Britgeek here.
To this day, 1986's COMBAT SHOCK continues to, well, shock with its unrelenting, escalating intensity and raw emotion. Writer/director Buddy Giovinazzo stamped his name in the fabric of cult cinema as a film-maker to watch with his debut effort, and has since contributed many strong entries to the underground movie scene, but it's a shame that, as such a poignant movie-maker who has the ability to inject his work with such realistic interpersonal drama and vigour, he has largely gone unnoticed over the years, with the exception being COMBAT SHOCK. LIFE IS HOT IN CRACKTOWN, THE UNSCARRED and NO WAY HOME all come with a recommendation from yours truly.
Giovinazzo has spent the last ten years working in television in Germany, where he now resides, but has continued helming film projects. His name saw a resurgence last year alongside the likes of Richard Stanley with his contribution to horror anthology film THE THEATER BIZARRE, but this year he offers another feature, and it's the first bona-fide horror movie of his career: the recently completed haunted house chiller, A NIGHT OF NIGHTMARES, formerly known as GINGER.
While no trailer has been released yet, here is a trio of stills courtesy of Twitch to go with the rather cool, FRIGHT NIGHT-esque poster above:
And the official synopsis:
Mark Lighthouse is on his way to interview a subject for his underground music blog. Ginger, his newest singing discovery, is living in an old house up in the mountains, where she's agreed to give him an interview and cook him dinner.
At the house, Ginger is not only talented, but an exotic beauty as well. Mark starts his video interview and he and Ginger hit it off right away. They banter good-naturedly, their time together is easy. When Ginger gets a strange call from the eccentric owner of the mountain house, Cliff Tanner, they both laugh over his old-fashioned “down home” simplicity.
Throughout the interview in the house, small things occur. Keys are missing, a door is open that was shut earlier, music plays from a record player. It all seems harmless until Ginger's psychotic ex-high school teacher, Phil, appears with a gun. Just released from prison after nine years for raping Ginger when she was 15 years old, he's tracked her down to be with her, forever.
Dr Karen Oughton and I recently caught up with Giovinazzo to discuss the film. You can watch the interview below:
TTFN.
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