Black Rain (1989)

Director: Ridley Scott Starring: Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, Ken Kakakura, Yusake Matsuda, Kate Capshaw, Tomisaburo Wakayama. USA. 2h 5m

Michael Douglas travels to Japan with a deadly crazy Yakuza criminal, accidently releases him to his gang but then proceeds to school the Japanese Police department!? Only in the 80’s would this have worked and only Ridley Scott would have been able to make it work so well.

It can’t be ignored that the film feels half homage to at least 3 of the greatest names in Japanese Cinema, as the two cultures class, , Ken Kakakura, Yusake Matsuda, and the badass Tomisaburo Wakayama, who play both good and evil characters throughout the film. Ken is the attentive Asst. Insp. Matsumoto, who spends his time chasing around a fiesty Douglas and Garcia, partly babysitting them and taking a lot of flak from them. There is one beautiful drunken scene in a karaoke bar when the three men finally let their guards down and realise they are on the same side but cultural differences and career prospects are all that are keeping them on slightly different paths throughout this cat and mouse chase. The legend who was the Lone Wolf and Zatiochi respectively is just a highly respected gangster but his inclusion in this stylistic movie can’t go unnoticed, and most heartbreakingly this would be the final film of cult classic actor Yusake Matsuda, who knowingly went into the project with a serious cancer diagnosis, and in order to be ferocious for his role, refused to take any medication, shortening his chances of recovering even more.

(The Possession) of Nurse Sherri (1978)

AKA Black Voodoo, as well as Beyond the Living, Hospital of Terror, Killer’s Curse, and Hands of Death.

Director: Al Adamson
Starring: Jill Jacobson, Marilyn Joi, Geoffrey Land , Prentiss Moulden. USA. 1h 28m

Nurse Sheri is a dramatic possession horror/slasher from the height of the exploitation era it tantalises with sexual innuendos and buckets of psychedelic entity antics as Sheri tries to battle against a dark forces that were brought into the hospital by a dying cult member.

Al Adamsson uses a combination of grindhouse trashy murders with mediocre acting, a touch of eroticism and some animated graphics to highlight the story of a nurse who is accidently present when an occultist dies in her hospital and becomes a vessel for an otherworldly feind on a mission.

I Eat Your Skin (1964/1971)

(a.k.a. Zombies, Zombie Bloodbath and Voodoo Blood Bath)

Director: Del Tenny
Starring: William Joyce, Heather Hewitt, Betty HyattLinton, Dan Stapleton .USA. 1h 25m

There’s a kitchy comic wanderlust feeling about this movie which is what makes it so memorable, no matter how cheesy or racist it ends up, it’s from the mid 60’s it’s going to be questionable by todays standards but it had a great vibe, a goofball story and possibly the first suicide bomber zombie?

Written, Produced and Directed by Del Tenny in the mid 60’s there wasn’t much scope for getting the movie released until 1971 when it was unshelved and became a drive in legend with a similar named production called I Drink Your Blood (1970) and as off key freaky duo they work together however with the addition of savage natives, zombies and evil scientist neither are really all that scary. Tenny’s other swinging flicks include The Horror of Party Beach and The Curse of the Living Corpse both from 1964 and share all the psychobilly themes of any halloween tiki party.

Death Ship (1980)

Director: Alvin Rakoff
Starring: George Kennedy, RIchard Crenna, Nick Mancuso, Victoria Burgoyne. Canada. 1h 31m

Death Ship could easily be labelled as another prime example of how the horrors of World War II still plague the minds of modern man, with acts so cruel, barbaric and insane that the strong cinematic belief that this pinnacle of human shame has the power to infect and infest. Time and time again movies find the dark depraved experiments and human torture so hard to portray on screen that it’s analogiased as a demonic haunting, let’s face it, witnessing world War ii is like peering into vignettes of hell.

I wouldn’t want to say this was the blueprint for future ocean horrors but it so easy to see its effects in the tangled mess of Triangle (2009) and the palatable Ghost Ship (2002) the mechanics of this salty horror have more in common with Outpost (2008) and Christine (1983) and in my humble opinion Amityville (1979).

Blood Freak (1972)

Director: Brad F Grinter and Steve Hawkes
Starring . Steve Hawkes, Dana Cullivan, Randy Grinter, Heather Hughes. USA. 1h 26m

This film is often classed as one of the worst of the worst and while it’s cringey as hell I do to try and take a film serious, even if it’s about a bloodthirsty killer turkey man hybrid… At some point during horror history nearly every animal, creature insect and persona has had their own killer version so it had to be done at some point although unfortunately for the turkeys it’s just resulted in one giant Turkey of a movie. But playing Devil’s Advocate I would have to say that there is an interesting back story and concept of the film unfortunately it was just executed so badly, but I don’t hate it.

The movie opens with a biker helping out a woman on the highway it turns out the swimming is a god-fearing Christian who invites him back to her place where she shares with her sister unfortunately has sister it is one of the no smoking hippie chicks from the 70s and the tooth start fighting over this tall dark handsome biker obviously with any good horror film everybody makes the worst choices and he ends up with the druggy sister.

Belve Feroci (Savage Beasts) / The Wild Beasts (1984)

Director: Franco Prosperi.
Starring: Lorraine De Selle, Ugo Bologna, John Stacy, John Aldrich Stefania,Pinna Italy/Germany. 1h 32m.

A short while ago the Amazon delivery guy brought two films to my door, on a chilly winter morning, Wild Beasts and ROAR! I had hope for a double bill of amazing creature features and I got it.. I started the duo with this gem from the 80’s which like Roar (1981) involved the use of many large wild animals, undergoing a wild night in the city.

Half horror and half “let’s think about what we’re doing to the environment” movie, it’s scattered with gruesome animal attacks as well as highlighting ecological issues. But it’s just a normal day at the zoo when a beautiful photographer Laura Schwarz (De Selle) arrives to take some photos at the local zoo, she’s introduced to the various lives of a range of animals and procedures in the zoo, while the animals seem to be going about their normal day to day lives there are some concerns that they are “off their food”. Wrapping things up the photographer gets the cold shoulder from her young daughter who she rarely see’s day to day and is experiences abandonment issues. While the brilliant zoologist Ruper Berner ( Aldrich) retreats to his home for a shower..

My favourite scene – The Witch Who came from the Sea (1976) – Rock a bye baby

This lesser known video nasty from the mid 70’s has a small but dedicated cult following. The tagline of “Molly really knows how to cut men down to size” is a bit more descriptive of the film as Molly isn’t really a witch and doesn’t really come from the sea.

She does live and work along the seafront and gets a lot of shoddy tattoos by a scary weirdo, but after being sexually abused as a child by her grandfather she hates men and enjoys slicing and dicing them.

I spit on your grave (2010) (R)

Director: Steven R Monroe.
Starring. Sarah Butler, Jeff Branson, Rodney Eastman. USA. 1h 48m.

It’s not often I waltz into a remake but I thought I had better make an tiny effort for this one.. the film manages to stay true to the original but in all the wrong ways, heavily inspired by the cult classic banned movie from 1978 This remake of I spit on your grave managed to recreate a harrowing rape and revenge experience. Highlight rape culture and male dominance in society the film is a stark warning to the extent of the darker recesses of human culture.

A Bucket of Blood (1959)

Director: Roger Corman
Starring: Dick Miller, Barboura Morris, Antony Carbone. USA. 1h 6m

Despite being a comedy horror I adore so much about his simple yet thrilling horror. A naive and talentless artist finds success after a terrible accident and the rush of power and fame causes him to take his art to deadly new heights.

Much praise has to go to Dick Miller for playing the ead Walter Paisley, a slightly simple and clumsy busboy at a beatnik cafe who’s biggest desire is to be “in” with the hip(ster) scene. The most impressive of the cool cats is Maxwell the faultless poet and Walter would do anything to get his praise and that of the adorable Carla.

Dear God No (2011)

Day 5 of 31

Director/Writer/Producer: James Bickert
Starring: Jett Bryant, Madeline Brumby, Paul McComiskey. USA. 1h 21m.

I wasn’t prepared for this film.. so let me prepare you for this film. I chanced upon it in HMV in the horror section and looking like a cross between Baytown Outlaws, Pig Hunt and Devils Rejects.. but while it’s brilliant in it’s own rights it’s just not like any of these films.. it’s not like any other film… thankfully..

The Impalers are an outlaw motorcycle gang who are constantly on a full on GTA style rampage with a rival club Satan’s Own. And after riding through some nuns and fighting this gang the surviving members seek refuge in a secluded cabin deep in the mountains. The family who were having a small celebration in their cabin are soon preyed upon by the rebel biker gang but a mysterious girl who is locked in the basement holds secrets to a flesh eating monster lurking in the woods and a nazi mastermind behind all sorts of wrongness.

There is no safe haven, every level of wrongness is explored in a similar vein as to other modern comedy exploitation movies such as Hobo with a Shotgun (2011) similarly both films pay little attention to making the film look retro with a few grain lines that are soon disregarded, but unlike the original exploitation films this just rips everything apart in a parody so bad it’s good.