The Entity is a 1982 American supernatural horror film directed by Sidney J. Furie, and written by Frank De Felitta, who adapted his 1978 novel of the same name. The film stars Barbara Hershey as a single mother in Los Angeles who is raped and tormented by an invisible assailant.Wikipedia
A really good film. Its played straight and dry and that is effective. Has an Exorcist feel due to its straightness and then a Poltergeist kind of vibe toward the end. It gets pretty crazy. 3 stars.
The ghost of a samurai’s wife takes revenge on her husband.
This classic Japanese horror movie directed by Nobuo Nakagawa is based on an 18th-century masterpiece written by Nanboku Tsuruya. It is about a woman who haunts her husband after she dies a miserable death.
I had to get this version off archives.org because it wasn’t available elsewhere. It’s pretty slow, and very much a slow psychological horror, not much gets going until the last 1/4 or so. 2 stars. May deserve more on a re-watch…
★★
#27 – Feeders 2: Slay Bells (1998)
Two photographers travelling through Pennsylvania pick up a couple of women, then stumble across little grey aliens who land their flying saucer in the woods and start hunting and eating humans.
This sucks. Yes I know its meant to be low budget and etc…and It does that amazingly. 2 stars, congrats its fucking awful, you did it, but it deserves 1 because it really does also suck.
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.
Tommy Jarvis goes to the graveyard to get rid of Jason Voorhees’ body once and for all, but inadvertently brings him back to life instead. The newly revived killer once again seeks revenge, and Tommy may be the only one who can defeat him. IMDB
In contrast to the series’ other entries, which had to be edited for violence in order to avoid an “X” rating, the film’s producers requested that McLoughlin add more gore, violence, and murders to the film. Wikipedia
Pretty enjoyable, but also still pretty standard. 2.5 stars.
★★★
#23 – Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Radio DJ Vanita ‘Stretch’ Brock’s open request night is plagued by the annoying phone pranking of two road tripping, party-hard, hoodlums, but things take a disturbing turn when the hoodlums meet their demise at the hands of familiar chainsaw wielding maniacs. With the entire gruesome ordeal recorded on tape, Stretch seeks out the help of a former Texas Marshall who’s on a personal quest of vengeance against this family of cannibals. While at first he turns her down, he eventually decides to use her tape to his advantage, asking her to air it during her request block- effectively baiting the cannibals to the radio station where he’ll personally deal with them.IMDB
Eh,it was OK, I guess. For some reason they re-create the dinner table scene, which obviously doesn’t work near as well, and at the end the main victim does the chainsaw dance that ends the original movie. Starts with potential but devolves. 2 stars.
Messiah of Evil is a US 1973 supernatural horror film.
A young woman goes searching for her missing artist father. Her journey takes her to a strange Californian seaside town governed by a mysterious cult.
Directors Huyck and Katz are the husband-and-wife team who would subsequently direct Howard the Duck, as well as produce screenplays for American Graffiti and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Wikipedia
This feels a lot more like Italian horror/giallo films (Dario Argento particularly), even a little bit Hammer. Its a confusing story, but that’s made up for in other ways. The strange townsfolk and their rituals is kind of Lovecraftian. Surreal scenes and lighting, bizarre, peculiar characters. Night of the Living Dead via Argento and H.P. Lovecraft?
I really liked this. 3 stars!
★★★
#21 – Hagazussa (2017)
Hagazussa: A Heathen’s Curse (German: Hagazussa, an Old High German term for “Witch”) is a 2017 German/Austrian horror film in four acts: : “Shadows”, “Horn”, “Blood” and “Fire. See the Wikipedia article for more detail. Paranoia & Superstition in 15th Century Europe.
Obviously it would be easy to compare to The Witch. This is more atmospheric and ambient viewing for the most, with many moments of ancient superstition, there is very minimal dialogue. From just over half way onward it gets weird, then kind of brutal. I didn’t dislike this, its good for many reasons, a film where you just have to sit and let it happen. I’d like to give it 3, I’m going to give it 3, but it just needed something? Yet more of anything would have made it worse? Maybe just remove all of the other characters?
Crossley (Alan Bates), a mysterious travelling man invades the lives of a young couple, Rachel and Anthony Fielding (Susannah York and John Hurt). Anthony is a composer, who experiments with sound effects and various electronic sources in his secluded Devon studio. The couple provides hospitality to Crossley but his intentions are gradually revealed as more sinister. He claims he has learned from an Aboriginal shaman how to produce a “terror shout” that can kill anyone who hears it unprotected.Wikipedia
This is a weird ABC late night classic, I remember catching parts of it as a kid and being weirded out and kinda scared as well. The film is rather slow, very BBC, but also strange and enjoyable. 3 stars.
★★★
#19 – White of the Eye (1987)
White of their Eye is a 1987 British/US Thriller about a guy with very special hearing abilities.
In a wealthy and isolated desert community, a sound expert is targeted as the prime suspect of a series of brutal murders of local suburban housewives who were attacked and mutilated in their homes. As he desperately tries to prove his innocence, his young wife starts to uncover mysteries of her own… IMDB
Very big on sound, the soundtrack, scene music. The visuals and setting scenes, big wide shots, great close ups. The characters, the town, its good. Its very good. Its a cop drama, Then….Holy shit. The last 1/3 is… This is, its uh fucked up. It gets nasty, dark. Holy shit. Then some resolution?
3.5 stars, this film is uh great. Weird as shit, confusing, disturbing, but holy hell, its an enjoyable mess of a film.
Rinne (Reincarnation) is a 2005 Japanese horror-mystery film from Takashi Shimizu (Ju-On/The Grudge franchise).
Nagisa Sugiura (Yuka) is a young Japanese actress who comes face to face with a slew of ghosts. These restless spirits begin to appear when she signs on to star in a horror film which tells the true story about a crazed, local professor whose murderous rampage at a hotel left 11 guests dead, including his young son and daughter. The movie is being filmed at the very site where the killings took place.
Pretty good. 2.5 stars. Creepy, a little weird, suspenseful with quite a few jump-scares.
The Prowler is a 1981 horror film with Tom Savini manning the gore button. There’s a story line but it is essentially meaningless filler. The gore, limited as it is, is some A-grade Savini though, and the only reason to bother sitting through this.
An unknown killer, clad in World War II U.S. Army fatigues, stalks a small New Jersey town bent on reliving a 35 year-old double murder by focusing on a group of college kids holding an annual graduation dance.
For Savini completist’s only. 2 stars just for his few parts.
★★
#15 – Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971)
The Black Belly of the Tarantula is a 1971 Italian giallo film directed by Paolo Cavara. It is one of many Italian giallo films to be inspired by Dario Argento’s successful debut thriller The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.
A mysterious killer is attacking women associated with a blackmail conspiracy. It is up to the reluctant Inspector Tellini to find out who the killer is, before he or his girlfriend become the murderer’s next target.
Pretty standard Giallo film, nudity, twisted murders, not bad, not great.
Doctor Sleep is a 2019 film based on a Stephen King novel of the same name, also the sequel to The Shining.
Years after the traumatizing events of The Overlook Hotel, Dan Torrance is now an alcoholic struggling to find a job. He moves to a small town in New Hampshire and becomes “Doctor Sleep”. He then meets Abra Stone, a teenager with the brightest shine he’s ever seen. When he learns that a cult of evil beings called The True Knot are chasing her with the intent to eat her shine, he does everything in his power to protect her…including returning to The Overlook.IMDB
This was good. Extending on the Shining and its mythology and I assume containing elements I have no idea bout from the greater Stephen King universe mythos. All of which I am not very knowledgeable of, and it didn’t really matter. It was a very enjoyable watch, though like many other King book adaptions, a bit long. Creepy, weird, strange, engaging. 3 stars.
★★★
#12 – Tourist Trap (1979)
Tourist Trap is a 1979 American supernatural slasher film.
Four people go in search of their missing friend. What they find is Slausen’s Lost Oasis, a mannequin museum and seemingly abadoned mansion owned by gentle old Mr. Slausen. He agrees to help with their car trouble, but some of the girls decide to look for a working phone inside the house even though Mr. Slausen warned them not too. Hidden within the home is Mr. Slausen’s misunderstood mask hidden younger brother. What they learn is that the mannequins seem very much alive, or is there something much more terrifying behind the mask? IMDB
The music over the credits really sets the mood. The mannequins and mask are creepy as hell. They look heaps like Shaye Saint John. And that’s about it, creepy masks and mannequins and creepy people scare other people. There’s a story, but its rather inconsequential (and often long winded). In many ways this is highly influenced by Texas Chainsaw Massacre, in parts of the plot and style, and also as a “horror” film stripped to its bare bones. A better score/soundtrack, or literally no soundtrack, would have done wonders. I’m giving it 2.5 stars. It doesn’t deserve it, but it really is an interesting almost-rip-off of Texas… but with enough original elements to almost be a good enough film on its own. Its strange and enjoyable.
A biker comes upon a girl with a flat tire and offers her a ride home. He winds up at a drug party with the girl’s sister, then follows her to a turkey farm owned by her father, a mad scientist. The father turns the biker into a giant turkey monster who goes after drug dealers.IMDB
This was pretty slow at moments, bad sound, bad editing, but enjoyably silly with some real odd moments. The limited gore is actually pretty gross. The makers were obviously knowledgeable of drugs and drug use, making any anti drug message more of a parody. A ridiculous idea with a strange and confusing twist ending. I liked it 2.5 stars.
