Med hagla i handa og hora i panna! Awesome! This is a new Norwegian splatter movie entitled HORA [whore] which is being released on DVD from Another World Entertainment in February of next year. I have no idea whether the movie is any good or not (feel free to send me a review copy, boys! xD) but the Scandinavian output of gore flicks is so small (read: non-existent) that just the fact that someone decides to make something like this makes it worthwhile.
According to AWE's website the film won the main prize at some film festival in Holland called But earlier this year. Also according to their website this is going to be a Norway only release (!!) I wrote to AWE and asked them about a possible release in Denmark or if fans would be able to order the Norwegian DVD from AWE or Absurd-online (kinda AWE shop) but now three weeks later I still haven't received an answer.
Anyhoo, in a thread on the Norwegian horror movie message board Skrekkfilm.com the director of HORA, Reinert Kiil uttered the line quoted in the headline that basically says he believes the film to be the nastiest film in Scandinavian film history. Let's wait and see if it can live up to that but it certainly sounds good!
Here's a teaser trailer:
I'd also just like to say hello to my latest follower; Raquel Crusoé from Brazil. Miss Crusoé is a famous pianist and I had a look at her blog and, eh, I have no idea what interest she would have in my crappy blog about messed up pop-culture. I thought of the possibility that someone else might have added her profile but I believe you can only do that yourself. Oh well, welcome Raquel in any case.
More psychotronic Christmas movies. This is René Cardona'sSANTA CLAUS from Mexico in which Santa fights the Devil! Cardona also directed a whole bunch of El Santo and Blue Demon movies, and also LA MUJER MURCIÉLAGO aka The Batwoman which I've mentioned here before. AWE really ought to have released this one this year instead of just re-releasing SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS! Oh well, maybe next year (it's available on reg. 1 DVD though). xD
It's almost Christmas! We don't celebrate it here as Christmas is banned in Denmark (we don't even have December but 60 days of November, I'm not kidding!) but even so, merry Xmas to all you cretins out there where ever you may be. Even those of you in Norway. xD
...I'd fuck Johnnie To! As a thank you for making all those brilliant, brilliant movies! Here's his latest one, or one of them anyway (he's putting them out faster than... something really fast). This cat's making TWO films a year while Hollywood directors put out 2-3 films per decade!! And that's not even counting the films he only produces!
Anyway, his new one is VENGEANCE and it's already out on DVD in Hong Kong. Needless to say he's got everyone's favourite loonatic actors Anthony Wong and Simon Yam in it and thank fuck for that! It also stars some French guy called Johnny Hallyday but Hongkong people like me don't know about these gwilo guys. I read somewhere he's a famous rock singer in France. Btw, interestingly enough, someone from Singapore mentioned in his IMDb review that he was happy the film was filmed in a mix of Cantonese and English. It seems films fully in Cantonese can't be shown undubbed (into Mandarin) in Singapore due to Singapore's censorship regulations. Wauw! Talk about censorship.
NB: The headline quotation is of course from TRUE ROMANCE but you knew that didn't you.
Ahh, I've lost this one in auctions a few times but tonight was my night! Yes, I'm now the happy owner of the dark and gory over-the-top (and cheesy) Hong Kong horror movie THE DEVIL from 1981, originally entitled XIE MO. The tape is English dubbed and letterboxed.
There's also a US VHS release but reportedly that version has the sound out of sync (and is probably fullscreen, altho I don't know that for sure). If you don't wanna wait for another rare Japanese VHS version to turn up on eBay I'll strongly advise you do not buy the US DVD release from Videoasia. Videoasia is a scam company that doesn't care one bit about their "releases" (and I use the term loosely, their releases are bootlegs anyway!). Their DVDs are sourced from video tapes, often really bad quality video tapes, and sometimes the sound is just fucked up beyond comprehension. My Greek VHS release of THE DOG (aka Vengeance Called a Dog) is far superior to their DVD. Imagine that, a Greek tape that's better than a DVD!
I remember one of their DVDs which I bought for a friend had both the Cantonese and Mandarin audio tracks joint together in one!! How the bloody hell are you supposed to enjoy a film with two simultaneous audio tracks running at the same time!!! Their covers are an atrocity too and by the way needless to say they used a wrong title for THE DEVIL on the DVD box and called it Devil's Express (which is a completely different film!). Hahaha. Oh mein gott, the atrocities I see, the horror, the... (rambling again). Get a boot from FarEastFlix instead.
Cover scans of the US VHS:
Usually I don't care much for reviews on the bloody IMDb but there were actually a couple fun ones that I'll blatantly steal and post here:
By Woodyanders from The Last New Jersey Drive-In on the Left An evil, ugly, rot-faced witch casts spells on her victims that turn their insides into bugs and snakes. Meanwhile, a smooth con man named Chao marries into a well-to-do family so he can steal their money. Director Jen Chieh Chang, working from a muddled script by Luk Pak Sang, relates the ridiculously convoluted story at a plodding pace and fails to maintain a steady and even tone (the picture fluctuates wildly from being light and silly one moment to more grim and horrific the next moment!).
Yet despite these flaws, this movie remains strangely compelling thanks to its genuinely oddball plot and offbeat "anything can happen" unpredictable atmosphere. The film really kicks to life with a series of memorably vile and revolting in-your-face graphic and unflinching splatter set pieces: a luckless lady has her face smashed in with a rock at the start of the flick, a man has his stomach cut open so various writing insects can be removed from his abdomen, a possessed guy gets burned at the stake, and a few folks vomit forth plenty of slithery snakes and grody bugs.
Li Shih Chieh's acceptable cinematography, the laughably lousy dubbing, Wang Mao Shan's shivery ooga booga score, and an obnoxiously hearty little boy named Ding Dong further add to the endearingly schlocky charm of this totally disjointed, but still peculiarly entertaining junk.
by Zerozed First off, let me say that "The Devil" is the feel good movie of the year! It's a roller-coaster ride of thrills and chills! It's a triumph of Chinese Cinema!
After watching this film, I can honestly say it is probably the finest example of Hong Kong gore. I suspect there's actually no plot to this thing--not that it matters. If you like to see one gratuitous scene after another of people vomiting snakes, worms and maggots, then this film is for you! Oh, there's plenty of erupting boils as well. And a rather fey Chinese boy dressed like the long-lost miniature Asian member of the Village People. His name is (and I'm not making this up) "Ding Dong." Mere words just cannot do this masterpiece justice.
Sell all your worldly possessions and go see this film NOW!!!!!
Lastly, and completely unrelated to THE DEVIL; I scored this tape the other day: THE LAST MATCH directed by Fabrizio De Angelis. I wasn't gonna buy it but I'm sure it'll please Paul Cooke endlessly that I went for it after having read his (or is it David Zuzelo's) review in their book Tough to Kill (why isn't the reviewer listed for each film?). Now, this better deliver the goods, mate! :D
A must see, this is perhaps the ultimate ending to the entire Tough To Kill saga, because no action film made after it in Italy would be nearly as bizarre.
I've posted a French trailer for Bruno Mattei's (highly entertaining!) PREDATOR rip-off ROBOWAR before but this Japanese one is much better. Check it out!
Wauw, I'm certainly looking forward to this! I don't quite understand why they're referring to the genre as "Eurocrime" when the docu is obviously only about the Italian polizisco (police) films but, hey, I can live with that. A couple of the actors have aged beyond recognition but someone like Fred Williamson is, well, very recognisable! :D Incidentally I watched Umberto Lenzi'sNAPOLI VIOLENTA (aka Violent Naples/Helvedes forgård) the other night. Great stuff indeed!!
Not everything I buy film wise is on old deleted VHS. No, really, I mean it! (haha). Here's two DVDs filled with Bollywood horror movies that I ordered the day before yesterday; First up is Do Gaz Zameen ke Neeche (trans: Two Yards Underground) directed by that crazy Ramsay family. This is their first horror movie, it's from 1972, and actually I've had it for quite some time, however my old version is an un-subtitled video-cd from India. I'm excited about this new DVD as, yes my hairy friends, it does feature English subtitles. Yay. Spiffy!
Omar Khan (who directed the Mondo Macabro produced HELL'S GROUND) reviewed the film (my headline is from his review) and amongst other things he said:
This early 70’s effort by the Ramsay family is considered to be a major breakthrough in South Asian horror. Not only did it score a huge Box office bulls eye but it also paved the way for a new wave of horror that veered away from the genteel white sari-clad ghostly figures of yesteryear to the more gory, blood curdling post-Hammer style that was to become the hallmark of local terror in times to come. The Ramsay's had long been ardent fans of the macabre and especially of the films turned out by the Hammer Studio’s in England. It doesn’t take too long watching a Ramsay film to begin to realize just how much of an influence the Hammer style has been on them.
Read his full review here. Being the moron that I am I have never read any of his Bollywood or Lollywood reviews before altho I've known about his and his brother's overly über spiffy site for quite a while. I'm certainly gonna make a change of that! His review is very funny and informative. He's a good writer... and he and his bro owns an ice cream parlor that is all about horror flicks! How cool is that. You can check out their site here. And do read their background story, it's a fascinating read. I wish more people knew about this.
- And my other new Bollywood horror DVD contains no less than three films; 7 SAAL BAAD, SHAITANI DRACULA, CHEEKH INDIAN (unfortunately all unsubbed):
