Werewolves on Wheels (1971)

The 70's was without a doubt the golden age of devil worshipping and good old Satanism, especially if the movies was set in California or New York, which is odd by the way. Why do devils and occultism fits so good in sunny Los Angeles or on the streets of Manhattan? I guess we partly can blame Anton LaVey, but he also dealt with something very close to atheism and the mocking of religion by spoofing the rituals of the believers, rather than actually worshipping a the Christian devil. My favourite movies in his genre is Michael Winner's The Sentinel and Robert Fuest's The Devil's Rain, but Werewolves on Wheels could actually - at least after another watch - be one of my favourites, even if it's closer to classic exploitation than a serious attempt on hardcore horror.

A crazy (what else) biker gang, The Devil's Advocates, decides to sleep in a fancy garden belonging to a strange mansion - the rumours it belongs to sect of Satanists! It won't take long until the satanic monks comes out and feeds the bread and wine and soon they're all asleep. Next day they continue their travel, but this time some of them has become werewolves and starts killing the bikers one by one during their road trip!

Werewolves of Wheels must have some kinda record when it comes to the amount of slightly homoerotic man-hugs. The bikers hugs and hugs some more, rolls around in the sand and then - like an after-thought - makes sweet love to their "mama". This, of course, makes Werewolves on Wheels even better and more awesome, because even if the bikers are as annoying as always (I never felt connected with movie-bikers, they're just like big, stupid children!) they also feel more emotional and softer than usual. The man-love gives the movie an aura of hippie, both the smell and the interaction between the characters.

Even if all the details are there it's hard to categorize Werewolves on Wheels as a horror movie. Yeah I know, it has both werewolf-attacks and satanic rites - but it has the soul and mind of a biker-movie and I love that odd combination. It makes it even original and very creative. From the opening shots at the satanic mansion (which looks like some old 30's Hollywood-place, close to 10050 Cielo Drive...) to the effective, almost surreal desert shots during the last part.

It's a simple story, like all real exploitation movies should have, but what makes this better than most other biker-flicks is the quality of the cinematography, the wonderful stoned acting and the beautifully framed satanic rituals (lots of fisheye and wide-angle shots of course). It also have a couple of the coolest werewolves in American movie history, on the same quality level as Paul Naschy - and quite similar to his creations also. The blood - RED like only American exploitation could do it - splashes around a lot and it's quite violent gory in a cheap way, often in slow-mo. I also like how the used the sound of angry dogs as the werewolf-roars, which makes it even more realistic - which reminds me of a short scene outside a gas station which feels almost documentary in style, both the acting and the cinematography. They sure could make movies during the 70's...

Werewolves on Wheels is a surprisingly good and bloody movie. It would fit perfectly in double feature with The Devil's Rain and I think you should check it out as soon as possible. 

Tormented (1960)

Nothing bores me more than Mystery Science Theater 3000. Yeah, mostly because they laugh AT movies and not WITH them. They're actually believe that most filmmakers have no idea what they're doing, that they don't understand that a movie sometimes is bad. It's like petting a proud artist, who works hard with little money, and look down on them. Tormented is one of the movies that has been butchered by the idiots from MST3K and I can't in my wildest imagination understand why? It's cheap, yeah, but that's 95 % of the movies being made. Bert I. Gordon is one of my favourite directors and it's always interesting to see him make a movie that not includes giant animals or other monsters. Tormented is a classic, effective ghost story.

Richard Carlson is jazz musician Tom Stewart, who's about to get married to Meg (Lugene Sanders), something that's not that popular in the mind of her father - "It's bad enough accepting a musician into this family, but a jazz musician?!" - but Tom has bigger problems than that. His former girlfriend Vi (Juli Reding) is deeply jealous and threatens to expose their whole relationship to Meg and her family. During a quarrel in a lighthouse, Vi falls to her death and disappears in front of Tom's eyes. Soon she starts to haunt him, trying to stop his marriage with all means necessary!

It could almost be one of those intelligent TV-movies that was so popular in the 70's. The story is simple, but filled with great ideas, one or two stars, few locations and low on special effects. I'm not one of those that always pretends to be a bit more important by stating that it's nice with a movie that doesn't rely on special effects, because that's has nothing to do with the quality of the production - it's all about storytelling, no matter how much or how little special effects you have. Bert I. Gordon loves effects and he has a lot of them in Tormented, but they are low-key and consists mostly of ghostly figures floating around, a flying hand etc. Quite primitive and hardly scary nowadays, but surprisingly effective.

Richard Carlson, in the lead, has good material to work with. A man who's trying to avoid his dead lover and still keep up appearances until and during his upcoming wedding. Joe Turkel, who plays Vi's former boyfriend is fantastic. He's like an earlier version of David Cronenberg, both his physical appearance and his style of acting: cold and calculating. Gordon's daughter Susan has a big part as a little girl who understands better than others what's going on, and she's cute and not too precocious. Lugene Sanders as Meg is great, but like most actresses in "b-movies" during this time she has very little to do except looking good and happy. Except Turkel I would say the sinister performance by Juli Reding as Vi is the highlight of the show, both alive and as a ghost.

It's quite easy to guess where the story is going, but this is not one of those twisty thrillers that the title might lead us to (sounds like yet another Psycho-rip off, one word, low-budget, black & white), it's a very basic and doomed ghost story. We know the characters are fucked even before they fuck it up, and we follow them down the path until everything goes to hell. It's a damn fine little movie actually. The best scene is - and I will try not to spoil it - when the ghost travels into a house up to a certain person. We see flowers wither live in camera (not stop-motion or high-speed shenanigans and candles die away. It's a highly effective sequence and one of the best in the whole movie.

This is another fine film from Mr BIG himself, Bert I. Gordon. If you feel for something without giant ants or spiders or... yeah, what ever animal that's in fashion, give this one a try. I think you will enjoy it. 

Mark of the Devil (1970)

I can't say I've seen a lot of movies about the witch-hunts and the general stupidity of the medieval ages. Witchfinder General, Cry of the Banshee and of course, Jess Franco's underrated drama The Bloody Judge. So it wasn't until today I first saw Michael Armstrong's Mark of the Devil, a German production shot in Austria with a nice international cast of talents like Udo Kier, Herbert Lom and Reggie Nalder. Michael Reeves signed up to direct it, which it's easy to imagine after the success of Witchfinder General, but died before filming could start. His assistant Armstrong took over and shot most of the stuff, with some additional  material directed by Adrian Hoven. This could have resulted in a highly uneven film, but a good script and excellent actors makes this one of the best witch-movies made! I'll go so far I think it's on the same level of quality as Witchfinder General!

The story is a bit complex to write down, but Reggie Nalder is Albino, the local witch-hunter and everything is great and awesome and he's very aware of what he's doing...until Lord Cumberland (Herbert Lom) enters the town and takes over as the new judge and he's saying he's on a mission from god himself! His biggest fan is Count Christian (Udo Kier), who's his apprentice and student in the holy mission of finding disciples of Satan! All is well until the day Christian starts to suspect that Cumberland is doing this to just earn some extra money, rape women and use his power to get rid of enemies and when he witnesses how even the nasty Albino confronts Cumberland on this, the shit hits the fan!

Oh, it's a lot better story than what I've tried to explain to you. What I find most interesting is the complex characters. No one is really evil or really good, and even the baddies can change, or at least act human when facing danger. The danger is very realistic, so realistic I guess some people might think it's disappointing - but hey, I find it even better that way. More cynical. More real. This happens today to. The alternate ending, lost forever, had a supernatural twist to the story, which have destroyed the almost atheistic message the movie has. So I'm happy it wasn't used (and the director hated it), but it's a pity it's lost and destroyed.

In an exploitation movie like this some might think that the acting doesn't matter, but of course it does. Herbert Lom, who recently left us, delivers cold, dark performance. The work of a master. Udo Kier both looks good and acts well, but is a bit underwritten. He have some challenges as a character and struggles with giving him some more depth. Reggie Nalder is fantastic as always. This combined with amazing locations - and stunning cinematography - makes the movie a visual treat. It's both gritty and echoes of some Bavarian romance movie, and the dark nasty story makes this even more powerful: that such beauty can hold such terror.

Like all of these witch-movies the violence and gore has been widely exaggerated over the years, but it delivers some blood and minor gore - plus the required nudity of course. The effects is cheap and primitive but fits the style. The new German blu-ray includes six minutes of deleted and alternate scenes which is a joy to behold. Before the film was released it was slightly trimmed and here we get a change to see some gore and blood and glimpses of the shooting (some magnificent sideburns on the crew!), all to Michael Holm's beautiful score! Yeah, the score. The main theme is a bit similar to Riz Ortolani's theme to Cannibal Holocaust. Not that much, but I can hear something very familiar in the melody. I think it's just a coincidence and the score is brilliant to both movies.

The new German blu-ray looks stunning. It's a must have for collectors. It's a limited edition of 5000 copies, 3 disc release - one blu-ray (with some extras on it, including the extra footage), a DVD (also with the movie) and a bonus disc with interviews - sadly no subtitles. The video commentary track with Udo Kier and the gang looks fab, but still... no subs! There's also a commentary with director Michael Armstrong, I guess its lifted from an older releases and I will give it a listen some day.

So, what are you waiting for? Buy it!

In the Line of Duty (1986)

I can honestly say that the one that opened up the Asian cinema for me was Jackie Chan. Yeah, really. It's not that surprising. He's famous, he made some truly spectacular action movies and the team around him, actors and crew, all are stars in their own rights. Through Jackie I also discovered Michelle Yeoh (or Michelle Khan as she was known as on my video tapes at the time),  not only an excellent actress but also a fantastic fighter and stunt person. I don't remember which of her movies I saw first, it could have been Magnificent Warriors or maybe even Supercop (well, it's a Jackie Chan movie, but Michelle is the best in it), but sometime after seeing the great Yes, Madam I saw In the Line of Duty and after many, many years I bought myself a DVD of it (in Germany, this weekend by the way) and watched it again...

Michelle Yeoh is Michelle, a Hong Kong cop who can fight. During a flight the plane is hijacked, but she and her colleague Michael (play by Michael Wong) together with a Japanese Interpol agent, Yamamoto (the always brilliant Hiroyuki Sanada) takes care of the problem - but it leaves them in grave dangers when the hijackers two blood-brothers decides to take a bloody revenge on them! Michael falls in love with Michelle and Yamamoto wants to go home and repair his troubled relationship with his wife, but life isn't easy when professional killers is getting closer and closer...

To quote myself on Twitter: "Royal Warriors w. Michelle Yeoh might be the best martial arts film ever made." Yeah, I used another aka-title there, but it's still the same movie. And today, after having a good nights sleep and enjoyed Obama's speech this morning I will say the same thing. It's up there with the best of the eighties: Police Story, Tiger Cage II, Dragons Forever etc. What's even better with In the Line of Duty is that it keeps itself quite serious, compared to my other favourites up here. Sure, we have Michael Wong being mega-silly as the guy falling in love with Michelle, but even that story ends in disaster and at least Michelle keeps herself serious. But that's it. The rest is a very brutal and bloody revenge-themed story with tons and tons of action, and not just fights - this has everything.

One thing I adore with Hong Kong movies from the eighties is how every car chase ends up on a suspicious abandoned freeway outside Hong Kong where a dozen slightly disguised scrap cars gets tossed around like toys! The stunts are awesome and it looks better and bigger - but still cheaper - than a lot of Hollywood productions from the same time. At the same time the traditionally foot chase after the car chase ends up in gritty, cinematic, Hong Kong back alleys, which makes movies like this almost become surrealistic when it comes to the visual style. In the Line of Duty also delivers a couple of fantastic fights - that hurts! - and an ultra-violent shoot-out at a night club. Squibs, stunts and exploding glass, what more can you ask for?

Oh, and that scene with the chainsaw... it looks dangerous for real. Very impressive stunt-work and like all good Hong Kong actioneers, it looks like it hurts a lot during that fight!

What's even more interesting is how the baddies are portrayed. They aren't just normal, boring, terrorists - they're friends that promised each other to always help each other out - or die together. They do it because of passion and their own fucked-up logic. That makes even their story so much more touching and interesting and it's easier to see why they're just keep going. Because a normal terrorist often just wants money or have some kind of political statement to tell, but these guys just cares about each other. How about that, Hollywood?

I have the German DVD under the title "Ultra Force - Hong Kong Cop" from Eyecatcher Movies. It's a beautiful and uncut transfer, with original language track and English subs. A must in your martial arts collection!

Masks (2011)

Is the giallo on it's way back to the limelight again? No, I don't think so, at least not as a mainstream-genre. But behind the blockbusters lurks a new generation of filmmakers who loves the combination of mystery and splattery, spectacular murders. Just like me, that's the best combination. A gory Agatha Christie-style thriller is exactly what I want, that's one reason why I'm watching all the old Italian thillers - and of course every international wannabe there is. Masks is a very interesting thriller, a movie I think will be quite big and well-distributed now when it's finally - just a week or so ago - was released on BD and DVD in Germany. It's not English-friendly in anyway, so I had to rely on my very primitive school-German while watching this.

Stella wants to be an actress, but her latest audition doesn't turn out well. Before she leaves the theatre an elderly judge recommends her to take contact with the Matteusz Gdula school of acting. Gdula was a controversial teacher who had is own style of teaching acting, so controversial that he committed suicide and several of his students died because of the soul-breaking way they worked with acting. Nowadays the school just uses some of his ideas - at least that what they says... because something is wrong and more and more students is getting killed, disappears... and soon the killer wants Stella, more than anyone else!

Sounds good yeah? And it is! Director Andreas Marschall has managed to create a very convincing retro-feeling without going neither pastiche or parody. First I was afraid that it would be one of those grindhouse-style genre-tributes because the film was worn and dirty - but it was only an old movie clip, a faked news report, telling us about this very special method of acting. The story is a very fine mix between Suspiria, without trying to hide it, and gialli from the late seventies, when the stories became a bit more edgier, slightly more experimental and less detective-mysteries.

Andreas Marschall also gives us a giallo that works as it's own movie and not just as production referencing other, older, movies. He's a true master when it comes to visual, non-dialogue scenes. An eye for details and beautiful set-ups. Just like François Gaillard's masterful Blackaria, another - French - giallo-style thriller with an excellent story and an overload of imaginative visual, almost orgasmic, treats. Masks has a more money behind and in front of the camera than Blackaria, but they are both in their own splendid leagues.

Like with Suspiria - and even Black Swan - a physical artform is the McGuffin here, an art where you use your body and mind to tell something. I'm not a dance, but I've done my fair share of acting and maybe that's why I feel extra connected to the madness told in Masks? The idea of an acting-style that wears you down so much, makes you give everything you have - maybe even your life - attracts me, and it makes a fine story to. Now, some of the supporting younger actors are a bit uneven, but they're not in the movie enough to bring it down. Instead Susen Ermich, who plays Stella, carries a lot of the story on her (sometimes naked) shoulders with a few good German veteran actors around her (for example Norbert Losch and Maximilian Rüthlein for example).

Masks is a bit slow, it's moody and atmospheric, it takes its time to tell the story, but I would say Andreas Marschall really hits the mark here. It's an amazing tribute to the golden age of thrillers, but with slices of sadistic and graphic violence that's up to date without being too much. Highly recommended!

Weekend of Horrors 2012

I'm home again after three intensive days in Bottrop, Germany, at Weekend of Horrors. I didn't buy that many movies, approximate 30 DVDs and BDs, but invested in a couple of very nice t-shirts, some autographs and of course the AWESOME Paul Naschy memorabilia collection book "Muchas Gracias Senor Lobo" by Thorsten Benzel. I also bought an original merchandising button for John Carpenter's The Thing, which is a proud part of my shelfporn-collection now.

The highlight of the weekend was the Q&A with Doug Bradley, Simon Bamford, Hugh Ross, Nicholas Vince and restoration producer Russell Cherrington... yeah, it was the screening of Nightbreed: The Cabal cut! Very interesting to see the long versioner, with more drama and more focus on fantasy and less horror. Still an uneven film, but also a great cinematic experience. It was also fantastic to hang out with the makers of Blackaria & Last Caress and of course the Rohnstock-brothers, the madmen behind German gore movie Necronos.

Anyway, here's a couple of photos (here's a lot more!) and hopefully I'm back on track with reviews soon!

François Gaillard, the director of Blackaria & Last Caress, and me :)

Me and Jocke checks out a magazine with baby animals. Important stuff. 

Jocke and Jason!

Me and some scary, tall guys.

A bit too much salad for me.

Jason interviews director François Gaillard.

Necronos (2010)

First of all, I have to admit I never been interested in German gore movies. Never. I never felt interested in any of these hard-working gorehounds. Personally I've always wanted a good story first of all and if it's filled with massive amounts of gore, that's just fantastic. But I rarely find such a movie and to be even more honest, Necronos isn't one of those movies either. Anyway, I first heard of it in 2011 when my fellow buddies Jocke and Jason hanged around the Necronos-table at Weekend of Horrors way too much and later on Dark Entertainment in Sweden released it on DVD... and now, ages later I've seen it and to my surprised was entertained by it! What's wrong with me? Have I finally passed over to the dark, German side of cinema entertainment?

During ancient times an evil warlock (or something), Necronos, who's having a deal with Satan, fucks up everything around him and is killed. Many years later, "now", he wants revenge and sends out his henchman, a zombie named Goran, to fetch humans for the resurrection of Necronos. And that he does. Over and over again until they find the perfect human to use in the ritual to bring the warlock to life again! Yeah. I think that's it.

Director Marc Rohnstock have created a trashy and fast-moving splatter flick, and my fears that the 127 minute runtime would bore me to death didn't become reality. Which by itself is a very impressive thing. A movie of this kind shouldn't be longer than eighty minutes, well until now. So what's so good with it? First of all: it's consistent. It's 127 minutes of cheap, trashy gore and nothing else. Well, a lot of nudity also. But it's not quality rollercoaster, it's a film that stands proud on its two sleazy, naked feet and never tries to look polished one second - just to bring up the production values. It stays true to the consumer camera gore-splatter-nudity-o-rama it set out to make. That is something I respect a lot.

The second thing is that the gore is consistent. There's not just a teaser splatter-effect in the beginning and a lot of off-screen shenanigans, everything you see here is on-screen and very very very gory, graphic and nasty. It's not a movie I would show anyone outside our little awesome sphere of genre fanatics. Never. It's a movie for us and no one else. The gore is mostly quite good to. It's simple effects like chopping of heads and stabbings and ripping of body parts, but they work fine and is quite nicely edited.

The actors...well, it IS a German super-cheap splatter movie and therefore the acting is what it is. But that's also something that belongs in this genre, it's needed and who the fuck cares if someone who's in the movie for thirty seconds just to get his head ripped off actually can act? Not me, that's not the reason why I'm watching it. A third thing that makes Necronos work is the directing. Yeah, it's not advanced, but it effectively tells a long story with very small means. The editing heightens this also of course. I'm impressed.

Necronos, this dirty, sick, twisted little motherf**ker of a movie is not for everyone. But if you're into this kind of indie-film I recommend you to go out and buy it on the double!