Amish? No, Mennonite!

I watched Steve Miner's WARLOCK from 1989 last night for the first time in at least 15 years. Actually, I don't think I've watched it since sometime in the mid 90s. Back then it was on a fullscreen video tape and last night it was... also on a fullscreen video tape. Haha. As far as I know the only letterboxed version is the UK DVD. Anyhoo, I watched the film and liked it much better this time around! I think the "problem" back in the old day was that everything that wasn't gory was scourned upon. Well, at least by hardcore splatter movie fans like myself. Joachim Andersson mentioned something similar to me a few days ago and he's right. Often we didn't like films if they lacked in the fake blood and dismembered latex limbs department!

Well, I still love me a good gallon of the red gooey substance but I'm happy to say I can also appreciate a good well-acted story! And WARLOCK is definitely really good and I'm gonna order the DVD! And just HOW OFTEN do you get to hear the line, "Over my rotting corpse!" NOT OFTEN ENOUGH!! But you hear it in WARLOCK. There were some sequels of which I've only seen one and hated it. I should probably give it another chance. The main character is played by Richard E. Grant who was also in the English cult flick WITHNAIL AND I which I've watched many many times over the past twenty years. Lori Singer is his female sidekick and I remember her from the forgotten (but cool) TV series "Fame" (I taped them all on Betamax, haha). Highly recommended.

Friday the 13th

Needless to say Friday the 13th is a religious holiday to horror movie fans and much like at Halloween horror movie watching is mandatory. Last night I watched MY BLOODY VALENTINE (1981) which, incidentally, is set on Saturday the 14th. ^_^

Thou shalt not... break the Motion Picture Production Code

(click scan for full size)

Check this truly awesome still that was printed in an issue of LIFE MAGAZINE sometime in the late 1930s as a response to the film censorship regulations in the USA called the Motion Picture Production Code aka the Hays Production Code which came into effect in 1934 and lasted until 1968. Like the Comics Code it was created to ensure that films didn't have a negative or demoralising effect on its viewer.

In the still are listed the basic "Don'ts" described in the code - and if you check the picture every one of them is broken! I would looove this as a poster. I've seen one on an auction site (thanks for the link, Jay) but it was sold in 2008 and I haven't been able to find any others.

John Waters and a fag

John Waters is the coolest person alive.

No severed arm for you! Now go to your room!

Am I the last person in the world who's gonna get CODE RED's new double DVD release of THE SEVERED ARM / SO SAD ABOUT GLORIA (aka Visions of Evil)?? Hmm, maybe. I've ordered it, I've paid for it, and I'm hoping to receive it soon. The DVD was released recently and pulled back almost immediately. The reason? The cover promises an uncut release. Unfortunately, what the good people at Code Red didn't know is that the British print they used was indeed a cut print!

Apparently, not cut for violence mind you (all the gore is reportedly still in the film) but dialogue etc. is cut simply to make the film shorter (???). Code Red pulled the DVD off their website and have announced they're gonna chuck out their remaining stock - and they won't be re-releasing an uncut version.

I must admit I'm puzzled over this decision not least as it means you won't be able to get hold of the other film on the disc, SO SAD ABOUT GLORIA (but who knows, maybe they'll re-release that one later). (and check BLEEDING SKULL's review here)

If I were head of Code Red I would simply choose to sell the DVD as a direct sell only release with an info note on the website about the print's cut status. Members at DVDMANIACS who have already received the disc say the print looks great. SEVERED ARM has only been released once in its uncut form, on VHS in the US from Video Gems in 1981.

I got the video scans from BE KIND, REWIND where you can read more about the VHS release.

PS: if you need to see the Maria Kanelli cover in a much bigger size to, uh, read the text then click a couple time and you'll get it in mega size.

A maid, a chainsaw, zombies...

I've just watched this awesome stop-motion short film, CHAINSAW MAID, and what can I say other than it's more fun than an open casket funeral! It's really good!! (and since everyone suffers from short term attention span on the internet I should point out the whole film only runs 6 minutes so you won't have to waste your whole afternoon on it. LOL).

And turn up the sound when you watch it, the music is fucking great too!

Thanks to Mette Trier for making me aware of the film.

Worthy of its own fan club

Somebody should launch a fan club only to worship this single one SCREAMIN' JAY HAWKINS tv clip!!! The SOUND, the SKULL, the SMOKE, the VOICE, the LYRICS, the HAND (!!!), THE INSANITY. Man, they oughtta force kids in schools to watch this!!!

New horror movies (post 2000)

About a year ago I copied two lists of films from DVDMANIACS forum. The original forum threads were similar in that members were posting horror movies that they really like and that are new. "New" meaning films made after 2000. I'm never up-to-date cos I spend my time watching so many old films, worldweird films, films that are simply not horror, AND WHAT HAVE YOU! But we're in 2012 so it's time to try and catch up!! Haha. So without much checking for quality I'm simply gonna try and get hold of these movies in the coming months. Like I said, I'm not gonna read up on any of them so I'm bound to post about flicks that you think are the worst crap ever. But, hey, I wanna make up my own mind about this stuff.

Out of the four films I ordered this morning I paid LESS than a pound for 3 of them (each). Yes, they're second hand but I tried to get copies that had specific descriptions describing them as being in a close to mint condition. Sometimes you're lucky and sometimes the seller in question sends you shite. That's the name of the game when you buy used stuff.

The old list of "new" horror movies is here. If you know of new good horror films I ought to check out feel free to make a suggestion in the comments section. Cheers.

I see a darkness

Here's a pretty cool fan video for JOHNNY CASH's cover version of "I see a Darkness".

The Supernaturals (USA, 1986)

I received THE SUPERNATURALS on video from the US yesterday. I didn't empty the mailbox till very late and I was pretty tired but since I hadn't had anything to eat I thought I'd grab a bite and watch the beginning of the movie before turning in. I didn't know anything about the film other than I'd seen the cool Greek video cover and knew it was a low-budget zombie film and that it wasn't released on DVD. That alone spurred my interest enough to make a bid on the Greek tape, and when I stumbled over the NTSC tape on eBay I thought what the hell, the US tape might very well have a better picture quality. Greek tapes can look fine but often they equal watching a television programme from an outskirt TV station while someone on the roof is holding the aerial trying to pick up the weak signal. From foggy to more foggy. I still don't know what my Greek tape looks like as it's still located at the Church Moors in Finland but the US tape looks pretty good. Sharp picture and the tape has only minor traces of being worn.

Incisive plot description:
The film starts off during the civil war in the United States in the 1860s. It's towards the end of the war and a group of soldiers from the North have caught a bunch of soldiers from the south. They force them to walk over a mine field. Some stuff happen. And then we switch to the present (well, the present of the 1980s anyway) and a group of recruits arrive to the very same forest where the beginning took place a hundred years earlier. And then... cut to the chase... they're attacked by civil war zombies!

I thought THE SUPERNATURALS was great and I was entertained all the way thru. As I said at least enough entertained to finish it altho I was really tired and only planned on watching 10 minutes before going to bed! It's low-budget but it's well filmed and the actors are good. The dialogue wasn't corny (altho there's nothing wrong with corny dialogue of course). There's at least one STAR TREK actor in there and a brief cameo from one of the Gibb brothers (apparently. I don't know shit about that band but that's what I read anyway). The zombies look great. Not like your regular George A. Romero or Lucio Fulci zombies but more like skeleton zombies. There's no gore or nudity but I can live with that.

For some reason the film belongs in that big pile of films that have never been granted a DVD release and that's a pity. This film deserves to be seen again by a broader audience. If you can stand watching films on YouTube someone has uploaded the entire film there.

EDIT: Fred Anderson of Ninja Dixon informed me that there is actually an English friendly, uncut German DVD release! I'll post the cover at the bottom of this post.

I copied the American VHS cover from VHS WASTELAND which is a great site where they upload video covers in hi-res. My own cover looks better as theirs isn't in the best of conditions. The Greek cover is the exact one I bought from Member-X's eBay listing. I think the Greek front cover is the by far cooler one.


I couldn't find a trailer so here's the clip from the Greek tape that Member-X posted with the auction:

Thanks to Fred for the info and German DVD cover. Fred reviewed the film over on his NINJA DIXON blog. Man, he even mentioned the film director's name! >_<