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This movie has been on my Netflix queue for quite a while so I can safely say that I've wanted to see it since before Juno was out. This is the fourth Herschell Gordon Lewis film I've seen so far and only the second I've liked, the other was Two Thousand Maniacs. This, much like Two Thousand Maniacs, is a good movie. Not because it actually has substance and is well thought out, but because it is a lot of fun to watch and has become a cult classic.

Let's be honest for a minute here, when Herschell Gordon Lewis was directing films, he had no idea what he was doing. As a friend of mine said "he is the Ed Wood of gore films." I have to agree completely. The editing is always choppy and horrible, the music is poorly placed, the acting seems to be straight out of a junior high play, and nothing seems believable. This brings me to the gore. If HGL only got one thing right in his career, it was gore. The gore in this film is awesome and cheesy. He may have made bad films, but they sure are entertaining.

Sorry for going off on so many tangents, I'll get back to this movie. The story follows a TV reporter and her boyfriend who attend a magician's show of blood and dismemberment. They become suspicious of several deaths being linked to the show. It's a simple story but it is a lot of fun. I really like the magician theme. The bad acting factor definitely applies in this movie. I often wonder where HGL found these people. But as always, the gore is magnificent(no pun intended) and almost saves the movie. I had a lot fun with it.

See this movie if you're a fan of Herschell Gordon Lewis and you won't find much of anything new but it is a very good time. Go! Now!

The second most used plot device (boy meets girl is the first) happens to be one of my favorites, Man Vs. Man. The Most Dangerous Game (based upon a short story) is about an eccentric hunter who has hunted every single animal there is to hunt except one. Man. On his tropical island surrounded by dangerous coral reefs he seeks out prey so he can add them to his trophy case. That is until the day he happens to meet the world's most famous big game hunter. This excellent film was shot by the same crew that was shooting King Kong (both films nearly have the same cast) Between takes they would shoot this one. If you want to see where it all started, then this is it!!

Highly recommended.

A+

In the town of Tromaville New Jersey, janitor nerd Melvin Fern (Mark Torgel) has been picked on and bullied by the jocks at the Tromaville gym until a prank goes horribly wrong when he falls into a barrel of toxic chemicals. The material somehow transforms him into a muscular and powerful mutant creature called "The Toxic Avenger" (Mitchell Cohen) and has a powerful instinct to kill only evil people and save Innocent people. He soon becomes the town's monster hero and falls in love with a lovely blind woman named Sarah (Andree Maranda) but the local crooks especially the wicked Mayor Belgoody (Pat Ryan Jr.) who all wants him dead.

A brilliantly hilarious, entertaining and gory as hell horror comedy that became Troma's landmark film and made the studio the popular cult independent studio that it is today. Yes the acting is laughable and the film gets a little cheesy, but this is pure escapism at it's best! The film was originally given an "X" rating for it's extreme violence and gore such numerous head crushing and brutality. But the movie went on to become one of the greatest cult movies of all time, this is definitely a movie for those with a strong stomach and warped sense of humor.

Oh yeah! This is what us genre fans like to call a REAL horror film! "Deranged" is shocking, insensitive, cold-hearted and features a 'you-don't-like-it-go-to-hell'-honesty you can't possibly walk away from! This is the pretty damn factual, and therefore hugely disturbing, reconstruction of the case of Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein. This guy was crazier and far more dangerous than any fictional horror character could ever be and therefore he was a nearly endless source of inspiration for independent filmmakers who wanted to bring a horrific tale. "Deranged" appears to be very cheap and amateurish, but it's one of the rare films in which the low budget production values actually contribute in making the story more grim and realistic! Ed Gein really was a poor and simple-minded farmer who went absolutely berserk after the death of his beloved mother and he refused to accept her passing away by replacing her with cadavers that he kept in his house. The characters' names have been altered, as well as the timing of the story, but Ezra Cobb's actual crimes are frighteningly truthful and portrayed with a chilling eye for detail. The film's biggest trump is unquestionably the casting of the rather unknown actor Roberts Blossom whose impressive and straight-faced performance will make you more than once wonder whether he isn't a real madman! Other aspects that definitely increase the creepiness are the constant funeral music that guides the film and the colorless, depressing set pieces. "Deranged" is not a total gorefest (mainly due to the lack in budget) but the murders are nonetheless explicitly illustrated and quite bloody. Strangely enough, the film's devastating tone is regularly undercut with brilliant flashes of morbid black humor, like Ezra's encounter with an overweight widow who talks to her deceased husband. In short, "Deranged" is a typically 70's cult treasure that should be watched by every horror fan on this planet.

Like a true horrorfreak, I get a kick out of hunting down all the films for which Tom Savini did the make-up. `Friday the 13th' and `Dawn of the Dead' are the obvious ones, but the real treats can be found in the overlooked early 80's slasher section. `Maniac' and `Nightmare in a Damaged Brain' are perfect examples and so is this little gruesome tale. The Prowler doesn't outshine the mainstream horror movies when it comes to plot, characters or twists?but it does show some nauseating and hard to digest sequences. The film also has a pretty atmospheric and mood-setting opening. We learn how young WWII soldiers return to the US after the war. One of them finds a letter of his high-school sweetheart upon his arrival in which she's dumping him. During the Graduation celebration of her school, the girl (Rosemary) and her new boyfriend are brutally slaughtered by pitchfork. 35 years later, the town finally decides to organize a new school-dance. Unfortunately, this event also causes the return of the army-uniformed madman. The characters aren't exactly intriguing and the climax is far from surprising, but the brutality of the killings is definitely worth it. We're even treated to lovely head-explosion that lives up to the one in Maniac. Thank you Tom Savini! Compared with the overload of polite and ethically correct (read = boring) slashers, the Prowler looks fresh and very entertaining. Director Joseph Zito also signed for one of the better F13 sequels as well as a few over-the-top Chuck Norris action flicks. I took me quite some time to finally find The Prowler and I feel no shame in recommending it to real horror fans. If you can't stand blood or in case you have a sensitive throat, this film will not leave a good impression behind. Otherwise?enjoy!

First of all, yes, some of these scenes are REAL, and yes some are obviously FAKE. But of the real scenes of death/ tribes hunting and killing in Africa/ autopsies/ cryogenic freezing are mostly made to look like a documentary. The fake ... er, excuse me, 'reenacted' scenes are less convincing: as said here in earlier reviews, complete with multiple camera angles and editing etc. are not necessary, detract from the overall effect, and hurt this movie's credibility.

The scene involving an alligator attack featuring an interviewer from "channel 9" is obviously fake: No other identification is given as far as, let's say, "Channel 9 News in Miami" or a station id, something like "WXXX Channel 9 News". It doesn't display the interviewer's name or the names of the people he's interviewing, and they keep editing away from the actual gator attack.

The portions of the movie dealing with real slaughterhouses, cryogenic freezing and rioting, again, are fairly graphic, but again they're done in a documentary type of way, not trying to be a splatter movie like some of this movie's ripoffs ("Traces of Death" immediately comes to mind)

This isn't for those with a weak stomach, but watch it in the same frame of mind you would watch "National Geographic" on safari in Africa or something like that and it doesn't seem as terrible as some have said. (Note to the producers: in one scene the narrator refers to 'the country of Africa' - Africa is not a country it's a continent)

What can one say about Ichi the Killer? I do have to say, without a doubt, it is one of the most unique films I have ever seen. I was afraid going in, after hearing all of the hype, that it would be gore just for the sake of gore. But the way it is portrayed and the characters are what really drive the movie and make it stand out from other gorefests. It may be my sick personality, but I found myself laughing a lot throughout the movie. There is a lot of black humor in the film, which I enjoy. I would not consider this a horror movie by any means though, as I was not scared at all while watching it and it had none of the tendencies of a traditional horror film. The only thing that kept me from giving it 10 stars is the ending, which is a bit abstract, but I'm sure it was intended that way. But I would recommend this film to anyone, cause it's something everyone should experience. The only movie I could compare this to would be Dead Alive, and that is a very loose comparison. Just do yourself a favor and watch it.

If you thought David Cronenberg or David Lynch could make weird but interesting movies then see this horror comedy from 'The Lord of the Rings'-director Peter Jackson. There is a good chance that a lot of people don't like it or simply can't stand it, but I must admit I had a very good time watching 'Bad Taste'. The story is about four guys from the New Zealand National Air and Space Defense League. They arrive in a small town in New Zealand that has been taken over by aliens. The aliens have disguised themselves as human beings. The four start a battle against the aliens. The scenes are bloody, filled with gore but in a way it is so over the top it gets more funny than filthy. There is one scene involving alien-vomit that is really disgusting, but I was able to sit through. Although it is funny most of the time there is also suspense. The music helps with that and the camera that is always moving also helps creating a certain atmosphere. Of course this is a movie where the heroes (almost) never get hit and the aliens every time, but here it is done with a reason. The shoot-outs are hilarious in their own weird way. If you can stand the gore and if you are a little open minded there is good chance you find something interesting in this movie.

Ruggero Deodato may be the most hated film director on the planet for his disturbing exploitation masterpiece that is Cannibal Holocaust. It's truly one of the few films that lives up to the hype its marketing gives it. The posters scream, "The one that goes all the way!" How true. "Can a movie go too far?" I think in this instance, yes. Cannibal Holocaust is now and will always be the most disturbing motion picture ever made. The brutality in what it shows and the unbelievable disregard for emotion that the film makers portray is enough to make you shudder without actually seeing the movie. Some of the displays in the movie are hard to even believe a human being could think up such vile and putrid acts, and they're shown in raw, uncut form. Deodato doesn't try to stray away from the action or try to censor with camera tricks. He sticks the camera right into the mix and displays some of the most shocking and nauseating images ever put to film. Of course it's perverse, and of course it's putrid, objectionable, and all other vile things you can think of, but despite all this, it's still an incredible film; a true landmark in movie history. The movie begins with a TV program about the documentarians who go missing - Alan Yates, director; Faye Daniels, script girl and Alan's fiancé; and Mark Tomasso and Jack Anders, both cameramen. NYU anthropology professor Harold Monroe heads to the Amazon to lead the search "team," which consists of a hardened jungle guide and his young, talented assistant. They witness disturbing and shocking rituals by all three local tribes, the Yakumo, Yanomano, and Shamitari, which is the beginning of the moral stand Deodato takes. After gaining some trust with the Yanomanos, Monroe discovers that the documentarian troupe had been killed. Frustrated with the Yanomanos' hostility and brutality, Monroe trades the group's footage (possessed by the Yanomanos) for a tape recorder. Back in New York, he views the material and discovers who the real savages are. As the film starts out, we sympathize with these four who, for the sake of information, go into the jungle for research, only to be savagely mutilated by brutal primitives. However, we come to realize that the natives were the victims of civilized society by being tortured and exploited in incredibly grotesque and inhumane ways by the documentarians, which ultimately lead to their demise in an incredible, horrifying, and disturbing climax. The climax is all the more disturbing that Faye, the script girl, received the full blunt of retribution, when she was, in fact, seemingly innocent and took no participation in the evil (and actually tries to stop it). The trouble is that she's powerless to the three other men in her group. What Deodato's intentions were to include a character like Faye is unclear, other than maybe to heighten the disturbing factor of the film's climax. It pulls no punches. There is no chance for you to escape. Every time you think you're finally safe, you're slammed with more and more visceral content. It never stops. However, Deodato does make these horrifying and disturbing images into a cinematic masterpiece. What separates Cannibal Holocaust from other exploitative sleaze (other than being competently made and well acted) is the inclusion of subtle social commentary. Had this been a film that was grotesque for the sake of being grotesque (like Lenzi's later Cannibal Ferox), it would be as reprehensible as many claim. However, the movie instead tests our ethics and our stomachs with some of the most realistically gruesome images ever portrayed on film. The message is simple: while we can think of outsiders and, in some cases, primitives as savages, our hate and discrimination can turn US into the savages (such as racist hate of minorities). The film makes us look into ourselves. We came from savagery, and savages we are. The pinnacle of this is during a scene where the film makers impale a young girl that they just raped, and are smiling at the disturbing result. This also reflects what incredibly visceral images we as humans can find as entertaining, and also suggests that the media stages their sensationalized footage (like the film makers in the movie). And if not, it condemns the media for focusing on the violence and exploitation of the news instead of trying for honest journalism. How is easily explained. The team's goal was to produce harrowing and nasty footage, all to make into a "documentary," and obviously, the more shocking, the more unbelievable, the more successful, and staged the footage to achieve this. The all too obvious irony is that this film is in itself morally reprehensible, and still has an incredible following and fan base. Though it is an incredible film, it's obviously not for everyone, especially the animal activist, as six animals are actually killed on screen, which is probably the most controversial aspect of the film, and the worst part of which is that the animal killings are actually unnecessary, and have no ground in the plot or morals of the rest of the movie. However, the fake human violence alone, whether it's simple gore or horrific rape, is enough to make it the most brutal movie experience ever. Other mainstream shockers such as Texas Chain Saw Massacre pale in comparison to the savagery of what is Cannibal Holocaust. Never have I felt so depressed after viewing a film, which is amplified by Riz Ortolani's beautiful, flowing melody that shocks and disturbs at times by playing during the most disturbing parts of the movie. If you are able to stomach the film enough to see it, hopefully you'll be able to look past the violence, disgusting material, cruel animal killings, and the outright evil this film depicts and see the true nature of a political statement. The downfall of the cannibal genre, Cannibal Holocaust truly stands in a league of its own.

This movie, was the funniest thing I have ever seen. I watched it with tears of laughter in my eye, with no time to wipe them off, seeing a funnier, more dazzlingly inventive scene would immediately follow. I could not believe that the guy who made this is going to be directing the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Here's a short summary of some of the things I saw in it- A baby zombie Zombies having sex A group of zombies being chopped up with a lawn mower Talking intestines A kung-fu zombie-ass-kicking priest A zombie's head being embedded onto a lightbulb so it's face lights up like a Jack-O-Lantern These things are saved for the last 40 minutes of the film, and the start is pretty slow, but once you get to the action, you've got a truly special film

"El Topo", is probably Jodorowsky's most talked about film next to "Santa Sangre". Like all his films it is bizarre and full of symbolism. El Topo is a cowboy dressed in black. He is out for vengeance, kind of like the Biblical God of the old testament. Him and his son ride through a town of massacred civilians. He wants justice and to win the heart of a girl, Mara. He gives up his only son, in an act that could be looked at like God, or even Abraham. He has to kill seven master gunfighters. After all the violence and carnage, he is injured and taken under the care of cripples, dwarfs and other various misfits. He is reborn, almost like a Bhuddist monk. He becomes like the new testament God, Jesus Christ. El Topo is now like a savior to the oppressed. He vows to dig a tunnel out of the cave so the cripples can live among the villagers. The town is taken over by religious fanatics. Poor villagers are branded with the religious icon by force. An upper class of elitists now dominate the town. "El Topo" is beautiful, and chocked full of violent and disturbing imagery. The film became a popular cult sensation in the early 70's. It was embraced by the likes of John Lennon, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, Peter Gabriel and Pink Floyd. More recently celebrities like Marilyn Manson and the Coen Brothers have talked about being strongly influenced by Jodorowsky's work. "El Topo" is important, because it was the first midnight movie. If people could forget about "the Rocky Horror Picture Show" just for a second, they'd realize that this is one of the most important cult films. A bizarre and surreal western that can never be imitated. The only 3 surreal westerns I can think of to pre-date "El Topo" that have many similarities are Brazilian director Glauber Rocha's "Black God, White Devil" (1964) and his follow up "Antonio Das Mortes" (1969) and the Italian Spaghetti western "Django, Kill if you Live, Shoot" (1967).

I remember seeing the cover for this film at a local video store as a small kid, and I was scared just of the Santa Claus reaching his axe out of the chimney. Now, years later, I finally got around to renting this little holiday shocker. The film is about a young boy, Billy Chapman. It's Christmas Eve, and he's riding with his parents and baby brother to visit their grandfather (who is in a mental institution). While he isn't thought to speak, the grandfather tells Billy that Santa punishes the naughty kids while his parents talk with the doctors. This causes Billy to be afraid of Santa Claus. So, continuing on their drive, the family is stopped by a man in a Santa suit, who is a psychotic murderer/robber. The man in the suit ultimately kills both of Billy's parents, after raping his mother. Some odd years later, Billy is a now semi-older boy who is at St. Mary's Orphanage. He is abused by Mother Superior, the ruling nun of the house who loves "punishing" the kids. As Billy grows older, he lands a job at a toy store, thanks to Sister Maragaret, who is a nicer, more understanding nun. But as Christmas approaches and Billy is forced to wear a Santa suit for the job, flashbacks of his terrible encounter years ago return, and in a bout of psychosis, he goes on a rampage, slaughtering everyone who's been "naughty" this year. I enjoyed this movie quite a bit actually, mostly because of the decent story and the unique and interesting ideas that are put into it. The murder of Billy's parents was pretty gruesome, and the killings Billy commits on his rampage are even more so. My favorite death sequence by far was the sledding scene, I thought it was very creative the way one of the sledders was executed, even though it's a little clichéd. The Sister Maragaret was the most lovable character in the film, because unlike the cold Mother Superior, she actually has a heart and cares about Billy, who experienced something a child never should have to. On the other hand, Mother Superior is hell bent on using her "methods" of punishment, which are usually cruel and inhumane, especially for a child. There are some laughable bits in this film, especially Billy yelling "naughty" at his victims, and the performances aren't wonderful, but it is a B-slasher film on most levels so these things are passable. The only minor disappointment was how the film ended, but everything that led up to it was just great. This film's release caused an uproar of extremely angered parents, claiming that this film had completely ruined the entire Christmas spirit, simply because it portrays a killer dressed up as Santa Claus. I find that whole thing a bit ridiculous, it's an R-rated movie, so don't let your kids watch it! People are too touchy. It also received horrible reviews from critics all around, from Roger Ebert to Leonard Maltin, and everyone else that the film came across. It was ultimately banned two weeks after it's theatrical run in November 1984, and was shelved for two years and then re-released on an "uncut" VHS videotape. To sum things up, "Silent Night, Deadly Night" is a bizarre, interesting, and somewhat unique horror movie. It is in the same league as the other average slasher films of it's time, but the premise of it all makes it stand out just a little more. While it isn't nearly as great as Bob Clark's 1974 film "Black Christmas", "Silent Night, Deadly Night" is a worthy effort in the genre, good fun holiday horror. Another very fun film to watch during the Christmas season A very enjoyable flick. The kills are top notch, the acing is... passable. The setting is spooky ad the music is super duper great. So rather Santa's raping you, strangling you with Christmas lights, or decapitating you, there's tons of Christmas bloodshed to go around. You've Made it Through Halloween, now try and survive Christmas I love this movie, it was scary, cool, and just...cool. It had nice gore FX, a scary as hell killer, which we still care about even though he is on a Frenzy, and the movie had good acting. Especially Robert Brian Wilson as Billy, It is too bad that he didn't go on to do bigger things. Anyway, I recomend this movie to just about anyone. And praise the lord that they are making a nice DVD version. But Avoid the Sequels at all costs!!! Have a nice day and rent SNDN today!