Resurrection of Michael Myers Part 2, The (1988)

Directed by:

Richard Holm

Henrik Wadling

The clutz (co-director Holm) from the original short horror spoof is in the hospital while some kind of office party is going on. Michael Myers (this time wearing a mask that actually does look like the original mask) is resurrected and sticks a pair of scissors through a guys head. In the same morgue, some kind of chemical manages to resurrect both Leatherface and Jason, who also instantly get to work slaughtering people. Leatherface pins a woman down, saws off her arm and then beats her to death with it while Jason pours acid in another guys face. When they're done, they high five each other and go off to cut off women's clothes with their weapons and have a karate fight with a blue-faced zombie who repeats famous one-liners (from Freddy, Eastwood and RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD). Meanwhile, Myers takes a dump, dunks a guy into it and flushes him down the toilet, bashes a bottle over a woman's head and then sticks the jagged bottle into her face, shoves a VHS tape into a guys mouth and cuts open the zombies head so he can eat his own brains. Things end with a rap song.

Again, it was all shot with what appears to be a commercial grade camcorder, and the nth generation copy I got to see didn't help matters. This one's still a bit better than the first. There's a lot of amateur gore, a little nudity, skateboarding, dancing, an issue of Fangoria, a rap end theme song and plenty of horror movie references and inside jokes (some of which will be lost on those who haven't seen the original). No clue if any of the dialogue is actually funny or not since it's in Swedish.

★★

Resurrection of Michael Myers, The (1987)

Directed by:

Mikael Beckman

Richard Holm

Henrik Wadling

Silly, amateur Swedish horror spoof (which runs just 25 minutes and understandably hasn't seen any kind of official release) reuses the original HALLOWEEN score and opens with theater patrons viewing the final reel of the original John Carpenter film. In a nearly-abandoned office building, a psycho (Mikael Lindgren) in a jumpsuit and white mask - which looks nothing like the Myers mask - cuts his way out of a package and proceeds to chase a clumsy clerk (played by co-director Holm) around while killing off anyone who crosses his path. The clerk falls down the stairs (twice), runs into walls, hits his head a bunch of times and rolls around on a skateboard, a guy has his throat slashed, another has his head smashed against a wall and a third is stabbed and lifted off the ground like the nurse in HALLOWEEN II. For some reason, one of the victims returns as a demon/zombie, bites a chunk out of someone's arm (an obvious nod to DAWN OF THE DEAD) and then gouges out his eyeballs with his thumbs (THE EVIL DEAD). Freddy Krueger also makes an appearance. At the end, there's a karate fight and the cast dances around to the song "I'm Your Boogeyman."

Available only in Swedish (though there's not too much actual dialogue), it's essentially a shot-with-a-camcorder fan film that would be right at home on a local public access TV station. A few of the gore fx are decent. All three directors went on to work on other things. Beckman (who appears here as a security guard) is a Swedish porno director under the name Mike Beck, Holm directs Swedish TV shows and Wadling has taken on various production jobs over the years, including work on EVIL ED (1996) and THE UNKNOWN (2000). Followed by a sequel.

★1/2

Kaidan nobori ryu (1970)

...aka: Black Cat's Revenge

...aka: Blind Woman's Curse, The

...aka: Strange Tales of Dragon Tattoo

...aka: Tattooed Swordsman, The

Directed by:

Teruo Ishii

For avenging the death of her father, Akemi Tachibana (Meiko Kaji, who'd go on to star in the excellent LADY SNOWBLOOD) spends three years in prison; heading home to take her place as leader of a large Yakuza clan upon release. As per her father's wishes, Akemi attempts to head a more civilized and less ruthless brand of crime family when she takes the reigns, but finds the task next to impossible when a series of events force her and her associates back to their violent ways. For starters, there's a rival Yakuza who are moving into their territory and plotting to take over. It's sadistic leader, Dobashi (Tôru Abe), has just teamed up with soft-spoken, yet stealthy and very skilled, swordswoman (Hoki Tokuda) who has a grudge against our heroine for slaying her father and accidentally blinding her in the process. Secondly, she believes herself to be cursed by a black cat that seems to be everywhere lapping up blood. And finally, someone's running around decapitating and skinning the dragon tattoos off the backs of her family members. The Tachibana clan eventually disband, at least temporarily, until some innocents are dragged into the picture and they're forced into a bloody climactic battle.

What will keep many at arms length the entire time is how needlessly complicated and busy the whole shebang is. The film is stuffed with so many supporting characters (several of whom are irrelevant to the main storyline) that our leads aren't adequately fleshed out. Just a few of these include a depraved, blood-licking hunchback (memorably played by Tatsumi Hijikata) obsessed with helping out Aiko, an embarrassing, arrogant rival gang leader (Ryohei Uchida) who struts around the village in a thong and a half-assed pseudo love interest for Akemi, played by Makoto Satô, who ends up getting romantically involved with the pure daughter (Yôko Tagaki) of a kindly local restaurant owner (Yoshi Kato). All these characters really do is underline an uncertainty in tone prevalant throughout the film.

Not-so-welcome humor mostly fixated around body odor is spread throughout the film for some strange reason. Both the ghost cat curse and the Yakuza crime themes have been done better elsewhere, many times before and since this one, so I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to secure a copy of Blind Woman's Curse, which received a DVD release in 2007 from a company called Discotek Media.

★★

Home for the Holidays (1972) (TV)

...aka: Deadly Desires

Directed by:

John Llewellyn Moxey

Standard, brief (73 minutes), talk-heavy, low-budget Movie of the Week fare, written by Joseph Stefano (PSYCHO) and executive produced by Aaron Spelling, is helped along by a decent cast of familiar faces. It's Christmastime as dying Benjamin Morgan (Walter Brennan) requests his four estranged daughters return home for one visit. They; eldest, straight-laced Alex (Eleanor Parker), alcohol/pill addict Frederica (Jessica Walter), snotty and promiscuous Joanna (Jill Haworth) and young, sweet Christine (Sally Field), a college student, are immediately informed by their father that he thinks that his wife/their stepmother Elizabeth (Julie Harris) is attempting to slowly poison him to death... just like she was accused of doing to a previous husband. A rainstorm floods out the roadways and the characters find themselves stranded as one-by-one they're picked off by a gloved psycho dressed in a rain slicker.

It's darkly lit, overly familiar, somewhat predictable and the venomous family dynamic makes for a pretty depressing viewing experience, though Stefano attempts to temper things with black humor and the film can now be seen as a proto slasher utilizing the holiday feel several years before BLACK CHRISTMAS did the same. Several of the actresses elevate the material as much as possible, particularly Parker and Harris, both of whom give performances of chilly restraint. The same cannot be said for Walter, who probably landed the role after her excellent psycho portrayal in the previous year's PLAY MISTY FOR ME. Her big scene finds her camping it up in near hysterics with a broken bottle in her hand. Haworth is sufficient as an icy bitch, while Field is still stuck in the squeaky clean rut she found herself in after making a name for herself on the TV shows Gidget and The Flying Nun. It wouldn't be until a few years she'd make a name for herself in Emmy (1976's SYBIL) and Oscar (1979's NORMA RAE) winning roles.

I best remember this one for that Vidmark VHS cover pictured above, which always intrigued me as a kid. No official DVD release as of yet.

★★

Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)

Directed by:
Freddie Francis

Following HORROR OF DRACULA (1958), the Lee/Drac free THE BRIDES OF DRACULA (1960) and DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1965), this fourth installment in Hammer's popular vampire series carries on in the studio's tradition of quality filmmaking. A year after the events of Prince, Count Dracula (Christopher Lee) remains incapacitated under a frozen stream near his mountaintop castle. After a female victim is found dead hanging inside a church bell, villagers call in skilled Monsignor Ernst Mueller (Rupert Davies) to exorcise the castle and place a large bronze cross in front of the doorway. He, accompanied by a cowardly local priest (Ewan Hopper), ascend the mountain but end up splitting off when they get to the top. The priest accidentally slips down a rocky slope and manages to not only crack the vampire's icy tomb open, but also dribble some blood into his mouth from a head wound. Ernst carries off the exorcism and returns to his home in another town. Now revived, Dracula turns the priest into his obedient slave and heads out to get revenge for his home being desecrated.

Monsignor returns to his home in Canonberg, which he shares with his widowed sister Anna (Marion Mathie) and her college student daughter Maria (the gorgeous Veronica Carlson). Maria's dating the handsome and confident Paul (Barry Andrews), who's working his way through school at a local pub/bakery, assisting owner Max (Michael Ripper) and barmaid Zena (Barbara Ewing). Maria's uncle shuns Paul for being an atheist, but the two will soon have to move past their differences once the evil count arrives in town, secretly takes refuge in the bakery's cellar and plots to turn Maria into his vampire bride.

Terence Fisher was originally slated to direct this entry too, as he'd done all three of the previous entries, but was involved in a car accident right before filming and had to be replaced. The good news is that Francis does an equally fine job at the helm here and his film is every bit as good - and in some ways even better - than the three films preceding it. The studio's solid production team - cinematographer Arthur Grant, composer James Bernard, production designer Bernard Robinson, etc. - is still in place, doing typically fine work all, and there's no weak link in the entire cast. There's also some effective matte work here, with scenes of characters hiking up through mountains and walking on rooftops and ledges high above the village that give this a pleasingly gradiose fantasy-movie feel. Writer Anthony Hinds (using the name "John Elder") provides good dialogue and characterization to ensure the leads are relatable and likable.

What might irk some viewers out there (aside from Lee being in a smaller supporting role with little actual dialogue) is that the film doesn't entirely stick with the usual vampire folklore. The count casts a reflection (seen in water at the beginning), a stake to the heart doesn't take him down and prayer - at least in part - is used to defeat him.

Risen would go on to become Hammer's most profitable film, leading to five more entries in the Dracula series: SCARS OF DRACULA (1970), TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA (1970), DRACULA AD 1972 (1972), THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA (1973) and THE LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES (1974), as well as many other unrelated vampire films.

★★★

La ragazza che sapeva troppo (1963)

... aka: Evil Eye, The
... aka: Girl Who Knew Too Much, The
... aka: Incubus
... aka: Obsession Diabolique

Directed by:
Mario Bava

Crucial title in the Italian horror canon, and normally considered the very first giallo, Girl is a pulp murder-mystery, a bit lighthearted and romantic at its core, with scenic Italian locations as a backdrop and absolutely stunning black-and-white cinematography from the director. American tourist Nora Davis (blonde, wide-eyed Leticia Roman) finds herself accidentally associating with a drug smuggler aboard a plane. The man is immediately arrested once they arrive at the Rome airport and Nora, avoiding implication, goes off to stay with her ill great aunt Edith. She briefly meets her aunt's handsome doctor Marcello Bassi (John Saxon) that evening, who advises her about what to do in case of an emergency, and later than night Edith passes away. Nora stumbles into a vacant city square and runs into a mugger, who swipes her purse and knocks her to the ground. She hits her head, gets a concusion and through foggy eyes thinks she witnesses a woman being murdered. Talk about having a bad day!

Because of the attack, the head trauma, a rainstorm that conveniently washes all the blood away and no murder weapon or corpse turning up, Nora finds herself in a very Hitchcockian situation where nobody believes her about what she saw. After a short stint in the hospital, she goes to her aunt's funeral and meets a friendly, wealthy middle aged woman named Laura (Valentina Cortese) who offers to let her housesit while she's out of the country visiting her husband (Giovanni Di Benedetto). Laura's home just so happens to be right across from where the Nora saw the murder, so our intrigued, mystery novel loving heroine decides to stay there and try to get to the bottom of things. She finds some newspaper clippings detailing a series of murders commited ten years ago referred to as "The Alphabet Murders" by the press (the three victims had last names beginning with A, B and C) that occured right where she's staying... ten years ago. Will a similar fate befall Ms. Davis?

It took six people (including Bava, Bruno Corbucci and Franco Prosperi) to write a script that's muddled, extremely far-fetched, a bit skimpy on characterization and saddled with a disappointingly predictable resolution. In strictly visual terms, however, it's an exciting and arresting piece of work, with a breezy air throughout punctuated with some very nicely executed moments of suspense and terror. It also deserves credit - along with Bava's BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (1964) - for helping to shape a subgenre that would become very popular toward the end of the decade in Europe. There's also a great, recurring jazzy theme song ("Furore") by Adriano Celentano and Paolo Vivarelli. Dante DiPaolo, Milo Quesada, Gustavo De Nardo and Franco Ressel co-star.

When originally released to the U.S. (titled The Evil Eye), it was dubbed, all references to marijuana were removed and the horror scenes were trimmed to focus more attention on the travelogue and romantic elements. The 2007 Anchor Bay DVD release is the original Italian-language cut.

★★★

Burn, Witch, Burn! (1962)

...aka: Night of the Eagle

Directed by:

Sidney Hayers

Review coming soon.

★★★