Abominable (2006)

It’s time for Ryan Schifrin to make a sequel to Abominable, because with his talent and the quality of this creature feature it can’t go bad – and the ending is a perfect, well-used cliché which actually works. It’s a low budget movie, which can be noticed with the crappy pre-credits graphics, but the rest is so damn on-the-spot that it’s difficult to understand this was a SyFy Original Movie when it was released in 2006.

Matt McCoy (in a great performance, one of the few really likable heroes I’ve seen in recent years) is trapped in a wheelchair after a climbing-accident that also killed his wife. After six months the doctors think he’s read to go back to his own home, in the shadow of the mountain that killed her, together with a male nurse, Otis (Christien Tinsley, who also was the creature effects coordinator). It don’t take long until something is lurking outside the house, and soon our hero will witness how the young beautiful women in the house next door is picked off one by one…

No, it’s not Jason… It’s Bigfoot!

Actually, if you mix the Bigfoot-legend with Friday the 13^th and Rear Window you will get Abominable, and what a wonderful mix. Ryan Schifrin handles the direction as a pro and the style is old-school, calm and genuinely thrilling. He learned from the old masters, and it’s hard not to feel involved in the characters. McCoy as Preston Rogers is the best written character, and everything evolves around him. We’re seeing most of what’s happening from his point of view and not one single time are we visiting the opposite house by “ourselves”. Exactly like in Rear Window. The girls are good, but they have little to work with. Most of the supporting parts is played by excellent character actors like Jeffrey Combs, Lance Henriksen (who seem to enjoy playing just an ordinary guy!), Paul Gleason, Rex Linn and Dee Wallace.

The monster itself is fantastic. A classic man in suit, but with a very freaky face and tall as a house. He also delivers some very fun and nasty gore-scenes and the havoc he’s creating in the girls house is so cool. Some very smart editing makes everything seem more spectacular and advanced. He looks a lot like Jack Elam too, which makes it even scarier. A slightly human face which makes us connect to the creature a little bit more, and it feels more like a huge motherf**king hairy killer than a typical Bigfoot.

It’s been talk about a sequel ever since this movie became a huge success on TV and DVD, and it would have been a fantastic opportunity to spin this movie up one notch. More monsters, more gore, more cool characters – and hopefully Matt McCoy back in the wheelchair.

I’ll cross my fingers!

Madhouse (1974)

A little while ago I watched Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2. Now, I don’t think it was that terrible, though Mr Zombie still can’t direct horror. He should stick to classic non-horror exploitation. Anyway, the best thing with the movie was the character of Uncle Seymour Coffins, a local TV-host, and he’s dressed like Dr. Death! Yes, THE Dr. Death from Jim Clark’s Madhouse. A cool detail, and it also wanted be to revisit this underrated horror flick.

Vincent Price is Paul Toombes, a horror actor famous for his long series of Dr. Death-movies. This is the sixties and during a release-party of the last episode in this popular franchise, someone – maybe Toombes himself – kills his young trophy wife brutally. Paul goes insane and it’s not until twelve years later he feels ready for combat. He’s offered the lead in a new British TV-show where he’s gonna reprise his Dr. Death-character. But someone wants him to go insane again, and people are starting to die around him! Is Paul really mad, or is it someone se who wants to bring him down once and for all?

Now, this movie has gotten a lot of negative reviews over the years – and I can’t understand why. It don’t have the same black humour as the Dr. Phibes-movies or Theatre of Blood – but that can be a good thing. Madhouse is instead filled with almost only shitty people. Even Toombes himself is self-obsessed, paranoid, mean and spoiled – and so is everyone else, except maybe Julia, his production assistant (played by Natasha Pyne). Everyone else has either something to hide or just wants someone else dead. I like that. It’s a nice way of showing the cynicism in the movie-business, and it’s not far from the truth either.

In a way Price plays a more bitter version of himself, stuck in horror movies and during this time starting to become a star from the past. He do it with excellent, and it’s always fun to see him play such unsympathetic characters. Gone is the tongue in cheek, and instead we’re getting a very dark and complex version of a character Price played so many times. Peter Cushing and Robert Quarry is very competent co-actors here, especially Quarry who has a lot more interesting character than Cushing’s friendly writer-colleague.

The movie gets weirder and weirder, and the end has a hint of supernatural – which kinda not work that good. The final scene also has another tune over it in the old tape I have somewhere, and I think that music worked better. But it’s fun to hear Vincent sing a little bit of course.

Another weird thing is the PG rating. It’s has not nudity, but it’s still a quite intense and dark movie with some blood and gore (not in the same amounts as Theatre of Blood though), nasty and scary scenes. Madhouse isn’t perfect, it lacks the same wonderful pace as Phibes and Theatre, but it’s still a great seventies slasher/horror-hybrid with a great cast!

The Laughing Dead (1989)

I once saw The Laughing Dead – I think on a bootleg (and on VHS of course) – a thousand years ago and it never really left me. Not that this cheesy slice of auteur-cinema will change the world, no. But it’s colourful, very gory, a story with a lot of imagination and a steady hand by director and wonder-kid S. P. Somtow.

The story is simple: a bunch of wacky characters (for example, a New Age-couple, a party guy, a mother and son etc) is leaving their calm American life to visit the Day of the Dead festival. On their way there the bus hits the corpse of a dead girl and two Aztec Indians appears and acts strange. From now on the passengers on the bus are more or less doomed are bricks in an evil game played by the mysterious Dr. Um-tzec (S.P. Somtow himself). When their leader, a priest who lost his faith, is transformed into a demon, everyone now that the basketball has hit the… fan?

The Laughing Dead has the most uneven (mostly “un”) acting I’ve ever seen. This don’t have to be a bad thing, because it adds to the comic book feeling of the movie, which cinematography and special effects are as colourful as the acting. I noticed that there was a lot of non-actors, some writers and special effects-people doing acting – which can explain the sudden bursts of over- and underacting – and everything inbetween. The one that makes the most even performance is Tim Sullivan (the priest), but it’s like with him as the others, when the screaming starts everyone is more convincing than when they’re gonna do drama.

But enough with the less good things. I’m surprised that this movie isn’t more talked about among horror- and splatter-fans. It’s not better or worse than a lot of the other more well-regarded movies from the same era for example. It has a lot of style, nice location and competent directing. What really makes it even more fun is the gore and special effects, which there is plenty off. All in graphic absurdity! Nothing is really off-screen and we’re treated to head-choppings, entrail-rippings, heart-stealings, arm-decapitations and a lot more! The movie ends with two big monsters (kinda) fighting each other – both transformed from humans to the final monsters! John Carl Buechler is credited on the DVD-cover with the impressive special effects, but now when I’m doing some research I can’t link him at all to the movie – though it has his feeling all over it.

S.P. Somtow has gone to be the artistic director of the Bangkok Opera – but according to the never reliable IMDB he’s also involved as a writer on Brian Yuzna’s upcoming creature feature Amphibious 3D!

I hope The Laughing Dead someday will be released in a really DVD (or Blu-Ray, it would look great in that format) with commentary by Somtow andsome interviews with all these crazy actors. I would buy it anyway.

(and I saw him, without looking at IMDB: Forrest J. Ackerman in one of his many cameos. I had the pleasure of meeting him many years ago in his LA home, a memory for life!)

Crack in the World (1965)

I have no nails left. This is a common syndrome from watching Crack in the World, Andrew Marton’s classic disaster-flick with Dana Andrews in the performance of his career. It’s silly to criticize new movies, to compare them with old movies (and of course, all the older movies are always better according to the fan boys out there). But now, for once, this is a movie that is in every way better than modern examples like The Day after Tomorrow or 2012. Not that it has the same kinda budget, but it’s a real nail-biter and has character that somehow feels real and that you can relate to.

Here we have Dana Andrews as the aged, sick and very bitter Dr. Stephen Sorenson. He’s married with the young and beautiful Dr. Maggie Sorenson (Janette Scott). She actually loves him, for real. But the tension is very frail because of her former lover, Dr. Ted Rampion (Kieron Moore), who works with them. Stephen is convinced that she don’t want him anymore, and uses this to put Ted in a bad light.

In this case this silly game is more serious, because they together are trying to reach the hot interior of the earth to from there gain energy. It’s just that Ted believes that the way Stephen wants to do it, is dangerous and will create the destruction of the earth! And guess what, he was right…

The budget was probably not that high, but Crack in the World still looks magnificent. The look is big and fancy and with intelligent direction by Andrew Marton. He let the actors faces speak, and never cuts away to fast or let the camera linger to long. He knows he has a great script to work with, and in the centre of it is Dana Andrews with a very complex character. He shows off every emotion, but never too much. It’s subtle, but still manages to affects the audience. All the other actors are wonderful, but Dana steals the show.

Now, the script builds the story quite slow. The movie never had so much money to show all the disasters, and it’s a lot of talking about what’s happening around in the world – but the further the movies goes, the more of Eugène Lourié’s awesome special effects. Lots of explosions, a couple of very nice miniatures and a very tense final where all the disaster clichés comes to use and still it feels fresh and original.

It’s recently been released by Olive Films, so get this DVD – it’s an order!

Ten Giallos for the Internet Generation

I have some suggestions for Internet-related Giallos here, I hope you like them. Maybe the Internet-generation, the computer-nerds out there needs their own Giallo's. Probably they just feel those old movies isn't hot enough. They need something to relate to, which of course is understandable.

Strip Nude for your Webcam

Don't Torture a Forum-Newbie

The Blog O'Nine Readers

7 Pokes on Facebook-page

Naked you Surf

An Old Perv Using a Womans Name

Forbidden Downloads by a Greedy Nerd

French Sex Sites

404 Errors on Grey Monitor

Bring on more titles if you feel for it! :)

För mina svenska läsare: nytt förlag, Oddbooks!

Ett tillfälligt avbrott från mitt vanliga skrivande på den här bloggen, sorry :)

Jag slog till och startade Oddbooks, ett förlag som kommer att specialisera sig främst på skräcklitteratur, men även annat som kan vara av intresse. Än så länge så finns det inte så mycket info, men håll gärna koll på Oddbooks hemsida eller på Facebook, så får ni veta vad som händer :) Det känns nervigt, men också kul. Det var länge sedan jag tog mig för något sånt här nämligen! Välkomna!

Nu, tillbaka till normaliteten igen - hur normalt det nu kan bli på den här bloggen ;)

Yor: Hunter from the Future (1983)

It was 27 years ago today, since Yor: Hunter from the Future came here to stay. It went up on 1425 theaters, played for a week and earned Paramount 2,810,199 dollars! Not bad, really. Yor was a co-production between Italy, France and Turkey – and it’s Turkey the movie is shot in (at least the exteriors). It might now win any Oscars, but it’s a helluva entertaining, silly and wacky adventure with a lot of cheese!

Reb Brown IS Yor, a handsome warrior with nice blond hair (he reminds me of Steve Oedekerk somehow too…) who comes to saves the day when a Ka-Laa (Corinne Clery) and her guardian Pag (Luciano Pigozzi) is attacked by huge dinosaur when they’re trying to catch themselves a Pigosaurus (it looks like a little pig with a dinosaur-outfit). Ka-Laa falls in love directly and everything is fine… until they village is attacked by something that looks like cavemen! Yor, Ka-Lee and Pag escapes! After some adventures – and the immortal line “Damn talking box!” – they meets a bunch of alien Stanko Molnar-clones and the evil Overlord (John Steiner), who wants to rule the world!

Something like that. The story is quite straight forward (it was cut down from being a mini-series to a 90 minute long feature) and aims for action and adventure all the time. Director Antonio Margheriti is mostly known for his excellent work with gothic horrors and modern action, so this is a departure from his normal line of work. But as usual he handles the direction very well, and it’s stylish and competently told. He knows how to point the camera and makes everything – except some sets and the dinosaurs – look big and expensive. He really uses the Turkish exteriors in an excellent way.

Like all of Margheriti’s work he offers a lot of well made and cool miniatures that most of the times gets blown to pieces or destroyed in some other way. Here he had help from his son Edoardo and daughter Antonella. Most of the effects look great, and I’m especially impressed by the spaceship that flies away at the end. Could it be a real remote controlled miniature plane made to look like a spaceship?

I’m not kidding above, Reb Brown IS Yor. No one else than him could have done this role so perfect. Always a twinkle in the eye, a huge blonde wig, a fit body and doing mighty fine in the action sequences. Corinne Clery is lovely and Pigozzi do what he do best, playing himself. John Steiner is also in it, as the Overlord, but don’t have so much to do really, except looking evil under his hood.

Yor is a very fine and cheesy Barbarian/Sci-Fi/Adventure-movie from the master of miniatures. It fully deserves it’s legendary status and one day, I hope and pray, it will arrive on glorious Blu-ray in it’s full complete form.