‘It’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature…… it can be Horrifying! Even to Them!

The Mutations is a 1974 British science fiction horror film directed by Jack Cardiff from a screenplay by producer Robert D. Weinbach and Edward Mann (Island of Terror; Cauldron of Blood; Seizure). The film was also released under the title The Freakmaker.

Professor Nolter (Donald Pleasence), a deranged genetic scientist, is conducting bizarre experiments, combining the DNA of plants and humans. Unfortunately, his eccentric studies have the side-effect of creating disfigured mutants. He strikes up an odd partnership with Lynch, the disfigured owner of a circus freak show, who begs Nolter to help him look ‘normal’.

Nolter makes a bargain, promising to perform the operation in return for Lynch bringing him young human guinea pigs to experiment on. As more and more people go missing, the deformed collective decide to fight back…

Review:

Though more famous as one of Britain’s greatest ever cinematographers (African Queen and Death on the Nile), Jack Cardiff had several forays into directing, with this being the last.

The film is a rich seventies relaunch of Tod Browning’s Freaks, heavy on style and the exploration of the dark corners of society and not skimping on the unusual-looking sideshow performers, many of whom were played by people with ‘unique qualities’, something which immediately sets the film apart from the cinematic crowd.

Tom Baker is all but unrecognisable, save for a hat and scarf which bear more than a passing resemblance to his outfit from Doctor Who but delivers a fantastically engaging performance as a man at the end of his tether, approaching a complete breakdown, all the more remarkable due to him being buried under many layers of make-up and prosthetics.

Pleasence had perfected the role of crackpot scientist in many roles before, though was actually a replacement for the intended Vincent Price. Others in the cast are also worthy of mention; Norwegian Julie Ege (Voluptua from Up Pompeii, Craze and Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires), Brad Harris (Lady Dracula; usually found somewhere in Europe as Hercules, he also served as one of the film’s producers) all nice to see in what is a resolutely British film.

The cast of unusual looking actors, from the pop-eyed to the dermatologically-challenged, includes the wonderful Michael Dunn, a sufferer of dwarfism, who whilst most famous for TV roles had also appeared in Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks and Werewolf of Washington the previous year. Sadly, The Mutations was to be his last screen role.

Unashamed to wear its influences on its sleeve (there is a re-enactment of the ‘we accept you’ banquet scene from Freaks), it is worth remembering that Tod Browning’s movie was still banned in Britain and had been for some time, meaning that the film was almost unique for the audience at the time. Critics gave the film a rather unkind reception, accusing it of exploiting the actors for cheap scares.

The score is also an aural feast to the ears: a jazzy, intriguing sonic soup from the renowned British composer, Basil Kirchin. Without the same punchy moral power of Freaks and a slightly undecided plot veering from the mad scientist to the sensitive character development of Lynch too quickly to satisfy the audience’s appreciation of either, The Mutations is still a classic British combination of bizarre visuals and uncompromising ideas.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Audio commentary with writer/producer Robert Weinbach and actor/associate producer Brad Harris, moderated by Norman Hill
2nd commentary with director Jack Cardiff and Norman Hill
Featurette: How to Make A Freak: including interviews with Jack Cardiff, Brad Harris, and Robert Weinbach
Still gallery
Talent bios
Trailers
Special packaging includes:
lobby card reproductions
original poster art reproduction
reversal jacket with photo montage on the inside cover

Buy DVD: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Other reviews:

“In Freaks, Browning’s clinical direction impelled his audience to feel simultaneous respect and revulsion for the title characters. By comparison, the total lack of sincerity surrounding The Mutations, and Cardiff’s superficial, rudimentary approach to his material, relegate the film to the level of pure exploitation.” Caolin Pahlow, BFI Monthly Film Bulletin (January, 1975)

“The episodes in the circus, shot in Battersea Park, are made to feel all the more tawdry by the dreary setting, which conveys nothing but the paucity of imagination and budget. This impression is reinforced by the dismal photography of veteran Paul Beeson who, despite using an array of colour filters, fails to inject any life into the scenes. In contrast, the extraordinary time-lapse plant photography of Ken Middleton looks spectacular even when viewed four decades later; it is just a pity that the rest of the film could not rise to his level.” John Hamilton, X-Cert 2: The British Independent Horror Film: 1971 – 1983

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

” … it’s got a lot of agreeably nuts moments in it but, especially in the first half, they’re kept apart by a lot of interminable talky scenes. Nolter bangs on about human-plant hybrids, the sideshow freaks grumble about their working conditions and the students babble a load of old nonsense about LSD trips.” Jumble Sale Frenzy!

“I was entertained, excited, and even mildly shocked by this picture. Donald Pleasence, as the cold-hearted professor, gives an understated performance, but the film as a whole does not hold itself back. Tom Baker wears Elephant Man-style makeup for his role as the professor’s assistant and thug, and he is quite frightening.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

Filming locations:

Oakley Court, Oakley Green, Windsor, Berkshire, England
Battersea Fun Fair, Battersea Park, Battersea, London, England
Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England

‘It lusts for blood’

Venus Flytrap is a 1967 American/Japanese science fiction horror film directed by Norman Earl Thomson.

The plot features a mad scientist, played by James Craig (The Manster), who uses thunder and lightning to turn carnivorous plants into man-eating creatures. It is known variously as Body of the Prey, The Revenge of Doctor X (American Regal Video VHS title), and The Revenge of Dr. X (American VHS box title).

Although the film is allegedly based on a 1950s screenplay by Edward D. Wood Jr. (Plan 9 from Outer Space; Bride of the Monster; Orgy of the Dead), he remained uncredited. Confusingly, the American video release erroneously features the major credits for 1969 Filipino production The Mad Doctor of Blood Island.

Dr. Bragan (James Craig) is a NASA mathematician working on a mission to outer space. The stress of the mission causes him to have a mental breakdown, so his assistant, Dr. Paul Nakamura (Yagi), suggests he takes a vacation in Japan to recuperate.

In Japan, Dr. Bragan stays at a hotel with his beautiful assistant, Dr. Hanamura (Kami), to begin experiments on a plant he brought from America. The plant is a Venus Flytrap, and the scientist crosses it with a Japanese carnivorous plant to create a creature that is almost human…

Reviews:

“While some films are just plain bad, and some transcend that to become so bad they’re good, The Revenge of Doctor X doesn’t pass go, it doesn’t collect $200, nothing — it’s so bad it’s beyond good and all the way back to bad again. In other words, for what it is — and that certainly ain’t much — it’s downright perfect.“ Trash Film Guru

“There’s nothing else to really say about this obscure, laughable cheapie. It’s full of quotable bad dialogue, so Ed Wood fans can immediately add it to their “must see” list. The monster was Z movie coolness. James Craig, who worked out his schlock movie chops again in 1970 with an appearance in Bigfoot, gives a bipolar performance that’s just plain bizarre.” The Bloody Pit of Horror

“This movie is the antithesis of good. It has no shortage of bad directing, bad dialogue, bad acting, and hammy overacting, not to mention plenty of dull lulls where you’re waiting for the story to actually progress. Plus, it’s loaded with almost as much stock footage, stock music, and excess padding as most of the movies Ed Wood himself directed.” Dread Central

“I’ve just watched the stupid movie twice, and it only came to me as an afterthought that there was any nudity in it at all. That’s the true hallmark of Ed Wood’s movies: not even nudity can help them.” Braineater

“… is a must-see proposition for Wood fans … contains enough wacky Woodian moments to make for a memorable viewing. It’s not quite Plan 9 from Outer Space, but then what is?” Andrew J. Rausch, Charles E. Pratt Jr., The Cinematic Misadventures of Ed Wood

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

“At first the film seems too stupidly boring to watch, but if you stick with it, it becomes so fantastically moronic that it’s actually loads of fun. And honest to god, it looks like the talentless dweebs who created this Z shlocker didn’t make it this absurd on purpose. It was the best they could do.” Weird Wild Realm

“James Craig acts as if he’s portraying the dastardly villain tying ladies to railroad tracks. Noriko spouts phonetically learned speeches with no inflection whatsoever. Men in rubber suits attack small children and puppies. Volcanoes can’t hurt anyone till they have to. Inappropriate music, NASA stock footage, snakes in a barn, Ed Wood Jr. dialogue . . . it’s bad movie heaven!” Cinema Knife Fight

“Led with much gusto by James Craig’s unbelievably insane performance, Dr. X packs so much technical absurdity into its 90 minute runtime that the “plot” becomes invisible. Hammond organ exotica twinkles away on the score to a Baby Huey cartoon while overlaid images, grainy stock shots, and extreme close-ups relay the day-in-the-life affairs.” Bleeding Skull!

” …a weird, clunky, amateurish oddment.  It’s a tough watch but offers sufficient bizarro elements to keep drawing the attention back to the screen […] Exploitation stuff includes business with topless Japanese pearl divers and Bragan syringing blood from out of the naked breast of the sleeping Noriko.” The Kim Newman Web Site

“Dr. Bragin/X crossbreeds the venus flytrap into a horrible abomination, that would be the most terrifying creature in film history, where every detail about it the exact opposite. It resembles a giant stalk of celery combined with a used car lot tube man wearing giant boxing gloves, and of course, it develops a thirst for blood. Not motivated by any particular kind of revenge, mind you. Any blood will do.” Rifftrax

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Related: Maneater of Hydra

‘Do you want to live forever?’

Chimera is a 2018 science fiction horror thriller film written and directed by Maurice Haeems, making his feature debut. The Praxis Media Ventures production stars Henry Ian Cusick, Kathleen Quinlan and Karishma Ahluwalia.

A brilliant but disturbed scientist freezes his children alive, while he races to cure their deadly genetic disease by decoding the DNA of the immortal Turritopsis jellyfish…

“Inspired by cutting-edge research in stem cells, regenerative medicine, organ harvesting and genetics, Chimera is, at its core, a tale of love and loss, regret and redemption.

While our story pushes the central character down some very dark paths, we still wanted the audience to see that despite his many flaws, Quint is always driven by a utopian vision and noble intentions,” says director Maurice Haeems.

Chimera is slated to start its film festival tour in the Spring of 2018 and will be released later in the year.”

Reviews:

” …filled with so many aspects that needed to be carried out correctly to be super effective. And the cast and crew here succeeded on every single level. Above average camera work, fantastical and enthralling musical scores, big budget CGI, proper practical effects, realistic set designs, capable and calculated performances from the entire cast, and they even found time to fit a dog into the movie.” Horror Society

“Chimera is a very intelligent film, and unlike some big studio movies that feel the need to thump the viewer over the head with obvious plot points, Haeems assumes that his audience is equally intelligent and will accept this film as it is presented to them. If there is anything negative to say about this film it is the revisiting of this idea that scientists are morally bankrupt individuals.” The Two Gay Geeks

Main cast:

• Henry Ian Cusick … Quint
• Kathleen Quinlan … Masterson – Horns; The Hills Have Eyes (2006); Event Horizon, Children of the Night; Warning Sign; Twilight Zone: The Movie; Nightmare in Blood
• Karishma Ahluwalia … Jessie – Grimm; Lucifer; Killer Munchies (short)
• Jenna Harrison … Charlie
• Erika Ervin …Gruze – Dead Squad; American Horror Story; Hemlock Grove
• Jennifer Gjulameti

Filming locations:

Fitchburg, Massachusetts, USA

IMDb | Official site | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

‘Captives… stripped naked, forced to submit to the ultimate experiment!’

Hellhole is a 1985 American exploitation horror film directed by Pierre De Moro from a screenplay by Aaron Butler. The Arkoff International Pictures production stars Ray Sharkey, Judy Landers, Marjoe Gortner and Mary Woronov.

Jeff Sturges provided the synthesizer score.

Having witnessed her mother’s brutal death, Susan (Judy Landers) gets amnesia from a fall while being pursued by the killer, Silk (Ray Sharkey). Awakening in Ashland Sanitarium, she is once again terrorized by Silk, disguised as an orderly.

To pry an incriminating secret from Susan’s brain, Silk forms an uneasy alliance with Dr. Fletcher (Mary Woronov), a psychotic mad scientist who has been testing a new chemical lobotomy technique, using helpless inmates as her guinea pigs. These vicious experiments are carried out in the “Hellhole,” a torture den…

Buy Blu-ray + DVD: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

• New interview with actress Mary Woronov
• Original Theatrical Trailer

Reviews:

“The characters are all melodramatic and hateful, and the dialogue is often gleefully dreadful. Moro goes for over-the-top drama and achieves it. The film is stylized and consistently campy, and is, if nothing else, thoroughly entertaining.” William Harrison, DVD Talk

“The bulk of the sleazy material is in the second act. It turns out that amongst the insane patients there are also some drug addicts that would do anything in order to get their fix. This is a good enough excuse to have some lesbian lovemaking scenes, catfights, and torture footage with a few sadistic guards.” Dr. Svet Atanasov, Blu-ray.com

“Lots of nudity? Check. Shower scene? Check. Butch lesbian “warden”/hospital administrator using her position to seduce young women? Check. Riots (or in this case, freaked-out loonies scrabbling out of their cages)? Check. Fistfights? Check. Torture? Check.” Paul Mavis, DVD Drive-In

“A loose plot shifts between genuine terror, gonzo gore, and gorgeous lesbians with little aplomb. Most of the actors have flat line readings aplenty, but Richard Cox and Mary Woronov make the best with what they have to work with. Hellhole as at its best with its surreal torture scenes and offbeat lesbian sex comedy bits.” Mat Bradley-Tschirgi, Battleship Pretension

“Per the WIP template, toplessness is a must of its caged coquettes, yet Savannah Smiles (!) director Pierre De Moro throws bottomlessness in there, too, to give his flick a bonus layer of ’80s sleaze.” Rod Lott, Flick Attack

“Those looking for a horror picture could be setting themselves up for disappointment as there’s nothing frightening about this movie at all save for a few bad boob jobs and Z’Dar’s mighty chin. But fans of cheap, trashy exploitation? This’ll deliver.” Ian Jane, Rock! Shock! Pop!

Choice dialogue:

Dr. Fletcher: “At least I have sexual hangups. You don’t even have sex.”

Dr. Fletcher: “I find sand more therapeutic than water.”

Silk: “I’m the, erm, mud control inspector.”

Dr. Fletcher: “You’re not mentally ill, you’re emotionally disturbed,”

Brad: “Alright, you f*cking c*nts, knock it off!”

Silk: “I’ll tell ya what. You can be a piece of bread, you can be a piece of cheese, provolone cheese. And I’ll be the baloney. And together we’ll make a sandwich. How do you like that, huh?”

Dr. Fletcher: “I’d like to rip your f*cking skull off! But instead I will make you permanently insane.”

Cast and characters:

• Ray Sharkey – Silk
• Judy Landers – Susan
• Marjoe Gortner – Dr. Dane
• Edy Williams – Vera
• Terry Moore – Sidnee Hammond
• Mary Woronov – Dr. Fletcher
• Richard Cox – Ron
• Robert Z’Dar – Brad
• Cliff Emmich – Dr. Blume
• Martin West – Rollins
• Lynn Borden – Susan’s mother
• Dyanne Thorne – Crysta
• Marneen Fields – Curry – Girl in dining room

Release:

Hellhole was released as a Blu-ray + DVD combo by Scream Factory on July 26, 2016.

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: Good Efficient Butchery

‘Deformed. Depraved. Deadly.’

Hideous! – aka Deformed Freaks – is a 1997 American science fiction horror film produced and directed by Charles Band from a screenplay by Neal Marshall Stevens [as Benjamin Carr] (DevilDolls; Thir13en Ghosts; The Killer Eye; Head of the Family). The Full Moon Features production stars Michael Citriniti, Rhonda Griffin and Mel Johnson Jr.

A group of rival collectors of the preserved corpses of severely deformed freakish human beings and the FBI agents that are investigating them must battle against some of their collections which aren’t as dead as they seem…

Buy Blu-ray | DVD – Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

” …a weird, sleazy, gruesomely good time. Its plot is both simplistic and outrageously bizarre […] Films like Hideous! rely heavily on the cast being in on the joke, and everyone here really seems to get it. They’re all delightfully over-the-top, chewing scenery for the duration of the film.” Blair Hoyle, Cinema Slasher

“The creatures are disgusting looking, but they don’t really scare you or bring any fun to the show. The story is unengaging, the actors are bad and there’s too many scenes of the two rival collectors trying to convince these creatures on who they should belong to and it’s just a big bore.” Torstein Karlsen, Cinema Terror

” …they’re puppets that would even be considered low budget by Full Moon’s standards, they don’t really do much. Instead, they spend most of the back half of the film hiding behind chairs and tables, standing in the shadows and gawping at what’s going on.” Chris Scullion, That Was a Bit Mental

“Common sense, reason and logic go out of the window. These are meant to be throwaway films, devoid of any narrative structure, coherence or melodramatics and instead focus on ideas which purposely make the film seem cheesy and camp. I guess it works to a degree – it just doesn’t make for good viewing.” Andrew Smith, Popcorn Pictures

“The animatronic creatures by Mark Rappaport (300) are stiffer than the stop motion effects of David Allen (Puppet Master), and the scoring of Richard Band (Castle Freak) is proficient but undistinguished. The end product is amusing enough if slight and predictable.” Eric Cotenas, DVD Beaver

“The movie does the right thing and doesn’t take itself too seriously, the witty dry humour which is scattered throughout helps the pacing and even though the main focus of the story is the Shakespearian rivalry of the freak collectors the monsters littered enhance this giving a reason to cheer and jeer along with the film.” Mark Pidgeon, UK Horror Scene

Buy DVD: Amazon.co.uk

Cast and characters:

• Michael Citriniti … Doctor Lorca – Ravenwolf Towers; Demonic Toys: Personal Demons; Cemetery High; Psychos in Love
• Rhonda Griffin … Elvina Shaw – Naked Fear; The Creeps
• Mel Johnson Jr. … Napoleon Lazar – The Munsters Today; Total Recall
• Jacqueline Lovell … Sheila
• Tracie May … Belinda Yost
• Jerry O’Donnell … Detective Leonard Kantor
• Andrew Johnston … Martin – Frenchman’s Farm
• Mircea Constantinescu … Alf
• Alexandru Agarici … Dougie

Filming locations:

Romania

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: That Was a Bit Mental

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‘Welcome to the jungle’

Zombie Isle is a 2014 American horror film written and directed by Robert Elkins (Alien Swamp Beast; Zombie Croc; Backwoods 2: The Revenge of Caleb). It stars Tony Jones, Alyssa Wheaton and Kyle Billeter.

In the late 70’s, a group of college students and their professor venture onto an uninhabited island for a day of exploring flora, fauna and co-ed fun.

The class field trip quickly becomes a grisly nightmare as the students and faculty soon discover they are stranded and the island is crawling with ravenous, flesh-eating ghouls, reanimated as zombies by an insane Nazi scientist who can resurrect and control the dead.

Just when the slaughter levels out, a three-headed abomination comes out of hiding that even its creator can’t control…

Reviews:

” …even if the tongue is firmly in cheek in Zombie Isle, it stays away from ever becoming just moronic but remains a loving (if ironic) homage throughout. So fans of of vintage grindhouse cinema will probably find a lot to like about this movie…” Mike Haberfelner, Search My Trash

“There are moments when the effects are flubbed, mostly by showing the practical effect technique or aspect to clearly, giving away the illusion, but for the most part things work. The color effect and 70’s retro effect can be a bit distracting, but the sound effects dissolve any annoyance and really set things right…” A Southern Horror Fan

Main cast and characters:

• Kyle Billeter … Amie
• Dewey Collins … Peter
• Apryl Crowell … Laurie
• Susee Garcia … Zombie
• Riva Gijanto … Crazy Zombie
• Catherine Goodson … Cindy
• Leah Gosnell … Edie
• Crystal Howell … Heather
• Tony Jones … Professor Grant Foster
• Jerry E. Long … The Sheriff
• Jonathan Moody … Gabe
• Ken Peebles … Crazy Zombie
• Alyssa Wheaton … Vulnavia
• David S. Witt … Dr. Claude Von Wolff

IMDb

Depraved is a 2018 American horror film written and directed by Larry Fessenden (Beneath; The Last Winter; Wendigo; Habit). The Glass Eye Pix/Forager co-production is a contemporary re-imagining of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. It stars David Call, Joshua Leonard, and Alex Breaux as the monster.

Henry is a field surgeon suffering from PTSD after combat in the Middle East. He creates a man out of body parts in a makeshift lab in Gowanus, Brooklyn. The creature Henry creates must navigate a strange new world and the rivalry between Henry and his conniving collaborator Polidori…

Commenting on the project, Fessenden said: “I’ve been moved by the iconic character since childhood and it is a great thrill to try and put my version on the screen.”

Depraved begins shooting in New York in February.

Sources: IndieWire | Screen Anarchy

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1968 Canadian/American television horror film directed by Charles Jarrott based on a teleplay by Ian McLellan Hunter (The Amazing Mr. X), based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella of the same title. The Dan Curtis production stars Jack Palance, Denholm Elliott, Leo Genn and Billie Whitelaw.

Dr. Henry Jekyll experiments with scientific means of revealing the hidden, dark side of man and releases a murderer from within himself…

Reviews:

“With convincing make-up by Dick Smith, remarkable art direction by Trevor Williams, and a supporting cast that includes Billie Whitelaw (The Omen) and Denholm Elliott, this is finest adoption of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel next to the 1932 Fredric March version. The only drawback is that it’s totally shot on videotape.” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

” …probably due to budgetary reasons, it was done on videotape and looks it. However, don’t allow this to put you off. This one ranks high as far as screen adaptations of the book are concerned and it is thoroughly absorbing for its entire two-hour running time.” Digital Retribution

” …the opening scene where Dr. Jekyll faces off with a sneering panel of physicians is a little too cliched to really be effective, and having most of the dialogue reprised during the final confrontation scene is the one downside to what is otherwise an extraordinarily effective scene. But these are really minor quibbles; the movie works very well indeed…” Dave Sindelar, Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings

“Palance also hits just the right notes as Jekyll (which is not necessarily easy, as Palance looks pretty intimidating even as the refined Dr. Jekyll). The character traces a sort of bell curve through the film– anxious and under attack by his colleagues at the beginning, intoxicated by Hyde’s perverse joie de vivre in the middle, and worn out and hopeless at the end.” Brian Schuck, Films from Beyond the Time Barrier

” …this is a handsome and well-written version of the story which explores a number of elements of the story which have been ignored in other versions. Some have called it the best version of the story – frankly I have my doubts – but what is true is that it is a very solid and watchable version, and it remains consistently entertaining.” Rivets on the Poster

Buy DVD: Amazon.com

“Palance is first-rate in both titular roles, well done score by Robert Cobert. Whitelaw (Damien’s sinister nanny from The Omen) is fetching as Hyde’s clinging hooker. Nice makeup by Dick Smith.” The Terror Trap

“Jekyll’s ultimate weakness of character is exposed as the film reaches its climax, and Palance builds it up perfectly with his performance. This is a must-see for fans of gothic horror, Jack Palance, and just well-made films.” Steve Miller, Terror Titans

Buy DVD: Amazon.com

Choice dialogue:

Dr. Jekyll (as he prepares to swig his potion): “Gentlemen, be damned to you.”

Cast and characters:

• Jack Palance … Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Edward Hyde – Living with the Dead; Horror of the Hungry Humongous Hungan; Alone in the Dark; Without Warning; Craze; Bram Stoker’s Dracula; Torture Garden
• Denholm Elliott … Mr. George Devlin – Brimstone and Treacle; Underworld; The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983); Hammer House of Horror; The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978); To the Devil a Daughter; The Vault of Horror; The House That Dripped Blood; Mystery and Imagination (TV series)
• Leo Genn … Dr. Lanyon – Endless Night; Die Screaming Marianne; A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin; The Bloody Judge; Ten Little Indians; The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse
• Torin Thatcher … Sir John Turnbull – Night Gallery (TV series)
• Rex Sevenoaks … Dr. Wright
• Gillie Fenwick … Poole – Friday the 13th: The Series
• Elizabeth Cole … Hattie
• Duncan Lamont … Sergeant Grimes – The Creeping Flesh; Nothing But the Night; Burke & Hare; My Partner the Ghost TV series; Quatermass and the Pit; Frankenstein Created Woman; The Evil of Frankenstein; The Quatermass Experiment TV series
• Paul Harding … Constable Johnson
• Oskar Homolka … Stryker – Mr. Sardonicus
• Tessie O’Shea … Tessie O’Toole
• Jeanette Landis … Liz
• Liza Creighton … Billie
• Billie Whitelaw … Gwyn Thomas – Hot Fuzz; The Omen; Supernatural TV series; Night Watch; Frenzy; The Flesh and the Fiends
• Donald Webster … Garvis

Filming locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

IMDb

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‘He walks through walls of solid steel and stone!’

4D Man – aka The Evil Force (UK); Master of Terror (US reissue) – is a 1959 American science fiction film directed by Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. (Dinosaurus!; The Blob, 1958) from a screenplay by Theodore Simonson and Cy Chermak. It was produced by Jack H. Harris (The Blob franchise; Schlock; Equinox) and stars Robert Lansing, Lee Meriwether, and James Congdon.

The Fairview production was released in the U.S. by Universal-International.

Brilliant but irresponsible scientist Tony Nelson (James Congdon) develops an electronic amplifier that he hopes will allow any object to achieve a 4th dimensional (4D) state. While in this state any object can pass freely through any other object.

Tony, however, fails to pay attention to the overload, which sparks an electrical fire that burns down his lab. This results in the university terminating his contract. Now unemployed, Tony seeks out his brother Scott (Robert Lansing) to help him with his experiment…

Reviews:

“Yeaworth’s direction is unsteady; some of the blocking results in odd eyelines, (Meriwether somehow ends up looking cross-eyed in her first glamour close-up!) and there are as many static scenes as there are dynamic ones. But the non-Hollywood effort is refreshing in its lack of slickness.”Glenn Erickson, DVD Savant

“It’s especially good in developing the characters; you’d expect bold, daring Tony to end up as the man who can walk through walls, but instead, it’s dull ol’ Scott. And yet the script carefully prepares us for this as well. The special effects of Lansing passing through walls, chairs, even people, are bold and imaginative, but always give themselves away with a visible matte line.” Bill Warren, Audio Video Revolution

“The character of Scott Nelson (excellently played by Robert Lansing) is so well established and the circumstances of his situation so well set forth that you understand fully why he takes to crime once he develops his abilities; these decisions don’t seem arbitrary or convenient.” Dave Sindelar, Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings

“First, there’s the acting, which exhibits that same mix of wildly excessive over- and underacting that characterized the original Star Trek series, though admittedly not to such jaw-dropping degrees. Second, and perhaps more importantly, 4D Man is saddled with what must surely be the most utterly inappropriate background music in the history of cinematic science fiction. Every single scene unfolds to the distracting accompaniment of cacophonous beatnik jazz.” Scott Ashlin, 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

” …the effects work in particular is very good. The film has an original and interesting idea, even if it is given a series of absurd explanations with nonsense about time being speeded up somehow allowing objects to pass through one another. Irvin S. Yeaworth gives it a scary, suspenseful edge.” Richard Scheib, Moria

“The disparity between the vitality of the younger characters and Scott’s corruption of that same thing proves surprisingly effective for what was a B-movie, but as with The Blob it was the pleasing simplicity of the central notion which made this interesting. Unexpectedly loud jazz score by Ralph Carmichael.” Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image

“This is a plausible bit of scientific hocus, and the compact story has enough to please the majority.” Kine Weekly“Rather too much of an emphasis on a hackneyed romance tends to hold up the proceedings but the film moves briskly enough, the idea is well used and the special effects effective.” Alan Franks, The Science Fiction and Fantasy Handbook, Batsford, 1982

Cast and characters:

• Robert Lansing as Dr. Scott Nelson – The Nest; Monsters TV series; Island Claws; Empire of the Ants; The Evil Touch TV series; Journey to the Unknown TV series
• Lee Meriwether as Linda Davis – The Munsters Today TV Series; Batman: The Movie (1966)
• James Congdon as Dr. Tony Nelson – When Worlds Collide
• Robert Strauss as Roy Parker – The Munsters TV series
• Edgar Stehli as Dr. Theodore W. Carson
• Patty Duke as Marjorie Sutherland – Grave Secrets: The Legacy of HilltopDrive; Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes; The Swarm; Curse of the Black Widow; Look What’s Happened to Rosemary’s Baby?; Night Gallery TV series
• Guy Raymond as Fred
• Chic James as B-girl
• Elbert Smith as Capt. Rogers
• George Karas as Sgt. Todaman
• Jasper Deeter as Dr. Welles
• Dean Newman as Dr. Brian Schwartz
• John Benson as reporter

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: The B-Movie Catechism

‘May the chaos be with you…’

Bloody Chainsaw Girl – original title: Chimamire sukeban chênsô – is a 2016 Japanese science fiction comedy horror film directed by Hiroki Yamaguchi (Hellevator) from a screenplay by Mitsunori Fukuhara, based on a manga by Rei Mikamoto. It stars Rio Uchida, Mari Yamachi, Seira Satô, and Yuki Tamaki.

Delinquent high school student Giko (Rio Uchida) wields a chainsaw like no other, a talent she inherited from her long-deceased father.

On her way to high school, Giko is attacked by Sayuri, an assassin sent by rival student Nero. It seems that Nero has been burning the mad scientist oil and turning fellow classmates into cyborgs that obey her every command. The nefarious Nero is looking to add Giko to her collection of demented soldiers.

Although able to repel Sayuri’s attack, Giko is hardly out of the fire, and finds herself targeted not only by Nero, but also by all the members of her school’s Ninja Club, including Hanzo, their female leader who – in addition to a cyborg makeover – received a sex change from Nero…

Reviews:

“Evidently, Yoko Matsuda and Kazuhide Shimohata in the makeup department, Yuta Okuyama, Soichi Umezawa and Adam Nishida on the special effects, and Mami Ito in the costume department have done wonders into portraying all this bloody preposterousness on screen, and the result is truly impressive.” Panos Kotzathanasis, Asian Movie Pulse

“It manages to fill most dialogue with nonsense, especially the rationale of the villain – which is so nonsensical I still cannot comprehend […] If you want an example of the craziness, look at the poster here and see where the missiles come from.” Moonlight Knight

Main cast:

• Rio Uchida
• Mizuho Abe
• Seijirô Nakamura
• Ray Nishimura
• Kayako Okuda
• Seira Satô
• Yûki Tamaki
• Mari Yamachi

IMDb

‘Young pawns thrust into pulsating cages of horror in a sadistic experiment!’

Teenage Zombies – re-release title Teenage Torture – is a 1957 [released 1960] American science fiction horror film written [as Jaques Lecotier], produced and directed by Jerry Warren (Creature of the Walking Dead; Face of the Screaming Werewolf; Curse of the Stone Hand). The movie stars Don Sullivan, Katherine Victor and Steve Conte.

The film’s soundtrack score was recycled from Kronos (1957).

Warren revisited some elements of the plot for Frankenstein Island (1981).

While boating, a quartet of teenagers, Reg (Don Sullivan), Skip (Paul Pepper), Julie (Mitzie Albertson), and Pam (Brianne Murphy), accidentally discover an island run by a mad scientist named Doctor Myra who, backed by foreign agents from “the East”, intends to turn everyone in the United States into a zombie.

The teenagers become trapped on the island, and are temporarily imprisoned in cages. They are freed when other teenagers arrive with the sheriff (who turns out to be in league with Doctor Myra).

A complicated fight scene serves as the climax, in which a de-zombified gorilla arrives just in time to attack Dr. Myra’s henchmen and allow the teens to escape. When they are safely back on the mainland, it is implied that the teens will receive a reward for discovering the island, and will have an audience with the President of the United States.

On November 10, 2015, Vinegar Syndrome issued the film on a DVD double-bill with 1959 nudie western Revenge of the Virgins (co-written by Edward D. Wood Jr.). Both films are presented in 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen in black and white transfers taken from 2K scans of the original 35mm negatives.

Buy Vinegar Syndrome DVD: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“To some, Teenage Zombies is a fun and hilariously bad movie. To most, it’s absolute torture to sit through. Either way, it’s cheap, poorly filmed, endlessly talky, slow-moving, technically inept, bargain basement garbage. The acting and dialogue are both terrible, nearly the entire thing is comprised of medium shots which seem to go on forever… The Bloody Pit of Horror

“Teenage Zombies is often considered one of the worst horror films ever made. The claustrophobic sets–the ice cream parlor, the general’s headquarters (complete with large map), the police station, and Victor’s lab–all look like they were shot in someone’s house, and it’s enough to make Eddie Wood blush.” DVD Drive-in

“Entire scenes will go by in one master shot, even when only one person speaks throughout the whole thing. Occasional (very occasional) close-ups seem jarringly out of place on the rare times they occur, and you get the impression that they are being used to hide edits than the result of any sort of creative decision. I think there are about 100 cuts in the entire movie.” Horror Movie a Day

“To the stock music that in no way matches any of the film over which it blares — to gargantuan plot holes, non-existent special effects, and an ending that just sort of drags on and on like an elaborate but poorly constructed joke. Teenage Zombies has absolutely nothing going for it. But Teenage Zombies is hilariously awful, and at 70 or so minutes doesn’t overstay its welcome.” Horrorview.com

“Don’t expect much zombie action here, but the junky charms of this film are plentiful as it reels out pages and pages of ridiculous “gee, whiz!” dialogue, a clunky soundtrack cobbled together with stock music from other ’50s sci-fi films, and some juicy overacting from the villainous actors, not to mention “minimalist” sets that would get thrown out of most high school plays. Yep, this one’s a keeper.” Nathaniel Thompson, Mondo Digital

“Teenage Zombies is only 70 minutes long, but that’s not exactly indicative of a breezy watch when it comes to awful films from this period. Manos was shorter, and we all know what kind of a ride that movie is! But thankfully, this move is never boring, and it gets into gear very quickly.” Not This Time, Nayland Smith

” …Teenage Zombies is a lot of good, dopey fun. It’s never even close to scary and very much a product of its time but that’s half the charm of a B picture like this. Warren keeps things moving at a pretty quick pace and has a tendency to throw in a strange plot device anytime the story seems like it’s going to slow down, so we wind up with a picture that is, if not particularly logical, pretty entertaining.” Ian Jane, Rock! Shock! Pop!

Buy Alpha Video DVD: Amazon.com

“These are the types of zombies that were usually featured in the horror films of old – mindless beings who did whatever they were called upon to do by their masters and though not as fun as the brain-eating kind, they still had a charm about them. The most enjoyable part of it all was not the terrible acting or the hammy script, but the hypnotized ape who took his revenge in the end. Though it might have faults, more than a few even, Teenage Zombies is not the worst feature film that Warren would ever produce…” The Telltale Mind

Buy Bayview Entertainment DVD: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

“There are mad, unregulated scientists, Communist scare business, hunchbacks with their eyes rolled up in their head, drugged out “zombies”, awful fashions (check out Morrie and Dottie’s rolled up baggies and her perfectly hideous hairdo) and even a guy in a gorilla suit. I ask you, what’s not to love?” Third Eye Cinema

Cast and characters:

• Don Sullivan as Reg – The Giant Gila Monster; The Monster of Piedras Blancas 
• Katherine Victor as Doctor Myra – Cape Canaveral Monsters
• Steve Conte as Whorf
• J.L.D. Morrison as Brandt
• Brianne Murphy as Pam
• Paul Pepper as Skip
• Mitzie Albertson as Julie
• Jay Hawk as Morrie
• Mike Concannon as Sheriff
• Nan Green as Dotty
• Don Neeley as Major Coleman
• Mitch Evans as Gorilla
• Chuck Niles as Ivan

Running time:

73 minutes

Trivia:

Actress Brianne Murphy was married to Jerry Warren and was also the production coordinator and wardrobe supervisor. She went on to direct Blood Sabbath (1972) and become an Emmy-winning cinematographer. In 1980, she became the first female to shoot a major studio, union picture (Fatso). [Thanks to The Bloody Pit of Horror for this info.]

Wikipedia | IMDb | American Film Institute

Whole movie at the Internet Archive

Image credits: Third Eye Cinema | Wrong Side of the Art!

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‘See the two-headed killer creature!’

The Manster is a 1959 American horror feature film produced by George P. Breakston and directed by Breakston and Kenneth G. Crane (The Monster from Green Hell) from a screenplay by Walter J. Sheldon, based on Breakston’s story. It stars Peter Dyneley and Jane Hylton. The production was filmed in Japan and is also known as Doktor Satan (in Greece), The Split and The Two-Headed Monster.

On August 29, 2017, The Manster was released on Blu-ray by Scream Factory.

Buy Blu-ray: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

American foreign news correspondent Larry Stanford (Peter Dyneley) has been working out of Japan for the last few years to the detriment of his marriage. His last assignment before returning to his wife in the United States is an interview with the renowned but reclusive scientist Dr. Robert Suzuki (Tetsu Nakamura), who lives atop a volcanic mountain.

During the brief interview, Dr. Suzuki amiably discusses his work on evolution caused by sporadic cosmic rays in the atmosphere and professes that he has discovered a method for producing evolutionary change chemically.

Suzuki serves Larry a drugged libation, causing him to fall into a deep sleep. Announcing to Tara (Terri Zimmern), his voluptuous assistant, that Larry is the perfect candidate for his latest evolutionary experiments, he injects an unknown substance into Larry’s shoulder.

Upon waking, Larry is oblivious to the true situation and accepts Suzuki’s invitation to spend the next week vacationing with him around Japan. Over the next few days, Suzuki uses Tara as a beguiling distraction while conditioning Larry with mineral baths and copious amounts of alcohol, exacerbating the pain in Larry’s shoulder.

Meanwhile, Larry’s estranged wife (played by Dyneley’s actual spouse Jane Hylton) has traveled to Japan to bring him back home with her. But when confronted, Larry refuses to leave his new life of women and carousing.

After a few drinks that night Larry examines his painful shoulder to discover that a large eyeball has grown at the spot of Dr. Suzuki’s injection…

Buy DVD: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Reviews:

” …one of those films that’s considered a bad movie favorite despite the fact it’s actually not really a bad movie. Sure, it’s utterly ridiculous and has some unintentional laughs here and there, but it’s not poorly made and there’s genuine imagination at work here. Some scenes are surprising and borderline surreal…” Justin McKinney, The Bloody Pit of Horror

” …easily one of the sleaziest, most enjoyably awful pieces of late 50s exploitation nonsense ever conceived. The filmmakers refusal to create a sympathetic protagonist was a ballsy move for the time and the blatant extra-marital sex jabs is racy stuff for a trashy monster picture that aspires for little else than shock value.” Cool Ass Cinema

“…it’s not very classy, but it’s certainly exciting, gory, racy, extreme, at times ironically funny, at times shocking and frightening […] The action is steady and body count high. A good score featuring a theremin accentuates the most freakish moments.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

” …The Manster is a Jekyll and Hyde film – if you can imagine a crosshatch between a two-headed transplant film, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Lost Weekend (1945). This is a Dr Jekyll variant where the decent ordinary man is not just struggling with his dark side but one that is also polarised into a struggle between Japanese and American cultures.” Richard Scheib, Moria

” …beyond its trashy visuals, The Manster is still a sombre tale. As a metaphor for the destructive effects of alcoholism (or any drug in general) the film makes pretty good points; and as a sci-fi tragedy, the movies does work nicely if one gets past its cheap visual look. More ambitious than its budget allowed it to be, The Manster is by no means a great film; however, despite its many obvious flaws, this offbeat “Jekyll and Hyde” tale is certainly worth a watch.” J Luis Rivera, W-Cinema

“Manster is a favorite among campy horror aficionados and for good reason as it is both unintentionally funny and genuinely creepy…Wait till you see the climax, with the hero battling himself on the edge of a live volcano” Hal Erickson, All Movie

“Seeing a guy with a blinking eye on his shoulder, then a ghastly second head, then an actual body split (the second head becomes a furry ape) made this pretty unforgettable. Shot entirely in Japan, the film is talky at times, but the last few minutes are totally insane. There’s also the added bonus of Suzuki’s horrifying (and very loud!) mutant wife (a sagging, protruding fleshy eye socket: nasty!) being kept in a laboratory cage.” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

“A very unusual film which is loaded with weird Freudian images and unnerving atmosphere, and found its influence on a generation of horror films, including War of the Gargantuas, Army of Darkness, and How to Get Ahead in Advertising.” Videohound’s Complete Guide to Cult Flicks and Trash Pics

Cast and characters:

• Peter Dyneley … Larry Stanford
• Jane Hylton … Linda Stanford – Circus of Horrors
• Tetsu Nakamura … Dr. Robert Suzuki
• Terri Zimmern … Tara
• Norman Van Hawley … Ian Matthews
• Jerry Ito … Police Supt. Aida
• Toyoko Takechi … Emiko Suzuki
• Kenzo Kuroki … Genji Suzuki
• Alan Tarlton … Doctor H.B. Jennsen
• Shinpei Takagi … Temple Priest
• George Wyman … Monster

Filming locations:

Japan

Buy A3 poster from Amazon.co.uk

Wikipedia | IMDb | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Image credits: The Telltale Mind

New and future releases

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Universal Classic Monsters: Complete 30-Film Collection is a Blu-ray set being released in North America on August 28, 2018.

“Showcases all of the original films featuring the most iconic monsters in motion picture history including Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Phantom of the Opera and Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Starring some of the most legendary actors including Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Rains and Elsa Lanchester in the roles that they made famous, these films set the standard for a new horror genre with revolutionary makeup, mood-altering cinematography and groundbreaking special effects.

Order in advance for $149.98 from Amazon.com

The 24-disc box set includes the following movies, a 48-page collectible book and Behind the Scenes Documentaries, the 1931 Spanish Version of Dracula, Featurettes on Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. and Jack Pierce, 13 Expert Feature Commentaries, Archival Footage, Production Photographs, Theatrical Trailers…

• Dracula (1931)
• Dracula [Spanish version] (1931)
• Frankenstein (1931)
• The Mummy (1932)
• The Invisible Man (1933)
• Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
• Werewolf of London (1935)
• Dracula’s Daughter (1936)
• Son of Frankenstein (1939)
• The Invisible Man Returns (1940)
• The Invisible Woman (1940)
• The Mummy’s Hand (1940)
• The Wolf Man (1941)

• The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
• The Mummy’s Ghost (1942)
• The Mummy’s Tomb (1942)
• Invisible Agent (1942)
• Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
• Phantom of the Opera (1943)
• Son of Dracula (1943)
• The Mummy’s Ghost (1943)
• House of Frankenstein (1944)
• The Mummy’s Curse (1944)
• The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944)
• House of Dracula (1945)
• She-Wolf of London (1946)
• Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
• Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)
• Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
• Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)
• Revenge of the Creature (1955)
• The Creature Walks Among Us (1956)

Related:

Frankenstein and Vasaria – The Fictional Locations of the Classic Universal Horror Films

Universal Monsters – merchandise

The Shuffling Saga of The Mummy on Screen – article

‘Being terrified is just the beginning…’

Shivers is a 1975 Canadian science fiction body horror feature film written and directed by David Cronenberg (Dead Ringers; The Fly; Videodrome; Rabid). It stars Barbara Steele, Paul Hampton, Joe Silver and Lynn Lowry.

The movie was filmed as Orgy of the Blood Parasites; and has also been released as The Parasite Murders, They Came from Within, and, for its French Canadian distribution, Frissons.

The cheap yet highly effective monster and makeup effects were created by Joe Blasco.

A young couple are welcomed as residents to an exclusive Starliner Towers on Nuns’ Island. Meanwhile, Dr. Hobbes is seen murdering his adolescent prostitute mistress by strangling her, then cutting open her stomach and pouring acid into her body to kill the parasites, before committing suicide by slashing his own throat.

Partway into the story, the audience learn the reason for Hobbes’s actions; most of Shivers consists of social set piece tableaux depicting the promiscuous relationships that spread the parasites to the other residents…

Buy Blu-ray + DVD or Steelbook from Amazon.co.uk

• New High Definition Digital Transfer supervised and approved by writer-director David Cronenberg
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation
• Original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Parasite Memories: The Making of Shivers – A brand new documentary featuring interviews with stars Barbara Steele, Allan Kolman and Lynn Lowry, special effects genius Joe Blasco and film critic Kier-La Janisse
• On Screen! – An episode of the Canadian television programme which documents the release history of Shivers, featuring interviews with Cronenberg, co-producer Don Carmody, as well as other cast and crew
• From Stereo to Video – A specially-commissioned video essay by Caelum Vatnsdal, author of They Came from Within: A History of Canadian Horror Cinema, charting Cronenberg’s career from his experimental beginnings through to Videodrome, his first major studio picture
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Nat Marsh
• Collector’s Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Paul Corupe, creator of the Canuxploitation website, reprinted excerpts of Cronenberg on Cronenberg and more, illustrated with original archive stills and posters

“Cronenberg began to market a feature script called Orgy of the Blood Parasites in order to break into big time movie-making. He eventually hooked up with John Dunning and Andre Link at Cinepix in Montreal, and after holding off for three years, the Canadian Film Development Corporation decided to take a chance on the neophyte director. With Ivan Reitman (fresh off Cannibal Girls) as producer and a $100,000 budget, the film, now retitled The Parasite Murders (and eventually Shivers), was finally brought to fruition.

Then the shit hit the fan. Robert Fulford, writing under the alias of Marshall Delaney, absolutely savaged the film in his Saturday Night magazine review:

“(The film) is a disgrace to everyone connected with it including the taxpayers,” he ranted. “It’s as if the Canada Council, wildly casting for a way to get Canadian writers working, were to invest in sadistic p*rnography.” Canuxploitation.com

Buy They Came from Within: A History of Canadian Horror Cinema book from:

Amazon.ca | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

” …as a film it’s an integral part of David Cronenberg’s filmography and although it is crudely put together it makes for a more interesting and entertaining film than Romero’s The Crazies – which toys with some similarly uncomfortable themes – or Rabid, Cronenberg’s follow-up film. A flawed but impressive debut that still manages to make you feel slightly grubby nearly 40 years later.” Chris Ward, Ancient Slumber

“These creatures don’t care about Body Snatching. It’s the mind they snatch, out of the superficial shell of social constrains that imprisons Starliner’s tenants. Once all that pesky “sexual assault” business is out of the way, is the New Parasitic World Order really so bad? All ages, classes, races, and creeds seem united behind screwing each other’s brains out as never before in human history.” David DeMoss, And You Thought It Was… Safe (?)

“The movie is rather cheaply made, but Cronenberg does an effective job with what he has. The little slugs that somehow can jump, sometimes burn, and latch on to their victims resemble the monsters in later films like Slither (which borrows a few scenes from here) and Night of the Creeps… it would have been interesting how the filmed would have looked with a bigger budget, but its low-cost also amplifies the horror.” JP Roscoe, Basement Rejects

“Predominantly shot from low wide angles, the camera barely moves and the editing and framing are simple and unobtrusive. This creates an almost documentary look to the film, further heightening its sense of realism. As the blood and parasite flesh begins to violate the ordered frame of Cronenberg’s camera, the audience cannot help but feel they are witnessing actual events.” Cinema Autopsy

“Some people have taken the film too seriously, comparing it to Night of the Living Dead and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but Cronenberg, a former experimental/underground filmmaker is having his own weird joke at the genre’s expense. They Came from Within sends up the traditions of old sf/horror films and as such is good clean fun.” John Brosnan, Future Tense: The Cinema of Science Fiction, St. Martin’s Press, 1978

“Drawing on his own fascinations, fixations and fears on the dangerous link between desire and disease, society as a colossal bureaucracy, and his country’s historical medical atrocities, Cronenberg created a ground-breaking sci-fi that remains both chilling and compelling, a fascinating, frightening new take on the old mad scientist character, and the film that set the blueprint for the director’s dark delving into body horror in his latter work…” Peter Fuller, Kultguy’s Keep

“There is the tendency among critics to read Shivers in terms of the complex metaphors about sex and the fusion of flesh and science that developed markedly throughout David Cronenberg’s later films. It is perhaps a mistake to over-analyse Shivers in this sense as it is intended as no more than a good solid horror movie. Certainly, Shivers is a gleeful dive into taboo breaking upon Cronenberg’s part…” Richard Scheib, Moria

“Interestingly because Shivers came early on in Cronenberg’s career and because this didn’t have a big budget it has acting which isn’t that great. It also doesn’t have fleshed out characters with many just there to be victims. As such when the movie is over you find yourself forgetting who was in it and who the characters were but know you want to watch it again.” Andy Webb, The Movie Scene

“It’s apparent that someone connected with They Came From Within has an impertinent sense of humor even though the film is so tackily written and directed, so darkly photographed and the sound so dimly recorded, that it’s difficult to stay with it.” Vincent Canby, The New York Times, July 7, 1976

“Horror movies by their very nature should be horrible, and Shivers certainly is. A combination of confrontational images, cinematic artistry, black humour and low-budget invention is a winning one. Shivers is an intelligent horror film that made me sit up and think “Wow”, this guy is really going for the jugular!” John Costello, The Pocket Essential: David Cronenberg, 2000

“Despite the low budget and some amateurish acting, Cronenberg (who also wrote the screenplay) succeeds in creating a stinging rebuke to the swinging 70s. The film is helped immensely by Joe Blasco’s wondrously repulsive make-up effects. One can’t help but notice (as Cronenberg himself has pointed out), there are more than a few similarities between this and Alien.” The Terror Trap

“Cronenberg’s brand of body horror isn’t to everyone’s taste, but to call him a reactionary anti-sensualist who metes out grotesque punishment for sins of the flesh — as detractors have — is to miss the point. His beat is the underbelly of the mind-body schism, and illness as metaphor is his stock in trade. It’s no great leap to make the argument that a libido-liberating sex parasite is just what the residents of Starliner Towers need to shake them out of their prefab anomie.” TV Guide

” …questions were asked as to whether or not the Canadian government should be helping to fund such ‘trash’. Completely missing the films core points about repression and the lack of intimacy within modern communities, these critics would also miss the films streak of jet black humour. Cronenberg is often viewed as an overtly serious film maker but many of his films are laced with a wicked sense of humour that underline the darker principles at work.” Stuart Smith, UK Horror Scene

“Cronenberg’s first proper feature film is a now notorious classic in his repertoire, covering many of the themes of later horror movies: Body-horror, psycho-sexual perversion, some social commentary, bizarre special-effects and dark obsessions […] Gritty, raw, disturbing and strange, but simple, and with a only a thin plot backing up the sex-body-horror.” The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre

Choice dialogue:

“Even old flesh is erotic flesh!”

Cast and characters:

• Paul Hampton … Roger St. Luc
• Joe Silver … Rollo Linsky
• Lynn Lowry … Nurse Forsythe
• Allan Kolman … Nicholas Tudor (as Alan Migicovsky)
• Susan Petrie … Janine Tudor
• Barbara Steele … Betts
• Ronald Mlodzik … Merrick
• Barry Baldaro … Detective Heller (as Barry Boldero)
• Camil Ducharme … Mr. Guilbault (as Camille Ducharme)
• Hanna Poznanska … Mrs. Guilbault (as Hanka Posnanska)
• Wally Martin … Doorman
• Vlasta Vrana … Kresimer Sviben
• Silvie Debois … Benda Sviben
• Charles Perley … Delivery Boy
• Al Rochman … Parkins

Read more

The post Shivers – Canada, 1975 appeared first on HORRORPEDIA.

‘Only the blood of drug addicts can satisfy its thirst!’

Blood Freak is a 1972 American horror feature film, produced and directed by Brad F. Grinter (who also appears on screen as a narrator) and actor Steve Hawkes. It is “the world’s only turkey-monster-anti-drug-pro-Jesus gore film!”

A biker comes upon a girl with a flat tire and offers her a ride home. He winds up at a drug party with the girl’s sister, then follows her to a turkey farm owned by her father, a mad scientist.

The father turns the biker into a giant turkey monster who goes after drug dealers….

Reviews:

“Peerless, disturbed, and completely stupid, it’s a glorification of all things crooked and perplexing in 70s exploitation films. The sheer concept (and series of events) baffles endlessly, making Grinter and friends’ seeming sincerity a trivial footnote.” Joseph A Ziemba, Bleeding Skull

“If you threw a Ron Ormond pro-Christian message flick, a nauseating H.G. Lewis gorefest, and an anti-pot PSA into a blender, Blood Freak would eventually pour into your glass. Sure, it’s an often-quoted cliche by now, but this movie is like nothing you’ve ever seen before! The acting’s appalling (Chesty Morgan deserves an Oscar compared to these people!), the production values ludicrously cheap, and the script is intensely stupid.” Casey Scott, DVD Drive-In

“What is this movie, then? Bad monster flick? Anti-drug scare film? Christian exploitation cinema? Low-budget mishmash or bad ideas? In truth, Blood Freak is all that and more. A bastard offspring of Herschel Gordon Lewis (and I must say some of the blood and gore effects in this film, particularly one where a guy gets his leg sawed off, are surprisingly effective given the utter incompetence of everything else on display) and Ron Ormond, Blood Freak is unlike anything else that’s ever been made—or ever will be made.” Trash Film Guru

This VHS sleeve utilises artwork for Jesus Franco’s Devil Hunter (1980)

“The acting, makeup and rock music soundtrack are all wonderfully horrible.” Michael Weldon, The Psychotronic Video Guide

“The question of how seriously this was intended lingers, though they don’t look self-aware enough to be implementing much savvy, leaving Blood Freak an endurance test, but a damned weird, at times hilarious, one.” Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image

“Are you a cinema masochist? Do you enjoy your C-movies chock full of atrocious acting, ludicrous plotting, and bargain basement production values? Do you demand your horror sleaze be punctuated by bumbling sex, little sophistication, and tons of hokey symbolism? Then this bird’s for you!” The Terror Trap

“What were Hawkes and Grinter thinking? With the pro-Christian elements, one has to wonder if they were really trying to put a positive message in this movie, while trying to make something “commercial”. But did they really think a movie with such poor production values could be commercial? That turkey head mask will have viewers screaming with laughter, not simply screaming.” The Unknown Movies

“This one belongs in the ‘so terrible it’s hilarious’ genre […] Contains some gore, 70s outfits, some female flesh, Christian preaching, and editing and dialog that would make Ed Wood cringe.” The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre

” … one of the most bizarre, inexplicable and confusing films ever made.” Brian Albright, Regional Horror Films, 1958 – 1990

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

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‘Evil cuts both ways.’

Autopsy is a 2008 American horror feature film directed by Adam Gierasch (Tales of Halloween segment; Fractured; Night of the Demons; plus many horror screenplays). The movie stars Jessica Lowndes, Ross Cohn, Ross McCall, Ashley Schneider and Robert Patrick.

Five friends enjoy Mardi Gras in New Orleans. While driving home on the State Route 53, Louisiana, Emily has a car accident. Her boyfriend Bobby and their friends Clare, Dmitriy and Jude are horrified to discover that she had hit a stranger.

When they see an ambulance on the road, they ask for help and the attendants take them to Mercy Hospital. Stern nurse Marian tells Bobby to go to the exam room. When Emily tries to get information about her boyfriend, she meets Dr. David Benway who tells her the Bobby is all right. However, Emily soon unravels a dark secret about Dr. Benway and his team…

Reviews:

“Director Adam Gierasch shows some talent with a few sick set pieces and bursts of aggression, but some comatose performances, predictable jumps and a slightly aimless final third keep this in stable condition.” Cameron McGaughey, DVD Talk

” …once Autopsy gets moving with its strange sense of humor and its admirable devotion to old-fashioned, over-the-top, Fango-friendly gore-gasms…” Scott Weinberg, FEARnet

“Choice scenes, such as of the teens tussling with a recently sutured patient, will make you giggle and retch in equal measure while others will startle you out of your skin. It is this mixture of shock tactics, tension, gore and comedy that really make this film stand out from the pack. Not many film makers can skate the thin line between horror and comedy so adeptly, but Gierasch nails the tone perfectly.” Gorepress

“The gore factor is an absolute blast. There’s a slew of entertaining death scenes which, admittedly borrow from such previous works as Turistas, Friday the 13th and even Dawn of the Dead – but there’s some creativity sprinkled in here and there (there’s something strangely entertaining about severed limbs and hand sanders) that really helps to give Autopsy it’s own identity.” Matt Molgaard, Horror Asylum

” …when you have good acting in a horror movie, that always makes for a great time. Everything else, especially emotion, instantly becomes more credible. The blood and gore is rather plentiful and one of the scenes towards the end is quite memorable. One of those that would make the perfect backdrop to any horror diorama.” Angel Van Croft, Horror News

“Autopsy is a poor man’s cousin of flicks like Hostel, where things just aren’t quite they seem and victims get compartmentalized in some divide and conquer strategy. In most cases, you’re going to laugh at the scenes for being implausible, or clumsily executed, so while I won’t recommend this film as a horror flick, I definitely would do so as a comedy of errors…” (A Nutshell) Review

” …a return to when horror was fun and not simply a vehicle to hit people around the head with loud music and poorly thought out developments. The movie didn’t take itself seriously and delivered just what I needed, a damn fine horror flick not afraid to go over the top. The fate of one of the characters in this one is simply brutal and shocking…” Scary Minds

Cast and characters:

• Jessica Lowndes as Emily – Abattoir; The Devil’s Carnival; Altitude; The Haunting of Molly Hartley
• Ross Kohn as Bobby – Re-Cut; Medium
• Ross McCall as Jude
• Ashley Schneider as Clare
• Arcadiy Golubovich as Dimitrly
• Robert LaSardo as Scott – Cynthia; Bleach; Sky Sharks; Lake of Shadows: The Legend of Avocado Lake
• Michael Bowen as Travis – House by the Lake; All Cheerleaders Die; Slumber Party Slaughter; Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever; The Last House on the Left 2009; Night of the Comet; Forbidden World; et al
• Jenette Goldstein as Nurse Marian – Lost After Dark; Terminator 2; Aliens
• Robert Patrick as Dr. Benway – Hellions; The Black Waters of Echo’s Pond; The Terminator
• Elijah Hardy as Gregory
• Tatyana Kanavka as Gretchen
• Eric Adams as Officer Jacobs
• Janine Venable as Lisette

Filming locations:

Louisiana

Release:

Autopsy premiered in London on August 24, 2008, at the FrightFest Film Festival and was selected as one of After Dark Horrorfest’s “Eight Films to Die For”.

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Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein is a 1972 European horror feature film written and directed by Jesús Franco. The movie stars Dennis Price, Howard Vernon, Paca Gabaldón and Alberto Dalbés.

Plot:

Dracula kills another innocent victim and Dr. Seward decides it’s time to wipe the fiend off the face of the earth. Armed with a hammer and a wooden stake, he arrives at Castle Dracula and duly dispatches the vampire Count.

Next day, however, Dr. Frankenstein arrives with his assistant, Morpho, and a large crate containing the monster. Using the blood of a pub singer who has been abducted by his creation, the doctor brings Dracula back to life and uses him for his own ends.

The Count and a female vampire continue to terrorise the town, so Dr. Seward once again sets out for Castle Dracula. Unfortunately, he is attacked by the Frankenstein monster and left for dead. Amira, a gypsy, rescues him and summons up a werewolf to do battle with the forces of evil…

Buy Blu-ray: Amazon.com

Review:

What do you get when you combine competent directorial technique, a solid script, and a clearly delineated narrative? Not this. Jess Franco’s Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein is on par with most of his other early ’70s productions. That is to say, it’s stodgy, painfully slow, cheap, gratuitous, embarrassing, and essentially an unwatchable, coma-inducing sledgehammer.

Franco’s filmmaking skills come dangerously close to the incompetent here, with his visual style summed up simply as: zoom, zoom, zoom, with the occasional insertion of extreme long-shots, claustrophobic close-ups, and soporific slow pans. His boggling narrative execution is hallucinatory at best, but not in an interesting way; scenes float into the air, unattached to anything else around them until an innocuous and brief pseudo-grounding is provided via an equally innocuous action or galumphing explication later on, giving the viewer headaches while trying to piece it all together.

Thematically and conceptually, Franco’s on the level of a lurid, feeble-minded child playing with his newly acquired, and tattily-made, monster action figures; for example, in the climactic scene where Frankenstein’s monster and the Wolf Man are slapped together in order to duke it out Three Stooges-style, the monster nearly loses his toupée. This would all be quite funny if it had been planned or at least done with some enthusiasm, but it wasn’t; the whole thing is simply bloated and indifferent, dragging itself to a conclusion that Franco doesn’t seemingly even care about. This movie is a cinematic creature best left un-revived.

Ben Spurling, HORRORPEDIA

Other reviews:

“A Brillo-pad werewolf. Bubbling sex that never boils over. Four-star, no budget vampire attacks. The expected Jess Franco Nightclub Sequence. A strange focus on frantic bats (both rubber and real). Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein is, quite literally, a pleasant dream. Upon regaining your wits, you’re left half-asleep, yet ready to conquer the world. Or, at the very least, your insomnia.” Joseph A. Ziemba, Bleeding Skull!

“Only Britt Nicholl’s elegantly erotic Lady Dracula comes off as a credible, original creation. In fact, the actresses here, Josiane Gibert as the doomed cabaret singer, Genvieve Deloir as the gypsy and Paca Galaban’s mentally disturbed Maria are much more defined and interesting characters than the male leads. They have to react to the mad scientists and monsters, who are pretty much one-dimensional menaces in Franco’s raggedy mise-en-scene.” Robert Monell, El Franconomicon

” … has laughable make-up and special effects but offers rich surrealistic moments lightened by a corny nightclub act with sub-sexy songs […] it is an enjoyable piece of fun for people with a good sense of humour.” Lucas Balbo, Obsession: The Films of Jess Franco, 1993

“It’s like a dream that seems to tell a logical and coherent story while you’re in the midst of it, but appears utterly nonsensical under the scrutiny of the waking mind. Franco did that sort of thing a lot in the early 70’s, of course, but to see the narrative sensibility of A Virgin Among the Living Dead applied to the old House of Frankenstein template somehow feels so counterintuitive.” Scott Ashlin, 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

Cast and characters:

• Dennis Price … Doctor Frankenstein
• Howard Vernon … Dracula
• Paca Gabaldón [as Mary Francis] … Maria
• Alberto Dalbés … Doctor Jonathan Seward
• Carmen Yazalde [as Britt Nichols] … Female vampire
• Geneviève Robert [as Genevieve Deloir] … Amira
• Anne Libert … Dracula’s first victim
• Luis Barboo [as Luis Bar Boo]… Morpho
• Brandy … The Wolf Man
• Fernando Bilbao… The Monster
• Josyane Gibert [as Josiane Gibert] … Estela

Filming locations:

Estoril, Cascais, Sintra, Lisbon, Portugal
Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain

Alternate titles:

Drácula contra Frankenstein
Dracula contro Frankenstein
Dracula prisonnier de Frankenstein
Die Nacht der offenen Särge
The Screaming Dead

Image credits: El Franconomicon

The views expressed in the HORRORPEDIA review above are those of the author only and may not necessarily represent the opinions of the website editor and/or its owner.

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‘When the forces of evil infuse your body will you scream out…’

Help Me… I’m Possessed is a 1974 American horror feature film directed by Belgian-born director Charles Nitzet (Voodoo Heartbeat, The Ravager). The movie stars co-writer Bill Greer, in his only acting role, other co-writer Deedy Peters, and Lynne Marta.

The film remained in the cinematic wilderness for many years, having only a limited theatrical run in 1976. In 1984, it was released on VHS by Video Gems as The Possessed. The movie features an electronic synth score by an uncredited composed.

In the American desert, a young couple has been brutally murdered and the local sheriff immediately suspects fishy goings-on at the castle-like sanitarium run by reclusive Dr. Arthur Blackwood (Bill Greer).

Assuring the sheriff that his work there is entirely above board and consists of little more than helping disturbed individuals return to society, he does little to allay the police’s fears, not least when his loopy doll-hugging singing sister appears.

Indeed, we soon learn that the doctor is perhaps not entirely qualified, housing a collection of chained up, scantily clad ladies, a Catweazle-alike prisoner and a hunchback in his basement, all at the mercy of his insane experiments, designed to rid them of madness.

When not being whipped and brutalised, these ‘volunteers’ suffer an even worse fate if they don’t behave or illicit positive results, being killed by snake, guillotine and being hacked up to fit the wrongly-sized coffins.

The arrival of the doctor’s new wife (Peters) sees his plans begin to unravel as disappearing members of staff and her cranky husband arouse her suspicion. Worse still, when she uncovers his experiments she learns that the harnessed ‘evil’ extracted from the patients has manifest itself as something malevolent and hideous…

Written by both Peters and Greer (somewhat remarkably considering her later life as the girlfriend of David Soul and his as writer and producer of TV shambles Charles in Charge), Help Me… I’m Possessed! feels like an amalgam of Al Adamson‘s films, slightly restrained H.G. Lewis fare and lunatic imprisonment films like Blood Sucking Freaks.

The acting standards are all of the same unremarkable quality but are engaging and fun, particularly Greer who looks completely ill-fitting in the role, and all the better for it. Though the torture and bloodletting are tame in comparison to Lewis’ films, they are still brutal and heartless enough to raise a serious question mark over the film’s initial PG rating!

The title is somewhat misleading (it was filmed with the more apt working title Nightmare at Blood Castle, there’s no possession in the film as such, only the mysterious evil presence which is represented by Lovecraftian red tentacle-like appendages wafting at the camera.

Coming to a conclusion just before it starts to go around in circles once too often, perhaps the most arresting aspect of the film is the avant-garde electronic score, completely unnerving and genuinely excellent though the film does not name any composer, only an Al Bart in the sound department, who evidently did not go on to better things.

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Grimy and fun, Help Me… I’m Possessed! was released on DVD by Code Red on a double-bill with Blind Dead director Amando de Ossorio’s Demon Witch Child, the connection being that they were both known as The Possessed in various releases.

Daz Lawrence, HORRORPEDIA

Buy/rent: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Other reviews:

“As seedy as it all is, Help Me…I’m Possessed is so unrelentingly unusual that it never gets dull, and every five or ten minutes some new absurdity takes this wildly colorful spook show into a deeper, weirder place. Those in search of unique cinematic experiences should keep an eye out for this worthy obscurity…” Fred Beldin, All Movie

“Random shots disappear and float into the subconscious as the monster growls (From an elephant? An orangutang?) burst into the soundtrack for no apparent reason. Plus, mean-spirited torture becomes instantly hilarious when the torturer can’t keep his wig on. The cheapness permeates and the lunacy prevails.” Joseph A. Ziemba, Bleeding Skull!

” …feels more like a throwback to ’60s schlock films (especially basement mad scientist epics like The Brain that Wouldn’t Die) thanks to hoary scenes like a man stuck in a guillotine poised to drop after a candle burns through the rope holding up the blade, and the paint-like blood gets sloshed around without any blades actually cutting anyone in graphic detail. There are also lots of women in their undies acting terrified, of course…” Nathaniel Thompson, Mondo Digital

“The low budget craftsmanship (or lack thereof) is endearing.  The dated costumes, groovy music, stilted acting, and awful wigs are guaranteed to put a smile on any bad movie lovers’ faces. The surprise is, the monster effects are startlingly effective.The writhing tentacles are similar in many ways to Rob Bottin’s effects in John Carpenter’s The Thing, even if they do resemble sentient Red Vines.” Mitch Lovell, The Video Vacuum

Choice dialogue:

Dr. Blackwood: “Dead? There is no such thing. Death is a fabrication of the mind.”

Sheriff Taylor: “I’ve seen a lot of dead bodies, doctor. Mutilated bodies. Accident victims. I’ve never seen anything like this. Never!”

Dr. Blackwood: “When I saw Mr. Zolak’s head severed from his body, I felt a definite sexual thrill. I must be very careful.”

Cast and characters:

• Bill Greer … Dr. Arthur Blackwood
• Deedy Peters … Mrs. Diane Blackwood
• Lynne Marta … Melanie Blackwood – The First Power; Blood Beach
• Jim Dean … Sheriff Taylor
• Tony Reese … Ernest, the Chauffeur
• Blackie Hunt … Eleanor,  the Nurse
• Dorothy Green … Edith – The Castle Dweller – The Munsters TV series
• Barbara Thorsen … Redhead Patient
• Pepper Davis … Deputy Sheriff
• Pierre Agostino … Hunchback – Slashed… short; Witchcraft; Las Vegas Serial Killer; The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher 

Filming locations:

Bronson Canyon, Los Angeles, California

Image credits: Critical Condition | Mondo Digital

Plot keywords:

avant-garde music | castle | cat | Charlie Chan | desert | guillotine | horribly mutilated | knife | mad doctor | nurse | sanitarium | sheriff | sister | statue | synth score | voyeur

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‘Spine chilling horror!!’

Doctor Jekyll and the Wolfman is a 1971 Spanish directed by León Klimovsky (The Vampires’ Night Orgy; Vengeance of the Zombies; The Dracula Saga; et al) from a screenplay by Jacinto Molina (aka Paul Naschy). The latter stars, alongside Shirley Corrigan, Jack Taylor and Mirta Miller.

Newlyweds Imre (Jose Marco) and Justine (Shirley Corrigan) are visiting Transylvania for their honeymoon when they are attacked by bandits. Imre is killed but Justine is rescued by Polish nobleman Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy), who is also a werewolf. The local villagers launch an attack on Daninsky’s castle, so he and Justine flee to London.

Besotted with Daninsky, yet aware of his tragic lycanthropic condition, Justine asks her friend Dr. Henry Jekyll (Jack Taylor) if he can help. Jekyll injects Daninsky with his grandfather’s potion to try and cure him…

Reviews: 

“Some of the action scenes seem slow and a bit sloppy, but the plethora of horror elements and gore (Daninsky even pulls chunks of flesh out of one victim) override the shortcomings […] Dr. Jekyll and the Wolfman (1972) is well worth your investment; and for Naschy fans, this tour de force of werewolfery and Hyde’s hedonistic sadist is a howlingly good time.” Brian Bankston, Cool Ass Cinema

“Klimovsky treats the rather campy premise with considerable style, with the action moving from the traditional horror movie motifs of the old country (the angry villagers, local superstitions, freakish looking scavengers) to modern London where the scenic images include a rather seedy early 1970s Soho district. Naschy acts and looks as great as ever as the werewolf, but his Mr. Hyde, well he’s a pisser.” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

“Naschy is having so much fun and projects such infectious enthusiasm that it is simply impossible to be overly critical of his endeavours here. And Naschy is actually very effective in parts, particularly when he transforms into the heinous Mr Hyde. And, as the werewolf, he pulls off a good crowd scene in a groovy night-club…” Lee Brougton, DVD Savant

” …there are moments of acknowledgeable proficiency as displayed periodically by director Klimovsky in other films: the awakening of Justine in the centuries old castle and her subsequent meandering through the dark corridors by candlelight is exceedingly spooky, and similarly the locations used for Transylvania’s barren landscapes…” The Grim Cellar

” …gives Naschy the chance to ham it up as two classic monsters for the price of one. Whether growling into the camera or wielding a mean cane, he’s great fun to behold and keeps the film lively through some of the slower spots. Taylor has surprisingly little to do […] but the clash between gothic and groovy environments more than makes up for it.” Nathaniel Thompson, Mondo Digital

“The first half feels exactly like a normal Daninsky-movie – mountain road, attack, castle, lynch-mob, macho-Naschy – but it because extra fun when he flees from there and ends up in party party party-London. The disco scene is way to short, but the whole storyline of Dr Jekyll trying to cure Daninsky from the werewolf-syndrome is fun and creative.” Ninja Dixon

“The set-pieces when Naschy transforms into werewolf or Mr Hyde is wonderfully staged, the best one being in a stuck elevator together with a scared shitless nurse…and of course the famous disco-scene, which still is very cool.” Fred Anderson, Schmollywood Babylon

“His first onscreen wolf transformation is pure unadulterated Shatner but his portrayal of Mr Hyde is worth the price of admission alone. See Hyde complete with full original vintage costume hit the streets of swinging 70’s London, cruising the strip bars and grooving clubs for wenches to play with in his own devilish way – simply brilliant and lots of fun!” Sex Gore Mutant

“Although deliriously implausible (and merely an excuse for Naschy to do double duty acting – once again), this middling Eurohorror benefits from Klimovsky’s always reliable direction and a few nice touches, such as Waldemar’s cool transformation scene in a trapped elevator.” The Terror Trap

“The decent amount of gore (head crushing, throat ripping, severed head) and a lax running time help make Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf better than the usual Naschy mishmash. The thing that really makes the movie though is the transformation scenes […] And this one has plenty of them.” Mitch Lovell, The Video Vacuum

Choice dialogue:

Sandra: “Good and evil. The eternal make-up of all human beings. And which we can change with a chemical formula. It’s fascinating.”

Cast and characters:

• Jacinto Molina [as Paul Naschy] … Waldemar Daninsky / Wolfman / Mr. Hyde
• Shirley Corrigan … Justine – The Crimes of the Black Cat; Devil’s Nightmare
• Jack Taylor … Dr. Henry Jekyll – Wax; Pieces; Female Vampire; The Night of the Sorcerers; Count Dracula; et al
• Mirta Miller … Sandra – Eyeball; Vengeance of the Zombies; Count Dracula’s Great Love
• José Marco … Imre Kosta – Horror Express; Knife of Ice; Fury of the Wolfman; The Horrible Sexy Vampire
• Luis Induni … Otvos – The Werewolf and the Yeti; Exorcism; The Devil’s Possessed; The Loreley’s Grasp; The Horrible Sexy Vampire; et al
• Barta Barri … Gyogyo, the innkeeper – Horror Express; The Horrible Sexy Vampire
• Luis Gaspar … Thurko, Otvos’s thug
• Elsa Zabala … Uswika Bathory
• Lucy Tiller … Prostitute

Technical credits:

Filmed in 70mm

Release:

The film was released in Spain on 6 May 1972.

Image credits: Cool Ass Cinema

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The Blood Island Collection – a limited edition Blu-ray box from Severin Films – is coming soon. The box set includes Terror is a Man aka Blood Creature; Brides of Blood; Mad Doctor of Blood Island aka Tomb of the Living Dead and Beast of Blood.

These Hemisphere Pictures Filipino favourites pushed the limits on how much sex and violence they could get away with at the time. Plus, they are great fun!

“They’ve been called “defiantly lurid” (1000MisspentHours.com), “delightfully depraved” (FlickAttack.com) and “blood-soaked & naked broad-filled” (MrSkin.com). Their cult of fans is worldwide. And for more than fifty years, these four monster shockers from Filipino directors Gerry de Leon and Eddie Romero have stunned drive-in, grindhouse and VHS audiences, became the foundation of infamous exploitation distributors Hemisphere Pictures and Independent-International, and remain among the most insane/esteemed classics in horror history. Severin Films is now proud to present The Blood Island Trilogy and its celebrated prequel, all featuring uncut scans from recently discovered film elements and oozing with all-new special features!

Terror is a Man Special Features:

• Man Becomes Creature: Interview with Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman
• Dawn of Blood Island: Interview with Co-Director Eddie Romero
• Terror Creature: Interview with Pete Tombs, Co-Author of “Immoral Tales”
• When the Bell Rings: Interview with Critic Mark Holcomb
• Trailer
• Poster & Still Gallery
• Reversible Blood Creature Cover

Brides of Blood Special Features:

• Audio Commentary with Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman
• Jungle Fury: Archival Interview with Co-Director Eddie Romero
• Here Comes the Bride: Interview with Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman
• Beverly Hills on Blood Island: Interview with Actress Beverly Powers a.k.a. Beverly Hills
• Alternate BRIDES OF BLOOD ISLAND Title Sequence and JUNGLE FURY Title Card
• Teaser Trailer
• Trailer
• Poster & Still Gallery
• Reversible ISLAND OF LIVING HORROR Cover

Mad Doctor of Blood Island Special Features:

• Audio Commentary with Horror Film Historians Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger
• Audio Commentary with Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman
• Tombs of the Living Dead: Interview with Pete Tombs, Co-Author of “Immoral Tales”
• A Taste of Blood: Interview with Critic Mark Holcomb
• The Mad Doctor of Blood Island: Archival Interview with Co-Director Eddie Romero
• Trailer
• Poster & Still Gallery
• Bonus Disc: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD (in box set only)
• Reversible TOMB OF THE LIVING DEAD Cover

Beast of Blood [Available ONLY in Box Set] Special Features:

• Audio Commentary with Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman
• Celeste and the Beast: An Interview with Celeste Yarnall
• Dr. Lorca’s Blood Devils: Interview with Actor Eddie Garcia
• Super 8 Digest Version
• Trailer
• Poster & Still Gallery”

Visit Severin Films for details of pre-order bundle offers and limited edition options. Release date is 23 October 2018.

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Brides of Blood – Philippines, 1968

Mad Doctor of Blood Island – Philippines/USA, 1968

Beast of Blood aka Blood Devils – Philippines, 1970

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