Tag: USA

Directed by William Grefé [Other horror films: Sting of Death (1966), Death Curse of Tartu (1966), Stanley (1972), Impulse (1974), Mako: The Jaws of Death (1976)]

Aside from some nice scenery and a rather disturbing rape sequence, Whiskey Mountain doesn’t really have a lot to offer. It’s an okay backwoods exploitation movie, but it’s rather short on the horror aspects, and I don’t know if the action during the end is really enough to boost this movie up.

It does look nice, though. Apparently filmed in North Carolina (at least according to IMDb, and who knows how accurate that is), the scenery is quite beautiful. We got a lot of shots of the mountain and the forests, lakes and rivers, and it looks quite peaceful, aside from the murdering and raping pot dealers and corrupt police force, but that’s just how it’s done in south, apparently.

If Whiskey Mountain tells you anything, it’s that we should just go ahead and legalize marijauna nationwide. We should have done it back in the 1950’s. If we did, then there would be no need for the marijuana growers in this film to take four people captive, as it could just legally be grown and sold. That’s what anti-marijuana laws get you, alas.

Seriously, though, Whiskey Mountain is a movie that I wish I liked more, and in fact, I did like more when I first saw it. It’s quite possible, though, that I was just so stoked to see it way back when I did (I’m pretty sure when I first saw this, Whiskey Mountain had under 60 votes on IMDb – now it has 265 and is widely available on Tubi), and didn’t pay attention to the actual movie. It’s even more likely that was in October, a month when I watch so many movies, it’s not always easy to get an honest and accurate reading on them in the moment.

The problem here is two-fold: for one, it’s a bit slow throughout, and when things to start going in a more action-oriented direction, I can’t say it’s the most exciting stuff (save for the motorcycle jump – that was pretty cool), and two, while I have no problem calling Whiskey Mountain horror, the horror elements are quite scarce. They pop up in a scene or two, but it’s by no means a strong part of the film.

Of course, it is always nice to see Christopher George (Grizzly, Day of the Animals, City of the Living Dead, Graduation Day, Pieces, and Mortuary), and he does well here, as do the other three central stars, being Preston Pierce, Linda Borgeson, and Roberta Collins. John Davis Chandler (Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead and Mako: The Jaws of Death) made for a solid antagonist, though I wish he had a better resolution.

They’re not the only stars, though. Y’all know Charlie Daniels, I’m betting. Well, the Charlie Daniels Band did the theme for this film, surprisingly titled “Whiskey Mountain.” It pops up during one of the scenic portions at the beginning, and again during the credits, and it’s not a bad song. Not as catchy as “The Legend of Wooley Swamp” or “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” but then again, what is?

If there’s one thing that people are apt to remember about Whiskey Mountain, it would be the rape sequence. Mercifully, we don’t actually see anything, but what we do see is haunting in it’s own way. Pictures are being taken of the two women – polaroids that we see darken – and as the screams continue in the background, we see more pictures – forced kissing, then the women in their underwear, and then just a face in pain. The morning after the rapes is haunting too, and this whole sequence is probably the most striking in a movie that’s otherwise quite tame.

Whiskey Mountain is a movie that I wish I got more out of, but life doesn’t always give us those gifts. It’s not a bad movie for seeing motorcycles, mountains, and men with guns, but if you want some really good southern hospitality, check out Hunter’s Blood.

5.5/10

Directed by Larry Stewart [Other horror films: N/A] & Peter Crane [Other horror films: N/A]

This is one of those bigger 80’s slashers that I’ve long heard about but never took the time to watch until now. I didn’t know much going into this one, and come the finale, I did find The Initiation pretty close to top-notch.

Plot-wise, the movie is sort of interesting. A lot of films that deal with teenagers or college kids staying someplace overnight (be it One Dark Night, Chopping Mall, or Hide and Go Shriek) would have the individuals get there early on, and most of the movie would take place there. In this case, it’s not until halfway through the film, following character introductions and some plot set-up, that we even see the mall where this sorority prank will take place.

On this sidenote, I have to briefly pause from the movie and reiterate my distaste of fraternities and sororities. This film wasn’t near as bad as movies like Pledge Night or Final Exam, because the prank here was relatively harmless (though it was illegal, so here’s a case of a sorority pushing their pledges to actively break the law – great sisterhood rolls eyes), and there was one character who saw how foolish the whole thing was (kudos to Paula Knowles’ speech), so it’s still tolerable in The Initiation’s case, but boy, do I despise the concept of sororities and fraternities.

Back to the movie, though, I’ll admit that I didn’t see the finale coming. I was of two minds as to how the film could end, and one of my ideas was somewhat shot about halfway through the film. I’m not sure if I particularly love how they chose to end the film, but there were enough hints throughout, and as much as I might have preferred the way I would have concluded it, this ending makes more sense.

Daphne Zuniga (The Dorm That Dripped Blood and The Fly II) made for a pretty likable lead, and I thought she did well. Vera Miles (Psycho), who played her mother, was quite unlikable, and I couldn’t stand her for a single moment, possessing that ‘Karen’ vibe, so she did a good job with a detestable human. Clu Gulager (Hunter’s Blood, A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge, and The Return of the Living Dead) didn’t appear all that often, but it is always nice to see a familiar face.

Others did pretty well also. James Read was my favorite character of the movie, though he did get testy with another of my favorites, played by Joy Jones (in her sole role). Patti Heider played one of the most ill-fitted characters I’ve ever seen to have a job involving the mentally ill, and the other two central sorority pledges, played by Hunter Tylo (credited as Deborah Morehart) and Marilyn Kagan, did well also, especially Kagen, who played another rather likable character.

None of the kills are absolutely amazing, but we did get some fun ones, such as an archery kill, a throat-slitting, an off-screen decapitation (but the silhouettes were nice), some cultivator action (it’s that garden tool with claws – you learn some new things every day), and lastly, a surprise appearance by a harpoon gun. None of these deaths are overly gruesome, but all are of decent quality.

If I’m being honest, I didn’t expect to enjoy The Initiation as much as I did. It’s a pretty fun slasher, and though I have some minor qualms regarding the finale, it’s certainly a movie that slasher fans may want to check out.

8/10

Directed by Nathan Schiff [Other horror films: Weasels Rip My Flesh (1979), The Long Island Cannibal Massacre (1980)]

Among the most repulsive films I’ve witnessed, They Don’t Cut the Grass Anymore is somewhat of a classic, in my eyes. The gore effects here, while often looking exceptionally fake, are absolutely gruesome, and if you want an extreme movie, this is one you have to see.

The plot here is pretty much non-existent. Two southern gardeners in a well-to-do northern community kill and mutilate people. And that’s it. It’s 70 minutes of these two gardeners killing and mutilating people, occasionally taking time off to go to the movies to watch other people kill and mutilate. It’s a good time.

Nathan Schiff is a director I’ve long respected for this movie alone. I’ve not seen his other films (most well-known ones including The Long Island Cannibal Massacre and Weasels Rip My Flesh), but I saw They Don’t Cut the Grass Anymore a long time ago, and while I never loved it, it stuck with me, because the gore effects are simply as tasteless as one could imagine.

I won’t spend much time talking about the gore – you have to see the movie for yourself. I can tell you that if you want to see people’s legs and arms cut off with chainsaws and handsaws, then They Don’t Cut the Grass Anymore is your movie. If you want to see intestines pulled out of peoples’ stomachs and vaginas and then beat to an unrecognizable pulp, They Don’t Cut the Grass Anymore is your movie. And if you want to see faces ripped and torn up, all the way to the bone, with the jaws ripped off and the tongues ripped out, their eyes squeezed from their sockets (and they always made a point of squishing them in their hands), then I need only repeat myself once more:

They Don’t Cut the Grass Anymore is your movie.

The dialogue is often quite flat and stale, but it’s also some of the most hilarious stuff I’ve ever heard. From the weak and utterly without emotion “Please don’t rape me,” to the way these two women get out of captivity – wait, no, I need to explain this scene in detail.

See, two women have been captured by the maniac gardeners, but luckily, one of the women is a psychiatrist. She knows how to deal with the mentally disturbed (“You are in great need of psychiatric help”), and will use those skills to get out of the situation. So when one of the men comes in, she asks him to grab her mirror and look at himself. Once he does, and he looks into the mirror, she says, her tone helpful, “Look, look how fucking ugly you are. You’re a disgrace.”

I lol’d. A lot.

Or when two cops are discussing a murder – they’re standing over a body (we don’t see the body – we don’t see an inkling of a body – but it’s apparently there), and one of the cops is quite negative when considering the killers, thinking that the boxcars happened 40 years too soon (referring to the Holocaust). The other cop says they still need to solve the crime, and the cop replies “Fuck that, I’m going home to listen to my Billie Holiday tape.”

I lol’d. A lot. It’s funnier because these cops literally never show up again. They were in this single scene that had zero relevance, and that’s it.

Another point here – we get some musical numbers. One is a song that is played on the radio that these two women are listening to. The song, sung by a woman, is about how stupid she [the singer] is, and the catchy chorus goes “That’s why he calls me Dumb Dumb Yummy Yummy Dumb Dumb.” I couldn’t make that up if I tried.

Also, toward the end of the film, the killers are laying back and relaxing, one of them strumming a guitar, the other playing a harmonica. And they sing for us, and here’s the whole song:

“We came up here from Texas / But it didn’t work out for us / We met a lot of fine people / But they ain’t around no more / We were professional gardeners / But it got to be a bore / So seek some new adventure / Cause we don’t cut the grass no more.”

Genius.

Oh, and I forgot one of my favorite lines in the movie. While a woman is attempting to defend herself, and beating on one of the gardeners (played by John Smihula, who does beautifully), the gardener says “Keep this up, bitch. There’s going to be a lot of irate neighbors complaining about their uncut lawns.”

I lol’d.

This movie is a mess, and it’s not a good movie, but it can be quite an amusing movie if you’re into low-budget, ultra-gory films. They Don’t Cut the Grass Anymore is something special, and while I can’t honestly give it a high rating, I can say that it’s a treat in many ways.

6/10

Directed by Michael Storch [Other horror films: Schism (2020)]

Rather psychological in its approach, Phantom of the Woods is a decent film. It’s actually quite a bit better than I expected, and while I still think it falls around average, I have to say that the film impressed me a bit.

One of the reasons I had this on my list of films to check out is that it’s filmed in Indiana. In fact, it was filmed in the Fort Wayne area, and as I live quite close by (Columbia City representin’), I was definitely interested in seeing this. There’s not many horror films from Indiana – a point I pontificate about in my review for Scarecrow County – so this one sounded like it had potential.

And I enjoyed how they tackled the story. There’s an entity out in the nearby woods, and it makes people see what they fear most – some teenagers and a cop get entangled in figuring out how to defeat it, and things go from there. It’s a lower-budget film, but the effects are generally decent, and while nothing really stands out as far as kills go (aside from maybe a scene involving a scarecrow), I was impressed with most of what I saw.

I was also quite impressed with the performances. I don’t know the budget for the movie, but this didn’t feel like The Night Before Easter or Don’t Go to the Reunion. It felt quite polished, and the performances are a good example of that. Both J.R.S. Storch and Delaney Hathaway did great, and I really enjoyed their budding friendship. Mark S. Esch was great as an old-fashioned Marine Corp police officer – I couldn’t stand him from his first scene, and I appreciated that. Richard Hackel and Matthew Finney were both quite good also.

More than anything, I wanted to like the movie more than I did, but the thing is, while I liked a lot of what they were going for, I question whether it really had to be an hour and forty minutes. The time generally went by quickly, and the pacing wasn’t a big issue, but even so, some portions probably could have been trimmed a bit.

For an ambitious film, though, Phantom of the Woods was a surprise. To be frank, I was expecting something a lot less polished than this, and this movie impressed me. It’s not really a film I think I’d watch all that often, but when it comes to Indiana-based horror, it’s certainly a movie that I’d recommend.

7/10

Directed by Joseph Henson [Other horror films: N/A] & Nathan Johnson [Other horror films: N/A]

While The Night Before Easter isn’t a terrible offering of low budget horror, and certainly not that time-consuming, I have to say that I wasn’t overly enthralled. The basic idea is fun, but it seems there was far more drama than there was killing, and while that helped build some of the characters, I’m not sure it did the overall movie great favors.

The plot here, or more specifically, the setting (being a storage facility) reminded me a bit of another lower-budget film, The Murder Game (from 2006), which also took place in a similar setting. That had probably the same amount of characters as this one did, but I also thought the story was a bit more solid, and while this film does boast a killer in a bunny suit, I tend to think The Murder Game was more memorable also.

As it was, the kills here are okay. Someone gets a saw blade thrown into their back, another takes an ax to the face, leaving  gnarly gash. There’s a throat-slitting, along with a decapitated head, so there’s a bit here if that’s your main interest, but a lot of these kills don’t happen until the second half, and it’s not really until the final ten or so minutes that things really start going.

To be fair, the movie’s a short one. The Night Before Easter runs at just over an hour – 65 minutes total. It’s easily digestible, but even with the time spent building some of the characters (such as Kelly’s infatuation with Riley, or Riley’s opening of a comic book store, or Brooke’s drinking problem), I feel like some of the characters here just don’t get much spotlight, and either could have been cut or given a bit of a chance to explore their backgrounds.

As far as performances go, I think that April Sinclair was the most note-worthy, and her scenes with Alyssa Matusiak were perhaps the most interesting non-murder scenes of the movie. I thought both did quite well with troubled characters. Keldon Flint (“She called me Danti!”) was amusing at times, Bonnie Marilyn Jean played the stereotypically bitchy girl well, and Emily Chidalek had some strong moments early on. I do sort of wish we got a little more from Eric Wyatt – he was okay, but I definitely thought his character could have been fleshed out a bit more.

Otherwise, there’s not really a lot going for The Night Before Easter. It’s an okay lower-budget film, and it can be fun at times, but there’s a lot of other lower budget films from the same time-range I’d probably want to spend my time with instead (such as Don’t Go to the Reunion, Silver Cell, You’re Not Getting Out Alive, and Vampire Ticks from Outer Space), and I don’t know if this film will end up being all that memorable.

5.5/10

Directed by Jack Curtis [Other horror films: N/A]

Though it pains me to say it, I don’t think The Flesh Eaters is a great film. It’s certainly notable in some aspects, and it can be reasonably fun, but the final third of the film never did much for me, and portions do drag. Even so, it’s worth seeing at least once for the special effects.

I have a little history with the film. Way back in the day, I saw this multiple times playing on AMC – I probably watched this two times, perhaps three, so it was a bit of an odd favorite. It’s not been unpleasant revisiting it, by any means, but I definitely don’t think it’s as strong as I used to.

I love the plot, though, dealing with glowing organisms in the water that can strip flesh to the bone, and people trapped on an island having to contend with the microscopic entities. This movie’s surprisingly gory at times – it’s in black-and-white, but even so, it can provide a good time.

During the pre-credit opening (definitely an earlier example of this), a couple goes for a swim that doesn’t end well. That’s a tame opening, but it’s a good portent of what’s to come. A man in a motorboat gets some water splashed on him, and his face rather melts, and there’s also a scene in which someone drinks a beverage with the microscopic organisms in it, and it eats out of him from his stomach, in beautifully gory fashion. Earlier films did have more gore than you might expect – look at Fiend Without a Face – but The Flesh Eaters is a surprisingly bloody film at times.

Otherwise, the special effects aren’t great, but that has more to do with the route of the story than anything else. See, for the first two-thirds of the film, the microscopic glowing organisms are all they have to deal with, but events occur that create a giant monster out of the organisms, so instead of millions of small things, there’s one large monster (technically, two, but I wanted to simplify things), and at that point, things feel a bit more on the generic side.

Byron Sanders made a solid lead, and he had that typical strongman physique. In fact, I’m sort of surprised he wasn’t a bigger name, as he had great looks. Barbara Wilkin made for a decent, inoffensive love interest, Rita Morley had some great scenes as her character was an alcoholic (in fact, Morley might be one of the strongest performances here), and as an antagonist force, Martin Kosleck (The Frozen Ghost and House of Horrors) was a bit generic, but overall decent.

Funnily enough, it’s the one with the least acting experience that I dug the most. Ray Tudor plays this random beatnik who rafts onto the island halfway through the film, and he has the kookiest dialogue, man. I mean, he speaks the word, man, about the power of love. You speaking my language, Max? That character was a hoot, and Ray Tudor did a great job with it.

Despite my nostalgia at seeing the movie again for the first time in a long time (for detailed context, I watched this on October 25th, 2021, and last saw it around 2010, if not earlier), I don’t think The Flesh Eaters is a great film. It’s decent, but it’s a bit slow at times, and the finale is a lot more generic than anything previous in the film. I think it evens out to about average, but I know plenty out there enjoy it more than I do, so if you’re into 60’s horror, this is definitely a movie to look into.

7/10

Directed by William Girdler [Other horror films: Three on a Meathook (1972), Asylum of Satan (1972), Abby (1974), Grizzly (1976), The Manitou (1978)]

I fundamentally think Day of the Animals is a fine movie. It’s not quite as action-packed as I personally would have hoped, and the build-up at the beginning takes a bit, but it’s an okay film. I don’t think it’s a necessarily good movie, but for what it is, it’s okay.

I think what really took a bit to get used to is that despite having a variety of animals going wild to a depletion of the ozone layer, there’s not really that many animal attacks. Sure, there’s a wolf, a bear, some snakes, big cats, and birds, but it’s not quite as quick-paced as you might hope. That might make sense, though, given William Girdler directed this one, and he was also behind Grizzly, which I also found a tad on the sluggish side.

The story’s not bad, with a bunch of people going on a guided hike and coming across the wild and dangerous behavior of the animals, which of course causes some dissent in the group in the form of Leslie Nielsen’s character. It’s almost sociological in it’s approach at times – if man loses all sense of law and order, what horrors might they commit? It’s not heavy in that type of thing, but from Nielsen’s character, is does come up.

I’ll say that Neilsen (Prom Night, Dark Intruder, Creepshow) played a horrible character pretty well, and when he got #mauled, I can’t say I wasn’t glad (though I do wish it were a lot more violent, with screaming and limbs being torn off in gory agony and the like). I think the best character here, without much hesitation, would be Michael Ansara (Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, The Manitou, Dear Dead Delilah), who is a great guy, and has to deal with racism (he’s Native American) along with the killer animals. Both Christopher George (Graduation Day, City of the Living Dead, Pieces) and Lynda Day George (Beyond Evil, It Happened at Lakewood Manor, Fear No Evil) were fine, but neither one was that memorable.

And despite the premise of the film, I don’t think many of the animal attacks were that memorable, either. You had the white water rafting with wolves (technically dogs, but I liked the alliteration I had going) at the finale, which was fun, and there was a good scene in which someone’s getting into a car without noticing the nest of snakes on the seat behind them, which was playful, but that’s virtually it. There was a bird attack early on – the victim fell to their death in amusingly fake fashion – and I guess that was okay, but overall, I was sort of expecting more.

Day of the Animals is a movie I’ve wanted to see for a while, and I’m happy I did, despite not having loved it. It’s certainly better than some other 70’s creature films, such as The Food of the Gods, but when movies like The Swarm and The Pack exist, it’s hard to really go out of my way to recommend this one.

6.5/10

Directed by Don Swan [Other horror films: N/A]

This is one of those films that I have a hard time hating. Goremet, Zombie Chef from Hell isn’t a good movie, but the first half can be pretty amusing, and though the second half is a bit of a struggle, it’s still sort of fun in that ultra low-budget type of way.

At least the plot is unique – a man, Goza, is cursed by the Holy Order of the Righteous Brotherhood to live forever, feasting on the flesh of people to sustain himself. And so he does – he owns a seafood restaurant, and engages in killing people and practices cannibalism.

The first half of the film just sort of follows a few of the people who enter the establishment. A woman gets killed, and her boyfriend finds her ring in a hamburger. A health inspector gets killed after warning Goza he’d have to shut him down. A police officer finds hair in his beer and soup, and upon investigation, finds dismembered body parts, leading to the greatest scene in the film, in which his head is punched clean off his body.

It’s in the second half of this short film (it runs around 70 total minutes) that things become a little less interesting, though arguably more consistent. Members of the aforementioned Holy Order of the Righteous Brotherhood regret that they made Goza into what he is, and want to destroy the flesh-eating abomination that they created. With the High Priestess and loyal members, they fight back against the evil of Goza.

To be fair, it’s not a bad way for the story to go, but it felt far more fantasy to me than I personally care for, albeit in a very low budget form. Seeing people killed and chopped up into food is more interesting to me than seeing some Brotherhood strike back against Goza, but that’s because I come to a movie like this for the violence. It’s perhaps partially inspired by Blood Feast, and sometimes feels similar to Blood Diner (though this is a better movie, and I would die on that hill), but whatever went into creating this, boy, what a movie.

Theo Depuay, who played Goza, didn’t really have the suave personality you’d expect from a 600 year old cannibal. People didn’t seem to mind him too much (aside from this guy coming in for a short order cook job – this asshole played by Arnold William may have made one of the funniest scenes in the film), but boy, his personality needs work. There’s also Michael O’Neill, who does most of the killing, and has a solid, hulking menace vibe to him.

If you’re familiar with the VHS cover of this movie, you’ll see why this movie might stand out. Personally, I’ve always found it one of the most memorable covers for a horror film, and way back when I first heard about this movie and saw the cover, I knew I wanted to see it.

As such, it didn’t really impress me when I did finally see it, and I can firmly say it’s not a good movie after seeing it a second time, but that doesn’t mean Goremet, Zombie Chef from Hell can’t be an amusing film at times.

5.5/10

Directed by Philip Gunn [Other horror films: N/A] & David Carlos Valdez [Other horror films: N/A]

When I first saw this comedy/horror film, I remember enjoying it. I don’t know if I was high or not, but while it can be an amusing movie, it doesn’t hold up at all seeing it again, and just feels far too goofy for me to really get into.

Of course, a comedy horror movie taking place at a clown camp is ripe for goofiness, so I don’t hold that against them, but it’s just not my thing. From having someone survive an injury that one couldn’t possibly survive to having a nerdy clown (complete with glasses and a high-pitched voice) to having a drill sergeant clown instructing on how to best throw a pie to a monkey that speaks Chinese and knows kung-fu, there’s just too much in here that I can’t deal with. Oh, and there’s also a clown who’s a Juggalo – he even raps for a bit.

I’ll give it that the kills are generally decent. There’s a violent scalping, complete with brain matter (which pops up throughout the film, such as a scene in which someone’s head gets stomped on), there’s a pie in the face, and more importantly, a knife shoved through the pie afterwards. We have a guy falling into a hay baler, along with someone eating a pie that had a bomb in it (reminding me a bit of a kill from Funny Man). Perhaps my favorite was seltzer that’s been replaced with acid, so when it was sprayed in someone’s face, they did not have a good time.

Also, the ending contains a somewhat ballsy twist. The execution could have used some work, but I think the idea isn’t too shabby. It’s not enough to make up for everything I didn’t care for beforehand, but at least it keeps things moderately interesting.

As far as the performances go, most of the central cast were fine for the characters they were playing. Isaac Kappy (who committed suicide in 2019) did decent, though his character was one of the more annoying ones. Ross Kelly (Army of the Dead) was a bit generic, but he had his moments. Kerri Daube was one of the more interesting characters, but I didn’t care for the route she took, and Chris Payne, while I liked his character the most, didn’t really add much. Oh, and Lloyd Kaufman popped up near the end, and he’s always a pleasure to see.

When it comes down to it, Klown Kamp Massacre is an okay movie for what it is (it was distributed by Troma, so that should give you an idea), but it’s way too silly for me, and though I was okay with it the first time I saw it, I really can’t say it’s my type of thing at all with this viewing.

5/10