The House By The Cemetery
Director: Lucio Fulci
Cast: Catriona MacColl, Paolo Malco, Ania Pieroni
Review by Brian M. Sammons

This lesser known (and admittedly, lesser loved) Lucio Fulci flick was released on this side of “The Pond” late last year by Blue Underground and it. Was. Good! Now it’s the Brits’ turn at bat. How does the always capable Arrow Video bring this very strange slice of Italian shock cinema our on Blu-ray? Well let’s find out.

The story behind this movie is deceptively easy to explain, but such a synopsis does very little to describe just how bizarre it is. But hey, got to start somewhere, so here we get a small family moving into a big house in New England with a sordid, bloody history. The young son, Bob, played by cherubic blond haired, blue eyed Giovanni Frezza, has a friend in a little girl only he can see named Mae who keeps warning him to stay away from the house. Not only does this bring up shades of Stephen King’s The Shining, but it’s also my biggest gripe about this movie: that damn kid. No, not the little Italian boy, Giovanni, who’s neither better nor worse than any other child actor, but the screeching, fingernails-on-chalkboard-bad voice they dubbed in for him for the English version of the film. Oh my dear God is it annoying! It’s obviously an adult doing a horrible “little kid” impersonation but the end result is every time little Bob opens his mouth I want to hit him in the face with a brick.

The second thing about this film that keeps it from being really great is the pacing. Once the family moves into the titular house the events proceed at a leisurely, strolling pace at best. The mystery behind the house’s horror (not to mention why a crazed maniac is living in the basement, popping out occasionally to behead, slice up, and rip the throats out of people) is slowly doled out a drip and drab at a time … that is until the end when there a big exposition dump. There are random bits of weirdness sprinkled throughout the film, like an unintentionally hilarious bat attack, and a few gruesome murder scenes, but sadly these seem like a far cry from the glorious gory gags in previous Fulci flicks. There’s a nice knife through the back of a woman’s head that comes out of her mouth bit, but that’s one of the few memorable kills to be found here. There is a neat rotting thing in the basement, a few genuinely creepy moments, but the film’s plot is a bit muddled and illogical, to say the least. How much so? Well when the film was first released on VHS many years ago some of the reels were played out of order and no one seemed to notice! Combine that with a lackluster ending that makes little, if any, sense and you get a movie that is long on mood and atmosphere, but short on logic. If you’re one of those people who need their films to make absolute sense, you might hate this movie. However if you can just go with it and enjoy the ride, you might dig this uneven, yet still mostly competent shocker.

Now this new Blu-ray release from Arrow Video looks pretty good in HD. No it’s not great, but it is very watchable and if you’ve only ever seen this on DVD (or lord forbid: VHS) then you’ll notice a world of improvement here. However where Arrow Video always shines is the shear amount of extras they do for their releases and once again they do not disappoint here. There are two audio commentaries to listen to, for interviews with the actors and makers of this movie, and a very cool 24 minute documentary called “Ladies of Italian Horror” that interviews a bunch of the European scream queens from all sorts of Italian fright flicks, not just those in House By The Cemetery. That special feature is easily the highlight here and is the cherry on the awesome cake that is this new Blu-ray.

The House By The Cemetery is both a bit longer and slower than it should be, and it has that damn screeching voice actor dubbing little Giovanni Frezza in it that drives me up a wall, but it’s still a good, creepy film at its rotting heart. If you’re new to Fulci films then perhaps Cemetery isn’t the best place to start. For that I would suggest Zombie, The Beyond, and/or City Of The Living Dead. But if you want to see something different, weird, creepy, and fun, or if you’re already familiar with some of Fulci’s other flicks, then The House By The Cemetery is for you. And like most of Arrow Video’s releases, this one is region free. I cannot tell you how happy that always makes me.

Episode 3 of Midnight Horror Show titled “The Uninvited Visitor” is up and running. Midnight Horror Show is a horror YouTube channel releasing 1-2 episodes a month. As of the moment, they are a two man team, which consists of Rudy Gold, the creator of Midnight Horror Show and Christian Guzman.

“The Uninvited Visitor” is directed by Christian Guzman.

Description: When you have a midnight visitor knocking at your door would you answer? Does curiousity always kill the cat?

Here’s the episode:

Executive Producer Rudy Gold
Produced by Gold Standard, DIY Productions, and J Martin Films

Starring Katelin Peterson
Guest Starring Christian Guzman
Edited by Cristian Guzman, Rudy Gold
Sound design by Christian Guzman
Original Score by Erin Powell

Deathwoods is no ordinary grind house slasher in the woods. Oh it may have what are called the 3 B’s of B movies … BOOBS, BLOOD and BRUTALITY, but the difference, however, is you’re in control!

You can create the gory death scenes in Deathwoods, become an on screen victim yourself or even kill Ari Lehman and John Dugan!

That’s right you can destroy the horror icons themselves! Brutally slay the first man to ever play Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th! Or butcher Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s Grandpa, John Dugan! How cool is that?

They’ve filmed some the film already. Although the cast, set and footage are all great, they felt they needed more. More names, more gore and most of all MORE INPUT!

The cast and crew of Deathwoods are horror fans first and foremost. They feel strongly about the films they put out, in all their campy gory goodness, but they are always striving to do more, to be better and to give you the best most fulfilling experience they possibly can. So they’ve put their demented heads together and thought of a few unique ideas that will truly create a grind house horror film like never before! FOR THE FANS, BY THE FANS!

What they need and what you get:

They need at the very least $5k in order to pay for actors, the props and devices in which they meet their demise and as much blood, guts and body parts as they can possibly get our hands on! Obviously the more they receive the gorier the film becomes. They aren’t fans of the CG gore and they don’t want to use it other than to enhance the good ol practical SPFX magic that they have planned. Their team, with 30+ years of SPFX experience, is itching to get their hands bloody!

In exchange for that they are giving you the chance to create several of the death scenes! You’re in charge! Be as violent, sick and twisted as the elements allow! Hack limbs, spill guts, sever heads and send the cast to their ultimate demise! If that’s not enough for you they also offer one lucky person to be the film’s first victim and 3 others to be victims in a later scene and you get to write how you bite it! Those 3 slasher fans also get to be part of the ultimate boob scene and become Executive Producers of the film!

Not only do they offer you a chance to create movie history but you can also have the distinct honor of killing the horror icons! That’s right! Two hardcore horror fans will have the privilege of being the architects of death to some of horrors most iconic horror actors.

Be a part of movie history and help them spill their guts!

The Impact

It is their hope to create something unique for the fans by the fans. To do something that no other film has ever offered before and truly hear the voice of the people! Not only are they trying to create horror history but they are also trying to help their friends along the way. With several of the perks you will also be helping fund the indie gore fest known as The Hospital, created by and starring several of the Deathwoods cast including John Dugan, Daniel Emery Taylor and Jim O’Rear. So you are not only receiving perks and helping support one film but two.

Here is where you can get all the nitty-gritty details and make your own contriubtion: Deathwoods

Here’s where you can keep up to date on Facebook: Deathwoods on Facebook

King Flex Films just wrapped up filming an independent horror film entitled The Eugenist.

The film touches on the century-old subject of eugenics, that was founded in the late 1800′s. Eugenics is a controversial pseudoscience that promotes selective breeding in humans in order to improve or recede a certain part of the population. The eugenics movement gained most of its popularity in the early part of the 20th century.

Some historians have theorized that many of the classic horror movies from the 1930′s were reflective of the ideologies and fears of the eugenics movement. Many movies from this era were based on the concept of the “mad scientist” – a person going to diabolical depths in order to improve or modify human beings.

Frankenstein, Island of Lost Souls, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, are a few examples of horror films that played on this theme. Even the creation of comic book heroes, such as Superman, are based on the eugenics concept of a genetically superior human specimen.

Here’s the trailer:

References about eugenics still pop up periodically in modern times. This past February, presidential candidate Rick Santorum accused President Obama of promoting eugenics with the Obamacare program. There was also a recent case of a number of families in North Carolina getting a financial settlement for being victimized by a forced sterilization eugenics program.

In the film The Eugenist, the plot revolves around a group of college students who stumble upon an abandoned school. Unbeknownst to them, the school was targeted for a eugenics population control experiment. The students decide to explore the school just for kicks, but once inside, they find out that the school is not so abandoned.

The Eugenist is directed by New York Times best selling author Tariq Nasheed.

The Devil Inside
Director: William Brent Bell
Cast: Fernanda Andrade, Suzan Crowley, Simon Quarterman
Review by Brian M. Sammons

Let me start off by saying that I am largely a fan of the found footage horror films. From The Blair Witch Project to its lesser known rival The Last Broadcast, from the original very good [REC] from Spain, to the more lackluster US remake, Quarantine, I sort of dig them all. Even when they have some pretty big flaws, like Apollo 18, there can still be some fun and good spooky moments found in them. So keep that in mind when I say that I hated this latest entry in the (now overused?) subgenre. When I say that this boring, confusing, poorly made movie is in no way good, it’s not because of the first person shaky cam thing. It’s just a plain old bad movie. So if you want to save yourself some time, just stop reading right now and forget this movie ever existed. But if you’re still possibly interested in this flick, then keep reading and maybe I can change your mind and save you a few bucks. Hey, that’s what I’m here for.

The Devil Inside is a pretty basic, paint-by-numbers devil possession flick. And right there I could end this review. It’s not a horrible horror film in and of itself but it has the worst ending of, well anything I can remember seeing. Ever. But more on that in a second. The story here is that a documentary film crew is following around a young American woman as she investigates the reason why her mother was sent to an insane asylum in Italy. Hmm, three guesses as to why. Well the daughter and the documentarians hook up with some priests once in Italy who do secret exorcisms on the side. Then after a bunch of babble about if the institutionalized mother is possessed by Satan, it’s off to the nuthouse for some hot devil expelling action.

The one twist to this movie, which isn’t even original, is that mad mommy dearest isn’t just possessed by one demon, but four and they have body jumping abilities right out of the much better Denzel Washington movie, Fallen. If you can’t guess as to what that will mean for the movie, then I won’t spoil it for you. But hey, there is some of the same satanic taunting of the assembled exorcists that has been in every, and I mean every, movie since The Exorcist. So yay for more unoriginality.

Then there is the ending that I hinted at before. Now I won’t ruin it, because honestly, I don’t think I can ruin it as it’s so bad. All I’ll say is that this movie really doesn’t end. It just cuts to black. Yeah, no kidding, it just stops. Now I guess it’s trying to go for a dramatic, sudden, shock ending that in a way would make sense that no one would continue to film after a certain point. Still, movies should have an ending and this one just doesn’t. So it’s a derivative, completely unoriginal Exorcist rip off that all but gives the audience the finger at the end. Yeah, it sure sounds like a winner to me.

Oh, and do you want to get really mad? This slice of cinematic schlock made over 100 million dollars worldwide. Not only is that insulting to the far, far, FAR superior movie, The Cabin In The Woods (which has so far made less than half that), but it probably means that we will be afflicted with a sequel to this someday soon. Oh yay.

The new Blu-ray from Paramount, which is a Best Buy exclusive, looks as well as a shaky cam found footage flick can look. However it is also as bare bones as a disc can be. It has no special features. Not one. Were they embarrassed by this movie? Because it sure looks like it.

If you can’t tell by now, I can’t recommend this movie. Not at all. To anyone. As I said, it’s not a horrible movie, but it’s dull, unnecessary, and derivative of a hundred other films that came before, and that did it much better. Still if for some odd reason you do want to get this movie in your collection, you can go on over to Best Buy to pick yourself up a copy.

After Dark Films’ new action film franchise which combines the talents of Joel Silver, Dark Castle Home Entertainment and Courtney Solomon’s After Dark Films for a series of high quality, high-octane action pictures. After Dark Action will showcase five original films featuring international stars such as Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Peter Weller, Jim Caviezel, Cung Le and Christian Slater. The five films include:

• Transit – Starring Jim Caviezel, James Frain, Elizabeth Rohm, Harold Perrineau and Sterling Knight; directed by Antonio Negret and written by Michael Gilvary.
• Dragon Eyes – Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Cung Le and Peter Weller; directed by John Hyams and written by Tim Tori.
• The Philly Kid – Starring Wes Chatham, Neal McDonough and Devon Sawa; directed by Jason Connery and written by Adam Mervis.
• Stash House - Starring Dolph Lundgren, Sean Faris, Brianna Evigan and Jon Huertas; directed by Eduardo Rodriguez and written by Gary Spinelli.
• El Gringo - Starring Christian Slater, Scott Adkins and Yvette Yates; directed by Eduardo Rodriguez and written by Jonathon W. Stokes.

For theaters, show times, and tickets, visit: After Dark Action

Piranha 3DD opens in theaters on June 1st, 2012.

Description: After the terror unleashed on Lake Victoria in Piranha 3d, the pre-historic school of blood thirsty piranhas are back. This time, no one is safe from the flesh eating fish as they sink their razor sharp teeth into the visitors of summer’s best attraction, The Big Wet Water Park. Christopher Lloyd (Back To The Future) reprises his role as the eccentric piranha expert with survivor Paul Scheer (The League) and a partially devoured Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction) back for more fish frenzy. David Hasselhoff trades in the sandy beaches of ‘Baywatch’ to be a celebrity lifeguard at the racy water park. Prepare for double the terror, double the action and double the Ds in this sequel also starring Gary Busey (Lethal Weapon), Katrina Bowden (30 Rock), Danielle Panabaker (The Crazies), Matt Bush (Adventureland), Chris Zylka (The Amazing Spider-Man) and David Koechner (Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy).

Here’s the trailer: