THE CALL OF CTHULU (2005)

I make no secret of the fact I'm a big fan of the 1920's author HP Lovecraft.  I honestly feel this this film really captures the emotion and mood of HP Lovecrafts writings, which is a hard thing to do given the otherworldly nature of his writings... The movie is a silent film with no dialogue, and shot in grainy black and white.... the film footage is cut with text/sign board dialogue but this only serves to obscure the and mystify the occult worlds created by Lovecraft and suits his novella's perfectly. I assumed this film was made shortly after the book was written, but as it turns out it was made in 2005 to fit the look and feel of a film made in the 1920's the time when the story was created.


As a recreation of the golden age era of science fiction / occult / horror cinema and I think it perfectly harnesses the theory that the scariest things are that which cannot be seen.  Unfortunately the great beast that is the mighty Cthulu is later seen and it kind of wrecks things a little (the creature fx seem outdated... I would have liked a bit more effort spent on the Cthulu demon but realistically that is how he would have looked had this film been made in the 1920's anyway) but that's my only grip with an otherwise captivating and authentic look back at the past of film making,

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PSYCHO (1960)

This is the first horror movie I ever saw... I wouldn't so much call it horror as it is now 'cute' by today's standards but still a really cool film. Of course directed by master film maker Alfred Hitchcock.

The film follows the exploits of a young real estate secretary who absconds with $40000 (a lot of money back then) entrusted to her real estate agency by a rich Texan. As fate would have it her road trip ends up stopping at the fateful "Bates Hotel" on a dark and rainy night. She then finds herself the object of the affections of one Norman Bates, hotel manager, taxidermy afficionado, and man child with very serious mother issues. I won't go too much further into the plot of the film for fear of ruining it for the first time viewer

The film itself is extremely well shot and executed and while there is virtually no gore, the mood created, dialogue and music all contribute to a very suspenseful and engrossing watch. I guess there in lies the challenge to create a genuinely engrossing thriller with virtually no explicit gore and Hitchcock was the master.

I'm not sure what horror films that came before it would have shown in the way of how the mind of a killer really works but to my knowledge this is the first film of its kind and may have invented the slasher genre, I'm sure the Friday 13th took some influence from this film as well as the many Simpsons references (Skinner and Agnes) ... you know you've had an influence on popular culture when you make into the Simpsons! Even the harsh string arrangements (violin or cello I assume) used in the background of the knife murder have become a part of modern culture and used to create a mood of fear in many movies since.

The good thing about this film is that you can watch it with your horror loving offspring, without scarring them for life, like some of the other films reviewed on this site would do. This is a film I would recommend for anyone, not just horror movie fans, do yourself a favour and watch it!



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RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985)

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD

Hmmm..... I had been searching for this film for a while now and upon finding it was extremely excited to pop it up on the television and see how it went.

I got the same feeling when I started watching this as when I saw "Pretty In Pink" or "Saint Elmo's Fire" or the "Breakfast Club" some extreme '80's force is strong with this one.... To be honest I was half expecting Molly Ringwald could pop out at any given moment.

Sometimes a movie is just a bunch of stuff that happens and this is that movie, it follows on from the zombie themes created by "Night of the Living Dead", in fact creator Russo worked with Romero on "Night of the Living Dead" but parted ways sometime after. Why did it take him so long to put out a movie? Who knows? Either way this things is just so god damned cheesy its hard to take seriously.... Some rather crappy dialogue and awful acting follow making me wonder if the production team were also just a bunch of unpaid zombie interns. The zombies themselves are rather comical and the killings rather uninspired, its comical but sometimes tragic as well. Its not funny enough to be a comedy (like Brain Dead or Shaun of the Dead) but not gritty enough to be taken seriously as a zombie movie. One good thing about this movie is that it's kind of like the zombie film that you can safely watch with your pre-teen child, or your grandma ... its fairly safe and won't gross out the non-initiated. Perhaps the type of movie you take to a bad taste 80's party.

It obviously had an impact on modern TV as the 'brains' bit you hear over used on this certainly made its way into modern zombie culture (that Halloween episode of the Simpsons for one)

Some horror movie fans really like this movie. Personally I don't get it. I might give it another watch at a later date to see if it grabs me the second time around.

I like to party as anyone who knows me would know..... I saw no party in this film. If you are new to zombies I recommend you check out Night of the living Dead or if you want a laugh Brain Dead 

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DAY OF THE DEAD (1985)

Day of the Dead

Day of the dead marks George Romero's third outing into the world of the undead the first of course being Night of the living dead waaaaay back in 1968, then Dawn of the Dead in 1978 and now this one...

From what I gather Night of the Living Dead gained some notoriety for its gore content, well this would have given those same cry babies a coronary attack! The gore content has been upped ten fold from NOTLD and is another step beyond Dawn of the Dead, the gore and special effects are looking great which results in one hell of a blood bath, and fun ride for the viewer!



The movie itself fasts forwards to a point where zombies have taken over much of the free world the last remaining humans some military and some research staff have been isolated in a military bunker / research facility type thing and trying to figure out how they are going to survive. Despite the fact the undead have decimated the world population the research staff are still conducting experiments on how the zombies work, and trying to domesticate them. This of course sits at odds with the military staff, and results in tension between the last of the humans and creates a cool sub-plot to the story. In a way this is really cool as it analyses the zombies and allows the viewer to understand what makes them tick, their memories of their past lives and the instincts that keep them hunting human flesh. I think its a good departure from the first two films and gives the horror fan a more cerebral look at the zombie. Some might think the film is a little slow paced, as it is fairly long... but for the conclusion of the original zombie trilogy I think its fitting.

Over all its a fun, but more intelligent look at the brainless undead creatures we have all come to love. Definately worth a watch for any gore / zombie fan!

We managed to find  a good copy of this on you tube so go check it out while you can!

Also be sure to check out our reviews of George Romero's work on later films Night of the Living Dead  and  Dawn of the Dead


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BOXING HELENA

BOXING HELENA 1993

I've been trying to track this one down for ages to check it out... not much chance of seeing this one at your local DVD outlet, so I had to stream it on one of those 'free to watch' sites. I don't normally advocate those but I guess if you're not likely to find it anywhere else what can you do? This one is well worth the effort of finding it anywhere you can!


This movie is an excellently shot and produced film with Julian Sands (from the Warlock series of movies) perfectly cast as the creepy Dr. Nick who develops and unholy obsession with a one night stand he had, Helena. Try as he might he can't get her out of his head ...To be fair, Helena is one of the most beautiful creatures walking the earth.... After watching this film I think I'm a little obsessed by her... Filling out her role perfectly is Sherylin Fenn.

Helena is a man eater, she is sexy and she knows it, manipulating men and throwing them away like garbage. As a bizzare twitst of fate -helped along by Dr. Nick, would have it our dear Helena gets in a car crash and Dr. Nick seizes the opportunity to amputate her legs and later on her arms and keep her to himself for his own perverted pleasures.

This is I guess what you'd call an erotic thriller, not so much horror but the thought of obsession going as far as it did in this case is certainly unnerving, yet creepily saucy. Even though its quite a well made film I feel a little ashamed at myself for enjoying it so much.

I remember there was a bit of controversy when this film was being cast as originally it was supposed to feature Madonna, who declined the role after she had agreed to it upon realising the nudity and concepts involved in the film (I can't say I blame her either)  but despite such a genuinely disturbing plot and subject matter it failed miserably at the box office, condemened to a live of obscurity and to be featured in blogs such as this

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SPECIES (1995)

This film is not too bad really. I wouldn't call it an all time classic of either the sci-fi or horror genre but its a solid watch and quite entertaining from start to finish, despite the panning it got at the hands of serious movie critics

The film follows the "growing pains" of a young female of the extra-terrestrial variety (human and alien DNA spliced) who is bred and studied on earth. Of course the team of scientists can't contain said alien visitor due to her superhuman strength and abilities and she absconds from the care of the government facility she was contained in. Her alien DNA transforms her body into that of a VERY attractive young woman (who can't seem to keep her clothes on) who goes on the hunt for males to mate with and then destroy. Very saucy stuff indeed :)

Some of the horror effects seem a little dated by modern standards, but it doesn't take away too much from the film and of course the aliens are designed by none other than HR Gieger (who was responsible for the aliens in the Aliens series of movies) so its visually pretty cool. Overall my real complaint with this movie is that it could have been much better with a little more of a budget behind it more maybe just a bit more time spent on the special effects

There is unfortunately no decent rips of this on you tube but it is available for rent on there, or better yet it shouldn't be too hard to track down in second hand haunts and flea markets.

SLAUGHTER HIGH (1986)

Another one taken from the deepest darkest depths of the 80's... I do remember seeing this one sitting on the shelves of the local video rental store as a young horror fan but never got around to seeing it.

Once again thanks to the magic of youtube we can relive this long forgotten horror classic in all its grainy,blurry, VHS glory. I have to admit I wasn't holding out for a classic when I started this one up but sometimes you get a pleasant surprise when you're not expecting too much of anything, and this was definatley one of those times.

This follows the exploits of a group of popular kids who tormented the school nerd Marty to breaking point.  Years later the kids re-unite as adults for their high school reunion ... only its not as it seems and the popular kids of course, get picked off one by one by a now deranged Marty who has been unsuccessfully coping the effects of high school bullying in the years that have elapsed.

Again without giving away too much of the plot this is actually a quite well written and executed little gem. Some very inventive and novel killings and cool plot twists keep this a captivating and enthralling watch once you can get past the real horror of the 1980's ladies fashion on display. Some of the horror effects do come across as a little dated but all in all, I hope this does one day get a re-issue on DVD or blue ray ... maybe even a remastering. A much better movie than some of the crap out there and it would be a shame to see this fade into obscurity. Overall its no classic but still a worthy watch.

check it out for yourself!

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