THE FOREST -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/4/16

 

Try getting lost in a forest, and you'll understand what a scary place it can be.  Naturally, it's been the setting for horror films that either pretty much get it right (THE WOODS) or woefully get it wrong (THE EVIL WOODS).

Director Jason Zada's THE FOREST (2016) pretty much gets it right.  In fact, for a movie about a forest in which a forest is the star--namely, the lush, legendary Aokigahara Forest in Japan, in which people are said to lose themselves in order to commit suicide--this one is about as spooky and evocative as such a film can get.

From the moment we see Sara Price (Natalie Dormer, W.E., THE HUNGER GAMES, "Game of Thrones") getting her first psychic premonition that her identical twin sister Jess is in danger in said forest, and immediately flying to Tokyo where the missing sister teaches English, we're already beginning a gradual descent into this film's somber and oppressively ominous mood. 

Not only is an overall ambience of creepiness established early, but Sara hasn't even left her hotel and entered the forest before we're subjected to the first in a series of jump scares that flash-freeze the blood. 

Some of these, as in HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959), involve frizzy-haired old ladies.  Who, coincidentally, have often been left to die in the forest in years past by families who didn't know what else to do with them. 

Even when THE FOREST isn't goosing us, it's creeping us out in other ways.  Not the least of these is when Sara enters a visitors' center and is left in a room full of dead bodies that have been retrieved from the forest.  When one of them appears to move, is it really happening, or is Sara's mind already playing tricks on her?  This question will be a major concern throughout the story.

Sara meets a handsome Australian journalist named Aiden (Taylor Kinney, ZERO DARK THIRTY) who's about to trek into the woods with an experienced guide, Michi (Yukiyoshi Ozawa), and invites her along if he can include her in the article he's writing.  We share her relief in finding a kindred spirit such as he, but also her misgivings about his motives. (Was that a glint of recognition in his eyes when he first saw her?)

Thus begins the heart of the film's gripping story, replete with the dead bodies of those who have committed suicide, angry and terrifying ghosts who may or may not be real, teasing clues concerning Jess' whereabouts, and Sara's continuing doubts about both Aiden's trustworthiness and her own sanity.  Doubts which we, the viewers, must apprehensively share as things get scarier and scarier and we see it all through her eyes.

THE FOREST establishes an extremely effective fact-based mythology about the "suicide forest" that makes us fear any deviation from the beaten path (from which the main characters must, of course, deviate) and dread the prospect of being left out there all alone in the dark of night. 

It also has a way of deriving supernatural-type scares from even the more realistic situations in which Sara's overactive imagination gets the better of her.  This eventually brings us to a point where potential madness and delusion are far more frightening than ghosts. 

The beautifully-photographed forest locations are richly foreboding, while the Japanese setting with its history of ghost stories and legends adds to the exotic nature of the story. 

The filmmakers really run with this premise--ghosts, dead people, horrifying visions that may or may not be there--and just keep thinking of ways to creep us out with it.  Even when the film is unable to fully maintain its level of sustained fear, it stays interesting enough to keep our attention the whole time. 

Dormer finds just the right note to play Sara, somewhere between anxiety and resignation, while searching for her trouble-prone twin.  Kinney remains jovial but enigmatic as Aiden, and like Sara we're never quite sure of him.  The rest of the cast are good including Eoin Macken ("Merlin") as Sara's concerned husband Rob.

The Blu-ray+Digital HD from Universal Studios Home Entertainment is in 1080p high resolution widescreen with English DTS-HD master audio 5.1.  Subtitles are in English, French, and Spanish.  Extras include the featurette "Exploring 'The Forest'", galleries, storyboards, and an intimate commentary track by director Jason Zada.

With moments that'll have you jumping in your seat and an overall feeling of creeping fear, THE FOREST overcomes even its occasional lapses and a not-quite-satisfying ending (for me, anyway) to succeed as a memorably effective and exceedingly well-made modern horror story. 

THE FOREST -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

VIY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 12/18/19

 

If you ever wondered what a vintage Russian horror movie would be like, look no further than VIY (Severin Films, 1967). This old-country ghost story of a young would-be monk's terrifying supernatural clash against an undead witch with a thirst for vengeance should check that box on your bucket list quite nicely.

In fact, when this well-produced and beautifully-mounted tale really gets cranked up, some scenes easily match those whacked-out Shaw Brothers martial arts/ghost stories such as HOLY FLAME OF THE MARTIAL WORLD and THE BATTLE WIZARD for sheer supernatural weirdness.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The story begins when a group of rowdy young seminary students are released from the monastery for what amounts to their version of Sprink Break. Three of them, including Khoma (Leonid Kuravlyov), get lost walking to the nearest village and ask for lodging in a secluded house.

When the creepy and rather frightful-looking old crone who lives there begins to come on to Khoma in a (yechhh) seductive manner, he naturally rebels. She then mounts him horseback-style and, swinging her broom and cackling all the way, rides him straight up into the night sky for a harrowing lighter-than-air experience.

Upon landing, Khoma grabs a stick and starts beating her with it. As he does, her features change into those of a beautiful young woman.  Khoma flees from the dying figure and returns to the monastery, only to find the next day that he has been ordered to travel to a house and pray for three days at the deathbed of a woman who, for some reason, has requested him by name. 

After a long wagon journey during which he gets drunk on vodka with his garrulous guides, Khoma arrives at the house to discover two things: one, the woman is dead, and two, she's the same one he beat so savagely the night before. And yes, she was a witch, although her devoted and very imposing father refuses to believe such a thing and threatens Khoma with a deadly lashing if he doesn't fulfill her last wish for him to pray over her.

This, then, results in three successive nights of terror for Khoma which are a grueling ordeal for him and a source of pure, hair-raising entertainment for us horror fans.

After a suspenseful build-up that has us keen with anticipation, directors Konstantin Ershov and Georgiy Kropachyov lock us into that shadowy, decrepit old church with Khoma and the young woman's corpse and then methodically start pulling out all the stops one by one.

The first night is when she initially comes back to snarling, eyeball-rolling life as Khoma furiously recites scripture for all he's worth.  Hastily scrawling a chalk circle around his lecturn, he cowers fearfully as the witch struggles to enter it. The camerawork and direction are wonderfully frenetic here and are matched by the intense performances of the two leads.

And that's just the first night.  At this point we're still in for some of the wildest visuals imaginable, all rendered with fine old-school practical and photo-chemical effects as opposed to the sort of generic CGI that would likely be used today. 

There are ample chills and loads of atmosphere, but on the third night things go from lush Gothic scariness to bizarre, practically Lovecraftian surrealism.  Here, we at last meet Viy (pronounced VEE-Yah) and his repellent minions, and--that's all I'm going to reveal.

Leonid Kuravlyov does a marvelous job as Khoma, and, although we're meant to feel as though the callow priest deserves all of this, I can't help but sympathize with him. His actions during that first encounter with the witch are understandable, and it isn't his fault that his faltering faith provides him little protection against the supernatural horrors he faces later on.

We also discover at one point that he's an orphan who never knew his parents, leading me to assume that he ended up at the monastery because nobody else wanted him and was simply making the best of it despite his carnal weaknesses. This, if anything, makes his spiritual ordeal all the more tragic and affecting to me in addition to its potent visceral horror.

The Blu-ray from Severin Films is pictorially splendid and a pleasure to look at. Both Russian and English-dubbed soundtracks (with subtitles) are available. Bonus features include an interview with Richard (HARDWARE) Stanley, a featurette entitled "The Woods To The Cosmos: John Leman Riley On The History Of Soviet Fantasy And Sci-Fi Film", a trailer, and three scintillating silent films--"Satan Exultant", "The Queen of Spades", and "The Portrait"--from the early days of Russian fantasy-horror cinema.

In today's world of flashy, noisy, jump-scare-ridden CGI fests, VIY comes as a real old-fashioned horror tale that knows what chills us. It's so finely-rendered and effective, in fact, that when it was over I could only wonder where in the heck it has been all my life.


Buy it from Severin Films


Special Features:

    Viy the Vampire: An Interview with Richard Stanley
    The Woods To The Cosmos: John Leman Riley On The History Of Soviet Fantasy And Sci-Fi Film
    Short Silent Films – Satan Exultant, The Queen of Spades, and The Portrait
    Trailer
    English Track

VIY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Most Terrifying Scene In "I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN" (1957)(video)

 

Dr. Frankenstein (Whit Bissell) conceals his cold, sadistic intentions...

...when offering to allow his fiancee Margaret (Phyllis Coates) to be his new assistant.

In reality, he's setting her up to be brutally murdered...

...by his crazed and horrifically hideous teenage monster.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

Most Terrifying Scene In "I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN" (1957)(video)

THE BIRDS (1963) -- Movie Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 7/9/15

 

The Alfred Hitchcock classic THE BIRDS (1963) shows us how vulnerable we'd be if our little feathered friends suddenly started attacking us en masse for no discernible reason.
 
Long, talky stretches with no music (electronic bird noises take the place of an actual score) lull the viewer into a sense of normalcy that is suddenly shattered by the bloody, violent, and shocking (especially for the time) bird attacks. 

We also get the sense that all of the interpersonal drama between the humans ultimately means nothing in the face of nature's indiscriminate wrath. 

There's a coy will-they-won't-they romance between seemingly aloof jetsetter Melanie Daniels ("Tippi" Hedren) and down-to-earth Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor), who lives with his nervous mother (Jessica Tandy) and sweet-tempered little sister Cathy (Veronica Cartwright) in the sleepy coastal town of Bodega Bay.  Former lover Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette), the town's schoolteacher, adds a touch of melancholy by still carrying a smoldering torch for Mitch.

Melanie follows Mitch home from San Francisco one day to deliver some lovebirds to Cathy for her birthday--an elaborate practical joke that demonstrates her impulsive nature and lack of responsibilities.  She will mature before our eyes during the oncoming ordeal, befriending both Cathy and Annie and becoming a worthy match for Mitch even in the eyes of his clinging, judgmental mother.

But none of this matters when the birds attack, except to increase the stakes for Melanie and Mitch who now have more to live for.  Melanie risks her own life without hesitation to help a class full of children escape when a flock of crows descend upon their school, while Mitch will perform heroically during the grueling nighttime siege upon their boarded-up house. 

Both episodes are Hitchcock at his most relentlessly cinematic.  Hitchcock builds suspense masterfully in these and other memorable sequences and delivers the occasional jolt, such as the startling discovery of a bloody victim in his bedroom.

Melanie's attic ordeal in which she suddenly becomes engulfed in a mass of ripping beaks and claws is Hitchcock's attempt to duplicate the shower scene from PSYCHO, to lesser but still impressive effect. (I love the fact that right before she passes out, the once vain and selfish Melanie mutters "Where's Cathy?")

His direction falls short only when the execution fails to match his ideas.  As in the horse-jumping sequence from MARNIE, also starring Hedren, Hitchcock's mental storyboards and creative fancy don't always transfer to film as intended. 

This is true mainly in a series of static closeups of Hedren intercut with a trail of burning gasoline leading up to a horrific gas station explosion.  Earlier, a process shot in which she sits in a rowboat in front of a Bodega Bay backdrop is fake-looking enough (on the big screen, anyway) to evoke laughter in audiences. 

Most of the time, however, Hitchcock proves himself to be one of the most brilliant film stylists of all time with one impressive sequence after another.  The attacks on the school and town are sudden, chaotic, and disorienting.  Jessica Tandy's discovery of the dead neighbor with the pecked-out eyes is a high point of horror, mainly in the way the director leads up to the reveal for maximum shock value. 

With Mitch's family and Melanie barricaded inside the Brenner house awaiting the most intensive attack of all, the final segment of the film is both harrowing and riveting.  It's also a clear influence on George Romero's 1968 zombie classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, including the idea of a sudden and unexplained rash of attacks upon humanity that force groups of people to seek shelter and wait in fear of an unknown, incomprehensible menace. 

The fact that these attacks are never explained helps to give THE BIRDS the feeling of a nightmare, perhaps moreso than any other Hitchcock film.  Its enigmatic, inconclusive ending, criticized by some, is Hitchcock's own Mona Lisa smile, hinting that a little mystery--along with a nasty little jolt now and then--is good for the soul.

Trailer
Hitchcock teaser trailer

THE BIRDS (1963) -- Movie Review by Porfle

EDEN LAKE -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 1/7/09

 

There's a grand tradition of movies in which happy-go-lucky city folk venture into some rural setting and wind up being terrorized by psychotic locals. Most of these movies, unfortunately, aren't nearly as good as, say, THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE or DELIVERANCE, and the formula more often than not results in just another inept, forgettable piece of cinematic flotsam with people running around in the woods screaming for an hour-and-a-half.

Not so, however, in the case of EDEN LAKE (2008), one of the most harrowing, painfully suspenseful, and relentlessly downbeat horror thrillers I've ever seen.

It's a pretty simple set-up: Jenny (Kelly Reilly) and Steve (Michael Fassbender) drive to the country to camp out on the shore of a beautiful, secluded lake, where Steve plans to pick just the right moment to whip out an engagement ring and pop the question.

But their romantic sunbathing reverie is marred by a motley group of punk teens who blast their boom box, ogle the bikini-clad Jenny, and allow their scary-looking Rottweiler to menace her while Steve is taking a dip.

Well, Steve, of course, must do his "guy duty" and confront the surly bunch. Led by the older and considerably meaner Brett (Jack O'Connell), the kids steal Steve's land rover and go for a joyride. When Steve tries to wrestle the keys away from them, Brett's beloved dog is accidentally killed, which sparks Brett into a murderous rage.

Steve and Jenny are forced to flee for their lives, but fate conspires against them at every turn, and they both end up tortured and brutalized beyond anything they could have imagined.

When EDEN LAKE was over, I felt as though I'd just awoken from an extremely vivid and disturbing nightmare. Everything that could possibly go wrong for Steve and Jenny does go wrong as they descend quickly and inexorably into hell. Much of the film is hard to watch--not because it's especially gory, but because the situations are so intense and realistic.

When Steve is captured and bound with barbed wire and Brett bullies the others into taking turns slashing him with knives and box cutters, it's effective on a realistic level because the violence isn't being committed by monsters like Leatherface or over-the-top caricatures of inbred hillbillies. These are just ordinary kids--on bicycles no less--giving in to their darkest impulses in a way that happens far too often in real life, stripping the story of the usual comforting veneer of fantasy that has us laughing along with Rob Zombie's cartoonish maniacs or wondering what cool method of execution Jason will use on his next faceless victim.

Jenny fares no better as she finds herself lost in the woods with no way to call for help and little chance of escape. Naturally, a metal spike goes through her foot at one point and she spends a lot of time crawling through mud and slime, reduced to the level of a terrified animal.

One scene in which she locks herself in a shack with the injured Steve and tries desperately to tend to his grievous wounds, unable to stop the gouts of blood pouring from deep cuts, is difficult to endure simply because of the crushing sadness and despair that it evokes. And because the killers are still closing in and there's nothing she can do about it.

It gets worse. Eventually EDEN LAKE begins to resemble a twisted version of THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS with its nonstop series of horrors heaped one right after the other upon the hapless couple. Some instances, such as Jenny being forced to hide in a filthy dumpster and emerging with a coating of the most rancid slime imaginable, took me out of the movie for a bit as I thought, "Sheesh, what next?" But these moments actually help the film, serving to give us a breather from all the tension before sucking us right back in and ramping up the suspense again.

The cast does a good job of selling it all. Kelly Reilly (PRIDE AND PREJUDICE) is outstanding and entirely believable as sweet-tempered preschool teacher Jenny, while Michael Fassbender (300, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS) is likable as Steve even when he isn't leaving well enough alone. All of the teen castmembers are good, especially Jack O'Connell as the monstrous Brett.

First-time director James Watkins does a very surehanded job working from his own screenplay and the cinematography is way above average. David Julyan, who has scored films such as MEMENTO, THE DESCENT, and OUTLAW, avoids horror cliches and emphasizes the emotional devastation of the lead characters instead. This is especially true in the final minutes, when the last grimly-ironic pieces fall into place with a sickening thud and the music becomes heartbreakingly mournful.

It's in this last act that the hopelessness running through the rest of the story is finally driven home in the most downbeat manner possible. You won't often see a scene this powerful and bleak. The situation is so nightmarishly awful that violence and gore are no longer even necessary here--by this time, writer-director Watkins has so thoroughly woven a web of tragedy and despair that we're left stunned and haunted by it all, which is his intention.

In 2.35:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital sound, the DVD looks and sounds good. Extras consist of a brief "making of" featurette and a trailer.

A highly-effective and skillfully manipulative piece of filmmaking, EDEN LAKE effortlessly rises above most other films of its ilk. It's hardly the usual horror flick that relies on shock cuts to make you jump or clever gore effects to make you say "Cool!" Instead, it batters the viewer with nonstop dread and ultimately becomes a deeply depressing experience. I was relieved when it was over, as though I'd finally woken up from the nightmare, but I still can't get it out of my mind.

EDEN LAKE -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE WAX MASK -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 10/3/19

 

Talk about "Grand Guignol" to the max--the 1997 Gothic gorefest THE WAX MASK (Severin Films) mixes the antique ambience of early 1900s Italy with generous helpings of the extremely morbid and grotesque in this handsomely mounted shocker.

Conceived by Italian horror/giallo maestro Dario Argento (PHENOMENA, TENEBRE, SUSPIRIA) as a vehicle for the ailing Lucio Fulci (DOOR INTO SILENCE, ZOMBIE 3, THE DEVIL'S HONEY), it's a loose remake of the Vincent Price classic HOUSE OF WAX (along with MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM and numerous other wax museum horror flicks), although that's just a jumping off point for a tale of horror and gore that aims to outdo them all.

With the unfortunate passing of Fulci before filming began, directing chores were handed to first-timer Sergio Stivaletti (THE THREE FACES OF TERROR), previously known mainly for his work in the fields of SPFX and makeup.

Working from a screenplay by Argento, Fulci, and Daniele Stroppa, Stivaletti fashioned a gorgeous-looking film that leisurely unfolds its dark narrative with a keenly efficient style that's never quite as self-consciously arty as Argento's or off-the-hook unhinged as Fulci's yet has its own elegant, colorful appeal.

The story begins with the grisly aftermath of a double murder in a Paris hotel room that's witnessed by a little girl who grows up to be the beautiful Sonia Lafont (Romina Mondello), still troubled by her past even as she gets a job in a wax museum in Rome which specializes in gruesome historical horrors.

The museum is run by the mysterious, creepily eccentric Boris Volkoff (Robert Hossein, RIFFIFI) and features incredibly lifelike wax figures in scenes of death designed to horrify. 

But even more horrific is the reason the figures are so lifelike--namely, each one contains the corpse of a murdered human being who has been processed in the museum's nightmarish basement laboratory and given a severe case of unsightly "wax buildup."

These scenes are the result of director Stivaletti's years of SPFX expertise and are absolutely mind-boggling as we watch one still-living victim, a hapless prostitute from a nearby house of ill-repute, strapped to a table and injected with some volatile serum while Kenneth Strickfaden-style electrical machines spark and crackle. 

But this densely-packed screenplay has a lot more to offer in the way of gory killings, dismemberments, and other carnage before the suspenseful finale in which Sonia's journalist boyfriend Andrea (Riccardo Serventi Longhi), her blind aunt Francesca (Gabriella Giorgelli), and a sympathetic police detective from her childhood (Gianni Franco) fight against time to prevent the hideously disfigured villain and his twisted henchmen from turning Sonia into one of the museum's unholy exhibits.

The Blu-ray from Severin Films features a 4k scan from the original negative supervised by Stivaletti himself. Severin outdoes themselves with this bonus menu loaded with interviews with production principles including Argento, Stivaletti, actress Gabriella Giorgelli, and others, along with vintage behind-the-scenes featurettes.

These bonus features include:

    Audio Commentary with Director/Special Effects Artist Sergio Stivaletti and Michelangelo Stivaletti
    Beyond Fulci: Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti, Producer Giuseppe Columbo, Production Designer Massimo Geleng, Actress Gabriella Giorgelli and Filmmaker Claudio Fragasso
    The Chamber of Horrors: Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti, Producer Giuseppe Columbo, Production Designer Massimo Geleng and Actress Gabriella Giorgelli
    Living Dolls:  Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti, Producer Giuseppe Columbo and Actress Gabriella Giorgelli
    The Mysteries of the Wax Museum:  Interview with SFX Artist Sergio Stivaletti
    The Waxworks Symphony:  Interview with Soundtrack Composer Maurizio Abeni
    The Grand Opening:  Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti and Producer Giuseppe Columbo
    Wax Unmasked: Interview with Film Writer Alan Jones
    Vintage Featurettes: Behind the Scenes, Special Effects, On Set with Dario Argento
    5.1 and 2.0 English and Italian Audio
    English with Closed Captioning, Italian with English Subtitles

Easily one of the best wax museum movies ever made, THE WAX MASK fully exploits the horrific potential of the original HOUSE OF WAX and its ilk like no previous version I've ever seen. Although lacking certain qualities of Argento or Fulci, it more than compensates with a richly-hued, stylized visual sense, lush production values, riveting scenes of carnage, and a fiery, face-melting finale.


Buy it from Severin Films

THE WAX MASK -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

BLOODY BIRTHDAY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 6/20/14

 

Having already released it on DVD a few years ago, Severin Films is now giving the cult classic BLOODY BIRTHDAY (1981) the Blu-ray treatment with a new HD transfer "from the original vault elements."

Fans of the mind-blowing "killer kids" flick, such as myself, will be tickled pink to see it looking better than ever while still generating even more sheer, pulsating waves of "WTF?" than your usual generic stalker-killer thriller.

The Blu-ray edition is in 1080p full HD resolution, widescreen with Dolby Digital mono sound. No subtitles.

Same as with the earlier DVD, extras consist of a cheerful interview with Lori Lethin ("Don't Eat That Cake!"), a lengthy audio interview with director Ed Hunt which should be of interest to aspiring low-budget filmmakers, the entertaining featurette "A Brief History of Slasher Films", and trailers for this and other Severin Films releases.

As for the movie itself, here's my original review in all its breathless hyperbole:

In the hallowed annals of "bad seed" flicks, BLOODY BIRTHDAY (1981) has to be one of the coolest. Not really a slasher, nor even a horror movie, it's basically a giddy kill-fest made novel by the fact that the three maniacs on a murder spree are just celebrating their tenth birthdays. It's kind of like GOODFELLAS with little kids, and they're more bloodthirsty than a boatload of Joe Pescis.

The movie starts out with one of those cool ideas that sets it apart from all the other similar cheapo horrors being ground out like sausage in the 80s. Three babies are born at the same time on the same day, during a solar eclipse. Somehow, a weird alignment of the planets causes each of them to be born without a conscience. Ten years later, the urge to kill hits these cute little tykes and they start racking up a body count that would make Jason proud.

Low-budget filmmaker Ed Hunt (STARSHIP INVASIONS) does a modest but efficient job of bringing his screenplay to the screen, serving up some pretty decent thrills during the film's leisurely pace. Lori Lethin (THE PREY) plays all-American girl Joyce, who's taking care of her little brother Timmy (K.C. Martel, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, E.T.) while the 'rents are away. Their house will be the scene of the film's frantic finale when our trio of homicidal cookie-grabbers descend upon them in a frenetic frenzy of rip-roarin' revenge.

Elizabeth Hoy (THE BLUES BROTHERS), who would've been perfect as the lead in THE BAD SEED, plays the role of cute little Debbie to the hilt. This angelic-looking imp has drilled a hole in the wall of her closet and sells 25-cent peeks at her big sister Beverly (MTV's Julie Brown) as she dances around naked in her bedroom. (Julie Brown fans will no doubt be willing to cough up a few quarters.) But this is nothing compared to the shocking scene in which she stages the murder of her own dad, the town sheriff (Bert Kramer), with the help of her cohorts Curtis and Steven.

Steven (Andy Freeman) is a nutty little bugger, but the bespectacled Curtis (Scott Jacoby's half brother Billy of ROAD KILL and THE BEASTMASTER) is a smirking, kill-crazy loon who fits comfortably within the ranks of the screen's most trigger-happy thrill killers.

When he isn't locking Timmy in an abandoned refrigerator in the junkyard, he's prowling around with the dead sheriff's hand cannon looking for people to blow away. This might include a playground enemy, a bossy school teacher, or the traditional teenage couple having highly gratuitous sex in the back of a van.

These kids are exhilaratingly evil without overplaying it and the murders are depicted in a matter-of-fact style that emphasizes their gleeful coldbloodedness. Debbie, whom one might refer to as "The Jump-Rope Killer", even keeps a nostalgic scrapbook of her kills and gets mad when big sis discovers it and reports it to Mom. (Big mistake!) The boys, meanwhile, are so industrious that they manage to hotwire an old car at the junkyard and attempt to run down Joyce as she searches for her missing brother.

The cast ranges all the way from the sublime to the--well, not quite sublime. Ed Hunt somehow managed not only to snag Susan Strasberg for the role of strict schoolteacher Miss Davis, but also screen veteran José Ferrer as the doctor who brings the three diabolical darlings into the world. A young Joe Penny ("Jake and the Fatman") shows up in one scene, as does Cyril O'Reilly (the anti-Semitic redneck from PORKY'S) as Joyce's boyfriend.

Familiar faces such as Ellen Geer, Michael Dudikoff, and Ward Costello can also be found here and there. The "Worst Actor" award would have to go to the guy who plays the deputy. I didn't catch his name, but you'll recognize him--he's the guy who can't act. Listening to him step all over Lori Lethin's lines is a real treat.

The kids themselves are a ball to watch throughout BLOODY BIRTHDAY, whether squeezing out crocodile tears at the funerals of friends and family members they've just offed or simply reveling in their own playful wickedness while putting on an innocent front.

The triple-header backyard birthday party of the title finds them greedily ripping open their presents as guests tuck into gooey birthday cake that may or may not be laced with ant poison. When Joyce walks in on Curtis in the kitchen with a frosting squeezer in one hand and the poison bottle in the other, it gives Lori Lethin the chance to race into the backyard knocking cake out of people's hands and screaming the film's most deathless line: "DON'T EAT THAT CAKE!"

BLOODY BIRTHDAY may be lumped in with all the other gory slice-and-dice flicks of the 80s, but don't expect a lot of blood and body parts, or an unkillable killer in a mask. Just settle back and enjoy the heartwarming antics of some cute little kids terrorizing their hometown and rapidly reducing its population.

BLOODY BIRTHDAY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

THE ABANDONED -- Movie Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 11/19/10

 

I have to go to the bathroom real bad, damn it.  But the bathroom is at the end of a dark hallway which is behind a closed door, and it's late, and I'm by myself. 

Watching scary movies by myself at night isn't the same as it was when I was a kid; rarely do I see one that cuts right through my adult sensibilities and makes me afraid to go down a dark hallway because there might be something creeping up behind me or because when I turn on the bathroom light that same something will be standing in there ready to lunge at me.  THE ABANDONED (2006), however, is one of those movies.

The story begins as Marie (Anastasia Hille) arrives in Moscow to track down her origins, having been adopted as an infant after her Russian mother was found brutally murdered.  She discovers that she has inherited the old home place, a sprawling, dilapidated farmhouse in the middle of the deep, dark woods between nothing and nowhere, and hires a farmer to take her there in his truck.  Before they leave, an old Russian woman pleads with her not to go, while other bystanders regard her with fear and sorrow.  It's very similar to the scene at the beginning of DRACULA in which the villagers beseech Renfield not to travel to the evil Count's castle, and we all know what happened to him.

After what seems like hours of travel, the driver leaves Marie alone in the woods at night, within walking distance of the house.  Out of the corner of her eye, Marie thinks she sees a ghostly figure glide across the path up ahead.  She reaches the really, really spooky old house and goes inside, peering into the deep darkness with her flashlight and making her way slowly through shadowy, cobwebbed rooms and corridors.  She hears noises.  And maybe a voice or two.  I'm thinking, "Would I be in that house at that time?  No, I would not."  I'm also thinking that there's gonna be a "jump" shock any second now, and I'm right--there is.  But expecting it doesn't help.  In fact, it just makes it worse.


A lot of horror flicks these days depend on jump shocks, which can startle the crap out of you for a few seconds but are soon forgotten.  This film is filled with them, but they're often only the beginning of a long sequence of sustained fear that doesn't subside after you've been soundly goosed.  The interplay of the various cinematic elements is masterful in these scenes--direction, photography, special effects, and acting are all outstanding--creating the sort of sustained terror that usually comes along only in your worst nightmares.  This movie, in fact, is like one long nightmare that you don't even fully wake up from when the end credits start rolling.

But back to Marie.  After the first really scary stuff happens, she discovers that there's someone else in the house with her.  That is, another living, flesh-and-blood someone.  He turns out to be her twin brother, Nicolai (Karel Roden of BLADE II and HELLBOY), who has also been drawn to the house trying to find out what awful thing happened to their mother there, forty years ago.  After suffering through one hellishly terrifying ordeal after another, they finally find out.  I'm not going to tell you any more of what happens, but when Nicolai has a sudden realization and says ominously to Marie, "We're haunting ourselves...", you just might be thinking: "No sh*t!"  One thing's for sure--the old "blank white eyeballs" thing has rarely looked scarier.

The last haunted house movie that tried to scare me was THE MARSH.  But it tried to do this with a bunch of obvious CGI and noisy, flashy effects.  THE ABANDONED has some CGI, too, but it's the best kind--the kind that tries not to look like CGI.  Both of these films contain a similar scene in which a decrepit old room goes backward in time to its original state, but the difference is stunning.  One scene seems to say "Look at this cool CGI!", while the other is more interested in maintaining your level of involvement in the scene itself.


THE ABANDONED looks great, with beautiful photography and imaginative editing worthy of an art film, always establishing and maintaining the right mood without being merely for show.  The sound design and haunting score also contribute substantially to the ominous atmosphere, making even the scenes of Marie arriving in Moscow seem forboding and pulsing with bad tidings for what's to come.

The house itself is a marvel of production design, a labyrinth of dingy rooms, spooky corridors, and ominous passageways that constantly had me muttering "Don't go in there!"  And with it, the stage is set for Spanish director Nacho Cerdà to do his stuff.  To paraphrase a line from POLTERGEIST, he knows what scares you.  His handling of this type of material is masterful compared to the ham-fisted direction often seen in similar films.  And the two leads, Anastasia Hille and Karel Roden, are so good that they put the whole thing across with utter conviction.  It didn't even bother me that the last few minutes didn't really seem to make total sense, because the worst nightmares rarely do. 

I've seen a lot of horror films, especially of the haunted house variety, that tried their best to be scary but just didn't know how to do it, or how to sustain it all the way through to the end.  But THE ABANDONED knows how.  Boy, does it ever.  It left me feeling drained, stunned, entertained yet uncomfortably uneasy and disturbed; and most of all, really, really creeped out.  And I still have to go to the bathroom real bad, damn it.

THE ABANDONED -- Movie Review by Porfle

THE REEF -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 7/9/11

 

Since I still haven't seen OPEN WATER--the film that this type of "predicament" movie is most logically compared to--I was going to liken THE REEF (2010) to another white-knuckle cinematic ordeal of a few years back called BLACK WATER.  Then I found out that THE REEF and BLACK WATER were directed by the same person, Andrew Traucki, which pretty much makes sense, I guess.

Since this type of movie puts innocent people into some kind of survival situation from which the only escape is either death or suffering through a terrible ordeal, it's meant more to be endured than enjoyed.  If done right, the result is prolonged, almost unbearable suspense that makes you sick to your stomach.  With BLACK WATER, Traucki proved himself quite adept at this sort of film, and THE REEF is another successful installment in his quest to make us all feel bad.

As usual, the main characters are a bunch of fairly nice people that we don't really want anything bad to happen to.  Damian Walshe-Howling plays Luke, an amiable young seafarer hired to deliver a yacht.  Turning the job into a pleasure cruise, he invites his old friend Matt (Gyton Grantley) and Matt's girlfriend Suzie (Adrienne Pickering) along for the ride, in addition to Matt's sister Kate (Zoe Naylor).  Kate happens to be Luke's old girlfriend so there's some unfinished romantic business between the two.  Rounding out the group is Luke's deck hand Warren (Kieran Darcy-Smith).
 


The first third or so of the film consists of them having a wonderful time sailing and romping around on a secluded island while we get to know them and wait for their false sense of security to be shattered.  This happens several miles out to sea when the yacht suddenly bashes into a reef and capsizes, leaving them stranded.  They now have two choices--wait on top of the overturned boat, which is slowly sinking, or try to swim back to the island.  Warren knows what's out there and refuses to budge.  The rest inch nervously into the water and paddle away, keeping their eyes peeled for things like, you know, sharks and stuff.

We don't even see one until the movie's almost half over, yet the suspense generated by this simple premise is almost paralyzing at times.  As I said about BLACK WATER, this is one of those movies where you (a) don't want anything to happen, and (b) don't want to start liking the characters because you know some of them are about to die horribly.  Of course, I did start liking the characters, and things did start to happen, mostly involving lots of blood and screaming.  Traucki is positively sadistic in the way he draws out the suspense as Luke and the gang catch fleeting glimpses of moving shapes (such as shark fins) and helplessly await the arrival of those gnashing jaws from below. 

The first attack relieves all that pent-up tension that's been building since the movie began, but it doesn't take long for us to start biting our nails again.  (I actually did catch myself literally biting my nails once or twice.)  Actual footage of a big-ass shark filmed off the Australian coast is well integrated and even the occasional SPFX shots are pretty good, while the actors do a fine job of reacting to it all exactly the way I would--with gibbering, bug-eyed terror.



The final segment of the film really stretches our nerves back and forth like a rubber band as the survivors spot what may be their salvation in the distance, only to find it frustratingly out of reach as the shark renews its attack.  And yes, the characters have been developed just enough to make us care about them, damn it, so in addition to stomach-souring suspense there's also the sadness that goes along with seeing some nice people turned into shark crunchies.  This continues right up until the last possible moment, leaving me nauseated and bummed out at the fadeout.  Since that's exactly what this movie sets out to do, then mission accomplished.

The DVD from Image Entertainment is in 2.35:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.  Subtitles are in English and Spanish.  Extras consist of a trailer and a making-of featurette, "Shooting with Sharks." 

Though the tagline "Who will survive--and what will be left of them?" is already taken, it would've been just right for THE REEF.  (And much better than the real one, "Pray that you drown first.")  While this low-budget production is technically well done, there's really not much more to it after the yacht wreck than four people paddling around out in the water amidst some shark footage and a few SPFX.  But what Andrew Traucki does with these simple ingredients adds up to an exhausting experience that's almost as much of an ordeal for the viewer as it is for the characters.  If that's your idea of fun, then dive right in.

THE REEF -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 8/31/16

 

With 1991's THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, Anthony Hopkins burst onto the horror film scene with a Hannibal Lecter whose rich theatricality and giddy delight in his own unfathomable evil captured the imaginations of filmgoers, including many in the mainstream, like few such characters before or since.

Approaching his dark, Gothic lair in the bowels of a castle-like hospital for the criminally insane where he lurks like some medieval gargoyle, we share the trepidation of the young FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) who has been sent to consult with Lecter regarding another serial killer on the loose (known as "Buffalo Bill" due to his penchant for skinning his victims).

Hopkins plays Lecter to the hilt, relishing each perverse aspect of the character just as Lecter enjoyed feasting upon the organs of those he killed--sometimes with "fava beans and a nice Chianti...fthfthfthfth!"

His version of the silken-voiced psycho, unlike that of MANHUNTER's equally fine Brian Cox, is a creation that would fit comfortably in any rogue's gallery of horror film icons.

One of the pleasures of this film is watching him toy with the callow Starling (excellently portrayed by Foster) on a purely emotional and intellectual level in which she has no defense, then growing to admire her courage, convictions, and strength of will.

Also unlike the Lecter of MANHUNTER, we get to see this monster at his full power once he's broken free in a terrifying sequence that is beautifully-directed by Jonathan Demme. When Lecter's brilliant escape plan goes into motion, it's a thrill to watch Hopkins turn into one of the most cunning and terrifying killers the screen has ever known.

Compared to his mad-dog antics, the film's wrap-up of the Buffalo Bill story is almost anti-climactic, although Demme does stage a nailbiting finale with Starling taking on the killer by herself in his pitch-dark cellar of death.

Still, Bill delivers a line to one of his captives that has since become one of the most oft-heard quotes in recent film history: "It puts the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again." And his naked dance will become seared in your memory whether you like it or not.

With a level of excellence that garnered it Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, and Best Director, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS remains one of the finest and most popular horror films ever made.


Read our review of MANHUNTER
Read our review of HANNIBAL

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS -- Movie Review by Porfle

SIMON SAYS -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 5/19/09

 

I think it's about time America finally acknowledged the fact that Crispin Glover is a national treasure. He's one of our most unique actors, upon whom we can always rely to give the kind of performance that nobody else could approximate or even imagine attempting to. I don't know where he goes to draw his inspiration, but it must be a strange and scary place. Whether moonily telling Lea Thompson "You are my density", out-weirding Dennis Hopper in RIVER'S EDGE, out-weirding Brad Dourif in DROP DEAD SEXY, being absolutely the only good thing in a "Charlie's Angels" movie, or simply getting kicked off the David Letterman show for being too much of a freak, he's one of a kind.

Except that in SIMON SAYS, he plays twins! Or does he? Simon is the sweetly-retarded one that Mom likes best, while Stanley is the jealous and hostile one who finally goes on a killing spree while the family is enjoying a camping trip in the forest. We see him kill Mom and Dad, and it looks as though he bashes poor Simon's head in with a rock. But we're not sure, because the next time we see them, they're co-managing a dumpy garage years later in those same woods. Still, we never see them both together at the same time, so...

Onto the scene toodles a gaily-painted van with exactly the cast of stereotypes you'd expect. There's Zack the stoner, Ashley the straight-laced "good girl", Riff the oversexed jock, Kate the girlfriend, and Vicky the slut. They're supposedly on their way to the river to camp out and pan for gold, but the real reason they're here is to get stalked, terrorized, and massacred. And boy, do they ever!

The actors play their roles to perfection, and the writers place them into a textbook series of cliched situations as though going down a checklist. Except that they twist things around a little here and there, just enough to keep us off-guard. And besides being a full-blooded charnel house of a horror flick, SIMON SAYS is also one of the funniest spoofs of the genre I've ever seen.

The best part is that nobody except Crispin Glover's character knows that it's a comedy. The rest of the cast play their parts as though they really are the worst bunch of overacting idiots from the worst 80s slasher flick ever made. I got the impression that the actors couldn't wait to inhabit these stereotypical nimrods and enjoy a delightful romp through the dopey side of slasher flick territory.

Zack the stoner (Greg Cipes) doesn't just smoke a lot of weed--he puffs like a smokestack even when he's running for his life. The group has barely pitched their tent before a shirtless Riff (Artie Baxter) pitches a tent in his pants when slutty Vicky (Carrie Finklea) comes on to him and they start making out behind Kate's (Margo Harshman) back. And good-girl Ashley (Kelly Vitz) is such an insufferable, prudish square--"SMORES!" she yelps giddily at the first sight of a campfire--that you just know she's got "last girl standing" written all over her. Oh, wait...no, she doesn't.

When Simon decides it's time to have some fun with these unfortunate idiots, all hell breaks loose. He has a penchant for creating intricate launching devices out of scrap machine parts and then loading them with pickaxes. In a couple of scenes the air is literally filled with a hail of twirling, swooshing, razor-sharp pickaxes as Simon calmly fires off round after round at his fleeing victims. It's wonderfully ridiculous to the point of hilarity.

The mayhem gets up-close and personal as well, as Simon goes on a bloodthirsty rampage that includes surrounding campers who are having a paintball war. Meat cleavers, hangings, and lots of dismemberment ensue. One victim is taken apart and stuck back together to form a festive troll doll with a CD-player mouth. Another gets to partake in a game of human tether ball with moving vehicles. Finally, there's a warm family gathering with Simon and his long-dead mom and dad around a picnic table where the last person (currently) standing must make a desperate attempt to escape. That is, after being offered a "hand" sandwich.

Through it all, Crispin Glover is at his flat-out nutty best. He revels in playing Simon (or is it Stanley?) in the broadest strokes possible, emoting his lopsided head off and grinning like a loon. He's also got the worst backwoods hick accent you ever heard, which just adds to the character somehow. ("Yew fuh-GOT...tuh say...Simon SAY-uz!") The scene in which he has a terrified captive strapped into the passenger seat of his wrecker truck is reminiscent of DEATH PROOF, but neither Kurt Russell nor Quentin Tarantino can do crazy like our boy Crispin. And hey, Bruce Glover is perfect as his dad in the flashbacks--it never occurred to me before that the guy who played the demented Mr. Wint in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER was Crispin's real-life dad, but somehow it all makes sense now.

For a movie of this type, SIMON SAYS looks great--writer-director William Dear has some gorgeous northern California locations to work with, and he shoots the whole thing with style. Once things get started, the pace never lets up. Even the sound design is noticeably better than average. I watched a screener so I can't comment on the DVD's bonus features, but they are listed as: director's commentary, storyboard comparisons, and stills gallery. The movie is widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound.

If you don't like Crispin Glover, then you should disregard a major portion of what I just said. If you don't like slasher movies, or even moreso, slasher movie spoofs, then you should disregard really big chunks of it. But if my description of SIMON SAYS sounds even remotely intriguing to you, then Simon says "check it out." (You knew that was coming, right?)

SIMON SAYS -- DVD Review by Porfle

FEED THE LIGHT -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 6/30/17

 

It's a real pleasure to see directors and cinematographers these days who not only work in black and white but seem to revel in the unique qualities and possibilities of the medium.

Swedish director Henrik Möller's nightmarishly dark FEED THE LIGHT, aka "Lokalvårdaren" (2015) has been described as "Lovecraftian", which it most definitely is, but visually it's also very "Lynchian" in its bleak and exquisitely evocative use of disturbingly surreal black and white imagery a la ERASERHEAD, with only a few splashes of color for emphasis. 

As Möller himself describes the plot, "In brief you can say that it's about a warehouse in the harbor where mysterious things happen to the cleaning personnel.  There is something wrong with the light."  (That's putting it mildly.)

 

To clarify that a bit, distraught mother Sara (Lina Sundén) has lost custody of her daughter Jenny to her abusive husband Jon (Patrik Karlson), and in order to try and steal her back, she seeks custodial employment in the same mysterious building where he works. 

Things seem "off" immediately.  The only managerial personnel consists of a stiff, cruel woman (Jenny Lampa) named Chefen but known in hushed tones as "The Boss."  The only other people roaming the dim, dreary hallways are a surly cleaning crew to which Sara is assigned, with the special instruction, "Always keep the silver dust swept up." 

It isn't long before Sara realizes that there's something strange and malevolent about the light inside the building--the silver dust, in fact, seems to fall from the light fixtures themselves.  Before the story's done, a bizarre source of light within the bowels of the lowest basement level will hold the horrible secret of the building's seemingly impenetrable mystery.

 

Until then, Sara engages in a furtive search for Jenny that keeps us in bewildered suspense from the very start, encountering both hostile coworkers and the increasingly intimidating Boss (who keeps in her office, seemingly as a pet, an unkempt naked man who seems to think he's a dog). 

Her only allies are an outwardly sympathetic crew foreman (Martin Jirhamn), who may or may not be on her side, and, surprisingly, her ex-husband Jon, whom she finds in decidedly decrepit condition after having spent some non-quality time in the lower level trying to get to the bottom of the mystery himself.

With their help and advice, and despite their warnings, Sara's quest to venture into the first basement (and eventually, of course, into the lowest, creepiest sub-basement) becomes a horrific journey into the paranormal in which nothing is as it seems.

Doors and entire hallways appear out of nowhere, while an unseen force seems to guide her along through the dark, mazelike corridors.  She encounters what appears to be Jenny, but is it?  Most disturbingly, there's a fleeting shadow creature reminiscent of those sleep-paralysis phantoms, only this one is more aggressively hostile.

It reminds me of the creature in the "Outer Limits" episode, "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork", of which I still have shuddery childhood memories.  Other chilling images bring to mind the scarier episodes of "The X-Files" (mainly the ones about the black oil).  

Moreover, the use of extremely limited resources in an imaginatively cinematic way reminds me of HARD REVENGE MILLY, a futuristic action-revenge thriller that also takes place mainly in one empty building and works wonders with very little.

Mainly, though, it's a unique film experience that will nourish the morbid-leaning genre fan's hunger for both the Lovecraftian and the Lynchian, whose subtle twists of reality suddenly give way to jarring images of horror.

The Blu-ray from Intervision is in 1080p full HD resolution with 2.0 audio (Swedish with English subtitles).  Extras include a making-of featurette, a director interview entitled "The Lovecraft Influence", and the film's trailer.

Brilliantly told, with excellent performances, the mood and atmosphere of FEED THE LIGHT surround the viewer like a dense fog, as we feel our way uncertainly toward an ending that is both disorienting and truly haunting.


Buy it at Severin Films

FEED THE LIGHT -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 12/8/14

 

Despite some seriously threadbare production values, DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT, aka "The Forgotten" (1973), is wonderfully weird and deliriously demented. Lensed in Texas on a shoestring budget and in a single location, this dark madhouse shocker starts out messed-up and just gets more messed-up as it goes along.

Set in a large, seedy old house that serves as an insane asylum, the story revolves around a tightly-knit group of crazies presided over by Dr. Stephens (Michael Harvey), whose methods of treatment are somewhat unconventional.

This includes handing one of the nuttiest residents an axe and encouraging him to chop away his hostilities on a handy log out in the yard, which is great until the guy gives Dr. Stephens a nice big chop in the neck when his back is turned. Exit Dr. Stephens before the titles have even moseyed into view.

Next in charge of the place is the matronly Dr. Masters (Anne MacAdams in a solid performance), who regards the inmates as family and doesn't want to disrupt their routine with anything as pesky as a murder investigation. So she sweeps the whole matter under the rug (so to speak) right before the new nurse that he hired earlier arrives unexpectedly, ready to start work.

Although initially gung-ho about nursing and eager to delve into her new job, it doesn't take long before pretty, perky Nurse Charlotte (1972 Playboy covergirl Rosie Holotik, HORROR HIGH) regrets ever laying eyes on the place as she contends with a hostile and domineering Dr. Masters and meets the downright unnerving nutcases wandering around loose at every turn.

There's the insecure nympho constantly ripping off her clothes and begging every man she meets to "love" her (including the guy who shows up to fix the phone), the former army sergeant who's still fighting some war, the drug-pilfering Goth chick, the frizzy-haired nerd who keeps popping up everywhere like a giddy poodle, and the childless young woman pitifully coddling a doll as though it were real, having already offed a nurse whom she mistakenly thought had tried to steal her "baby."

Bill McGhee (QUADROON, THE TRIAL OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD) is gentle giant Sam, a likeable lug who seems harmless enough since being lobotomized by Dr. Stephens. (Or is he?) Giving HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL's Mrs. Slydes a run for her money in the "creepy old lady" department is a cackling hag named Mrs. Callingham (Rhea MacAdams) whose cryptic warnings to Nurse Charlotte to get out of there as fast as she can will later be proven worth heeding.

Worst of all, perhaps, is the guy with the axe, Judge Oliver W. Cameron (Gene Ross, THE GOONIES, THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK), who seems to have presided over one nerve-wracking trial too many and now shows up at the least opportune times (including standing over Nurse Charlotte's bed in the dead of night) wielding whatever sharp stabbing or hacking instrument he can get his mitts on. When the nympho sets her sex-crazed sights on this wretched piece of work, they make quite a pair.

The screenplay by Tim Pope (who would become a major music video director during the 80s) moves along nicely from one unsettling situation to the next, aided by a capable directing job from former Larry Buchanan collaborator S.F. Brownrigg and a cast of actors who, while mostly unpolished, really throw themselves into their roles--often with surprising intensity.

Imaginative writing helps the story avoid getting too cliched while supplying plenty of scintillating dialogue and unexpected plot twists, with a surprise ending that you won't see coming unless you're one of those "I saw it coming" types.

The film's leisurely pace is punctuated by a few startlingly grotesque scenes--one in particular in which a patient is found one morning with her tongue having been cut out during the night--while building to a nightmarish free-for-all finale that pretty much pulls out all the stops. It all boils down to who kills who, who gets away and who doesn't, and who really is or isn't who we think they are. Oh yeah, and somebody finally looks in that basement, too.

The DVD from Film Chest is in 4 x 3 full screen with original mono sound. No subtitles or extras.

With an eerie atmosphere and weirdness to burn, DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT transcends its meager budget to deliver the gruesome goods for the horror fan who appreciates a good B-movie with some imagination behind it. It may not be terrifying, but don't be surprised if you feel it warping your mind just a bit.

DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT -- DVD Review by Porfle