Slaughter, Stuff, and Eat

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I just re-posted it over at Truly Disturbing for a special Retro Review. Nothing speaks of this Holiday more than the anti-drug christian killer turkey head film. The original unedited review is here. And by edited I mean I changed one word and removed a line.

Happy Thanksgiving.

The Vampire Lovers (1970)

After being called away to a family emergency The Countess imposes her beautiful daughter Marcilla on the General. Warmly receptive the General takes Marcilla into his home where she becomes very close with his daughter Laura. As the two grower closer though Laura becomes infected with an illness that causes her to have unbecoming nightmares and drains the strength out of her daily. When Laura's sickness peaks and she's at her worse all she can ask for is Marcilla, but when Laura fatally passes one night and the General looks to Marcilla she has disappeared. With lingering rumors of a vampire that has killed nearby villagers the General makes it his mission to stop her with the help of an experienced vampire hunter. Meanwhile Marcilla has moved onto a new house with the new name Carmilla and a new love interest in young and pretty Emma, who's beginning to grow pale and plagued nightly with bad dreams. As Carmilla's seductive prowl extends it's way over the Morton household the General rushes to find answers and kill the vampire Micalla.

Sheridan Le Fanu 'Carmilla' has enticed more of my interest in vampires than anything as of recent. Another adaption, Et Mourir De Plasir, is my current icon and recent cinematographic addiction. The Vampire Lovers in truth fell a bit short for me as the film faltered and slowed during the middle. The cover itself is of an exploitation variety offering the word blood-nymphs as it description. And like ninety percent of the exploitation film posters it's a lie as there's no sex, little blood, and neither of them occurring together. The little bit of nudity used is tasteful and not like those from the late seventies tits and gore collection, despite having similar plots. It doesn't expel cheesy or over the top moments, but makes up for it in effectively capturing the seductive horror to the female vampire plot. Not that it necessarily scares but is more of a case of acknowledgement than anything else.

Ingrid Pitt is of course the lovely, beautiful and terrifying Carmilla or Marcilla, depending on who's house she's lurking in. She's memorizing in a role she seems to understand every facet of, as playing the alluring vampire isn't foreign to her. There's an interesting complexity to the Micalla character as the bits of exposure outside of preying on young woman show an age that most actors and writers fail to grasp in the vampire story. Peter Cushing is lovable because he's simply Peter Cushing. The role of the general is simplistic yet kind and Cushing likely didn't have to do much for the part, but he's likable in his small role that almost serves as a cameo more than anything. The two young women Carmilla sets her interests on are too naive to be mentioned beyond that, Emma especially. For whatever reason I'm failing to locate an actor name or character name for the vampire on the horse. That being said all I really wanted to address of him was how ridiculous of a character he is, with his corny wicked smile being the lead issue. But, as that being said, it's in appropriate Hammer Horror fashion.

The film flowed in and out of unique photography moments but some of the more noted use of cinematography is in the opening scene that utilize a foggy dark set to display a beautiful lavender sheet for the vampire. The other is the nightmare sequence where the director and DP turn the frame black and white and doesn't allow the creature to come on screen. The Vampire Lovers is among a lot of the better Hammer Horror films, but not as famous as some of their other vampire classics, such as Dracula and Pitt's Countess Dracula. It's also a good 'Carmilla' adaption but not the best as I still give that to Roger Vadim's previously mentioned film. Still good enough to create a small film franchise and following I'd recommend The Vampire Lovers to Hammer Horror fans, as a watch for one of the genre's most prominent females of horror Ingrid Pitt, or for those who like the lesbian vampire sub-genre, mind you.

Horror Short: Vincent (1982)

Directed by Tim Burton
Narrated by Vincent Price
Director of Photography Victor Abdalov

Vincent Malloy isn't like other kids, he stays inside, reads Edgar Alan Poe, and slips into macabre fantasies where he envisions himself as Vincent Price. The only thing stopping Vincent from getting lost in his daydream is his mother, who dislikes her son's strange behavior. Vincent is very much Dr. Seuss meets Tim Burton in a poetic and epic short film. There's so much homage to Vincent Price's career in young Vincent's play story of Price as a mad scientist who creates a demon dog, losses his wife, and slips into a bit of insanity that only Price could master in such films. And the subplot of Vincent being different than other kids is reference to Burton's childhood as he grew up reading Edgar Alan Poe and watching cartoons.

Lately Burton has been receiving the hate for his recent films, as Alice in Wonderland was awful (in my opinion) and Dark Shadows equally lacked the charm of his early works. Everything is still Burton-esque (i.e. crooked trees, weird plot) but doesn't have the black warped heart of his prominent films. Vincent has revived my faith in the director though as something this fantastic has to be hidden within him somewhere still. If I was to compose a list of my favorite Burton films The Nightmare Before Christmas would of course be first as it is his best work, but Vincent is a close second. As with Edward Scissorhands it only glimpses into the possibilities of collaboration between Price and Burton. As it is though Vincent is a marvelous, beautiful and twisted piece that is Burton's signature. A definite watch for fans of Burton's older work.

Vincent is available to watch on The Nightmare Before Christmas DVD and also in a less that decent quality upload on youtube. Again if you have a short film you'd like me to view you may contact me on Twitter or at my email bleedingdead22@yahoo.com.

Real Life Horror: Car Accidents

As the day may be I got in my first car accident today. Before I continue further no one was hurt, the other passenger and I are okay. Unfortunately though it was my fault. I was distracted while driving and ran a red light on accident. I was paying attention to the road but my mind was in other places, so luckily I braked which didn't cause much worse to happen. I did hit his car though, damaging his wheel, but essentially wrecking the front of mine. At the most I'm upset and angry at myself for the happening. He was somewhat helpful but seemed more irked that I hit him than anything. Which he has a right too be.

There's not much reason to this post I suppose outside that its to remind people that accidents happen and to drive safely. I also was going to post a review this Thursday but it wont be up until next week with all this stuff happening. But as I said the main reason of this is to remind people that real life horror happens everyday, luckily mine didn't end a lot worse than it could have.

Just a reminder to be safe.

TDHorror Retro Review

I know, you didn't think I was going to do it. You didn't think that I would actually get another review out by the end of this month. It's rare talent a procrastinator like myself has, waiting till the last minute. How's your Halloween been? Oh mine? Well I've sufficiently cut myself at work this morning, pissed a table off enough to give me a ten percent tip, likely damaged the relationship between my boyfriend's father and I, and managed to trigger my social anxiety. Sounds like every other Halloween. It's okay though because I'm at home watching movies now and plan to do so for the rest of the night. Maybe even do some editing on my short story. Whatever, I have another Retro Review. I watched this film a month ago and I was finishing the review this morning so I'm unsure about it. Not bad but the summary is awful.

"As the description may suggest PUMPKINHEAD is a slightly complex low budget horror film that offers a few nostalgic scares for its viewers. By complex I don't mean to imply it has necessary themes and layers but rather is able to evoke emotions from its audience, atypical for most horror films outside of scaring. There's a somber aura as the context is really quite depressing. No one really wins at the end of PUMPKINHEAD, there's a resolution but it's more inevitably sad than of a victory type. This isn't a pure slasher film either, as some try to suggest, it's an effortless blend of a monster movie and the popular slasher films for its era"

You may read the rest here. I'm going to try to have a review out to you guys real soon. I have like three started but not finished reviews....lets be honest I have like ten that I could post if I just got my shit together and broke through the writers block I have with them. But I will. And the horror shorts and of course I'll be doing a special Thanksgiving review...Blood Freak 2? If only it existed...

Happy Halloween. 

Twistflix for The Muse

Not often do my reviews matter much as, lets be honest, I'm reviewing older films that no one cares about from my recommendation standpoint. Not to mention my reviews aren't the strongest. But every so often I'm blessed to see smaller independent films and for some reason the filmmakers actually like what I have to say. Rufus Chaffee came to me a few months ago and asked me to write a review about his film The Muse. I did, having enjoyed it, I was happy for the viewing and left it at that. I never expected that my review would be quoted, yes QUOTED, on the main poster. From that I'll always be grateful to him and if this little blog goes no further than it is now I'm content with just having this. 

But that isn't the reason for this lovely post on Irrelevant Post Friday. It's because The Muse is finally available to view on Twistflix.

THE MUSE is waiting! Now available for streaming, download & purchase. Winner Best Film, Director and Actor at the Indie Gathering Film Festival, The Muse tells the story of one hit wonder musician Addison Taylor as he battles both writers block and a strange inspirational force at a secluded lake house. Blending chills, thrills and amazing original music, it has been called both "an eloquent thriller" by Bleeding Dead Reviews and "beautifully tragic" by Horror Hound Magazine . Check out the website at www.themusemovie.net and see it for yourself at www.twistflix.com/

Here's the Twistflix link and the film is also available for purchase and for digitial download on the site. It's only three dollars for a rent and it is worth it. My review of the film is here, if you need be reminded of how stunning I thought this little film was. I wish Chaffee all the best and I hope his film and future films get the attention they deserve. But that can only happen if you pay to watch the film, so please do.

Luke, I Am Your Father

I've been brewing over this for the past couple of weeks. But I'm convinced...that Sam from Trick 'R Treat is the offspring of Pumpkinhead.

Kay maybe not so much in looks...or maybe Sam's mom is in actuality the Alien from Alien. 

Okay maybe I'm not making any sense here but if.... 

SPOILER If you have not seen Prometheus you should just leave this post right the fuck now. Because I'm going to spoil all of it up in here.

If the Alien strand of DNA originates from the virus that Holloway got and he had sex with Shaw who births the first form of the face hugger who mutates into an even bigger face hugger, and then it mates with the alien who created humans, and it gives birth to the first strand of Alien DNA than I don't think it's much of a stretch for Pumpkinhead and the Alien to be Sam's parents okay? Dammit Ridley Scott.

In actuality I'm not sure if that's what happened. That's just sort of the conclusion I drew from the entire thing. I watch Prometheus last night for the first time and I kind of felt like:

Kind of felt slightly confused and a little bit jigged of a good film experience. And if your sitting there thinking okay what does Chase from House have to do with anything, it fits because I'm watching Dead Silence right now on AMC, kay? Which really doesn't fit either because Jason from True Blood is in Dead Silence, not Chase. But they both have Australian accents so it works in my mind.

Happy Irrelevant Post Friday/Follow Friday. Whichever is relevant to you.