QUEEN OF BLOOD (2014) Blu-ray Review

SCARE-A-THON Totals to Date: 

Total Movies Watched: 20 

Total First Time Views: 12 

Amount raised for BOXVILLE: $1,446.40 

Queen of Blood (2014) d. Chris Alexander (USA) (77 min) (1st viewing)

A semi-sequel of sorts to writer/director Alexander’s 2012 offering, Blood for Irina, with our titular undead (Shauna Henry) relocated from her previous urban environs to a mystical wooded glade. Based on the period clothing and rustic setting, one might even consider it a prequel except for the fact that it seems to exist in a no-time world where even speech is out of fashion. Yes, it’s a silent, independent, art-house, vampire flick intended as much a tribute to Werner Herzog and Terence Malick (in terms of pacing and attention to the natural surroundings) as it is to the films of Jean Rollin or Jess Franco.

DARK HARVEST (1992) DVD review

Dark Harvest (1992) d. Nicholson, James I. (USA) (1st viewing) 89 min

This may be the top-billed offering for Intervision’s double feature DVD, but while it leads the way in terms of low-budget nudity (really, almost everyone takes their top off here) and a few gore moments, it falls way, WAY short of its poor relation (the Vincent Price-hosted omnibus effort Escapes, which appears as a bonus) as a coherent slice of entertainment. Seriously, this does nothing to dispel the myth that most killer scarecrow movies flat-out suck. Because Dark Harvest flat-out sucks.

FEED THE LIGHT (2014) Blu-ray review

Feed the Light (2014) d. Möller, Fredrik (Sweden) (1st viewing) 81 min

After losing custody of her daughter, Sara (Lina Sunden) learns that her ex-husband (Patrik Karlson) has disappeared with the child into some strange religious underground (both literally and figuratively) compound. She infiltrates the sect by getting hired as part of the cleaning crew, a plot device that would seem flimsy if not for the fact that it quickly becomes clear that no normal person would want this job: not only is she required to yield her cell phone (and any other means of contact) to the buttoned-down boss (Jenny Lampa), the interview takes place in a room with a naked dog-man (Morgan Schagerberg) crouched in the corner, and her job duties include sweeping up invisible sparkling dust that gathers under the various light sources.

DEPORTED WOMEN OF THE SS SPECIAL SECTION (1976) DVD Review

Deported Women of the SS Special Section (1976) d. Rino di Silvestri (Italy)

Relative newcomers to the Nazisploitation subgenre (such as myself) might be unfamiliar with this wicked little trifle, but according to those in the know, it stands as one of the more successfully rendered entries in the short-lived movement. Though never reaching the gleeful excess of Gestapo’s Last Orgy or Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS, it robustly rattles through the requisite nasty bits (nudity, lesbianism, torture), and is elevated immeasurably by John Steiner’s scene-stealing turn as the twisted, tormented camp commandant, Herr Erner.

THE GESTAPO'S LAST ORGY (1977) DVD Review

Gestapo's Last Orgy, The (1977) d. Cesare Canevari (Italy)

Often described as a remake of Liliana Cavana’s notorious art house classic The Night Porter, Gestapo’s Last Orgy is actually quite its own beast. Both films do feature a female concentration camp survivor reuniting with her Nazi oppressor years later, but whereas Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling’s S&M antics charted controversial waters, it’s clear that theirs is a consensual, if twisted, relationship. For Commandant Von Starker (Adriano Micantoni, billed here as Mark Loud) and Lise (Daniela Poggi, as Daniela Levy), the quirky relationship is forged in the fires of dominance and defiance. Von Starker seeks to crush the beautiful Lise’s will, but since she has already divorced herself from her emotions, he derives no satisfaction from torturing her. He must make her “love life” again, so that he may achieve the ultimate victory by depriving her of it. He ends up falling for her, while she in turn grows increasingly more powerful, more dangerous.