Horror Recs Challenge 2014: Update 4 (Feb/March)

It started as being just a few days behind, "... but I'll get to it...," I said. And then another week passed, and then another, and before I knew it my plans of providing a weekly update for the Horror Board Rec Challenge became a bimonthly update, which became a monthly update, which became a... Well, you get the idea. So here we are at the beginning of April and last I updated was end of January, so this recap is going to include all of my challenge viewings from as far back as January 30th. Thankfully, it's not that many films and some I've already reviewed here. Currently I've watched 37 of the 186 films I need to see, so I'm gonna have to pick up speed at some point if I'm ever going to get this thing done.

________________________________________________________________________________

Banshee Chapter (2013; Blair Erickson) [Viewed March 23]

After a friend she met in college takes an experimental substance and vanishes shortly thereafter, and with only snippets of obscure video footage giving a hint at to what may have occurred, journalist Anne Roland (Katia Winter) tries to piece together the evidence of what really happened. This horribly-structured, needlessly over-stuffed and - considering all that's going on - surprisingly bland film dwells in some oblique conspiracy theorist wet dream realm. There are top secret government experiments, possible CIA cover-ups, the mind-altering drug MK-Ultra, bizarre radio transmissions and some kind of shadowy desert-dwelling beings that may or may not be part of this world. Ted "Buffalo Bill" Levine turns up in a sizable supporting role playing yet another weirdo. The visual presentation is every bit as annoyingly muddled as the plot, as this focuses heavily on a found footage and pseudo-documentary presentation at first and then suddenly ditches the first person camera perspective altogether. For some reason not befitting the film itself, it was shot in stereoscopic 3D. Actor Zachary (the new Spock) Quinto was one of the producers. [USA] [Rec'd by sdaveak] ★1/2

_________________________________________________________________________________

The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972; Giuliano Carnimeo) [Viewed Feb. 6]

Perché quelle strane gocce di sangue sul corpo di Jennifer? Watch this giallo to find out. Or better yet, skip it and watch one of the similar, more stylish and far superior films directed by Argento, Bava or Sergio Martino instead. I think it's the writer in yours truly that prevents me from fully embracing this kind of film (lord have mercy, what a terrible script!), and you can find out why by reading the full review for this one RIGHT HERE. [Italy] [Rec'd by Qwertyman3] ★1/2

_________________________________________________________________________________

Deliria (Stage Fright) (1987; Michele Soavi) [Viewed March 19]

Been ages since I last saw this slasher-stalks-actors-in-a-theater flick, so it was a nice revisit. I still don't think this is anything great (Argento's similar Opera from the same year is much better) but I did like it slightly more the second time around and boosted my rating by a 1/2 star as a result. There's an impressive stretch of style and suspense about an hour in that makes the whole uneven thing worth sitting through all by itself. For the full review click RIGHT HERE. [Italy] [Rec'd by DaveHedgehog] ★★1/2

_________________________________________________________________________________

Entity (2012; Steve Stone) [Viewed March 30]

Seems like every other time I blindly watch a post-2010 horror flick it's one of these found footage / faux documentary things about ghosts. Note to future filmmakers: How bout we just move on to something else already? "Darkest Secrets" host Kate Hansen (Charlotte Riley) and her two-man crew (Rupert Hill, Oliver Jackson), along with a psychic (Dervla Kirwan) and a Russian guide (Branko Tomovic), venture deep into the Serbian forest where human remains were discovered years earlier. They all end up in an abandoned military hospital, some CGI-enhanced vengeful spirits show up and they're never heard from again. Dammit, why can't something like that happen to Zak Bagans? Reasonably good acting and an atmospheric shooting location help, but it continually and disappointingly downplays the creep factor in favor of cheap, obvious jump scares achieved primarily through sudden loud noises. Hey... what's down that corridor? BANG!!! Gotcha, didn't I? That aside, the major issue with this one - which is slapped together with some competence - is that we've seen the same exact thing too many times before and the makers of this one don't do a damn thing to spice this dreary, derivative thing up. [UK] [Rec'd by Shadowplayed] ★★

_________________________________________________________________________________

Eyes Behind the Wall (1977; Giuliano Petrelli) [Viewed Feb. 2]

Originally L'occhio dietro la parete, this bizarre Italian thriller is often classified as a giallo even though it is not. This is more kinky psychological thriller (with almost no violence to speak of) starring John Phillip Law as a sexually confused loner with a dangerous streak who's eyed by a pair of married landlords (Fernando Rey, Olga Bisera) that are as screwed up as he is and have a thing for spying on their tenants' private moments using one of the most amazing periscopes ever seen. For a peep into the action, take a gander RIGHT HERE. [Italy] [Rec'd by emertens] ★★1/2

_________________________________________________________________________________

Isolation (2005; Billy O'Brien) [Viewed Jan. 30]

Creature Features these days tend to fall into two distinct categories: ones that refuse to take themselves seriously and are hoping to spin their clichéd plots, over-worked stock characters and terrible CGI special effects into forced camp (i.e. SyFy Channel crap) and ones that go a completely seriously route and want to be taken seriously. This one falls into the latter camp. It focuses on a financially-strapped Irish farmer (John Lynch) who allows a scientist (Marcel Iures) to perform genetic research (uh oh) on cattle on his remote farm, leading to some nasty monstrosities. Mutant cow fetuses? Yup. This darkly-photographed film (which sometimes utilizes the dreadful shakycam technique) is extremely derivative of the first two Alien movies and Carpenter's The Thing (1982), and though it adequately builds tension and a palpable sense of - ahem! - isolation during the first hour, it begins to fall apart toward the end. Still, it's watchable and well-made all the same. The cast is quite good and the characters are reasonably well-developed and likable. Thumbs up as well to the old school creature fx designed by Bob Keen. [UK] [Rec'd by Shadownplayed] ★★1/2

_________________________________________________________________________________

Fährmann Maria (Ferryman Maria) (1936; Frank Wisbar) [Viewed Jan. 30]

A strong-willed, independent young woman named Maria (Vampyr co-star Sybille Schmitz) arrives in a small village, takes a job working a hand-pulled ferry, falls in love with a local man and is eventually faced with making the ultimate sacrifice after a black-clad embodiment of death moves into the picture. This was one of the last films of the German Expressionist movement and, like many other films of its type, is a beautifully-made melodrama with striking imagery and an eerie bent to it.  Photography, scene framing and the outdoor shooting locations are all superb. After the Nazis gained power in Germany, Wisbar came to the Hollywood and re-filmed this same story for Poverty Row studio PRC in 1946. That film - Strangler of the Swamp - was a reasonably good effort inside its budget limitations, but I prefer the real outdoor scenery / locations and leisurely, dreamy pace of this original to the foggy sets and rushed melodrama of the later version. Fahrmann also packed more of a dramatic punch for this viewer, with a luminous central performance from its leading lady. [Germany] [Rec'd by jdidaco] ★★★

_________________________________________________________________________________

Lorna... the Exorcist (1974; Jesus Franco) [Viewed Feb. 7]

It's directed by Franco and stars Lina Romay, so you pretty much know what to expect with Les possédées du diable: tons of light XXX-y nudes and other "sexy" stuff. But to say just that is not giving the film itself its full due. It's a sleaze fest, for sure. It even goes to some unintentionally comic lengths just to be sleazy. However, it's also saturated with a wonderfully hypnotic vibe that lifts it up and above the norm for this kind of thing. Full review and virgin-blood-covered-dildo screenies are RIGHT HERE, pervs. [France] [Rec'd by shaza123] ★★1/2

_________________________________________________________________________________

Neon Maniacs (1986; Joseph Mangine) [Viewed March 16]

Maniacs presents a multitude of murderous mutant bad guys on the loose in San Francisco that are interesting in costume, but not in concept. Though slathered in hokey 80s charm, complete ineptitude at telling a coherent story ultimately knocks this down into "It should have been so much more fun than this" territory. For a full list of things I'm still contemplating after watching this mess a few weeks ago, consult the full recap RIGHT HERE. [USA] [Rec'd by Hellraiserdisciple] ★1/2

_________________________________________________________________________________

Odd Thomas (2013; Stephen Sommers) [Viewed March 17]

The Mummy Returns. Van Helsing. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra... The type of soulless titles churned out by the Hollywood machine that send shudders down the spines of many film fans? Sure, but they all have another thing in common: each were made by Stephen Sommers. When I saw Sommers' name on the list of films for the challenge, I couldn't help but utter "Bleh." However, I'm happy to report that Odd Thomas is easily his best film to date. Well actually, it may be his only good film to date, but let's just forget that little detail for now. Anton Yelchin (the Fright Night remake) takes on the title role as a young small town cook with an extrasensory gift that allows him to see dead people and *other* things like vulture-like harbingers of death called "bodachs" that show up in droves any time mass carnage is anticipated...  a slew of which have just recently shown up in town. Odd must find out why or many will die. I've never read the Dean R. Koontz series this was based upon so I can't account for accuracy, but this film adaptation (which has echoes of such films as Ghost, The Frighteners and The Sixth Sense) is highly entertaining, deftly combines action, horror, thrills and laughs with a little bit of heart and is nicely performed by most of the cast; particularly the lead and Willem Dafoe as a detective. If there is one grievance I have about the film, it's the dialogue. Much of it is of the "let's be hip and clever and show how witty we are 24/7" school; sometimes it works but at other times it feels forced and unnatural. Aside from that, a surprisingly good effort from an unexpected source. The sad epitaph of this 27-million-budgeted film's quiet ushering out onto DVD earlier this year is that while it's far and away the best thing Sommers has ever done, it's now also destined to become his least financially successful. So much for actually being rewarded for fine work. [USA] [Rec'd by sdaveak] ★★★

_________________________________________________________________________________

Open Grave (2013; Gonzalo López-Gallego) [Viewed Jan. 31]

A man (Sharlto Copley) awakens in a pit full of corpses, makes his way to a house and discovers other partial amnesia victims (including Thomas Kretschmann) who have no clue who they are, where they're at or how they even got there. Tensions rise, paranoia and suspicion take hold, everyone attempts to find out what's going on, some are killed and there are also "infected" zombie-like folks lurking about. What we have here is pretty much just a retread of 28 Days Later... (2002), disassembled and reconstructed in an attempt to draw attention away from the blatant similarities. It starts out on an intriguing note as we - along with the characters - wonder just what's going on and it also ends rather intriguingly, but the trip there is as tedious and boring to sit through as the whole film's washed-out grey / blue / black color palette is to look at. Though well-crafted in a medium-budget kind of way, this comes off like its creators came up with good opening and closing scenes and then just threw every other cliché in the book into the middle to lead it from Good Set Piece A to Good Set Piece B. And it's this entire uninspiring mid-section that drags this thing down to the point where I (and no doubt many other viewers out there) are barely even gonna care how things pan out by the time they do. The cast often seems awkward (not surprising considering this is an American production from a Spanish director filmed in Hungary and boasting leads from Germany and South Africa trying to talk "American" [!]), the dialogue is sometimes awful and plot developments stall out after the first reel, causing the action to become highly repetitive soon after. Open Grave is going to appeal mostly to those not all that well-versed (or worn out by) the 'apocalyptic living dead' sub-genre. For others, this is the very definition of uneven and mediocre. [USA] [Rec'd by sdaveak] ★★

_________________________________________________________________________________

There's Nothing Out There (1991; Rolfe Kanefsky) [Viewed Feb. 9]

I revisited this very low-budget horror / monster movie spoof for the first time since childhood a few months back... and still haven't completed my full review of it yet, but expect one here soon. How has it held up over the years? Fairly well actually. This tale of three couples and the obligatory third wheel encountering an alien menace while at a cabin in the woods still provides plenty of chuckles and does a nice balancing act between being trashy / exploitative and lighthearted / goofy. It's also amazing how blatantly obvious it is that Kevin Williamson lifted his "Randy" character for Scream (1996) directly from this movie. I'll be getting on that longer review... [USA] [Rec'd by ElijahCSkuggs] ★★1/2

_________________________________________________________________________________

Wild Beasts (1984; Franco Prosperi) [Viewed March 16]

Hallucinogenic drugs get into the water supply. Animals drink it. Animals go buck wild. Animals escape from zoo. Animals start killing people. If you're interested in reading more, then consult the pachyderm-head-squishin,' cheetah-car-chasin,' polar-bear-clawin'-dance-teachers, rats-consuming-kittens-and-naked-teens belve feroci action RIGHT HERE. [Italy] [Rec'd by ninjas-r-cool] ★★

_________________________________________________________________________________

Until next time friends...

STATS (as of April 1):

FTV (First Time Views): 35

Repeat Views: 2

Total:  37 / 186

Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe (1973)

... aka: Tenderness of the Wolves
... aka: Tenderness of Wolves, The

Directed by:
Ulli Lommel

Prior to his final arrest in 1924, Fritz Haarmann already had a long criminal record; having been arrested for crimes as far ranging as child molestation to burglary to physically assaulting his own father. In and out of prison and mental institutions for a number of years (at one point he'd escaped indefinite internment in an asylum and fled to Switzerland; returning to his German homeland under an alias), Haarmann's longest stint behind bars happened between 1914 and 1918. During that time, World War I had come and gone. Upon release, Haarmann found that getting away with criminal activity in a now-bankrupt Germany was easier than ever before. Starting in 1918, he began luring young men (aged anywhere from 22 to just 10 years old) back to his apartment, where he'd have sex (or rape), torture and murder them; usually by biting through their necks. Bodies were them dismembered and disposed of in the Leine River. Haarmann, along with his lover / accomplice Hans Grans (who really didn't get his hands dirty but had no issue reaping the rewards), would then either keep or sell the clothing and belongings of the victims on the black market. Because Haarmann was a well-known trader in contraband meat, one wouldn't have to take too many guesses to know where the "pork" he was peddling came from, either.

Fritz Haarmann

After about six years of this (during which time Haarmann worked as a police informant!), bones kept washing up on the river bank. The river was dragged and a horrifying discovery was made: over 500 human bones belonging to at least 22 different victims were found. Because of his past criminal record, Haarmann was a chief suspect. Police raided his home, found the belongings of numerous missing men and the rest is history. Though he himself claimed to have killed "somewhere between 50 and 70" young men (usually lured away from the central railway station in Hanover), Haarmann was suspected in the murders of 27 but was convicted for just 24. He was executed by guillotine in 1925 at the age of 45 and his head was kept in a jar so scientists could study his brain and, to this day, is kept at the Göttingen Medical School.

Despite being one of history's most notorious serial killers, having earned such nicknames as "The Butcher of Hanover," "The Vampire of Hanover" and "The Wolf Man" by the press of his day, strangely enough there have only been three major films directly based upon his crimes. The first was Fritz Lang's masterpiece M (1931), a landmark in adult filmmaking that's still widely-viewed and respected to this day and boasts a brilliant central performance by Peter Lorre. Much later there was the seldom-watched 1995 film Der Totmacher ("The Deathmaker") starring Götz George, which I have on my ever-growing list of movies I want to see before I croak. Smack in the middle is Tenderness of the Wolves, directed by Ulli Lommel, who if nothing else has had an interesting career. 

Heavily involved in the respected New German Cinema movement of the 60s and 70s, Lommel eventually married DuPont heiress Suzanna Love and moved to the United States, where the two would collaborate on many projects. The most watched of these is probably The Boogeyman (1980); an interesting, colorful film about a vengeful spirit trapped inside of a mirror that's often falsely labeled as a slasher flick. After Love and Lommel parted ways, the director found it increasingly more difficult to find funding for his films. That is, until he discovered digital video in the mid 2000s. Since then, he's cranked out a startling number of absolutely terrible genre films, often based on real life serial killers (perhaps trying to cash in on this past glory). Whatever reputation he'd cultivated early on now gone, no list of "Worst Directors of All Time" is complete without mention of Mr. Lommel. However, despite his much-deserved bad reputation as of late, don't let that keep you from watching this one. It's actually very good.

Head clean shaven to instantly recall Lorre's interpretation of the character (not to mention Nosferatu) and equipped with a boyish and disarming, yet creepy, smile, Kurt Raab gives a memorable performance as the predatory, pathetic, lonely serial killer. As the film opens, police invade Haarmann's apartment and catch him bed with an underage boy. He's brought in to the police station where his extensive record ("...prostitution, theft, receipt of stolen goods, seduction of minors, panhandling, vagrancy, assault, fraud, forgery...") is read. Figuring he wouldn't be doing them any good in prison, the police chief instead enlists his aid as as an informant. Given a badge, Haarmann then hits the local train station and keeps an eye out for any young men who strike his fancy. Many destitute, broken runaways filter through the area, Haarmann lays out two options for them: either he'll take them to the police station, or he'll help them out by giving them money and helping them find a job... if they'll come back to his apartment with him. Many young boys enter his apartment, but few leave, and the next morning - after lots of chopping and sawing sounds that annoy his neighbors - Haarmann emerges with a pot full of fresh meat; some of which he sells to restaurant owner Louise (Brigitte Mira).

Haarmann is deeply in love with Hans (Jeff Roden); a bisexual hustler and con artist who really doesn't care much about him and is just in it for the money. Hans would rather be dancing and partying with prostitutes than dealing with his disturbed lover, but he's not above helping to cover up the crimes when it suits his needs. The two do various scams to make money, including dressing up as priests to get clothing donations, which they then turn around and sell, and dealing in cigarettes and booze on the black market. Many people surrounding Haarmann know good and well that something's not right about him, and make casual asides about his "young boys," but no one seems to want to step forward. Others, including his prostitute friend Dora (Ingrid Caven), see dead bodies in his apartment, but turn a blind eye. Even Hanover's lead detective Kommissar Braun (Wolfgang Schenck), the man who's been employing Haarmann as a informant, has been receiving packages of meat and other goods from the killer, and is reluctant to really investigate matters. A confession from Haarmann's nosy downstairs neighbor, spinster Frau Linder (Margit Carstensen), who's been hearing the banging and chopping late into the night plus sees him hauling off large wrapped packages to the river for disposal, and pressure from the government finally results in a sting operation to entrap the killer.

Written by its star and produced by leading German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder (who also plays a small role), this is very well-made and acted, sticks rather closely to the known facts and is unflinching yet non-exploitative in its depiction of the horrific crimes; showing us just enough of the horrific deeds and never wallowing in them for sensationalism. It's also rather frank and matter-of-fact in its portrayal of homosexuality, which probably isn't how this same material would had been handled if it were filmed in - say - the UK or the United States, at this same time. Concentration on the depressed, impoverished setting - making one aware of just how something this horrible could continue on for as long as it did - is perhaps the film's strongest attribute of all. Post-war Germany is shown to be a place filled with people who are weak, hungry and extremely desperate; weak and hungry enough for adults to casually indulge in criminal activity and for the young to easily fall into a psycho's trap; desperate enough for otherwise normal people to ignore horrific things going on all around them. The depths people will sink to for money, food, clothing, small joys most of us take for granted or just to get their basic needs met greatly enhances the mood of this bleak, lurid film.

Though it was not distributed in the U.S. during the video era (not surprising since it earned it an X certificate numerous places), Anchor Bay finally issued a DVD in 1999. The audience appeal for something like this is certainly limited; not only because of the gay content but also because it is as far from "feel good movie" as one can get, even within the genre. Not even the presence of dark humor lightens things up much... and the film is honestly all the better for that. Murder, poverty and the fallout of war are all painted with the the same ugly, damning brush.

★★★1/2

Meng gui zhuang gui (1989)

... aka: Bloody Ghost
... aka: Funny Ghost

Directed by:
Cheung-Yan Yuen

If there is one thing there was no shortage of in the 80s, it was Hong Kong ghost comedies... and here's another one. PR girl Yue (Sandra Ng) is sick of her job and tight boss Manager Wu (Teddy Yip), who's so cheap he monitors the amount of toilet paper his female employees use. A gambling addict deeply in debt, Yue bets it all (as well as four of her co-workers' money) on a horse race, loses everything and then goes to her rich best friend Ngoh (Elvina Kong) for help. The only problem is that Ngoh's ex-husband has just taken her to the cleaners and now she's also broke. Deciding she can't go on, Ngoh decides to commit suicide and asks Yue to help her. Their attempt at walking out in front of cars backfires, so Ngoh decides to climb up on a rooftop and jump. Unable to, she asks Yue to push her, but Yue misses and ends up accidentally falling herself. In the same building, underworld criminal Boss Hung (Wu Fung) has just received a pair of urns; one containing the ashes of a pregnant Malaysian woman who was raped and murdered and the other her unborn fetus. During a fight, a bag containing loads of cash and the larger urn falls out of the window. Thankfully for Yue, some railing has managed to break her fall and she ends up in the same dumpster as the bag. She grabs it and takes off, little realizing what she's really in possession of.

Ngoh is apprehended by the police and taken in for questioning, Hung sends out contract killer Ho (Billy Lau) to track down Yue and try to get the urn and money back and a pair of klutzy, bumbling idiot detectives (Nat Chan Pak Cheung and Charlie Cho Cha-Lee) dressed in loud, mismatched plaid outfits show up from Scotland Yard to assist Inspector Wong (Walter Tso Tat-Wah). Yue eventually discovers the power of the urn (which requires blood to activate) and uses it to get herself out of numerous sticky situations, as well as to make money. When her four female co-workers show up wanting their money back, she instead uses the urn to make them leave; instructing them to go pose for adult magazines and star in porno videos (!!) Once Ngoh is released, the two ladies go win a fortune at dominoes and gain the abilities of Bruce Lee to beat up Ngoh's ex-boyfriend and his friends. When the detectives go to Yue's apartment to question her, she uses the urn to transform herself into an elderly couple and a little girl to throw them off. Things end up at a warehouse where most of the principle characters become trapped with the long-fingernail-sporting female ghost (So Ga-Bo), whose spirit is finally unleashed once her urn is broken.

Primarily a zany, fast-paced comedy, this doesn't unleash its horror scenes until the final 15 minutes when the ghost finally materializes and starts heading out after the cast (and several become possessed), though even these scenes are played mostly for laughs. The choreography of the fight scenes isn't nearly as impressive or elaborate as what one would see in, say, Shaw Brothers productions. It's also really talky and there's a lot of mugging and some highly annoying characters to contend with. However, enough set pieces deliver genuine laughs to keep this from being a complete waste of time. A few scenes, in fact, actually had me laughing out loud and that doesn't happen a whole lot for yours truly. And who'd have thunk red underwear could be so useful? Most of the cast prove to be quite adept at slapstick. Ng in particular shows a genuine talent for physical comedy. I kept thinking how great she'd have been on some sketch comedy series like "MadTV" or "Saturday Night Live" while watching this.

The screenplay was written by Jeffrey Lau, who also had his hand in around a dozen similar films from this time. Director Cheung-Yan Yuen has had a long career in Hong Kong cinema starting in the 1960s and was known mostly as an actor, stunt coordinator and fight choreographer on such films as The One-Armed Swordsman (1967), The Buddhist Fist (1980) and Once Upon a Time in China (1991). He later began working as fight choreographer on such American productions as Charlie's Angels and the Matrix sequels. As director, he also made Here Comes a Vampire (1990), Wizard's Curse (1993) and others. This has less martial arts action than one might expect given his track record.

★★1/2