Welcome to the darker side of AICN! Mark L. Miller aka Ambush Bug here with another AICN HORROR: ZOMBIES & SHARKS column. Again, my apologies for the late column. Going to work to get you all two this week. Here’s the latest and greatest batch. There are a couple of great ones in here…aaaaand some not so great ones.
AICN HORROR has a new sponsor: Things From Another World—also known as TFAW!
Please support AICN HORROR by clicking the Things From Another World banner and checking out all of their amazing collectibles! TFAW carries everything from comics to toys and any kind of collectible in between. You just might find something you can’t live without!
On with the horror reviews!
(Click title to go directly to the feature)
Retro-review: THE PIT (1981)
Retro-review: THE INITIATION (1984)
Retro-review: BLOOD DINER (1987)
Retro-review: THE EXORCIST III: LEGION (1990)
MINUTES PAST MIDNIGHT (2016)
THE HOSPITAL 2 (2015)
ZOMBIES (2016)
ROTGUT (2012)
THE SHELTER (2016)
THE CHARNEL HOUSE (2016)
CARNAGE PARK (2016)
THE MONSTER (2016)
And finally…Don’t Turn Around’s THE KILLING OF DOLLS!
Retro-review: New on BluRay from Kino Lorber!THE PIT (1981)
aka TEDDYDirected by Lew Lehman
Written by Ian A. Stuart
Starring Sammy Snyders, Jeannie Elias, Sonja Smits, Laura Hollingsworth, John Auten, Laura Press, Paul Grisham, Wendy Schmidt, Andrea Swartz, Edith Bedker, Lillian Graham, Richard Alden, Gerard Jordan, John Stoneham Sr., J.R. Zimmerman, Sandy Kovack, Jennifer Lehman, John C. Bassett, Allison Tye
Retro-reviewed by Mark L. Miller aka Ambush Bug
I often love sifting through the history of horror and check out what might not be the best executed films, but ones with interesting ideas. In THE PIT, many of these ideas have been dusted off and made its way into modern movies in one genre or another. And that’s what made watching this film fun for me.
THE PIT is a Lovecraftian sort of tale about a lonely young boy named Jamie (Sammy Snyders) who has no friends save for his teddy bear aptly named Teddy who tends to talk with him from time to time. So imagine the boy’s excitement when he finds a pit full of little ancient monsters in the middle of the woods behind his house. Wanting to take care of the monsters in the pit, Teddy instructs Jamie to feed “only the bad people” to the monsters in the pit, so Jamie begins doing that, getting rid of people who have done him wrong in his failed attempts to reach out and make friends. That’s one aspect of this film. The other is a tale of a budding psychopath who, like many pre-teens his age, is obsessed with sex and is willing to do increasingly awful things to people the longer he is not met with help. That help comes in the form of live-in therapist/nanny Sandy (Jeannie Elias), but though her intentions are good, she ends up being the object of Jamie’s misguided desire. This doesn’t bode well for Sandy who is taking care of a psychotic and sexually repressed kid with a pit full of flesh hungry monsters.
So there’s a lot of stuff going on in this film. There’s a lot of attention given to Jamie’s growing psychotic nature and what is the cause of it. He is tough to get along with his peers. He lusts after the librarian at the school, going so far as prank phone calling her that he has kidnapped her niece and making her undress in front of the window. This is a movie on its own, and it’s a fascinating one, but add the horror element of the monsters in the pit and this film feels really full with a lot of stuff. This pit of monsters is Jamie’s growing psychosis that we are witnessing develop throughout the story making THE PIT a fascinating character study of a film.
It’s just too bad that the acting in THE PIT is awful. Specifically Snyders who is given a lot of twisted things to do, but he is also given a lot of dialog which counterpunches the impact of the psychologically fascinating stuff going on. There’s not many other folks in this film that are much better in the acting department. So you get a clever, emotionally depthy, and psychologically potent story acted out by monotone-speaking, awkward non or first time actors. I can just imagine the dent in the forehead of the writer of this film when he saw his story realized in this way.
So don’t expect any acting achievements in THE PIT, but I think if you look past it you’ll see a pretty amazing metaphor for puberty and how a few elements can make it get pretty ugly. The effects are pretty rudimentary. The monsters in the pit are mostly in shadow and even then, they are men in gorilla suits and puppets with only articulated mouths and light up eyes. Again, there are just the rough edges of a powerful story. Think Seth McFarlane’s TED meets Craig William Macneill’s THE BOY executed with bad actors and you’ll get the drift of this one.
This Kino Lorber release contains an audio Commentary by Paul Corupe of Canuxploitation.com and Fllm Historian Jason Pichonsky, as well as interviews with stars Sammy Snyders, Jeannie Elias, screenwriter Ian Stewart, and composer Victor Davies.
Retro-review: New on BluRay from Arrow Films/MVD Visual!THE INITIATION (1984)
Directed by Larry StewartWritten by Charles Pratt Jr.
Starring Daphne Zuniga, Vera Miles, Clu Gulager, James Read, Marilyn Kagan, Robert Dowdell, Patti Heider, Frances Peterson, Hunter Tylo, Paula Knowles, Trey Stroud, Peter Malof, Christopher Bradley, Joy Jones, Mary Davis Duncan, Christi Michelle Allen, Rusty Meyers
Retro-reviewed by Mark L. Miller aka Ambush Bug
While it tries to be unique, shocking, and full of surprises, THE INITIATION ends up being another typical stalk and slash flick.
Kelly (Daphne Zuniga) has been suffering from the same reoccurring dream involving her parents, a fire, and what looks to be a castration. Having amnesia about her youth, she seeks out the help of a dreamy professor who studies nightmares to help her out to see what this dream means. Meanwhile, Kelly’s parents (RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD’s Clu Gulager and PSYCHO’s Vera Miles) are obviously hiding a dark secret from the past that has to do with a recent escape from a mental institution. And meanwhile-meanwhile, Kelly is trying to get into her favorite sorority and the initiation involves breaking into the mall Kelly’s father owns and stealing the uniform of the night watchman. The unseen escapee from the mental ward follows Kelly and the other pledges into the mall and murderizes them in the usual stalk n’ slash fashion.
Big hair, tacky clothing, and a focus on consumerism are the tell tale signs that this is an eighties stalker film. This one tries to cash in on both FRIDAY THE 13th by having an unseen killer stalking a group of kids in their natural environment (the mall, duh?) and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET with the attention to Kelly’s dreams and the meanings behind them. While this one would like to try to fool you with some red herrings and misleading plot twists, savvy horror movie goers will be able to predict the “twist” ending from a mile away.
One thing THE INITIATION has going for it is that it doesn’t shy away from the red stuff. There are a couple of really gory kills and some decent scenes of tension leading up to them. So while the film doesn’t really break any records narratively or in a manner of taking the tried and true slasher formula in different directions, THE INITIATION does a decent job in areas that count such as gore and suspense. It’s fun to see a pre- MELROSE PLACE Zuniga bopping around and there are plenty of gratuitous scenes of nudity, drug abuse, and teenage partying for the slasher to punish. Though the film’s poster and premise seems to be another one of those anti-establishment in college flicks like THE INITIATION OF SARAH, ZOMBIE HIGH, or DISTURBING BEHAVIOR, it doesn’t really carry that message. It’s more of a psychological mystery, albeit a predictable one.
Special features include a commentary by The Hysteria Continues, actors Christopher Bradley and Joy Jones, a collector’s booklet, and trailers. Om the end, this is your typical slasher, but at least it tries hard to be mysterious despite it being completely predictable.
Retro-review: New on BluRay from Lionsgate’s Vestron Video Collector’s Series!BLOOD DINER (1987)
aka BLOOD FEAST 2Directed by Jackie Kong
Written by Michael Sonye
Starring Rick Burks, Carl Crew, Roger Dauer, Roger Dauer, LaNette La France, Lisa Elaina, Max Morris, Roxanne Osco, Sir Lamont Rodeheaver, Dino Lee, The Luv Johnsons, Drew Godderis, Bob Loya, Alan Corona, Deseree Rose, Laurie Guzda, Karen Hazelwood, Effie Bilbrey, Michael Barton, Cynthia Baker, John Randall, Jane Cantillion, John Barton Shields, Brick Schmidt, Eric Williams, Steve Donmyer, Brad Biggart, & Tanya Papanicolas as Shitar!
Retro-reviewed by Mark L. Miller aka Ambush Bug
If you don’t mind your horror to have a heaping helping of goof added to the mix, you’re most likely going to have fun with the twistedly offbeat cannibal film BLOOD DINER, which initially was docketed to be the sequel to Herschell Gordon Lewis’ BLOOD FEAST.
Michael and George (Rick Burks and Carl Crew) never really as a chance as they witnessed the murder of their Uncle Anwar (Drew Godderis) as children as he was shot down by cops after he went on a killing spree to appease the goddess Shitaar. Michael grew to master the art of hypnotism while his more dim-witted brother George became a chef, which actually works out as the two open a diner using their secret ingredient…human flesh! After digging their Uncle up and resurrecting his disembodied brain, Anwar instructs them on how to resurrect the goddess Shitaar, an act he failed to perform when he was gunned down years ago. There are also beheadings, ventriloquists, disembowelings, naked kung-fu, machine gunning, nude aerobics, dancing Hitlers, wrestling, and much more madness to be enjoyed in BLOOD DINER.
Just don’t take a minute of this film seriously and you’ll have a ball with it. The violence is cartoony and the tone screams everything that is horrific and awesome about the eighties culture. This is a film that seems to have been made with the mentality of someone who just doesn’t give a fuck about good taste or sense or any indication that it wants to contribute to the betterment of cinema. And while there are dire stakes, the film itself never forgets it is a bloody cartoon from start to finish. Filled with musical numbers by underground punk and alternative bands, the film tops itself over and over with scenes involving heads being battered and cooked while the person is alive and a woman turning the tables on her attacker and kung fu kicking his ass only to be killed in the stupidest of ways. Everything about this film is filled with humor of the lowest of lowbrow level and while some films might take shame in that, this one wallows in the gutter proudly with violence and boobs galore from start to finish.
I love the no fucks given attitude this film has. One scene in particular is one of my all time favorites—a bouncer to a club is tossed aside by George after he refuses to let him and his brother into a trendy punk club. Once the bouncer lands in the street, a car bouncing on its hydraulics bounces by and lands on his head and squishes it. The other bouncer screams, “Are you ok!?!?!” as George and Michael slink into the club. While there aren’t many real scares to be had with BLOOD DINER, the guttural sense of humor makes up for it.
So don’t look for good acting or dynamic story twists or even a solid use of camerawork. The effects, as with most 80’s horror, is quite amazing and even though some of the effects look fake (like Shitaar’s vagina dentata on her stomach), they still pack a comic and crude impact. I don’t like to say that you have to turn off your brain to enjoy something. Here, all you have to do is turn off your good taste senses and unclench a little and you’ll be chortling your way through this whole movie.
New on BluRay from The Shout Factory!EXORCIST III: LEGION (1990)
Directed by William Peter BlattyWritten by William Peter Blatty
Starring George C. Scott, Ed Flanders, Brad Dourif, Jason Miller, Nicol Williamson, Scott Wilson, Nancy Fish, George DiCenzo, Don Gordon, Lee Richardson, Grand L. Bush, Mary Jackson, Viveca Lindfors, Ken Lerner, Tracy Thorne, Barbara Baxley, Zohra Lampert, Harry Carey Jr., Sherrie Wills, Edward Lynch, Clifford David, Alex Zuckerman, Lois Foraker, Tyra Ferrell, James Burgess, Kevin Corrigan, Peggy Alston, John Durkin, Bobby Deren, Jan Neuberger, Samuel L. Jackson, Larry King, C. Everett Koop, Colleen Dewhurst, Fabio, & Patrick Ewing as the Angel of Death!
Retro-reviewed by Mark L. Miller aka Ambush Bug
Without EXORCIST III: LEGION, I profess that there would have never been a SE7EN or SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Having said that bold statement, I stick by the statement that there isn’t a more compelling investigative procedural mixed with the macabre before or since William Peter Blatty’s amazing film was released in 1990.
Having seen the theatrical version in theaters many moons ago, I decided to watch the director’s cut of LEGION which was cobbled together from original material, the VHS release, as well as this new cleaned up version of the film. This might not have made from the most seamless of viewings, but it did give me the clearest of vision of what Blatty wanted as his final film. Whether you see the director or the theatrical, the story of LEGION goes like this. The Gemini Killer was captured by Police Lieutenant Kinderman (George C. Scott) and executed in the electric chair fifteen years ago, which happens to coincide with the death of Father Karras (Jason Miller) at the end of the very first EXORCIST film. A new series of blasphemous crimes rock Kinderman’s world and the trail of the killer leads him to the psyche ward of a hospital which houses a John Doe (Brad Dourif) who claims responsibility for the killings.What the hell does this have to do with spinning heads and pea soup, fans of THE EXORCIST might ask? Well, it exists in the same universe and deals with the same dank and dark evil that permeates the original film. Having seen the chopped and sliced theatrical version of this third film leads me to believe that the producers also were asking this question and fearful that without a little possessed girl, the public wouldn’t go with it. And I believe the film did end up tanking at the box office. Still, I often give very little credit to box office scores (point in fact, just look at the numbers for the latest Madea shit-fest), and even back in the day, I admired LEGION for being ballsy enough to try something new. Blatty knew he did something truly iconic with the first film (just look at how that film still reverberates in film today). Much like JAWS and shark movies, Blatty’s screenplay and William Friedken’s direction was able to harness something primal in THE EXORCIST and instead of trying to rehash that material, Blatty simply tells another tale set in this universe with the same tone, but with different characters and situations. Squinting at the framework of LEGION, it is still set up in the same way the original is. There’s a primal force chipping away at one person’s soul which culminates to a confrontation in a confined room with the forces of good taking the forces of evil on. Instead of a young girl, in this case, you have an elderly man (Scott) fighting for the lives of his loved ones, as well as his own. It’s just that everything else is different.
One of the main things is that this is an excellent police procedural. It shows snippets of the supernatural forces at work, but not everything, all the while, you see Scott’s character catching up to the truth slowly through the story. There are scenes in LEGION that would be recreated in iconic detective films in the coming years such as SE7EN where the killer meticulously kills the victims in a bizarre and neat manner (i.e. the scene where Kinderman discovers that the killer drew every drop of blood out of his victim and placed it in neatly lined jars beside the bed without spilling a drop). Dourif’s Gemini speeches with Scott’s Kinderman are very similar to the car dialog between Spacey, Pitt, and Freeman in SE7EN in context and tone. And the scenes where Kinderman visits John Doe (Dourif) in his cell feels like an exact lift from SILENCE OF THE LAMBS quid pro quo scenes between Starling and Lecter, but LEGION did it first!!! Gemini even plays with words and riddles just as Lecter did in SOTL, leading Kinderman, like Starling to a killer being manipulated by Gemini/Lecter from inside his cell. I’m not accusing those behind SILENCE OF THE LAMBS as lifting, but the two films have many similarities looking at them both in retrospect.
George C. Scott is a force of nature in this film. They simply don’t make actors like that any more. Even in his elder years, he is a man not to be fucked with and the range of emotions he is going through in this film is astonishingly heavy. Scott’s Kinderman is a man who is unsure of an afterlife because he sees the horror the world dishes out on a daily basis. But there is a gentle soul under that gruff exterior as seen in his moments shared between him and his family and especially his best friend Father Dyer (Ed Flanders). And in the final scenes where Scott goes head to head with Brad Dourif (himself at his most quivering and teary, batshit crazy) is electric.
The ending of the original is over the top and if there is a chink in the armor of LEGION, it’s the producer-induced special effects bombast the film ends with. I understand that a film called THE EXORCIST needs an exorcism in it. But with the subtleties of the first hour and a half are almost destroyed with the way it all wraps up. While the design of the cell is pretty amazing with barred windows lighting the room dramatically, the explosions, cracking of the floor, and fire and brimstone just isn’t necessary. Plus while EXCALUBUR’s Nicol Williamson is never not awesome, his character sort of just pops out of the blue and for someone so integral to the end, it really doesn’t fit in the movie. That’s not saying the end of the director’s cut is satisfying either. While it is more compliant with the way Blatty’s book ends, the ending filmed for the director’s cut doesn’t feel like everything is resolved either. Maybe it’s just that I wanted to spend more time with these characters or maybe nothing would really have been a satisfying end to the mood and feel this film exudes. Either way, neither ending works for me.
I can’t wrap this up without commenting on what might be the scariest scene ever put to film. The tension. The hallway. The nurse. The sounds from the rooms. The sheet. These are the elements to one of the best plotted scare I have ever seen on film. It gets me every time, no matter how many times I see it and I love watching this film with people who haven’t seen the film simply to see their reaction to it. Anyone trying to put together a scare for a film should watch this scene alone on how to pull it off expertly. Blumhouse take note. You don’t need a jump scare every five minutes. Sometimes patience delivers the best and most potent scares that end up chilling deeply rather than being laughed away.
THE EXORCIST III: LEGION is not a perfect film. There were tons of rumors about difficulties between Scott and Blatty, as well as battles the director had with the producers. But despite all of that, the film manages to convey an overwhelming sense of dread and terror. It’s got scenes of absolute horror performed by some of the best actors ever to dance across the silver screen. Plus props to this film for the amazing cameos from everyone from Fabio to Samuel L. Jackson to Patrick Ewing to C. Everett Coop and the anti-Christ himself Larry King. While THE EXORCIST always gets all of the clamor and adoration, I think LEGION should go down as one of the most successful and effective third installment in a movie series history.
This Shout Factory edition has both the theatrical and director’s cuts, alternate scenes, bloopers, the original Making of featurette, interviews with writer/director William Peter Blatty, George C. Scott, Jason Miller, Ed Flanders, Grand L. Bush, executive producer James G. Robinson, production designer Leslie Dilley, Larry King And C. Everett Koop. Additionally, there’s a new audio interview with William Peter Blatty, a new featurette “A ‘Wonderfull’ Time” with interviews with producer Carter DeHaven, actors Clifford David & Tracy Thorne, and production assistant Kara Reidy, another featurette “Signs Of The Gemini” focusing on Brad Dourif, one called “The Devil In The Details” with interviews with production designer Leslie Dilley, assistant designer Daren Dochterman & illustrator Simon Murton, another called “Music For A Padded Cell” featuring an interview with composer Barry DeVorzon, and finally “All This Bleeding” which looks at the re-shoot and makeup effects With production manager Ronald Colby, editor Todd Ramsay, effects artists William Forsche, Mike Smithson, Brian Wade and actor/body double Charles Powell.
New in select theaters from Indican Pictures!MINUTES PAST MIDNIGHT (2016)
Directed by Sid Zanforlin (Never Tear Us Apart), Francisco Sonic Kim (Awake), James Moran (Crazy For You), Kevin McTurk (The Mill At Calder's End), Ryan Lightbourn (Roid Rage), Christian Rivers (Feeder), Marc Martínez Jordán (Timothy), Lee Cronin (Ghost Train), Robert Boocheck (Horrific)Written by Chris Bavota & Sid Zanforlin (Never Tear Us Apart), Collin George (Awake), James Moran (Crazy For You), Ryan Murphy (The Mill At Calder's End), Ryan Lightbourn (Roid Rage), Guy McDouall (Feeder), Marc Martínez Jordán (Timothy), Lee Cronin (Ghost Train), Robert Boocheck (Horrific)
Find out more about this film here and on Facebook here
Reviewed by Mark L. Miller aka Ambush Bug
For a while, I was clamoring for someone to gather all of these short films being made and released in festivals and put them together in some kind of showcase and it seems some folks are actually listening. MINUTES PAST MIDNIGHT is a collection of short films from the festival circuit, specifically shorties pulled from Toronto’s Little Terrors Short Film Festival. This is a great grouping of films. Some of them I’ve seen before and even reviewed in this column in the past, others I enjoyed for the first time. Mushed together like this, it makes one hell of a cool collection of films from what may be the next generation of horror masters. I’ll be talking a bit about each of these shorts in the paragraphs below.
“Never Tear Us Apart” starts off the group with a tale of two guys looking for a party in the middle of the woods and happening onto the lair of a pair of elderly cannibals. This is a very short and not so sweet little film with a vicious murder by axe as well as a twist I didn’t see coming at the end. The aforementioned murder is the highlight of the film that turns out to be too short to be very resonant, but still packs a darkly humorous punch. This one is a light and friendly way of easing us into the horrors to come. Aptly made, but rather light and fluffy in the end.
“Awake” is an extremely effective short about a child with mental illness and the hell he unleashes upon his weary parents who seek to help him even though he obviously is deeply troubled and does not sleep or eat. The fact that it is unclear what exactly is wrong with the young boy is damn freaky, as are the voices the child speaks in which could be supernatural or just the product of an unwell mind. There are a lot of fun Ideas in this short which is well shot and acted, and the scares are paced in a way that suggests a good understanding of tension. This is one of the few installments in this anthology that seems like it would make for a good feature film.
“Crazy For You” is equal parts creepy and sincere as a young English serial killer falls in love with a stunning lass and tries to kick the habit of killing. Enraged at the sight of polka dots, the killer finds it harder than he thought to stop murdering people for wearing polka-dots. Yes, it’s goofy, but this one has a really fun tone and some dark humor. Plus, it has a whopper of an ending that I wasn’t expecting. This one has an old timey feel to it and the filmmakers were able to capture the era of film as well as some great performances by the leads.
I reviewed “The Mill At Calder’s End” here. It’s a gothic tale told in the Hammer style acted out by intricately created puppets. I’m in awe at the skill of both the realistic look of the puppets as well as the haunting story which deals with a family curse, a skull monster, a skeletal witch, and a creepy cavern under a windmill. This is fantastic artistry as well as storytelling and I’d love to see more shorts done in this style from these artists.
”Roid Rage” is another short I’ve reviewed before. This is a gross-out masterpiece that completely apes elements commonly seen in exploitation flicks from the seventies. It’s about a hemorrhoid that kills people and the secret government experiment that made it. Now the hero of this film carries a cursed ass that eats faces and if that description makes you laugh, this is going to be the right type of wrong for you. This one is done in a trailer-esque style warning us that ROID RAGE: THE MOVIE in 3D is coming! Can’t wait!
”Feeder” deals with a deal with the devil scenario where a guitarist communicates with scratchings in his floor which require a sacrifice in exchange for musical talent. But as his talent grows, the floor seems to demand bigger and bigger sacrifices. It’s an age old tale of what one would do for fame, but “Feeder” is filmed very well and has some subtle, yet effective effects. There’s also some really great editing here where you think you see more gruesome stuff than you actually do. This type of cinematic magic is difficult to do and I commend the filmmakers for achieving it so well. All in all, this is a gruesome one, reminiscent of old Poe stories, but if you’re an animal lovers, I’d advise you to fast forward this one.
My favorite of the bunch is “Timothy” a film that capably makes the un-terrifying utterly terrifying as a young boy obsessed with a Barney-like TV show meets his idol and deals with a not-so-great babysitter. This Spanish film is beautifully shot and has subtle editing to suggest a very psychologically twisted under-layer to this film that isn’t revealed until the very end. I loved the imagery of using seemingly innocent toys and objects in menacing ways. This one is absolutely twisted in my type of way.
There’s a Stephen King’s IT feel to “Ghost Train” by way of MYSTIC RIVER mixed with a bit of Tim Burton-y cartoonish and gothic madness. This one is about a pair of men who meet at an abandoned carnival to talk about a child abduction that occurred when they were children. There’s a lot of emotional heft in this one and the way the whole thing is filmed really amps up the tension as deep, dark secrets are revealed and a curse is unleashed. I found this one to be particularly frightening, especially the final moments as the thing in the carnival funhouse is revealed.
I loved the cartoonish fun that occurs in “Horrific” and highlighted it here in my column a while back. There’s a great amount of fun to be had as this one plays out like a demonic Tex Avery flick when a country bumpkin takes on a pesky Chupacabra. There’s a whack-a-mole scene that is utterly fantastic, as well as a lot of carnage as the huckster is in a battle to the death again the pesky little critter.
While “Horrific” is a really great one, I think I would have shuffled this with “Ghost Train” in order and end on a more resonant and ominous note rather than a comedic one. That’s just a personal preference of mine wanting to see this film go out with a bang rather than a chuckle. Still, seen all in one viewing, this is a collection of some of the more effective little horror pieces to come along in quite a while. Here’s hoping there will be more MINUTES PAST MIDNIGHT collections to come.
New this week on DVD from MVD Visual!THE HOSPITAL 2 (2015)
Directed by Jim O'Rear, Daniel Emery TaylorWritten by Jim O'Rear, Daniel Emery Taylor
Starring Shawn C. Phillips, Debbie Rochon, Betsy Rue, Christina Schimmel, James Azrael, Jim O'Rear, Daniel Emery Taylor, Megan Emerick, Megan Hunt, Ernest Douglas Nichols, Eric Branden, Lisa Marie Kart, Alicia M. Clark, Scott Tepperman, Melanie Contreras, Ruben Wehunt, Lara-Louisa Piacquadio, Nicholas Huntsman, Jason Henry, Cheyenne Oliver, Constance Medrano, Lisa Krick, Dessa Blackthorn, Miles Spence, Lauryn MacGregor, Kealani Hughes, Tobias Elmore, Tom Komisar
Find out more about this film on Facebook here
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
When I reviewed the original film THE HOSPITAL, I found it to be a pretty heinous film. Depicting multiple rapes and tortures, I definitely wanted to warn people that this is the type of film that is not exactly my cup of tea and not for the squeamish or easily offended. The sequel, aptly titled THE HOSPITAL 2, is just as deplorable, but I have to appreciate the depths this film goes to despite my dislike for the subgenre is seems to want to settle into.
After the horrific events at the end of THE HOSPITAL, two of the final girls escape and try to piece their lives together, and the rapist/murderers played by director/writer Jim O’Rear and his co-writer Daniel Emery Taylor shamble away as well to open a halfway house for battered women, which they find to be fertile grounds to find new victims to rape, murder, and stream live online for millions of pervs to wank to. Joining O’Rear’s sadistic and maniacal Alan and his gigantic friend Stanley (Taylor) is Alan’s daughter Samantha (Megan Emerick) who, like Harley Quinn, is enamored with her sadistic pop and wanting to participate in the family business. Many women are raped and killed by the trio until the final girls from the original make their way back to them in the final moments.Let’s start with the positives. Being a film made by the same folks who made the original, there’s a strong sense of continuity here. Being a person who loves that sort of thing in horror (specifically the first few FRIDAY THE 13THs and some of the HALLOWEENs), it’s nice to see these indie filmmakers stick with their film series and take it to the next level. While the actions depicted are very graphic and awful, they are consistent, and those who were shocked and dismayed by the events in THE HOSPITAL are bound to get more of that here.
That said, I do think that the almost two hours of rape, murder, and depravity need quite a bit of editorial shaving. There’s a suspenseful movie in here somewhere, but the camera lingers on the horrific acts way too long, and some edits might lessen the depravity a bit and make it less gratuitous and more digestible.But maybe that’s not what this film wants. It really does seem like the filmmakers of THE HOSPITAL and THE HOSPITAL 2 just want to get all of the ugliness they can onto the screen for all to see, wince at, and squirm to. There’s room in horror for films like that, and I think in terms of making the viewer uncomfortable, this one definitely fits the bill. There’s an underground whiff of danger all around THE HOSPITAL 2, and while I wouldn’t recommend this film to fans of mainstream horror or those who shudder at the mistreatment of women in films, those deviants out there who enjoy a healthy dose of sadistic depravity mixed in with their terror will most likely be the target audience for this one.
New in select theaters!ZOMBIES (2016)
Directed by Hamid TorabpourWritten by Hamid Torabpour
Starring Steven Luke, Tony Todd, Raina Hein, Amanda Day, Aaron Courteau, Marcus Dee, Heidi Fellner, Todd Vance, Jim Westcott, Amber Rhodes, Brian Thoe, Bruce Miller, Cameron Cylkowski
Find out more about this film here and on Facebook here
Reviewed by Mark L. Miller aka Ambush Bug
While there are some decent action scenes and nice effects, ZOMBIES is sadly, just another zombie movie shambling among the herd of the million and one other zombie movies put out since 2000.
ZOMBIES follows Luke, a noble soldier (Steven Luke) who with a wizened Detective Sommers (Tony Todd) leads a resistance against a zombie horde. Luke mourns his lost love and finds a new one as they try to find the cause, the cure, and the way to survive in this zombie infested world.While there is a decent story and somewhat of an interesting arc within ZOMBIES, the main problem lays within the editing and the acting. Scenes are edited and/or directed without the least bit of patience, making every emotional decision by the characters feel unnatural. On top of that, the acting is pretty awful. Luke can grunt and shoot a machine gun like a champ, but anything requiring real emotion and it’s really tough to watch. Todd is fun, as usual, but none of the other folks in this film convinced me that the situation is as dire as they are saying. Because characters act so nonchalantly with one another, it’s really hard to tell who knew who before the zombie plague and who didn’t. Even first meetings feel way too casual in this film. And the final, supposedly emotional scenes really are cringe-worthy in terms of acting.
Casual is a good way to describe this film. It just doesn’t feel like these characters are under any pressure at all. And because of that, I just didn’t care. ZOMBIES looks decent enough and the zombie effects look cool (though I could do without the CG blood). If you must watch all zombie films, I guess this one is a decent time-waster of a film, but ZOMBIES just didn’t have enough chops to carry the emotional heft the story called for.
New this week from MVD Visual Entertainment!ROTGUT (2012)
Directed by Billy GarberinaWritten by Devin O'Leary
Starring Jeremy Owen, Paul Alsing, Megan Pribyl, Israel Wright, Merritt C. Glover, Eric Bodwell, Aaron Worley, Rusty Rutherford, Whitney Moore, Charlie Dearing, Kevin Santry, Peggy O'Leary, Shaun Cockram, Billy Garberina, Lauran Shaner, Stephen W. Stone, Jason Witter, Stephen Jules Rubin, Michael E. Beard, Adam Jarmon Brown, Phil Duran
Find out more about this film here
Reviewed by Mark L. Miller aka Ambush Bug
A smart and fun script makes ROTGUT a cut above most low budget gross-out gorefests.
Running low on liquor, burly bartender Leon (Jeremy Owen) buys some bottom of the barrel liquor that turns out to be a bad batch of hooch that fills those who drink it with giant worms! Quarantined in a bar, a group of barflies must battle one another and try not to succumb to the wormy menace.
While the budget of this one is pretty low, I ended up liking this DIY film for its attention to script, story, and character. Everyone kind of talks in that Kevin Smit/CLERKS-speak. You know the type of speak. Where people use intellectual words and talk in a sort of academic style of talking that makes the talker seem more superior than the station that they occupy in life. That’s kind of the way everyone talks in this film and there’s an appeal to that, which makes this film a little more lovable than your normal DIY endeavor. The actors are actually decent here as well as the effects work which get slimy and gross when necessary.
Moving at a swift pace and keeping the momentum going with fun wordplay, ROTGUT entertained me from beginning to end. And while none of the characters really talk like anyone you or I know, it still is able to keep this film watchable from beginning to end. If you don’t mind the gore, ROTGUT is a fun little piece of trapped in a small locale horror and worth seeking out.
New in select theaters and On Demand from Uncork’d Films!THE SHELTER (2015)
Directed by John FallonWritten by John Fallon
Starring Michael Paré, Lauren Alexandra, Rachel G. Whittle, Amy Wickenheiser, Gayle James, David M. Lawson, Brigette Rose, Thomas Johnston
Find out more about this film here and on Facebook here
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
While there are some pacing problems here and there in THE SHELTER, for the most part Michael Pare makes this film worth watching for the range he displays that I didn’t think he had in him as a man haunted and overwrought with guilt over the loss of his wife and child.
THE SHELTER is pretty much a one man show as we follow a drunken and desperate, yet still rather charming ,Thomas (EDDIE & THE CRUISERS’ Michael Pare) who has sex with a floozy and is kicked out before her boyfriend gets home. Walking the streets, Thomas mugs a guy, takes his money, and buys some liquor with it, and proceeds to get shitfaced for the rest of the film, flashing back on the happy life he had before it all went to shit. In his desperate trek, Thomas makes his way to his former home, now abandoned, and is haunted by flashbacks and hallucinations of his lost daughter, wife, and mistress.In my day job as a therapist, I am constantly made aware that one left instead of right or one yes decision to a no question could leave me in a similar place I often see my clients in. All it takes is one tipping of the dominoes and anyone’s carefully structured life can come crumbling down, and that’s what this movie is all about. Thomas seemingly had it all, but he got selfish, cocky, and arrogant and now it’s all gone. While this is about a man haunted by his past, it’s more of a story steeped in regret rather than the paranormal. Writer/director John Fallon conveys this theme of loss and regret clearly and expertly. Sure, that makes for the exact opposite of the feel good movie of the year, but it does make for a pretty fantastic character study of a man who has crumbled to almost nothing.
Pare really gives it his all here, plunging to emotional depths I never thought he was able to do and doing them with a real sense of soul. Pare still has the rugged good looks that made him a star in the Eighties, but it feels like, at least in the character he plays here, he really does understand what it is like to have it all and lose it. The regret and fear in his eyes when he encounters the ghosts of his past really are some of the most convincing in the film.Pacing-wise, this story does feel like it is a short film extended to be the runtime of a full-length feature film. As a TWILIGHT ZONE episode, this would rock with a little of the fat trimmed away. But that doesn’t take away from Fallon’s handling of the material and Pare’s fantastic job of conveying it. Again, this is about as somber as it comes, so if you’re looking for a film that will leave you in a place a bit more remorseful and a bit more down than you come into it, then this definitely is a film for you. It captures that voyeuristic and sadistic pang in all of us to some extent to see the suffering of others on the screen. THE SHELTER is resonant in tone and spot on in execution, just a bit overlong and may be too heavy for some viewers to take.
New in select theaters, digital download, iTunes, and On Demand from Freestyle Digital Media!THE CHARNEL HOUSE (2016)
Directed by Craig MossWritten by Chad Israel, Emanuel Isler
Starring Callum Blue, Nadine Velazquez, Makenzie Moss, Erik LaRay Harvey, Joe Keery, Danielle Lauder, Andy Favreau and Kate Linder
Find out more about this film on Facebook here
Reviewed by Mark L. Miller aka Ambush Bug
A futuristic twist on the old haunted house routine is what is going on in this quirkily told and strongly acted ghost story.
A billionaire (Callum Blue) constructs the apartment complex of the future on the site of a slaughterhouse with a horrific history. He’s so convinced he is onto something big that he moves his wife (Nadine Velazquez) and child (Makenzie Moss)into the place, but another tenant named Devin (Erik LaRay Harvey), whose father used to work at the slaughterhouse suspects that something more devious is about to rear its ugly head as he inspects the locale’s sordid history. Meanwhile, tenants are finding themselves offed like cattle on a slaughterline.
Part THE SHINING, part TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE with elements of JURASSIC WORLD surprisingly, THE CHARNEL HOUSE manages to shoot a dose of adrenaline in the old haunted house story. The condominium complex is supposed to make one’s life stress free, adjusting the environment to match one’s biorhythms as well as soothe frazzled nerves and quell worries with music, art, and activities. As far as ideas are concerned, there are a lot of good ones in THE CHARNEL HOUSE, specifically in the premise department, but also in the creative and varied ways the tenants are killed one by one. I particularly love one investor’s demise where he is lead through a conveyor belt just like cattle used to be when the place was a slaughter house. This is a horrific scene which really captures the horrific way the animals were treated and the feelings they must have felt as they watched the cow in front of them get slaughtered as they move forward.
Another point of note is the performance by Erik LaRay Harvey who played the devilish Dunn on BOARKWALK EMPIRE and Diamondback in LUKE CAGE and is given a really meaty role here as the son of a former slaughterhouse employee. This role, which is sort of your typical noir, novice detective/hero turn, is something one wouldn’t expect from this actor. Props to the film for the out of the box casting for this role and to Harvey for knocking it out of the park and showing that he is an actor who can also be sympathetic, since he usually is forced to play the sneering heavy in his roles. He’s a great villainous actor, but here he proves he can also be equally convincing as someone to root for,
THE CHARNEL HOUSE’s only setback is that it does fall into convention by the end of the film. In the end, aside from the futuristic flourish, it is still a haunted house film where things go bump (or in this case, blip) in the night. So despite the futuristic slant, this is a typical haunted house flick. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The cool details of the locale add a lot of flavor to this film that makes it stand out from the normal haunted house fare, but the story structure reminds us that no matter how shiny and technologically new; it’s still a haunted house story. Wonderfully acted and creatively told, THE CHARNEL HOUSE is a different kind of haunted house tale worth inspecting.
New this week on BluRay from IFC Midnight and The Shout Factory!CARNAGE PARK (2016)
Directed by Mickey KeatingWritten by Mickey Keating
Starring Ashley Bell, Pat Healy, James Landry Hébert, Michael Villar, Bob Bancroft, Larry Fessenden, Andy Greene, Alan Ruck, Graham Skipper, Darby Stanchfield
Reviewed by Mark L. Miller aka Ambush Bug
While the film is derivative of many a movie you’re bound to know, CARNAGE PARK offers up a glimpse of what DARLING and POD director Mickey Keating is capable of given a bigger budget. Keating keeps things relatively small scale, but still manages to get great performances out of his actors as well as keeps the pace of this gory heist road movie at a breakneck pace.
A pair of villainous types make their way through a desert, one of them is shot and screaming and everything from the way the shot is set up to the dialog is straight out of RESERVIOR DOGS. Apart from Keating’s previous works, where there are similarities to other films such as REPULSION with DARLING, this homage is obvious as it apes the opening scene of this iconic movie. With this scene, some folks might scoff at Keating for imitating a truly iconic movie. Personally, I think this is where the genius lays in CARNAGE PARK. It definitely pays homage to films like RESERVOIR DOGS (which in itself is an homage to many a film), but it also plays with those expectations one might have with these films. Just when you think you know where this film is going to go, Keating veers off course and turns all expectation ass-upwards. Keating is paying homage more to the films that inspired Tarantino like Fredrick R. Friedel’s AXE and KIDNAPPED COED here and that distinction makes CARNAGE PARK so much more than a knockoff one might have found in the bargain bin at Blockbuster in the nineties. Keating’s film has a grit to it, from the choice of secluded desert scenery for the bulk of the film to the grimy way the caracters portray themselves, to the warped music played through the loudspeaker that echoes across Wyatt Moss’ (CHEAP THRILLS and THE INNKEEPERS’ Pat Healy’s) property.Turns out these no-goodniks have wandered onto Wyatt Moss’ property unknowlingly and he meets trespassers with the business end of a sniper rifle. After taking out the vehicle of Scorpion Joe (LOOPER’s James Landry Hébert) and the wounded Lenny (Michael Villar)—aka the two no-goodniks, we find out they have kidnapped the debutante daughter of a well to do businessman named Vivian (THE LAST EXORCISM’s Ashley Bell). Just when you think this is a movie about a kidnapping, captor and captee must team up to survive against a mad sniper (Healy). Meanwhile Wyatt’s brother (FERRIS BEULLER’S DAY OFF’s Alan Ruck) toils over whether or not his brother has finally crossed a line he cannot cover up and battles his conscience to take him out. The story turns into a cat and mouse game where Healy’s Wyatt takes aim on everyone.
It is Pat Healy who really shines in this film. Often cast as the nebbish good guy, here he is a bonafide madman, laughing at voices in his head and taking way too much joy in the hell he unleashes upon the rest of the small cast. Healy is fascinating and terrifying, in many ways like the lived in characters of Tobe Hooper’s TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. He is a character that has so much more story in him that this single nightmare allows, but gives little to nothing back in terms of how he ended up as this madman with a rifle. Ashley Bell is, as always, awesome as Vivian, somewhat pampered rich girl, freaking out from this situation, but showing a lot of gruff and tough when her predators show a moment of distraction or weakness. It is truly fascinating to follow Healy and Bell through this obstacle course from hell.CARNAGE PARK ends abruptly. Again, harkening back to the age of rogue cinema where proper cinematic tropes are ignored. While I want to praise this film for the ballsiness of simply dropping the mic and walking away, most likely, the budget ran out and the decision to simply roll credits was necessary. Still, this reminds me of the startling endings of some of the best grindhouse films which most likely ran into the same obstacle. CARNAGE PARK is Keating’s biggest film to date and proves that he can handle the open plain as capably as he does one setting, indoors films. I hope CARNAGE PARK opens the doors for bigger budgets and bigger ideas for Keating. I loved the attitude and feel of this film which accentuates its coolness with musical beats, surprise arterial explosions, and screams for bloody murder. It’s an ode to grindhouse in the purest sense that saves the scratched film filter and goes straight for the essence of what grindhouse is all about. Highly recommended.
New in select theaters and On Demand from A24 Films!THE MONSTER (2016)
aka THERE ARE MONSTERSDirected by Bryan Bertino
Written by Bryan Bertino
Starring Ella Ballentine, Zoe Kazan, Scott Speedman, Aaron Douglas, Christine Ebadi, Marc Hickox, & Chris Webb as the Monster!
Reviewed by Mark L. Miller aka Ambush Bug
From the director who chilled your bones with THE STRANGERS comes THE MONSTER, an electric and emotionally charged powerhouse of a horror film.
Bertino may have made a small misstep in his last endeavor MOCKINGBIRD (reviewed here), but he is back on course with THE MONSTER which tells a painfully real story of parentified child Lizzy (Ella Ballentine) and her young, alcoholic, and irresponsible mother Kathy (Zoe Kazan) whose car breaks down in the middle of a dark road one night and find themselves in a life or death battle against a monster in the woods.
THE MONSTER is not a premise that is unique or particularly groundbreaking. It’s your typical monster story, sort of like CUJO meets DUEL where most of the film takes place on a dark road and the small cast is trapped there and forced to work out inner problems while challenges are scratching their way at them from the dark. What makes this film so memorable and moving I the performances of the two leads. Mapping out the perfect scenario for disaster, Bertino gives us flashbacks to show just how dysfunctional Lizzy and her mother Kathy’s relationship is. Lizzy has to wake her mom up from her hangover and basically takes care of her as her mother battles alcoholism. She is embarrassed of her mother, yet loves her and roots for her. Little Ella Ballentine is going to be a superstar, if this role is any indication as she delivers a heart-wrenching performance as Lizzy. She’s a better actor than most actresses twice her age, able to be a scared little girl in one scene and a young powerful woman in the next. Alongside Kazan, who is equally good, this is one amazingly acted film.
I think if anyone is going to criticize THE MONSTER it might be in a few of the plot holes that occur in the film. And these aren’t necessarily plot holes as much as choices by the director on what to include about the monster and what not to include. The motivation of the monster itself, other than this being a horror movie and the monster has to attack anyone on screen, is as foggy as the night road. Is the monster hungry? Is it trying to feed its own offspring or its own ailing mother? Where did this creature come from and what exactly is it? None of these questions are answered and I imagine the director would say that they aren’t important in the grand scheme of things as this is a story about the troubled relationship between Lizzy and Kathy. Still, if you’re a stickler for these types of details, this one is going to bother you.
The monster design itself is impressive. It’s definitely practical, which I appreciate, yet the articulation of the face and the movement of the creature is very unique and fun. Looking almost like a hairless panther/bat hybrid, the monster in THE MONSTER definitely lives up to its name and Bertino films it in a way that it looks impressively scary throughout. THE MONSTER is a simply told story, but what makes it amazing are the actresses involved and the even scarier scenario one must face as a parentified child watching ones parent wither away in front of you. Bertino captures this complex and tragic feeling masterfully and that’s what makes this film a cut above most monster flicks.
And finally…here’s a creepy short from the creeps at “Don’t Turn Around” that has a title that says it all—THE KILLING OF DOLLS! It’s about Pediophobia which is a fear of dolls as well as little children. Sounds like great fodder for horror. Enjoy!
See ya next week, folks!
Ambush Bug is Mark L. Miller, original @$$Hole/wordslinger/writer of wrongs/reviewer/interviewer/editor of AICN COMICS for over 15 years & AICN HORROR for 5. Follow Mark on the Twitters @Mark_L_Miller and on his new website collecting posts for AICN HORROR as well as all of the most recent updates on his various comic book projects on MLMillerWrites.com.
A quick plug for my own work. I have a new comic book coming out this December called THE JUNGLE BOOK HOLIDAY SPECIAL: BAGHEERA’S SECRET. It’s a one shot reteaming my original JUNGLE BOOK artist Carlos Granda and myself (the same team who created PIROUETTE) and it is available to order now via Previews order# OCT162113. I’m getting pages of this book by the day and this book looks absolutely amazing so far. Fans of jungle adventure are going to love it! Please support me by telling your local comic book store to order tons of issues of this comic! Much appreciated, folks.
AICN HORROR has a new sponsor: Things From Another World—also known as TFAW!
TFAW carries everything from comics to toys and any kind of collectible in between. Show your support for AICN HORROR and TFAW and click the pic above. You just might find something you can’t live without such as Cullen Bunn’s excellent Southern Gothic Horror Tale from Dark Horse Comics!
Look for our bi-weekly rambling about random horror films on Poptards and Ain’t It Cool on AICN HORROR’s CANNIBAL HORRORCAST Podcast every other Thursday!
