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A holy-grail of modern found footage horror has finally made its way to Blu-ray!   Ghostwatch  aired on the BBC as a “live event” on Halloween night, 1992, fooling more than a couple of viewers into thinking they were watching the real thing.  Hosted by actual TV personalities who stage an investigation into a haunting in on a quiet London block, director Lesley Manning does a phenomenal job of balancing POV thrills with studio-set talking heads.  This one is  way  ahead of its time! Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene and Mike Smith all play “themselves” as the supernatural goings-on unfold around a single mother and two children whose home is plagued with cold spots, breaking dishes and constant knocking.  The crew arrives and starts digging into the backstory of the home, with callers dropping clues about a series of undocumented deaths.  Soon the “show” is causing a panic throughout the city as the poltergeist activity bec...

The next best thing to living through the Italian cinema boom of the ‘70s…is living through the digital restoration and renaissance   we happen to be experiencing  right now !  And writer/director Fernando Di Leo has been fairly well represented, with many of his seminal crime films – like  Milan Caliber 9  – rising from the celluloid graveyard to claim their rightful place among the most influential genre films of the era.  But  Blood and Diamonds  (1977) finds his career, and that of the poliziotteschi in general, on the wane; so much so that the working title was  Rome Caliber 9 , an attempt to grab the attention of fading audience interest.   But Di Leo’s film is certainly interesting enough to stand on its own.     Set in the familiar criminal underworld, Guido Mauri(Claudio Cassinelli)     is a safecracker pinched on the job by an anonymous tip that sends him to prison for five years.     Upo...

There are filmmakers content to live off the scraps of Hollywood’s bigger, better and bolder ideas and production values.  Then there is Nico Mastorakis, the Greek writer / director / producer who never let ambition get in the way of a low-budget.   From almost unwatchable early exploitation affairs like  Island of Death  (1976) to action-slasher hybrids like  The Zero Boys  (1986), Mastorakis was always trying to stay ahead of the trends and bully his way into the big leagues.  And  Nightmare at Noon  (1988) is the perfect example of his balls-to-the-wall filmmaking approach, desperately trying to capitalize on the ‘80s action boom with all the showmanship of a Barnam & Bailey huckster. Sheriff Hanks (George Kennedy) really has his hands full.  The citizens of his peaceful town of Moab have turned feral after a secret experiment tainted the water supply.  With the help of a snobby tourist (Wings Ha...

Writer / director Eric Pennycoff’s  The Leech  (2022) excels in the art of making its audience uncomfortable.  Mixing comedy, religious angst and (maybe, possibly?) some satanic panic, it’s a film that makes so much of so little you can’t help but root for it to reach that rare cinematic end zone.  But when it finally gets there, all those psychological twists and turns might require further review.  Father David’s flock of parishioners have all but abandoned him.  Making sermons inside an empty church and posting inspirational social media hashtags that no one reads, he finds unlikely inspiration in the form of a vagrant, Terry (Jeremy Gardner), sleeping between the pews.  Invited home as an act of Christian kindness, Terry is quick to take advantage of a good situation, rolling out the red carpet for his now-homeless girlfriend, Lexi (Taylor Zaudtke), to crash the pad as well.  David sees an opportunity to correct their ...

Is it even  possible  to have a bad time while watching a Shaw Brothers movie?  Short of being interrupted by a cancer diagnosis or impending nuclear war, I don’t believe so.  Like an early version of the Marvel Universe, this cinematic kung-fu cornucopia shared superstars, spin-offs and spoofs over the course of two-decades, perfecting a formula that never seemed to cut corners when it came to creativity and showmanship.  And Arrow Video’s  Shawscope: Volume 2  offers up another exemplary collection of films that proves just that. Things start off with  The 36 Chamber of Shaolin , perhaps the best of the fighter-in-training films, starring Gordon Liu as a desperate villager who convinces the reclusive monks to share their kung-fu knowledge in hopes of getting revenge against the evil Manchus.  Liu returned for two sequels (both included) that spun off into a comedic direction will just as satisfying results.   ...

Animal House  (1978) and  Caddyshack  (1980) pretty much perfected the “slobs vs snobs” comedy to the point where nothing more need be said.  But with cheap production values and a horny teenage demographic, the sub-genre cluttered movie screens and video store shelves throughout the 1980s with too many titles to mention.   Ski Patrol  (1990) was very late to the game and, with a PG rating, looked to reach youngsters who loved fart jokes and groin shots, but weren’t quite of age to enjoy bad language and T & A. Snowy Peaks resort is a local institution run by Pops (Ray Walston) and his fun-loving ski patrol, a gaggle of multi-cultural misfits who take nothing seriously except their jobs.  But when a real estate developer (Martin Mull) frames them for several safety violations, the gang is put on the chopping block.  Can they save their jobs and the resort while still pulling pranks, winning talents shows and doing bad Rodne...

On a roll with three consecutive  giallo -inspired hits, Spanish director Eloy de la Iglesia shoehorns all the trappings of the genre into a near-future thriller that openly lifts its style from Kubrick’s  A Clockwork Orange , complete with classical music, copycat droogs and a plan to electronically eradicate aberrant behavior.  The result is, as one might expect, a mixed bag of social satire and slasher tropes that proves there are only so many balls a film can juggle at one time. Ana (Sue Lyon) is a trust-fund orphan and respected healthcare worker who moonlights as a serial killer of young men between the ages of 17 and 30.  Her modus operandi involves seducing victims in various disguises, making love, then stabbing them in the chest with a scalpel.  As luck would have it, David (Chris Mitchum), a disgruntled member of the aforementioned droogs, witnesses Ana disposing of a body and follows her home.  His plan to blackmail her sets ...

The  Cult of Fulci  most often focuses on the director’s horror output, which peaked in the early ‘80s with titles like  Zombie  and  City of the Living Dead .  But wedged in between those two titles was his sole entry in the  poliiziotteschi  genre,  Contraband  (1980), a scattershot crime movie that delivers the same amount of gore in a different cinematic package. Luca (played by all-purpose Italian hunk Fabio Testi) is a reticent smuggler torn between loyalty to his brother, Enrico, and his wife and young child.  But when Enrico is assassinated, Luca risks everything to get revenge, going head-to-head against a ruthless drug dealer who plans to take over the entire Naples smuggling operation.  Once the power struggle attracts the attention of the “old guard”, the city is soon littered with corpses who each meet their end in gruesome detail.   Although it eschews the supernatural for a  Godfather / F...

The legal system doesn’t come up against the supernatural too often.  Outside of the latest  Conjuring  entry, which was based on the real-life case of Arne Johnson, the two genres rarely cross paths.  But Frank De Felitta’s novel  Audrey Rose  (and his follow-up  The Entity ) went out on a limb to challenge that spirituality can be proven in a court of law…or a least pose enough doubt to earn a hefty settlement.  The 1977 film however barely creeps out of the long shadow cast by  The Exorcist. Janice and Bill Templeton’s enviable Park Avenue lifestyle is rudely interrupted by their daughter Ivy’s violent nightmares.  Doctors and psychiatrists can provide no explanation; but Elliot Hoover can.  He claims that Ivy is the reincarnation of his daughter, who died in a fiery car crash, and insists he be allowed to play a part in her life.  The Templeton’s, particularly Bill, suspect some sort of shakedo...

Absurdism is comedy’s red-headed step-child.  It doesn’t take quite as much skill to pull off and often passes for a clever sort of satire…even if its target isn’t quite clear.  Director Wes Anderson has made an entire career out of keeping audiences guessing, buoyed by incredible set design and big-name actors.  Quentin Dupieux, on the other hand, doesn’t have a fraction of the resources, but comes up with something far more effective in  Incredible but True  (1922), a 74-minute spoof of our cultural obsession for eternal youth that plumbs surprising emotional depths.  Alain and Marie, a late middle-aged couple, have finally purchased their first home.  Besides a large master bath and stunning deck, the property has one unique selling point: a manhole-sized opening in the basement that transports you 12 hours in the future…and reverses your age by three days.  Marie quickly becomes obsessed, spending most of her life in a...

Ken Russell’s  The Devils  (1971) is a bombastic attack on the senses.  It’s also a genuine cinematic masterpiece.  But its subject matter of sex, torture and corruption within the Catholic Church was too much for  any  studio to handle at the time, leaving the film essentially orphaned after an aborted UK and US release, so much so that’s it’s damn near impossible to see  anywhere  outside of a few screenings on Shudder from time to time.  But the seedier side of Russell’s film was a roadmap for exploitation filmmakers to follow, resulting in the creation of an entire subgenre –  nunsploitation -  where sins of the flesh suggestively covered up in a black and white habit. The Nun and the Devil  (1973) is far more reserved than some other entries, reinforcing Russell’s theme of sexual repression with flashes of forbidden hetero and lesbian escapades while a power struggle tears the Saint Arcangelo Convent ap...

As an example of macho escapism, nothing beats a prison movie.  Except a  futuristic  prison movie!   Escape from New York ,  Fortress ,  Alien 3 , heck, even Vin Diesel broke out of a doozy in  The Chronicles of Riddick .  But for some reason  No Escape  (1994) fell behind the cinematic couch cushions.  Barely even mentioned after the recent unexpected passing of star Ray Liotta, the film ranks right up there as an action-packed vision of our privatized, militarized justice system gone wrong. After murdering his superior in cold blood, Robbins (Liotta) is shipped off to Absalom, a self-sufficient island with a warring population of prisoners:  the savage Outsiders and peace-loving Insiders.  Not anxious to take orders from  either  camp, Robbins eventually proves his worth to the Insiders’ spiritual leader  (Lance Henriksen) and makes a deal that will earn him a seat on th...

A direct-to-video horror-comedy that feel between the cracks of the Blockbuster era and streaming explosion,  Satan’s Little Helper  (2004) is an offbeat, sometimes sloppy, but never boring take on the Halloween masked killer scenario.  Director Jeff Lieberman gives it a seat-of-your-pants slasher vibe that mixes dark humor and childhood nostalgia for a truly unique bit of B-movie magic. 8-year-old Douglas Whooly has a hard time separating video game violence from the real thing; so much so that he mistakes a masked serial killer for Satan himself, offering to help his “master” complete his nightly chores.  But when Dougie’s new friend seems to be targeting his own family, the fun and games turn deadly, putting his mom and sister in danger of winding up like a pair of smashed pumpkins!   Shot on video in the early days of the digital revolution,  Satan’s Little Helper  feels decidedly low-rent for the first 30 minutes or so.  But wh...

Although we tend to assume the high-concept romantic comedy was a particularly unflattering invention of the ‘90s, the formula was utilized much earlier – and much better – throughout film history.  Whether it’s  Bringing up Baby  or  Notting Hill , there’s an art to doing the  meet-cute  correctly.  And director Just Jaeckin, known mostly for kickstarting the erotic film renaissance with  Emmanuelle , gets it just right with 1978’s  The Last Romantic Lover . A hypersexualized feminist with a fear of commitment, Elisabeth stages a controversial magazine contest in which men are judged on their physique, manners, kissing and…uh, size.  Pierre, a lion tamer, is convinced to enter against his will by his fellow circus performers who hope to use the prize money to keep their show afloat.  But when the big prize winds up being a ten-day vacation with the woman of your choice, Pierre chooses Elisabeth, dragging her bac...

What is it about Amanda Pays and slimy tentacled monsters?   Within the space of two short years the actress was groped by a pair of genetic hybrids in  The Kindred  (1987) and  Leviathan  (1988), both titles fondly remembered as a last gasp for ambitious practical creature effects.  Synapse Films rescues the former in an equally ambitious special edition Blu-ray that features an all-new 4K remaster of the unrated cut. After the death of his mother, scientist John Hollins learns she was pursuing her own research in their childhood home.  A weekend trip to clear up any lingering mystery is crashed by Melissa Leftridge (Pays), a researcher herself who thinks John’s mother was onto something big…and she was!   Lurking in the basement is a horde of creepy crawlies made up of John’s own DNA.  Meanwhile a rival scientist (played by Rod Steiger) wants the mutants for himself, setting up a family reunion that might ...

The decline of classic rock has precipitated the decline of the guitar hero.  But even in the 70s and 80s, it was rare to find a six-stringed musician elevated above the rest of the band.  You’ve got Clapton, Page, Gilmour, Van Halen.  And then there’s Randy Rhoads, whose stint on Ozzy Osbourne’s first two solo albums earned him the sort of accolades other guitarists spend a lifetime trying to earn.  But his untimely death cut short a career that shaped the future of metal music in more ways than one. Randy Rhoads :  Reflections of a Guitar Icon  is the sort of documentary VH1’s  Behind the Music  used to do so well, right down to the cliched voice-over dialogue requirement, “But behind the scenes tensions were brewing.”  Of course, every band has tension.  And Randy’s time with Quiet Riot was a constant struggle for recognition and record deals, to the point where when Ozzy came calling there was really no ...

Though Gothic literature got its start well before the advent of cinema, the two complement each other so well that it might be a near perfect expression of both art forms.  Full of secret passageways and cobwebbed staircases hidden within decrepit castles that harbor all manner of psychological and supernatural secrets, the raw ingredients are ridiculously ripe for visual translation to the screen.  And all that atmosphere means the story can be so-so and  still deliver the necessary shocks.  Such is the case with the films collected in Arrow’s latest must-have box set  Gothic Fantastico , four rarely-seen titles showcasing a particularly Italian take on the then-trendy Hammer and Poe series. Things get started in high fashion with  Lady Morgan’s Vengeance  (1965), a uniquely Italian ghost story that begins as a predictable melodrama but culminates in an undead orgy of death!  That might be hyperbole considering director Massi...

While virtually every film today is shot in a hi-def format that approximates the look of celluloid prints, there was a time when  shot-on-video  was a category unto itself, reflecting a DIY aesthetic working under no-budget conditions, using amateur actors with little to no hope of distribution beyond tape sharing and fan festivals.  Like a second-tier Troma Studios, these regional auteurs made movies for the sheer fun of it.  With  Amityville Karen  (2022) director Shawn C. Phillips is attempting to work in the same wheelhouse. In between trolling social media, harassing her neighbors and closing down a local winery, Karen (Lauren Francesca) finds time to get possessed by a demon contortionist and goes on a rampage of politically-correct death and destruction.  A cast of quirky characters meet their fate after suffering through trendy quips and cliches.   At one hour and 45 minutes,  Amityville Karen  is longer that most...

Writer / director Pierre Tsigaridis obviously has something to prove with his feature directorial debut  Two Witches  (2021).  Firstly, that he has done his homework studying the ebbs and flow of modern horror scare techniques.  Second…well, that seems to be his  only  goal in what is a derivative and insultingly manipulative horror film that bombards the audience with orchestral hits, spooky contact lenses and quick cut dream sequences that went out of style in the early ‘90s.  No offense, it takes a lot of work to put together a feature film, but  Two Witches  is nothing more than a calling card. Broken into two interconnected stories, both revolve around the aforementioned witches who seem to be working for a higher power.  In the first entry, an unsightly hag haunts the dreams of a pregnant woman in an attempt to secure her unborn offspring, while part two (the stronger half) finds a roommate dealing with her own ...

An also-ran on the post-punk scene by today’s standards,  The March Violets  were part of the Leeds drum machine clique that also included  Sisters of Mercy  and  Red Lorry Yellow Lorry .  Releasing a string of singles and EPs that earned plenty of press in the U.K., there wasn’t much momentum across the pond until  Snake Dance  – a thumping dark wave ditty if there ever was one – tossed them into the goth rock discard pile.  It also effectively spelled the end of the band, with key members jumping ship or forming solo projects.  But those early recordings are well-overdue for critical reappraisal, with tracks like  Radiant Boys  and  Crow Baby delivering jagged guitar riffs and dissonant vocal duets reminiscent of L.A. punk pioneers  X .  Lead vocalist Simon Denbigh avoids gothic pretensions, shrieking and snarling with an unexpected vocal range that meshes wonderfully with Rosie Garland. ...

Released when vampire films with a contemporary setting were still a novelty,  Count Yorga, Vampire  (1970) and its sequel,  The Return of Count Yorga  (1972), beat Hammer's  Dracula A.D. 1972  to the punch by two years, playing up the conflict between superstition and the "what's your sign" generation.  It's a bit raw and amateurish, but this surprise drive-in success from AIP, originally conceived as a porno entitled  The Loves of Count Iorga , gets a big boost from star Robert Quarry, whose aristocratic performance as the titular Bulgarian royal with a taste for bleeding heart hippies classes up what would have been an otherwise casually generic film. Set in Los Angeles, with a hint of Mason murder uneasiness still in the air, the film opens with a séance led by Count Yorga, passing himself off as expert in the "mystic arts,” and attended by a pair of hipster couples looking to contact one of their recently deceased relatives...who also ha...

Within the first five minutes of  Checkered Ninja  (2018), a Danish computer-animated film that combines the style of Pixar with the attitude of Adult Swim, a child working in a Thai sweatshop is viciously beaten death with a stick.  The doll he was making comes to life and swears vengeance against the foreign toy tycoon is committed the crime.  So….yeah… Toy Story  it’s  not .     A huge hit in its native country, director Anders Matthesen’s film is a bit of a hard sell in North America, where animated films fall into two categories:  family-friendly or NSFW.   Checkered Ninja  straddles the line between both, adding plenty of crude language into the usual mix of fart jokes and groin hits.  It’s a distinctly odd experience, since the obvious target audience is pre-teens who should identify with its relatable protagonist, Alex, a 7 th  grader whose dream of being part of the cool crowd comes t...

With title as all-encompassing as  Cinematographer  you might expect director Dan Asma’s 2022 documentary to be a comprehensive look at the art and history of the craft, profiling cinematic legends whose names are etched in celluloid.  But - to be blunt - it’s most definitely  not  that.  Asma’s film is a personal profile of Donald M. Morgan; not a name that pops into most cinephile’s heads, instead a journeyman DP who changed his style to suit the director and the medium.  His professional career might get the most attention (with movies like  Seven ,  Starman  and  Christine  under his belt), but it’s his personal impact on the lives of others that gets top billing.   A loose cannon in his youth, Morgan struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for years before finding steady work as an aerial cameraman.  Early collaborations with Robert Zemeckis led to steady feature and TV work, most notably a ...