The producers of Italian genre cinema are often accused of stealing from successful movie trends from around the world, especially from America. Fulci hopped on the bandwagon started by Romero, Leone did the same thing with John Ford. And then there’s the late career work of Bruno Mattei who was just breathtaking in his thievery. Other films from this period of his career are talked about as (Name of a Film) crossed with (Name of a Different Film) because of the sheer audacity of their weird mish-mashing. Want to see Cannibal Holocaust (Lite) mixed with Predator? In the Land of the Cannibals (2003) is for you. But if you want to see something that stays mostly inside the horror genre for the mixtape it crafts, Island of the Living Dead is the one.
The Hunger
Alma Katsu will be appearing at St. Louis County Library on Monday, March 16 at 7 pm to discuss her newest book, The Deep. 1640 S. Lindberg Blvd, St. Louis MO, 63131
Schlock-O-Rama: The Films of Al Adamson
I’d bought this book years ago and somehow managed to never get around to actually reading it. I had a cursory knowledge of Adamson’s work, having seen Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971) and Satan’s Sadists (1969), but that was really about it. I decided some months back that thanks to their stellar track record of running exactly parallel to my tastes that in general I would give Severin Films the benefit of the doubt on any release that they chose. The fact that company owner David Gregory has decided to not only make a documentary about Adamson, but that Severin also recently announced a mega box set release of 30 Adamson films AND the documentary, I decided that now was the time to pull this slim volume off the shelf and give it a go.
The Reddening
Okay, so, just to make it clear- this is an unpleasant book. I mean that in a good way, but holy shit. And it’s not an unendingly unpleasant book, nor is the unpleasantness anything but what you’d expect of masterfully written horror, but at the risk of being considered a repetitive, hack writer…. holy shit. Purposefully and at specific and calculated times, this is an unpleasant book.
HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP
I know it came after this film, but when I watch Humanoids From the Deep, something always catches in the back of my mind, and I finally figured it out this time: this film is Redneck C.H.U.D. So imagine the premise of C.H.U.D. but instead of urban homeless victims, we get rural fishermen, and instead of sewer mutants, we get somewhat Lovecraftian river mutants. And some Billy Jack-esque themes. And a lot of T&A
OVERLORD
Nazis were bad. Like really bad. There is nothing in the whole of human history that you could have been that was worse than a Nazi. If you had to choose between a Nazi and a serial killer to be on your bowling team, you’d pick the serial killer.
INFOGOTHIC: An Unauthorized Graphic Guide to Hammer Horror
A review by Aaron AuBuchon Alistair Hughes Telos Publishing Ltd. 2018 “I’ve already read some books on Hammer horror films,” I can hear you thinking. (That’s right, I can hear you thinking.) “This book is like 96 pages long and costs 27 bucks. No way I’m learning anything new with that.”Oh, internet stranger, how wrong... Continue Reading →
ABSENTIA
A Review By Aaron AuBuchon Amazon Prime Video, 2011 When we look back on the 2010’s and the genre films it produced, one thing that will be pretty obvious is how successful genre filmmakers became at blending the horrors of fiction and fantasy with the horrors of the real world, the living horrors that people... Continue Reading →
Blood Lake
Watching Blood Lake is a curious thing because I grew up with the people in it. I mean, not the exact people, but their species.
Bag Boy Lover Boy
A review by Aaron AuBuchon Severin Blu-Ray, 2014 If Melvin the Mop Boy from The Toxic Avenger (1984) was born of a vague Eastern European stock and was cast in a low-rent knockoff of Taxi Driver, you’d come close to being able to describe Bag Boy Lover Boy. However, it transcends that description while also... Continue Reading →