ELVES

ELVES

USA, 1989

Director: Jeffrey Mandel

3/10

Oh my goodness, what the fuck was that? A movie about a bunch of nazis and a murderous nazi-elf that tries to impregnate a virgin to create the ultimate nazi-elf master race? Director Mandel must have been high on drugs when he came up with this plot.
"Elves" is undoubtedly one of the most hilarious but also most ridiculous horror movies I've ever seen. It starts out pretty entertaining with some fabulous christmas rant, a disturbing cat-gets-drowned-scene and the appearing of the elf (which looks quite fun). Unfortunately after the first 20-30 minutes the movie quickly becomes dull and slow. Hardly any tension or suspense, lame acting, silly dialogue and some boring deaths.The last 10-15 minutes are halfway decent but can't save the movie.

Amusing but forgettable end-of-the-80s christmas cheese.

Wiki ~ Imdb

THE TOXIC AVENGER

THE TOXIC AVENGER

Alternate Title:
Toxic

German Titles:
Atomic Hero / Atomic Monster Hero

USA, 1984

Directors: Lloyd Kaufman & Michael Herz

8/10

One of the most popular cult classics, if not THE cult classic from the notorious Troma studios. A hilariously mad and supercampy kinda-exploitation-flick, extremely funny and highly entertaining. I really had a ball watching this.

Nearly all of the characters are completely and utterly wacko (which really, really satisfies the Frank Henenlotter fan in me). The dialogue is mostly very amusing ("All right everybody, drop your tacos or I'll blow your brains out!"), the script is full of politically incorrect jokes and crudely brilliant humor.

'Toxie' himself is of course the highlight of the movie: the transformation from janitor-dork to atomic superhero is cheesy but it has its charm. The toxic avenger looks gorgeously goofy, his voice is as pleasant as 'Aylmer's' and his kills are simply fabulous (crushed heads, deep-fried hands, ripped out guts...).

An absolutely fabulous must-see b-movie masterstroke!

Wiki ~ Imdb

NECROPOLIS

NECROPOLIS

Alternate Title:
Necropolis: City Of The Dead

German Title:
Necropolis - Die Blutsauger von Manhattan

USA, 1987

Director: Bruce Hickey

2/10

See this hot lady on the cover? Well, she's a fabulous-looking 300 year old blonde punk-witch with six (!) tits and a gusto for ectoplasm, and she's the only good thing about this horrid 80s schlock (together with some funny zombie/gore-scenes). The plot is so fuckin' stupid, it's incredible. The acting is awfully bad, most of the dialogue is painful, the script is awkward and the cheesy crap-pop-soundtrack is a real pain in the ass.

It has its entertaining moments but overall it's just forgettable so-bad-it's-bad rubbish.

Imdb

DOLLY DEAREST

DOLLY DEAREST

German Title:
Dolly Dearest - Die Brut des Satans

USA, 1991

Director: Maria Lease

4/10

A lame little possessed-doll horror movie in the vein of "Child's Play" which could have been way better. The doll looks absolutely great, maybe even scarier than Chucky in his early days, sadly it talks with a really horribly annoying and nearly unbearable voice. The cellar/factory settings look pretty eerie, the acting is decent and the make-up/special effects are done very well. Unfortunately the movie never really gets going: it's way too slow and lengthy with a rather lame and unentertaining script, and a whole load of unnecessary, pointless or completely unscary scenes (many scenes start out quite scary but get lengthy and boring pretty fast).

Pity.

Wiki ~ Imdb

DELIVERANCE

DELIVERANCE

German Titles:
Beim Sterben ist jeder der Erste / Flußfahrt

USA, 1972

Director: John Boorman

10/10

I loved this classic when I was a child but I couldn't remember much, so I rewatched it yesterday and... well, again I was absolutely impressed: "Deliverance", not only the 'mother of all survival flicks', but a breathtakingly excellent and highly intelligent adventure/Psycho-thriller/drama; a film where nearly everything is perfect.

The cast is absolutely terrific (Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty...), the character development simply awesome. The script is brilliantly paced and extremely well-written (interesting and eerie in the beginning, very tense and shocking in the middle, thrilling and emotional in the last third), the "Dueling Banjos"-soundtrack is outstanding, nature locations and cinematography are just fantastic.

I have to emphasize the finest things about "Deliverance" which are:
(1) the tension: unbelievably intense and powerful,
(2) the pacing which is simply brilliant, there's no single moment of boredom in here &

(3) the atmosphere: mindblowingly stunning.

Overall simply a magnificent masterpiece that will hopefully stand the test of time for a long, long time.

Wiki ~ Imdb

Everybody's doing it...

...so why not do it too?
The guys at Billy Loves Stu created a nice little horrorblog meme which is currently spreading all over the horror community.
Well, I definitely don't want to miss out on that!

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1: In Ten Words or Less, Describe Your Blog:

A nice place to browse around and kill time.

2: During What Cinematic Era Where you Born?

A: The Classic Horror Era (late 30's to 40's)

B: The Atomic Monster/Nuclear Angst Era (the late 40's through 50's)

C: The Psycho Era ( Early 60's)

D: The Rosemary's Baby Era (Mid to Late 60's)

E: The Exorcism Era (Early to mid 70's)

F: The Halloween Era (Late 70's to Early 80's)

G: The Slasher Era (Mid to late 80's)

H: The Self Referential/Post Modern Era (1990 to 1999)

Yeah, baby, yeah: the wonderful "Halloween Era" (Late 70's to early 80's), 1982 to be exact.

3: The Carrie Compatibility Question:

(gay men and straight women - make your choice from section A)

A: Billy Nolan or Tommy Ross, who would you take to the prom?

(straight guys and lesbians - make your choice from section B)

B: Sue Snell or Chris Hargensen, who would you take to the prom?

hm, both are not my cup of coffee but at least Sue Snell is a more likeable person.
I'd take Sue Snell.

4: You have been given an ungodly amount of money, and total control of a major motion picture studio - what would your dream Horror project be?

omg, there are many projects I'd like to realize:

• Remakes of "Final Exam", "Graduation Day" & "The Dark Side Of The Moon"
• a movie in the vein of "Suicide Club" with some kind of suicide-epidemic spreading
• an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's "The Shadow Out Of Time"
• an adaptation of Jean Ray's "The Tenebrous Alley"
• 2 gialli called "Neon" and "Black Balloons"
• a clown slasher called "The Circus Never Dies"
• a brutal monster-spider-flick called "Arachnoid"
  
  

5: What horror film "franchise" that others have embraced, left you cold?

the "Saw" franchise (they should have stopped after Part 3)
the "Amityville" franchise (8 movies, 1 remake and most of them are awful as hell)
the "Children Of The Corn" franchise (7 movies, 1 remake and nearly all of them are awful as hell)

6: Is Michael Bay the Antichrist?

No, he's just an idiot.
I think Jim Cunningham is the Antichrist. :-)

7: Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Frankenstein Monster - which one of these classic villains scares you, and why?

Frankenstein's monster.
I've read the book several times, the classic Frankenstein with Boris Karloff is a classic and I also adore the 90s version with Robert De Niro as the monster

8: Tell me about a scene from a NON HORROR Film that scares the crap out of you:

oh, tough question.
There is a quite eerie dream sequence in Thomas Vinterberg's "The Celebration" and I remember at least one jump-scare in the beginning scene of Luc Besson's "Léon".

9: Baby Jane Hudson invites you over to her house for lunch. What do you bring?

a grilled rat and some ketchup :-)

10: So, between you and me, do you have any ulterior motives for blogging?

(Come, on you can tell me, it will be our little secret, I won't tell a soul.)

Well, the last months were pretty shitty with a lost job, an alcoholic and suicidal father in a mental institution, a mother in a woman's shelter and a fatally ill cat. It was a pretty hard time and still is.
At least I knew I have to take my mind off these things and so I created this blog.

11: What would you have brought to Rosemary Woodhouse's baby shower?

a reverse cross, a "Damien" poster and various CDs from "Deicide" :-)

12: Godzilla vs The Cloverfield Monster, who wins?

Godzilla of course. He's more experienced and he has many helpful friends.

13: If you found out that Rob Zombie was reading your blog, what would you post in hopes that he read it?

• Don't remake "The Blob"
• Don't do a "Devil Rejects" sequel
  
• Apologize for "Halloween 2"
• Apologize for "Hellbilly Deluxe 2"
  

14: What is your favorite NON HORROR FILM, and why?

too tough to pick only one

• Stand By Me - I honestly watched this masterpiece about 30-40 times in my entire life
• Léon (The professional) - The greatest and most interesting love story in history
• The Celebration - the first and best dogma film, harrowing and impressing
• Planes, Trains & Automobiles - undoubtedly the best comedy of all time
• 2001: A Space Odyssey - undoubtedly the best scifi-movie of all time
  

15: If blogging technology did not exist, what would you be doing?

like I did when I was younger: watching movies and writing about them in a little notebook.

SSSSSSS

SSSSSSS

Alternate Title:
SSSSnake

German Title:
SSSSnake Kobra

USA, 1973

Director: Bernard L. Kowalski

6/10

I watched this movie only because of the 'ingenious' title. I actually knew nothing about the plot and expected a schlocky monster-snake cheesefest or something like that, but surprisingly I got a trashy but interesting mad-scientist-flick with some sort of human snake-mutations.
Of course, the story is pretty silly, make-up and special effects are rather poor and it's full of highly hilarious scenes. Nevertheless, it has a decent cast and some wonderful atmosphere; it's well-paced and pretty tense (especially in the first half) and never gets boring, plus: nearly all of the snakes in here are real snakes (Mambas, Cobras, Vipers etc.).

An entertaining 70s animal horror cult classic that shouldn't be taken too serious.

Wiki ~ Imdb

SALVAGE

SALVAGE

Alternate Title:

Gruesome

USA, 2006

Directors: Jeff Crook & Joss Crook

7/10

Pretty interesting and original little low budget time-warp/horror-thriller in the vein of "Groundhog Day".

A little too slow in the first half and the acting is just mediocre, but apart from that it's a solidly entertaining flick with a highly intelligent and fantastically twisted storyline, a thrilling soundtrack, a bunch of extremely suspenseful scenes (especially an excellent gas-station-scene, similar to the one from "High Tension") and some really fabulous gore.
Highly recommended to people who love movies like "Triangle" or "12:01".

Wiki ~ Imdb

TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT

TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT

German Title:
Goodnight

USA, 1980

Director: David Hess

3/10

David Hess is a great actor and definitely one of my favorite movie villains ("The House At The Edge On The Park", "Last House On The Left") but sadly he totally failed as a director.
"To All A Good Night" is a pretty lame and unoriginal christmas slasher, horribly slow and tedious with a big bunch of unlikeable characters played by incapable amateur actors, awful dialogue and a quite predictable script. Gladly it's full of gorgeous and also gory kills, the killing Santa looks nice and some parts of the score were pretty enjoyable.
Nevertheless, I suggest to avoid this cheesefest and recommend the way better Xmas flicks "Silent Night, Deadly Night" and "Black Christmas".

Wiki ~ Imdb

DON'T GO NEAR THE PARK

DON'T GO NEAR THE PARK

Alternate Titles:
Nightstalker / Sanctuary Of Evil / Curse Of The Living Dead

German Title:
Der Fluch des ewigen Lebens

USA, 1981

Director: Lawrence D. Foldes

0,5/10

Omg, what the fuck was that? I knew I was gonna watch a bad movie but I never expected it to be that bad. It's about as hilarious and laughable as "The Manitou", as bad and crappy as "Troll 2" and filled with characters and pieces of music which are as annoying and terrible as in "Manos". The story is one of the most idiotic ever written, the effects are outrageously shoddy and poor and (worst of all) the editing is so unbelievably lousy, it's incredible.

Complete and utter rubbish.

Wiki ~ Imdb

HUMONGOUS

HUMONGOUS

Alternate Title:
Dog Island

USA, 1982

Director: Paul Lynch

2/10

Weak little island/wilderness-slasher in the vein of "Madman", "The Slayer" and "Anthropophagus", unbelievably unoriginal, slow-paced and boring with a stupid plot, lame acting, a disappointing deformed killer and extremely horrible lighting (half of the movie is so dark, you can't really tell what's going on). An ok beginning sequence and 2-3 halfway tense scenes, but overall just another forgettable 80s dreck.

Wiki ~ Imdb

"The Girl Who Loves Horror"

...sounds a bit like an obscure and forgotten euro-arthouse-horror from the 80s

but actually, it's one of my favorite horror blogs from a nice young horror-lady from Missouri -
and, for whatever reason, this nice young lady has awarded my tiny blog! :-o

Well, a big thank you to the girl who loves horror!
Check out her blog, it's absolutely worth it!

A SERBIAN FILM

A SERBIAN FILM

Original Title:
Srpski film

Serbia, 2010

Director: Srdjan Spasojevic

8/10

One of the most discussed movies of the year, mainly because of its shocking brutality including violent rape, extremely violent kills and paedophilia. No, it's not a movie that I recommend. It's gruesome, highly disturbing and full of scenes that will probably make many people vomit - however, if you love disgusting shockers like "Irreversible" or "Cannibal Holocaust", you'll probably love this one too, especially because it's not only brutal: there's a pretty good cast and some superb dialogue, the cinematography is stunning, the hard industrial soundtrack is impressive and the whole brilliantly-paced build-up (slow in the beginning, weird in the middle, sick and shocking in the end) is just excellent.

Overall, a gross and nasty, but also intelligent and thought-provoking film. I would really like to see more of this kind.

Wiki ~ Imdb

THE LIFT / DOWN (Remake)

THE LIFT

Original Title:
De Lift

Alternate Title:
The Elevator

German Title:
Fahrstuhl des Grauens

Netherlands, 1983

Director: Dick Maas

4/10

Pretty silly and hilarious but sadly quite disappointing Dutch horror movie about a 'killer evelator'. Starts out very suspenseful but gets more and more boring and tedious with time. It's also often way too slow-paced, the acting is rather poor and the plot is just terrible. At least the lift itself looks just fabulous, the lift scenes are all highly atmospheric and brilliantly shot, the kills are nice (especially the decapitation) and the score is extremely cool.

Wiki ~ Imdb

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DOWN
(Remake)

Alternate Title:
The Shaft

Alternate German Title:
Fahrstuhl in den Tod

USA / Netherlands, 2001
Director: Dick Maas

5/10

"Down" is a really pointless and unnecessary remake, especially because there was absolutely no reason for Dick Maas to redo his debut film. Nevertheless it turns out to be quite ok and even a bit better than the original.

The plot is still awfully horrid, it's way too long (110 minutes!), filled with (again) slow and tedious scenes, and the showdown is just hilariously silly. Yet, most of the time it's pretty entertaining: the cast is nice (Naomi Watts, James Marshall, Ron Perlman...), the kills are all fun, large parts of the dialogue are highly amusing and the settings look mostly great (especially the elevator which looks way better than its 80s predecessor).

Average and lowbrow but at least enjoyable.

Wiki ~ Imdb

ALBINO FARM

ALBINO FARM

USA, 2009

Directors: Joe Anderson & Sean McEwen

2/10

Lame deformed-hillbilly/backwoods crap in the vein of "Wrong Turn" and "Lake Dead". The story is shiftless and pretty predictable. The acting is bad, make-up and CGI effects look extremely poor and there's hardly any suspense. Some cool kills, some neat gore - but actually I've already forgotten about that rubbish.

Wiki ~ Imdb

HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP

HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP

Alternate Titles:
Monster / Monster: Humanoids From The Deep

German Title:

Das Grauen aus der Tiefe

USA, 1980

Director: Barbara Peeters

7/10

Silly but highly entertaining seamonster-trash, produced by trash-god Roger Corman. Yep, the plot is stupid and yep, the 'humanoids' look a bit tacky - nevermind. The movie is surprisingly tense and well-paced from beginning to end with loads of monster attacks and gorgeous gore. Some nice atmosphere, ok acting and a neat soundtrack.
Highlight: the monster invasion at the sea carnival which is simply one helluva action-packed gorefest. A perfect fun flick!

Wiki ~ Imdb

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HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP

(Remake)

German Title:
Das Grauen aus der Tiefe

USA, 1996

Director: Jeff Yonis

2/10

There's not much to say about this lame made-for-TV remake: it's boring and tedious, the acting is lame, the dialogue is lousy, the make-up / special effects are shoddy and the Humanoids look totally crappy. Terrible.

Wiki ~ Imdb

NIGHT SCREAMS

NIGHT SCREAMS

German Title:
Nacht des Grauens

USA, 1987

Director: Allen Plone

1/10

Horribly boring and disappointing slasher cheese, full of unbelievably annoying characters (I wanted them all dead), crappy 80s pop-muzak and a couple of extremely lame kills. Worst of all is the story: highly predictable, pretty messed up and totally pointless. Avoid this rubbish.

Wiki ~ Imdb

NIGHT LIFE

NIGHT LIFE

Alternate Titles:
Grave Misdemeanours / Zombie Academy / Campus Spirits

Alternate German Title:
Nightlife Zombies

USA, 1989

Director: David Acomba

9/10

Absolutely brilliant and super-entertaining zombie-comedy-horrormovie, a bit in the vein of "One Dark Night" And "Return Of The Living Dead", funny and amusing in the first half, tense and action-packed in the second.
Full of likeable characters and great dialogue, with stunning atmosphere, wonderful-looking settings, 4 pretty cool zombies, great gore, great kills and an outstandingly terrific and thrilling score. Excellent flick, highly recommended!

Wiki ~ Imdb

AND SOON THE DARKNESS (Original & Remake)

AND SOON THE DARKNESS

German Title:
Tödliche Ferien

UK / France, 1970
Director: Robert Fuest

8/10

A slow-paced but incredibly suspenseful and super-thrilling horror-thriller, filmed on beautifully eerie locations (the French countryside) with terrifically claustrophobic atmosphere and a high amount of nerve-wracking tension.
The acting is superb and highly believable, there are a couple of awesome scares and the script is fantastically written and paced, including many brilliant plot twists and plot surprises, some fine character development and a mindblowingly excellent finale. Totally love it!

Wiki ~ Imdb

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AND SOON THE DARKNESS
(US Remake)

USA / Argentina / France, 2010
Director: Marcos Efron

2/10

What a disaster! Director Efron totally destroyed the chilling original by turning it into a frustrating and annoying lamefest. The only good thing in here are the camera work and the eerie settings.

The acting is underwhelming (most notably the completely untalented Odette Yustman), the characters are all quite unlikable, most of the dialogue is unbearable, there's absolutely nothing atmospheric, thrilling or scary in here, the script is one helluva mess and the ending just sucks.

Plain bad crap. Avoid!

Wiki ~ Imdb

DEATH LINE

DEATH LINE

Alternate Title:
Raw Meat

German Title:
Tunnel der lebenden Leichen

UK, 1972

Director: Gary Sherman

7/10

Weird but super-entertaining low budget cult-cannibal-flick with some disturbing and also strangely touching scenes. The cast is absolutely brilliant: Donald Pleasence delivers one of the most hilarious performances of his career, Norman Rossington is a great addition and there's also a nice appearance from Christopher Lee.

Aside from that, there is also some decent gore, some wonderful settings (London Tube), a bizarre but pretty cool soundtrack and some terrific atmosphere. Only flaw: the constant genre-hopping (horror, comedy, drama) disturbs the flow of the movie, still it's a really good must-see 70s gem.

Wiki ~ Imdb

SPLICE

SPLICE

German Title:
Splice - Das Genexperiment

Canada / France / USA, 2009/2010

Director: Vincenzo Natali

6/10

Highly interesting and unique genetic scifi/horror/drama from "Cube"-director Natali, sadly too predictable and with a disappointing finale.

The cast is great (Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley and a fantastic performance from Delphine Chanéac), the effects are great, the camera work is beautiful and there's some brilliant atmosphere throughout the movie. Sadly, there are just too many flaws (especially in the last third) that almost destroy the movie: many lengthy, boring and unnecessary scenes, a messed up script with many plot holes and a terribly underwhelming ending, and way too much predictability in the script (I guessed the ending after the first 20 minutes or so). Too bad.

Wiki ~ Imdb

THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

THE DARK SIDE ON THE MOON

Alternate Title:
Parasite

USA, 1990

Director: D.J. Webster

8/10

Surprisingly terrific but unfortunately extremely underrated and unknown scifi-horror flick, very tense, atmospheric and eerie with a couple of pretty good actors, brilliant-looking settings, great special effects, a great score and even some nice gore. Highlights of the movie: (1) the impressing title sequence, (2) the fabulous plot which is stunningly outstanding, consisting of contrary themes like spaceflight, satanic belief and the Bermuda Triangle; interesting, thrilling and unique & (3) an unexpectedly grim and unhappy ending.

An absolutely excellent b-movie, highly recommended to everyone.

Wiki ~ Imdb

MOONTRAP

MOONTRAP

USA, 1989

Director: Robert Dyke

4/10

Yeah I know, it's definitely no horror movie, more of a science fiction movie with a few horror elements, but I just couldn't resist adding it to my blog.
"Moontrap" is a movie that sadly has not stood the test of time: loved it in my childhood, but now I don't love it that much anymore. Sure, it's quite atmospheric, full of nice-looking robot monsters and the main cast, Walter 'Chekov' Koenig & Bruce 'Ash' Campbell, is absolutely top notch. Yet, the plot is silly and full of holes, many of the effects look pretty poor, it's often way too slow and... well, it's so unbelievably hilarious to see them walking around on moon as if there's no gravity problem.
Sci-fi cheese at its best! :-)

Wiki ~ Imdb

DAYBREAKERS

DAYBREAKERS

Australia / USA, 2009/2010

Directors: Michael Spierig & Peter Spierig

8/10

Why watch 'Twilight' when you can have gems like this one instead?

"Daybreakers" is one of the few great vampire-movies of the last years (among others like "Let The Right One In"). Incredibly intelligent and creative but also extremely entertaining with an excellent cast (Sam Neill, Ethan Hawke...), a super story, a brilliantly-paced script and great atmosphere. It's action-packed and never gets boring, it has loads of bad-ass vampires and gallons of fabulous gore. Pity that many of the CGI effects look quite poor. Apart from that it's one hell of a fun flick.

Wiki ~ Imdb

DEAD SPACE

DEAD SPACE

German Title:
Dead Space - Galaxis des Grauens

USA, 1991

Director: Fred Gallo

3/10

Another one of the countless (and forgettable) "Alien"-ripoffs. Far from being a masterpiece but I've already seen worse space-schlock. This one is really cheesy with quite lame actors (and one annoying 'friendly robot'), horrible-looking settings, dull dialogue and a crappy plot, yet it has some highly entertaining gore/monster effects and 2 brilliant jump-scares that nearly made my heart stop.
Recommended to people who love movies like "Metamorphosis" or "Xtro 2".

Wiki ~ Imdb

A BLADE IN THE DARK

A BLADE IN THE DARK

Original Title:
La casa con la scala nel buio

Alternate Title:

House Of The Dark Stairway

Alternate German Title:
Das Haus mit dem dunklen Keller

Italy, 1983

Director: Lamberto Bava

8/10

Extremely suspenseful and atmospheric late giallo in the vein of Dario Argento's works and "Psycho". It may has some weird and illogical, and some predictable scenes but that doesn't really matter since the movie is absolutely super-tense with many edge-of-the-seat-sequences and a couple of jump-scares. The soundtrack is absolutely fantastic, the story is pretty nice and the acting is quite decent. Major kudos to a brilliantly twisted script and some visually stunning bad-ass kills. Terrific!

Wiki ~ Imdb

BEYOND THE DARKNESS

BEYOND THE DARKNESS

Original Title:
Buio Omega

Alternate Titles:

The Final Darkness / Buried Alive / Blue Holocaust / Buio Omega: Beyond The Darkness

German Titles:
Sado - Stoss das Tor zur Hölle auf / Blutiger Wahnsinn

Italy, 1979

Director: Joe D'Amato

8,5/10

Absolutely impressive Italo-horror classic from exploitation master Joe D'Amato, highly macabre and disturbing, extremely atmospheric and tense with an interesting story, a couple of pretty good actors, a brilliant soundtrack (from the god-like 'Goblin'), some terrifically creepy moments and, most notably, a high amount of unforgettably brutal, disgusting and fascinating scenes (including embalming, dismembering, ripping out fingernails, stabbing, butchering, raping, cannibalism etc. etc.). Simply a fabulous film.

Wiki ~ Imdb

WICKED LITTLE THINGS

WICKED LITTLE THINGS

Alternate Title:
Zombies: Wicked Little Things

German Title:
Zombies

USA, 2006

Director: J. S. Cardone

5/10

Silly little zombie-kid flick, not as good as the premise promises, yet it's somewhat entertaining. The story/script is dumb, most of the characters are horribly annoying, the dialogue is mostly utterly lame and there are so many predictable and cliché-laden scenes, it's hard to believe. Nevertheless, it's highly atmospheric with some beautiful settings, a couple of quite creepy moments, lots of gore and the undead children look really brilliant.

Wiki ~ Imdb
Horrorfest 2006

DON'T GO IN THE WOODS

DON'T GO IN THE WOODS

Alternate Title:
Don't Go In The Woods ...Alone! / The Forest 2

German Title:
Ausflug in das Grauen

USA, 1981

Director: James Bryan

3/10

Uber-hilarious lowest budget slasher, extremely bad, yet highly enjoyable. Every single actor is incapable of acting and so incredibly annoying, I actually wished them all to die. The plot is... well, there is no plot at. Just a load of people getting killed by a wildman in the woods. The soundtrack is shit, the editing is horrible, the dialogue is painful and the effects are awfully poor.

Gladly the film takes itself not too serious: it's filled with hilarious kills (foothold trap in the face, beaten to death in a sleeping bag...) and highly amusing scenes (the dork in the wheelchair, the sexy pink motorhome, the fat sheriff...) and... well, it's simply a super-entertaining so-bad-it's-fun-flick.
BTW: this is one of Mercedes Lander's (Kittie drummer) favorite horror movies. Well, that girl has taste! :-)

Wiki ~ Imdb

DON'T GO IN THE HOUSE

DON'T GO IN THE HOUSE

Alternate Title:
Pyromaniac

German Title:
Das Haus der lebenden Leichen

USA, 1980

Director: Joseph Ellison

7/10

Highly interesting quasi-slasher in the vein of "Maniac", pretty tense and atmospheric, but also quite grim, disturbing and a bit depressing with quite good acting, a fabulous disco soundtrack and a creepy house. A little too lengthy in the middle, but apart from that it's a great and underrated movie (and definitely not your average teen slasher) with an interesting main character, superb deaths/bodies and a terrific finale.

Wiki ~ Imdb

THE MANITOU

THE MANITOU

German Titles:
Der Manitou / Super Zombie - Die Geburt des Grauens / Geburt des Dämon / Der Manitou - Die Geburt des Grauens

Canada / USA, 1978

Director: William Girdler

3/10

Hilariously weird superschlock from trash-meister William Girdler, unbelievably terrible and bad - but in a fun way. The story in itself is unbelievably abstruse and completely nuts and there are so many freaky things and images in it, it's absolutely absurd how Girdler could come up with this: Tony Curtis as an embarassing fortune-teller, a tumor-like fetus on the neck of a woman which contains a reincarnating evil manitou which looks like a retarded midget, flying grannys, attacking lasers, ghost lizards, nordic winds etc.

A movie so ridiculous, it's amazing. Must-see for trash fans!

Wiki ~ Imdb

The BODY SNATCHERS movies

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

German Titles:
Die Dämonischen / Invasion der Körperfresser

USA, 1956

Director: Don Siegel

9,5/10

Extremely brilliant sci-fi/horror classic and probably one of the best movies from the 50s (adapted from Jack Finney's novel 'The Body Snatchers'). Director Siegel created a brilliant masterpiece, highly tense and suspenseful, haunting and creepy. The script is ingenious, great paced and with a fantastic build-up. The cast is ace (Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter...), the soundtrack is terrific, the effects are top and the paranoiac atmosphere (with all hints to the McCarthyism of that time) is simply outstanding.
A classic by all means.

Wiki ~ Imdb

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INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

(Remake)

German Title:
Die Körperfresser kommen

USA, 1978

Director: Philip Kaufman

9,5/10

A huge childhood favorite of mine (one of the first horror movies I've seen in my life)

and of course one of the few remakes that are simply as good as the original.

Thrilling, suspenseful and creepy with terrific special effects, a beautiful score, splendid cinematography and a magnificent cast (Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum, Leonard Nimoy...). Highlights: the port scene with the bagpipes playing "Amazing Grace" and the super-shocking ending, 2 of the greatest scenes in movie history.

It's great to see how they reinterpreted the '56 version without destroying or damaging it. Both movies stand on their own, both movies are awesome.

Wiki ~ Imdb

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BODY SNATCHERS

(Re-Adaptation)

Alternate Title:
Body Snatchers: The Invasion Continues

German Titles:
Body Snatchers - Die Körperfresser / Body Snatchers - Angriff der Körperfresser

USA, 1993

Director: Abel Ferrara

6/10

Body Snatchers, the 3rd. Sadly it's a quite disappointing reinterpretation, not as thrilling and suspenseful as its predecessors, with an improper and weak cast (excepting R. Lee Ermey) and a total lack of paranoiac atmosphere. At least the special effects are terrific, the camera work is beautiful, the settings look great and overall, it's pretty entertaining.

Wiki ~ Imdb

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THE INVASION

(Re-Adaptation)

German Title:
Invasion

USA / Australia, 2007

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel

5/10

Mediocre and underwhelming new interpretation. Pretty tense and action-packed, way more paranoiac than "Body Snatchers" with some interesting editing and great camera work. Sadly the 'new' plot is pretty crap, Kidman and Craig are totally miscast, it's filled with countless unnecessary and uninteresting scenes and the ending is just crap.

Wiki ~ Imdb

REINCARNATION

REINCARNATION

Original Title:
Rinne

Japan, 2005

Director: Takashi Shimizu

5/10

Mediocre psychological J-horror flick from Ju-On mastermind Shimizu, good but nothing to get excited about. It has an interesting and original story, brilliantly haunting settings, wonderful atmosphere and a gorgeous cast. Sadly the movie is way too slow-paced, way too long and absolutely not scary. I daresay "Reincarnation" would have been much more tense and creepier if it would have been shorter because there are too many unnecessary scenes in here that just disturb the flow of the movie.

Wiki ~ Imdb
Horrorfest 2006

NIGHT SCHOOL

NIGHT SCHOOL

Alternate Titles:
Terror Eyes

German Title:
Terror Eyes - Der Frauenköpfer

USA, 1981

Director: Ken Hughes

6/10

Quite interesting but underrated giallo-like 80s slasher (surprisingly from the guy who directed "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"!). A bit too slow-paced and with many superfluous scenes, but apart from that pretty tense and suspenseful with a decent cast, a good script, a fantastic-looking killer (never thought that a motorcycle helmet can be so effectively scary) and some really brilliant-looking and super-gory kills.

Wiki ~ Imdb

BLOOD FRENZY

BLOOD FRENZY

USA, 1987

Director: Hal Freeman

4/10

One of the countless lowest-budget 80s slashers which could have been really great if the budget would have been a bit higher. Pretty good whodunit-story, good script with a terrific beginning and a nice ending, wonderful atmosphere, haunting soundtrack and lots of gore. Sadly all actors and the characters they play are lame and annoying, it's often way too slow and the dialogue is just plain stupid.

Imdb