciful,’ ‘foolish,’ or (shudder) ‘extraneous’ material is doing in a factual guide. After all, it is the practical, hands-on, how-to-identify information that makes this book useful and gives it substance. But I ask: is it any stranger or less desirable to sprinkle the facts with flakes of fancy than it is to liven up solemn, substantial fare like potatoes with something fancier and more flavorful, like wild mushrooms?”

– Preface by David Arora, 1991.

What a great book. Extremely unpretentious and even a bit nerdy. These people love their mushrooms! All That the Rain Promises, and More… is a wild mushroom identification and field guide by American mycologist David Arora and published in 1991, but its endearing lack of pretension and honest love for the subject make it more that just that.

Info @ Wikipedia