TENEBRAE (1982) UHD Blu-ray review

TENEBRAE (1982) d. Dario Argento (Italy)

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Welcome to Episode #2 of THE STACK!

One of the 39 official Video Nasties prosecuted by the BFCC, this stellar updating of the classic giallo formula for the slasher-soaked early 1980s sees Argento at the height of his technical and storytelling powers. Dwelling in the shadows of his earlier critical and commercial successes (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Deep Red, Suspiria) and perhaps hindered by its unwieldy title (“Darkness” in Italian) and the subsequent retitled and re-edited U.S. release (the equally clunky Unsane, shorn of nearly 10 minutes), Tenebrae never seemed to find the audience it deserved and has labored for recognition ever since.

PHENOMENA (aka CREEPERS) (1985) UHD BLU-RAY REVIEW

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Perhaps the only “insect detective” movie out there on the shelves, featuring a very young Jennifer Connelly (released one year before Labyrinth) as the daughter of a famous American movie star sent away to study at an exclusive Swiss girl’s academy, whose students just happen to be falling victim to a homicidal killer. But as this is an Argento movie, things are hardly what they seem.

THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED (1969)/ACCION MUTANTE (1993) Blu-ray Reviews

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Jon Kitley of Kitley's Krypt returns to the Doc's office to discuss dos peliculas muy bueno! The debut features from and both changed the face of Spanish horror upon their releases, and happily both have recently received Blu-ray releases, so it's high time we sat down to talk about them!

TENEBRAE (1982) Blu-ray Review

Tenebrae (1982) d. Dario Argento (Italy) (101 min)

American mystery author Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) arrives in Rome to promote his newest novel, Tenebrae. Unfortunately, a serial killer is on the loose, taunting Neal and murdering those around him in gruesome fashion via straight razors and hatchets… just like the character in his novel. As the mystery surrounding the killings spirals out of control, Neal investigates the crimes on his own, with fiction and reality blurring as fear and madness take hold.

PHENOMENA (1985) Blu-ray review

Phenomena (1985) d. Dario Argento (Italy) (116 min)

Perhaps the only “insect detective” movie out there on the shelves, featuring a very young Jennifer Connelly (released one year before Labyrinth) as the daughter of a famous American movie star sent away to study at an exclusive Swiss girl’s academy, whose students just happen to be falling victim to a homicidal killer. But as this is an Argento movie, things are hardly what they seem.

THUNDERCRACK! (1975) Blu-ray Review

Thundercrack! (1975) d. Curt McDowell (USA)

“Seeking shelter from a torrential downpour, a parade of hedonistic drifters, sexual deviants, circus animals, and grieving widows co-mingle at a lonesome farmhouse, sharing stories and bodily fluids until sunrise.” At first glance, what makes Thundercrack! different from your everyday, run-of-the-mill “stranded strangers assembled in a mysterious, out-of-the-way abode on a dark and stormy night” yarn is the fact that there are extensive scenes of hardcore sex liberally sprinkled throughout the proceedings. However, that is only the first of McDowell’s singular offering’s distinctions in the annals of horror – its 2.5 hour running time will put off your average genre (and/or porno) fan, not to mention its unmitigated weirdness and stark, shadowy black-and-white cinematography. But for the adventurous student of outsider cinema, this is a challenge worth accepting – I guarantee you have never seen anything like this before.

SAMURAI AVENGER: THE BLIND WOLF (2009) Blu-ray review

Samurai Avenger: The Blind Wolf (2009) d. Kurando Mitsutake (USA)

A mysterious blind Samurai-With-No-Name (producer/director/co-writer Mitsutake) ventures to a desert prison to greet Nathan Flesher (Domiziano Arcangeli) on the day of the criminal’s release. As the title might indicate, this is no social call: Flesher is the man who murdered his wife and daughter before his eyes before taking those as well. En route, the swordsman must do battle with no less than seven of Flesher’s deadly hired assassins, each more cunning and dangerous than the last. A drifter, appropriately named Drifter (Jeffrey James Lippold), accompanies him along the way, seeking personal revenge against Flesher as well. Friendship will be tested, skill and strength will wrestle, and arterial blood will spray.

LONG WEEKEND (1978) Blu-ray Review

Long Weekend (1978) d. Colin Eggleston (Australia)

“A bickering young couple’s weekend at an isolated beach resort turns into a nightmarish struggle between Man and Nature.” With that description, and considering the time-stamp and the genre, one might be forgiven for expecting another run-of-the-mill “When Animals Attack” flick, full of egregiously over-the-top warnings of how the human species has run its course as top of the food chain, thanks to centuries of ecological abuse and neglect. While American ex-pat screenwriter Everett de Roche (Patrick, Razorback) isn’t averse to hammering home the point on occasion through scenes of reckless use of weaponry and thoughtless littering, the casually caustic behavior seems somehow more authentic than, say, Frogs’ opening credits shots of beer cans floating in the Florida swamps. Rather than broadly drawn clichés, with our top-billed hero providing the requisite liberal voice of reason, Roche’s bipedal characters are fragile, careless, bullying, insecure, and genuinely confused as to how their choices led them here. In other words, human.

CURTAINS (1983) Blu-ray Review

Curtains (1983) d. Richard Ciupka / Peter Simpson (Canada)

This moderately entertaining Canadian slasher flick centers on tyrannical director Jonathan Stryker (John Vernon) as he auditions six female candidates for the lead role in his upcoming film project, Audra. However, Samantha Sherwood (Samantha Eggar), the aging starlet originally promised the part, has checked herself out of the mental institution where she was incarcerated to do “research,” arriving at Stryker’s secluded mountain cabin getaway to size up – and perhaps scythe up – the competition.

COUNTESS DRACULA (1971) Blu-ray Review

Countess Dracula (1971) d. Peter Sasdy (UK)

Despite the slightly misleading title (no actual bloodsuckers ever show up), there is one very good reason to check out Synapse’s latest DVD/BR release of Countess Dracula and her name is Ingrid Pitt. Though the previous year’s The Vampire Lovers will likely remain her greatest onscreen triumph within the eyes of the horror faithful, the buxom and charismatic Polish-born actress sinks her unfanged teeth into the role of the notorious real-life Erzebet Bathory (or Elisabeth Nadasdy, as she’s called here) with equal gusto.

HANDS OF THE RIPPER (1971) Blu-ray Review

Hands of the Ripper (1971) d. Sasdy, Peter (UK)

In the waning days of the Hammer heyday, the studio cranked up the flesh and the blood in an attempt to hold the attention of their horror fanbase. Even their Dracula and Frankenstein flagship franchises were losing their allure for audiences to a bevy of scrappy independent efforts who were willing to shed more blood and show more flesh. After enjoying success with their trio of sassy Karnstein bloodsuckfests (The Vampire Lovers, Lust for a Vampire, and Twins of Evil), they danced out a pair of Jack the Ripper-themed costume dramas in 1971: the gender-bending Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde and the (slightly) more grounded Hands of the Ripper, which posits that the offspring of Springheel Jack, traumatized by the sight of her mother skewered in front of her, will grow up to be a ticking time bomb primed to plunge sharp implements into tender flesh.

STREET TRASH (1987) Blu-ray Review

Street Trash (1987) d. Muro, Jim (USA)

In spite of its status as one of the great "melt movies" of our time, it's important to remember the title is not "Tenafly Viper" - the noxious brew that leads several unfortunate souls to their oozy doom - but Street Trash. It's at its heart a character piece, one that in no small way resembles Elmer Rice's Street Scene in its presentation of a memorable motley band within a subculture that usually occupies the periphery rather than center stage. That such shocking and reprehensible incidents of necrophilia, murder, rape, theft, assault, shoplifting, racial slurs and blatant misogyny are handled with such buoyancy and glee is the film's secret weapon, especially when presented with such artistic flair.

SEXCULA (1974) movie review

Sexcula (1974) (1st viewing) d. Holbrook, John (as Bob Hollowich) (Canada)

The Movie Fates are an odd bunch. Back in January of this year, my pal Jon Kitley (of Kitley’s Krypt infamy) loaned me his copy of They Came from Within: A History of Canadian Horror by Caelum Vatnsdal in order to conduct a little background research for the underrated Canuck slasher Curtains. But put a good horror reference book in my hands, and Vatnsdal’s is a quality one indeed, I’m going to read it cover to cover. In flipping through the many different terror titles from the Great White North, I was intrigued to find – amidst the frequent Cronenberg references – mention of a “lost” 1974 horror/porn flick called Sexcula which apparently had screened once and then vanished off the face of the earth. A rare maple syrup flick (made with government funds, no less) that combined vampiric chills and X-rated thrills? What wasn’t enticing about that? Unfortunately, that was pretty much where the story ended...

...until a couple months later when Synapse Films (under their Impulse label) announced that they would be releasing Sexcula to DVD. Ain’t instant gratification grand?

THE DEFINITIVE DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD (2012) movie review

On the audio commentary for this latest iteration of his groundbreaking behind-the-scenes Document of the Dead, filmmaker Roy Frumkes compares his film to Michael Apted’s Up series (7 Up, 14 Up, 21 Up, etc.) in that he feels that his life has somehow become intertwined with that of his doc’s subject, George A. Romero. While a pronounced exaggeration alongside with Apted’s landmark half-century-and-counting achievement, Frumkes’ point is that with each new version, he has to choose what archival footage to excise in order to make room for the new. Sadly, the truth is that this 2012 release (dubbed “The Definitive Document of the Dead”) shows only too clearly that – arguably like Romero’s work itself – the past is where the good stuff lies.

While teaching at the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1978, Frumkes was looking for a documentary subject and decided that, while there had been several behind-the-scenes films made for Hollywood studio efforts, there had not been many (if any) that covered the making-of an independent feature. Denied the ability to shoot in NY or California due to union rules, the instructor learned of Romero’s impending Dawn of the Dead shoot at the Monroeville Mall outside of Pittsburgh. Thanks to an already existing relationship with Dawn producer Richard Rubenstein, Frumkes was granted access to the set where he and a small crew (comprised mainly of SVA students) shot for several nights alongside Romero, Tom Savini, Ken Foree, et al., capturing delicious celluloid tidbits of a masterpiece in the making.