The Stranger (1946)

Not to be mistaken for that shitty movie with Liv Tyler The Strangers or for that matter the countless other titles of the same name. Nope this is Orson (Citizen Kane) Welles Film Noir all the way through.

Orson Welles plays professor Charles Rankin a man with an abnormal obsession with clocks. His beautiful wife played by Loretta Young is brought in by Mr. Willson, an investigator for War Crimes. Mr. Willson believes Charles Rankin to be a Nazi who goes by the name of Kindler who was responsible for mass genocide and horrible atrocities in Nazi Germany. If Charles Rankin is in fact Kindler many lives will be endangered to keep his identity secret.

Orson Welles does an excellent job in direction and in acting as usual. As the character of Charles Rankin who is clearly genius and insane at the same time gives off emotion of paranoia and hatred at the same time. The cinematography is excellent as always. Camera angels, shadows and even the pace all play a big part in The Stranger.

While The Stranger may not be the masterpiece that Citizen Kane was or show off the genius eye of Orson Welles to his fullest as could been seen in movies like Touch Of Evil it is still a fun watch for anybody who enjoys film as art.

While The Stranger is a very talky movie it all comes together with a heart pounding climax. That will keep you at the edge of your seat. We have some 1940's style shoot outs, a man falls from a church tower and we have a very memorable stabbing that has to be seen. Its almost hard to believe that somebody had the balls to shoot this death scene in the 40's. Especially from somebody with a huge name like Orson Welles.

The Stranger can only really be recommended to Film Noir buffs and fans of Welles. Alfred Hitchcock fans are also sure to enjoy this movie. So check it out if you are in the mood for something with a bit of class.

Falling Down (1993)

Falling Down although a Hollywood flick from the 90's that is still watchable for fans of exploitation films or at least if you grew up with it. It is over the top and while a bit morbid but not overly violent it still manages to hold a certain sense of humor that will stick with the audience long after viewing. It is also one of the few movies that will play on television occasionally that I don't mind watching.

Michael Douglas plays a disgruntled business man who is about to go over the deep end. He has lost his job, lost his wife and he is ready to lash out on society. While he is clearly insane the viewer can't help but identify with his psychotic philosophy and ideals.

I have never been a fan of Michael Douglas and this is probably his only movie that I can sit through. However his performance in Falling Down is entertaining. You can't help but to enjoy watching a man in a suit and tie going on a rampage with a baseballbatt, butterfly knives, automatic guns, and a fucking rocket launcher.

Robert Duvall (Apocalypse Now) plays a police officer who is due to retire the day that the man in the white shirt and tie goes on his violent rampage against society. Duvall is always one step behind the man with the tie as he smashes up a Vietnamese deli, kicks the shit out of gang-bangers, shoots up fast food restaurant, kills Nazi-scum and initially goes after his ex wife and daughter. All of these scenes are high in entertainment and at the same time hold a certain social commentary that I think many Americans can identify with.

If you haven't seen Falling Down you probably grew up under a rock or something. It makes for a good movie to watch with drunken friends. Its chock full of memorable quotes for everyone to yell at the screen while you chug-a-lug of your favorite alcoholic beverage. "No... I'm an American, You're a sick asshole!"

The Arousers (1973)

Originally released as Sweet Kill and then later as The Arousers with some added footage of nudity that doesn't really match up or make any sense. This thing has got to be the most awkwardly silent movie ever made. With little to no soundtrack and for that matter little to nothing going on The Arousers makes for a good sleeper.

The bare breasted women is the extent of your viewing pleasure here. 50's "Sex icon" Tab Hunter plays a sexually frustrated gym teacher with a really bad temper. He enjoys peeping in the windows of naked bathing beauties and picking up chicks. Once he gets the girls into the sack he is forced to kill them because he is impotent and he can't ruin his good rep. by letting the girls know that he is not a shower or a grower now can he?
Aside from his penile dysfunction Tab Hunter also has some mommy issues going on in this one. Well I would assume he has some mother issues anyway due to his weird and unexplained flashbacks. His back story is never explained nor is his mother complex. All we know is that his mother walked around in the nude and dropped her earrings. I do not know if this earring business was as traumatic to our golden blond killer as the film makes it seem but it just might be the problem in our heart throbs pants.

Angus Scrimm from the Phantasm movies also shows up but doesn't add any charm to the movie. I could recommend countless impotent, prevy, slashers from this era but unfortunately The Arousers is not one of them. Skip it and check out Forced Entry (1975) with Tonya Roberts instead.

Side note : The director of The Arousers went on to do a bunch of shitty Hollywood movies like 8 Mile and such but he was also responsible for personal guilty pleasure of mine called Evil Town which sports more gratuitous nudity.

The Fly (1958)

This classic monster movie from the 50's might not be the craziest in the genre but it stands on its own and differs from most. First off it was shot in color and deals more in back story and plot then the average monster romp would prefer to. Sure we get to see our half man half Fly monster but this one takes its sweet time and plays more like a mystery then an all out bug-man spectacle.

Another strange thing is that horror master Vincent Price appears in the film but not as the main character or the monster but instead as a supporting actor. Of course he would come back for the sequel Return Of The Fly in 1959 but this time around he just helps the story unravel.

While The Fly has a decent pace the order of events are more like something you would see in a Quentin Tarantino movie rather then a 50's monster flick. All of the good stuff is shown through flashbacks and we come to our shocking and downbeat climax rather abruptly.

Personally preferring the cheaper black and white Return Of The Fly over the original for the soul reason of more all out monster mayhem and more cheesy gags. The original is by far a more serious film. Or at least as serious as you can take a movie about a man with a flies head.

It tells of a scientist named Andre and his wife  who is forced to kill him after an experiment goes horribly wrong. Andre is "playing god" with his new invention of a teleporting machine. He runs a series of tests some of which being successful and others not so much. For example the family cat becomes lost in space when put into Andre's new machine. However things get really bad when Andre experiments on himself. He successfully telaports himself from one end of the room to the other but a fly must have gotten into the machine with him and the atoms of man and insect are combined giving us a silly monster flick. Thank you!

David Cronenberg would go on to remake The Fly in 1986 and it would become a huge success all over again. Cronenberg would take the classic monster movie in a complete different direction with new top of the line special effects and some very disturbing imagery.

While most would argue, I personally would prefer to watch the original trilogy over the Cronenberg remake and follow ups in the 80's. Check it out for scientists in executioner masks, a historical close up shot on a screaming woman, and an amazing final scene that has to be seen to be believed. "Help me!"

Punk In London (1977)

One of my favorite documentaries on British punk rock culture in the 70's. Director Wolfgang Buld would go on to do a pretty bad follow up to in 1980 called Punk In England which was a big fucking let down. This film on the other hand captures a young, snotty generation and the raw music that they release.

We get some early footage from The Clash in Germany. The live show is amazing of course as is all of their early footage. The band also gives an extra snotty interview where they bad mouth Germany and throw forks around at each other.  The Adverts play One Hit Wonder with extreme energy and we also have performances from X-Ray Spex, Chelsea, KillJoy and many others. The Jam give us two songs one of which being In The City and the crowd really goes bonkers for that one but for me the best moments in this flick are the interviews. The singer for The Lurkers gives a cool interview with his mum & pop sitting next to him as they watch The Boom Town Rats play on the T.V. The Stranglers give an exceptionally rude interview and basically tell the director to fuck off because he is German but the very best and most entertaining interviews come from the Rockabilly Teddy Boys who all despise the punk rockers. They discuss how the punks don't look like men and don't look like women. The Ted's view them as "an alien life form" and don't mind beating them up whenever they cross paths.

Fans of Punk In London should also be sure to check out U.K.D.K. and OI! The Movie.

The Reincarnation of Isabel (1973)

The Reincarnation Of Isabel is an Italian slice of Eurotrash that combines art and sleaze quite gracefully. It is also recognized under titles such as Black Magic Rites & the Secret Orgies of the 14th Century and The Ghastly Orgies Of Count Dracula. These alternate titles should give you an inkling that it will be quite a trashy ride.

What The Reincarnation Of Isabel has to offer is lots and lots of naked euro-babes. Sometimes they are being burned at the steak, sometimes they are being sacrificed to Isabel. Sometimes they are being tortured and other times they are just making love. Still we get tons of bare breasted girls as our source of entertainment.

Throw in some weird hippie-dellic moments and lighting that is oddly reminiscent of a Coffin Joe movie with a dream-like pace that could give Jesus Franco a hard-on and you end up with the bizarre concoction of witchery, eroticism, vampires, torture and of course high art. What we do not get is a coherent plot, good acting, or any sort of attention in the continuity department. Scenes change from night to day with out embarrassment and the story is all over the place with no real relevance on time order.

The basic gist is that a group of satanists are cutting out the hearts of young nubile women as sacrifice to Isabel. A witch who was burned at the stake centuries ago. Isabel's lover played by Mickey Hargitay (Bloody Pit Of Horror) places a curse on the village and swears his revenge. Then we have some vampirism going on and things start to get really confusing but when it is all said and done we are treated to a creepy scene involving a woman being buried alive, hearts are ripped from the chest of bear breasted babes, stabbings, really bad makeup, silly satanists in red spandex outfits, bad fire effects and lots of blood drinking. Of course the main attraction here is the nudity and although this film is Italian I would think the best audience for this movie would be fans of Jesus Franco's work.

It can be slow going at times but its weird enough and naked enough for me to give it my seal of approval.

Kilink : Strip And Kill (1967)

Yes Kilink is back and ready to kill! This is the third Kilink film in the series and takes place where Kilink VS The Flying Man leaves off. These are the only two Kilink films I have seen to date and I am becoming a bit obsessed. I await the day I see the first film Kilink In Istanbul because Strip And Kill seems to have forgot the flying man.

Instead Kilink takes us on an all new adventure. He battles two rival gangs and the police at the same time who are all on the same quest for the "Microfilm" which contains photographs of some top secret Turkish military shit. I guess its worth a lot of money or something...

While Kilink is his normal bad-ass self. He seems to do some acts of good this time around which annoyed me a little bit but it is easily made up for when Kilink gets into gun fights with the police and beats on half naked women. After all the title is Strip And Kill!!!

Yet again Mr. Kilink gets all the babes. He uses and abuses them and they sure seem to love to make out with a dude in a spandex skeleton suit. "The king of murder" throws some smooth talking around and gives a bit of loving before he kills these bitches.

Oddly enough Kilink : Strip And Kill is much more coherent then The Flying Man. All of the footage seems to be intact and if anything this one seems to run a bit on the long side. The chaos is still there but definitely numbed down. The story while being very repetitive at least makes sense. On the down side of things the violence is also a bit tame this time around and for this reason I found myself missing the choppiness of the film before it.

Since all of these movies seem to end with a cliff hanger, I think it is safe to say that Kilink finds himself in a bit of trouble and in the hands of the pigs in the films climax. I believe the next film in the series goes by the title of Kilink : Master Criminal which seems to be much harder to find. With any luck I will snatch that one up some day and see you for another review. These movies are fucking bonkers.

A Serbian Film (2010)

Every couple of years or so there is a new movie out that is high in trend for senior horror aficionados and new-comer lame-brains alike to waste Internet space and conversation on. For instance when Teeth first came around, highschool kids were venturing out to the nearest city that was cool enough to screen the movie. The same thing happened with The Human Centipede. The thing that is so odd is that these people who talk about the new trendy horror piece are the same people who thought I was weird for liking movies like Blood Feast when I was in highschool.

With that said, little of these movies are worth the hype that they miraculously received. I view them as just another exploitation movie. Perhaps since we live in an age where exploitation-art is dead for the most part that when something new and slightly shocking comes around people feel the need to voice their own uneducated and useless opinions.

There are many films that had a huge impact on me over the years. Many in the horror genre and many not. For instance Cannibal Holocaust was a bit traumatic to me when I was thirteen years old. Later on Nekromantik. I was at the point where I believed I had seen it all and nothing new could come around that would take my breath away. Well I was wrong... Here is A Serbian Film.

This highly controversial flick follows a washed up pornstar in Serbia. He is bribed into doing a new porno movie with a very large sum of money. Little did he know that he would be shooting a snuff movie that focuses on pedophilia.

The subject mater alone is touchy enough to turn the average movie goer off. Throw in the fact that we will be seeing these horrible acts against children in detail and it is enough to turn anyones stomach. A Serbian Film takes violence to a different level but not so much in the graphic department. It is the substance of the plot that gets deep inside the viewer and forces us to feel extreme discomfort. This coming from a jaded cine-maniac like yours truly who enjoys works of art in the macabre.

A Serbian Film will take you on a roller coaster of emotion, torturing you the whole way through. It will leave you speechless and perhaps dizzy. If you ventured into the depraved depths of cinema like Philosophy Of A Knife and made it through this is the movie for you.

This movie is currently a victim of censorship and will probably remain banned in its entirety in America and most of Europe for years to come. Personally being against censorship I can't help but wonder what kind of impact this film would have on society if it was seen at large. The human race being the birth defect that it is would probably misinterpret the film all together. All the self righteous moralists would condemn it and call it smut while the rest of the degenerates would probably masturbate to the sick and twisted baby fucking scenes. Those of us with a brain in our heads could appreciate this nihilistic piece of art for what it is. A statement on a sick decaying world that can't understand the difference between right and wrong, Art and shit, life and death. Some of us are born dead... or at least better off.

Watch it and think for yourself but be warned it won't be an easy sit. Depression is likely to follow.

Exorcismo (1975)

Paul Nashy is best known for his monster flicks or the Waldemar Daninsky series specifically but the man has 100 titles to his name. This obviously being an Exorcist rip-off.

The Exorcist has been ripped countless times in American and European countries alike. Personally preferring the Eurotrash takes on the 73 classic (Eerie Midnight Horror Show) I have to admit I was a bit let down by this Spanish version.

Exorcismo blends elements of a Gialo with the oh so familiar possession tale. We have scenes that reenact (more graphically) the head being spun by 180 degrees. We also get a fair share of breasts and bush from our possessed actress who takes part in satanic rituals. Paul Nashy on the other hand plays the priest who will act out the exorcism against our demonic antagonist who happens to be a close friend of the family to Nashy.

Exorcismo suffers from long drawn out talky scenes that will lead to great boredom and drooling. Unfortunately the tits and ass isn't quite enough to save this thing from being nothing more then wasted space on the dvd shelf.

Exorcismo isn't shocking enough in the exploitation department to hold attention and it is nowhere near as creepy as the real Exorcist. The fact that our possessed girl looks like she is 30 years old takes a lot away from the film too. On the other hand the makeup does look pretty good and the exorcism is amusing to say the least. Wait until you see the reenactment of the spider-walk... Its a hoot!

I really wouldn't recommend this movie to Nashy fans. Its a let down all around. Stick with Nashy's monster epics or at least a trashier Euro version of the Exorcist.

Brides Of Blood (1968)

Brides Of Blood is the first in the Filipino "Blood Island Trilogy". The trilogy is as outrageous and weird as the hype around it and this film is perhaps my favorite in the series.

Our hero played by John Ashley is stranded on a distant island along with a scientist and his nymphomaniac, blond, bimbo, wife (played by Beverly Powers or in this case "Beverly Hills". John Ashley and company can't believe their eyes when the trees around them come to life and attack them. These trees are a bit on the rapey side and lift pretty young women in the air and tear at their clothes. Of course the tree-rape isn't as graphic as the scenes in the Evil Dead flicks but it is still pretty damn weird. However the natives have a lot more to worry about then a few horny trees. There is also a huge green-blooded monster running around who is much more horny and much more dangerous. The giant green monster comes complete with big bubbles protruding from its body and bright red lips. He is guaranteed to offer up a few chuckles.

The islands habitants on the other hand are not laughing at all. They sacrifice young nubile hotties to the beast by tieing them to a post, ripping their clothes off so the monster can come "satisfy himself" and yes when you are a big green bubbly monster satisfying ones self consists of rape and murder. After the beast of blood island has his way sexually with the girls he rips their heads off.

As if this all doesn't sound entertaining enough to satisfy the average demento Brides Of Blood is jam packed with Filipino midgets and we all know that midgets add life to any sleazy horror flick. In one moment of gratuitous violence we are treated to a tall bald man repeatedly whipping a midget slave. Brides Of Blood comes complete with decapitation, severed legs and other dismemberment's. We get monsters and mutant plant life, a tid bit of splatter and Frankenstein type ending.

This one can get slow at times but it is worth sticking it out. If I didn't know this thing was shot in the Philippines I would definitely have thought it to be a movie from mars.

Women In Rock (1980)

Women In Rock also known as Girls Who Bite Back is a pretty shitty documentary from German director Wolfgang Buld, the guy who did Punk In London and its crap follow up Punk In England.

 This uninteresting look at some of the girls who liked to rock out in the late 70's consists of interviews and live footage from of course The Slits who I never fucking liked, a band called Girlschool and Siouxsie & The Banshees. While Siouxsie is cool and all the live performances just bore and don't offer anything new or special. For me the highlight was from German hottie Nina Hagen who does a bad-ass cover version of David Bowie's Ziggy Played Guitar. Other then that one moment stay far far away from this thing. Its about as fun as a rectal exam.

Punk In England (1980)

Originally titled Punk And Its Aftershocks and later British Rock : Ready For The 80's is the weak follow up to the far superior Punk In London.

This being the middle piece in Wolfgang Buld's trilogy it makes me never want to see the final instalment which goes by the name of Regea In Babylon.

Punk In England takes us out of London and into the suburbs of Britain where punk rock has been lingering around passed its due date. The good old days of spit and anarchy are of the past and punk rock has been watered down, recycled and regurgitated again. Its become commercial and New Wave is right around the awful corner. Yuck!

We get some average footage from The Clash but nothing as mean and nasty as could be found in earlier documentaries or even films like Rude Boy. The Jam plays a song or two as does Siouxie & The Banshees. Then the film drifts off and on about Mods and Rockers and we get footage from bands like Madness which I was never to fucking fond of. I enjoy the footage from The Specials but the fans seem like a bunch of cunts. For me the best moment is some live footage from Spizzenergi. Those guys seem to be holding the old spirit of 77. The Boomtown Rats voice their shitty opinion a little more then I would have liked and this movie needs to have the fast forward button close by.

I would say skip this and check out Punk In London for a much better example of what Punk Rock was. That is unless you consider The Pretenders to be a staple in Punk Rock music. Speaking of The Pretenders the copy of Punk In England that I picked up is a double bill with an equally bad Wolfgang Buld documentary called Women In Rock. Be warned that shit is even worse!

Evil Dead 2 : Dead By Dawn (1987)

Its always a bad idea to make the sequel to your hit horror movie into a comedy. Evil Dead 2 is one of the exceptions to the rule. Six years after Sam Raimi's incredibly gory and unusually weird Evil Dead, the young director remakes his own movie. This time with a hint of comedy thrown in. Okay maybe a hint is an understatement.

This sequel/remake takes Ash (Bruce Campbell) back to the cabin where his friends were all slaughtered in the first film. Naturally nothing of this is mentioned and we just get a whole new set of blood splattered murder scenes.

Evil Dead 2 lacks the nasty, gritty look from the first flick. Unfortunately the flesh on the undead doesn't have that same crusty look that it did the first time around. Still we have decapitations (complete with dancing headless girlfriends), Heads are stomped in and eyeballs come popping out from the socket and go flying across the room into a unsuspecting victims mouth. Even the tree-rape is reenacted.

In one of the most memorable scenes Ash's hand becomes possessed and we have the privilege of watching Bruce Campbell smash plates over his own head, smash his face into the walls and floor and just generally beat the shit out of himself. He resorts to sticking a knife through his own hand (complete with splat) and then taking a chainsaw to his wrist, dismembering his possessed hand (Complete with more splatter). Naturally the possessed hand goes on the run and causes some mayhem. The hand gives off some rude gestures to our hero. This pisses Ash off and he shoots it with a shotgun. Next rivers of bright red blood blast our handless hero in the face. If you thought the corridor scene in The Shining had a lot of blood just wait till you see this. It is oddly reminiscent of the scene where Johnny Depp meets his demise in A Nightmare On Elm Street.

Sam Raimi made it a habit of doing scenes from this trilogy over and over in the sequels. In Army Of Darkness (the third film in the series) we get to a recap of when Ash saws his hand off. "Something got into my hand so I lobbed it off at the wrist". Army Of Darkness also had no choice but to continue with more elaborate monsters due to the direction that Evil Dead 2 took the series. This time around instead of typical demons we get more giant monsters and in the films climax Ash gets thrown into a time warp and ends up in Medieval times where he will be forced to fight an army of the undead in the next film.

Evil Dead part 1 is the best of the lot. Its a true horror film that holds back on the laughs. The demons are far more disgusting looking and in my humble opinion the gore looked better. Evil Dead 2 : Dead By Dawn is a fun watch for fans of the first film but new comers to the series really need to start in the beginning.

Escape From The Fire (2007)

Escape From The Fire is a short 13 minute independent film shot in 35mm. The setting is Nazi Germany and was filmed here in Long Island New York. Escape From The Fire stands aside from the majority of independent movies from this era for multiple reasons. The most obvious being that it was shot on film instead of digital video. The 35mm looks great and goes to prove that modern film makers can still make a movie that looks good if they were only given the tools needed. Video looks horrible. Always has and always will! Why Hollywood will spend 60 million on a movie but not pay the expense of decent looking film is beyond me. Another thing that makes Escape From The Fire unique is the fact that it is an American film with German dialogue. No subtitles are available. The story is basically told silently.

Then there is the films appearance. Escape From The Fire shows off a great deal of talent from young, unrecognized film makers. The cinematography and lighting are the high points of the film. We have some very interesting pull focus camera work through barbed wire fences and natural lighting and shadows add much realism as the story unfolds.

The downside is that the plot is very weak. There really isn't much story going on at all. Escape From The Fire relies more on atmosphere and emotion then anything else. The film follows a little Jewish boy on the run from S.S. troops. He Escapes From The Fire through the woods and takes refuge in a barn where he meets a little girl. Together the two children bond and find a moment of peace in a world that is doomed with violence, hate and murder.

Its a nice little film and a little bit sensitive. It would probably appeal to mom more then dad but any true cine-maniac can see the strong points in this indie expression.

Escape from the Fire Teaser Trailer