Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is the first of an American series of three children’s books written by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Stephen Gammell. The titles of the books are Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (1981), More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (1984), and Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones (1991).

Schwartz drew heavily from folklore and urban legends as the topic of his stories, researching extensively and spending more than a year on writing each book.

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The first volume was published in 1981, and the books have subsequently been collected in both a box set and a Scary Stories Treasury single volume. There is also an audiobook version of each book, read by George S. Irving.

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This series is listed as being the most challenged series of books from 1990–1999 and seventh most challenged from 2000–2009 by the American Library Association for its violence. The surreal, nightmarish illustrations contained within are also a frequently challenged component of the original books.

To celebrate the books’ 30th anniversary in 2011, Harper Collins re-released the books with new illustrations from Brett Helquist, the illustrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events. This caused severe criticism from fans of Gammell’s illustrations, as many cited that they are not as effective or as scary as the originals.

Wikipedia

The practice of shrinking a human head is extremely dark. While numerous cultures have participated in the practice of headhunting, the Ecuadorian Amazon and the Peruvian Amazon Jivaro Indian Tribe did more than just headhunt: they shrunk the heads that they collected.

Before we get into the history of the one and only tribe known to shrink human heads, we will first discuss some fascinating information on the more prevalent practice known as “head hunting.”

A genuine shrunken head from Ecuador [between 1890 and 1930]

Following battle, the victor removed the head of their adversary; the severed head serves as his trophy. Believe it or not, head hunting has been practiced throughout much of the world.

Here is an original portrait of a British army officer and artist who lived from 1843-1925. 

Horatio Gordon Robley shows off his extremely creepy collection of real preserved human heads

Mokomokai are the severed heads of the Māori people (the indigenous people of New Zealand). In the 1860s, Robley served in New Zealand during the New Zealand land wars. His collection consisted of 35-40 mokomokai. Despite his failed attempt to sell his collection to the New Zealand Government, he was able to sell most of it to the American Museum of Natural History.

Robley’s fascination with the art of tattooing lead him to write text on the subject of moko, Moko; or Maori Tattooing in 1896. Moko is facial tattoos of a Māori to designate their tribal identity. In pre-European Māori culture, moko was a sign of high social status. Generally it was men who had full facial moko. However, high-ranked women were known for having moko on their chin and lip.

The illustration shows a chief who is looking to trade a severed head for firearms and ammunition [1896]

They would acquire severed heads for trade. In desperation to trade as many mokomokai as possible, tribes tattooed their slaves and prisoners with worthless designs, instead of moko.

During this period, the severed heads were also considered commercial trade items. They were sold in Europe and America for high prices as they were considered curiosities and museum specimens.

The Mokomokai Preservation Process

• The head is severed.
• First, the brain and eyes are removed.
• Orifices are sealed with flax fibre and gum.
• The head is boiled or steamed in an oven.
• The severed head is smoked over an open fire and dried in the hot sun for a few days.
• Shark oil is used to treat the head. It has been used for hundreds of years as a folk remedy to promote the healing of wounds.
• Finally, the severed heads were placed in carved boxes and were brought out solely for sacred ceremonies.

Mokomokai were also considered “trophies of war,” as they were often the severed heads of enemy chiefs who were killed in battle.

Others Who Practiced Headhunting

During the 3rd century B.C.E. (300 B.C.E. to 201 B.C.E.), the Chinese state of Qin’s soldiers collected the heads of their fallen adversaries. The collected heads were tied around the soldier’s waist and used to terrorize enemies during future battles.

Throughout the middle ages, the Celts of Europe also participated in the practice of head hunting. The triumphant Celtic warrior took the heads he collected during battle and nailed them to his walls to serve as a warning to others.

The Marind-anim tribe of New Guinea removed the heads of their opponents so they could control their spirits. They also consumed the flesh of their slain opponent.

This is a digital painting of a priest from Mississippian culture (approximately 800 B.C.E. to 1600 B.C.E.). In addition to his ceremonial flint mace is a severed human head

The Jivaro Indians and Their Gruesome Practice

Despite the various forms of headhunting practiced around the world, The Jivaro Indians are the only documented group of headhunters that practiced the art of reducing the human head to the size of a man’s fist. 

An image comparing the size of a human skull and a shrunken head.

The Jivaroan Indian Tribe

The Jivaroan tribe actually consists of four sub-tribes: Achuar, Aguaruna, Huambisa and Shuar. All of these tribes reside in the Amazon Rainforest: The Peruvian and Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest, to be exact. The Shuar tribe is notorious for practicing the art of shrinking human heads. Once the head is reduced, it is referred to as a ‘tsantsa.’ Transforming a head into a tsantsa was a deadly insult to the slain warrior as well as his entire tribe.  

The Tsantsa

According to the Shuar, the tsantsa possesses power. Initially, the severed head serves as a trophy indicating that the warrior had fulfilled his obligation to his ancestors by taking blood revenge. The tribe believed that the creation of the tsantsa pleased the spirits of their ancestors, who would bestow the tribe with fortune and a bountiful harvest. Accordingly, if the murders of their ancestors were not properly avenged, misfortune would fall upon the tribe. Interestingly, the tribe was much more concerned about the potential wrath of their ancestors than they were of the vindictive actions of an enemy ghost.

The Jivaro believe that by shrinking the head, the spirit (wakani) attached to it becomes trapped inside. Besides keeping the wakani from seeking revenge upon his/her killer, the wakani is also prevented from continuing on to the afterlife. The wakani’s inability to enter into the afterlife prevents it from harming the dead ancestors of the warrior.

The Jivaroan Tribe Considered a Fierce, War-Like Tribe

The Jivaroan Indian Tribe is the only tribe that was successful in its revolt against the Spanish Empire. The tribe endured the Incas, who were in search of gold, and challenged the audacity of the first conquistadors who attempted to disrupt their freedom. According to early Spanish chronicles, in 1599 all four of the Jivaroan sub-tribes came together and raided two settlements. The tribes apparently massacred 25,000 colonial Europeans.

The Logrono Massacre occurred because the Spanish governor of a colony in Ecuador demanded that the natives pay taxes on profits from their gold-trade.  

The anger of the Jivaro tribe was taken out on the visiting governor. Members of the tribe poured molten gold down his throat. This torture session ended quickly once his bowels burst. Directly thereafter, the Spaniards that remained were killed. However, while older women and children were slain, the younger women were considered useful. Therefore, the tribe captured these women and forced them to join their clan. After gathering the items they wanted to keep, the settlement was torched and burned to the ground.

Their reputation as savages who practiced head-shrinking served them well, discouraging outsiders from encroaching upon their territory, despite the fact that they resided in one of South America’s richest regions for gold deposits.  

Although the four Jivaroan Indian Tribes found great success joining together to oppose the Spanish, they never actually united. The tribes were continuously at war with each other. For the majority of the world, wars are fought to gain and/or control territory, for the Jivaro, wars were fought as a means of vengeance.

Shrinking a Human Head

Typically, decapitation occurred directly following the kill; however, there were occasions when the enemy was decapitated prior to death. The decapitation process involved cutting the head off below the neck. In addition, a section of the skin on the back and chest is removed. The victor then uses his woven head-band or a vine as a means to carry his prize. He passes his headband/vine through the neck and mouth of the head, tying it over his shoulder while making a hasty retreat.

Directly following the battle, the warriors gather at an agreed upon location near a river. It is at this point that the process of shrinking the head begins.

• A slit running from the neck and up to the back of the head is created. This allows the warrior to peel the skin and hair away from the skull.
• After removing the skin and hair, the skull is pulled free. Upon removing the skull, the warrior also removed the brain, tongue, throat, tonsils, eyes and nasal system. All of which were thrown into the river to serve as a gift to Pani, the anaconda.
• The eyelids are sewn shut using a very fine fiber.
• The warrior then closes the lips and skewers them with tiny wooden pegs. Eventually, these pegs are removed and dangling strings applied.
• At this point, the head is placed in a sacred cooking jar or boiling pot to be simmered for approximately two hours. Timing the simmering is essential because if left simmering too long, the hair begins falling out.
• Once the simmering process is complete, the skin is rubbery and dark. The head is now much smaller and is about 1/3 of its initial size.
• The warrior turns the skin inside out.
• He uses a knife to scrape off any remaining flesh.
• The skin is then turned right side out.
• Now, the warrior sews the slit in the back of the head together. Following this step, the feel of the head can be compared to an empty rubber glove.
• Hot stones and sand are used for the final shrinking process. During this process, the interior of the head is seared and shrinks even further.
• The warrior drops these hot stones one at a time through the opening of the neck.
• He continuously rotates the stones inside the head to prevent scorching.
• As the skin shrinks, rotating the stones becomes difficult.
• At this point, hot sand is used in place of the stones.
• This hot sand is able to enter areas that the stones were unable to reach (i.e., the nose and ears).
• Once the head shrinking process is complete, hot stones are applied to areas of the exterior face to shape and seal its features.
• The warrior burns off any excess hair.
• Charcoal ash is rubbed on the face to darken it. The Jivaro also believed that this step insured that the soul of the enemy would remain trapped inside.
• When the shrinking process is complete and the exterior facial features are addressed, the tsantsa is hung above a fire.
• As it hangs above the fire, the tsantsa hardens and turns black.
• The lips are dried by applying a heated machete to them.
• Once the lips are dried, the pegs are removed and three palm shoots (chonta) are placed through them.
• The lips are then fastened together using string.
• The final steps of tsantsa creation are completed in the forest, just a few hours away from the village. The warrior creates a hole in the top of his tsantsa. He inserts a double Kumai through this hole and ties it to the palm shoots inside. Once this step is complete, he can wear his tsantsa around his neck.
• The entire head shrinking process lasted for about a week. The warriors worked on their severed heads every day on the journey back to their village.

Real vs. Fake

If you are interested in purchasing a fake shrunken head, there are plenty online. Stores such as Amazon and eBay sell them for various prices. While some are made cheap, others are a bit more expensive because they are often made of goat skins, as well as other animal skins.

Is It Legal to Own a Genuine Shrunken Head?

Over the years, tsantsas have become a very popular item with collectors of oddities. Various sources on the web claim that it is illegal to import shrunken heads into the United States. However, some sources say that the trade is legal simply because they are considered antiques.

It is safe to say that if you are interested in acquiring a genuine ceremonial/tribal shrunken head, it is recommended you first contact a lawyer.

If you are interested in acquiring a tourist shrunken head, you won’t have to worry about an illegal purchase. The reason tourist heads are legal is because unlike the ceremonial/tribal heads, the person was not killed specifically for their head. Towards the end of the 19th century, tribes would participate in the shrinking process in order to supply tourists.

How To Tell If a Tsantsa is Real

It you look at the image of the real shrunken head in the subheading of this article titled “Shrinking a Human Head,” you can clearly see that it has eyebrows, eyelashes and even nose hairs.

However, before you conclude that the head is real, also check to see if it has pores and wrinkles. Even if you are 100% sure it is real, it is recommended that you first contact a professional. Also, be careful with shrunken heads that are made to look real (such as those with animal skins).

Kirin Johnson, Horrorpedia

This article is based upon Kirin’s previous article at OdditiesBizarre.com, plus additional information.

Related: The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake | Shrunken Heads

‘They axed for it!’

Curse of the Forty-Niner – aka Miner’s Massacre – is a 2002 American horror film directed by John Carl Buechler (Friday the 13th Part VII; Cellar Dweller; Ghoulies III) from a screenplay by Antonio Olivas (Super Shark; Revamped; Fright Club). It stars Karen Black, John Phillip Law and Richard Lynch.

When a young man finds hidden treasure within an abandoned gold mine, he summons his sister, Claire (Carrie Bradac), and their friends to join him in the haul.

The group arrives to discover Claire’s brother missing, and they quickly realize why, undead miner Jeremiah Stone (Vernon Wells) is determined to keep his gold right where he left it and will kill anyone who tries to remove it. Aiding the ill-fated youths are kooky Aunt Nelly (Karen Black) and the local sheriff (John Phillip Law)…

Reviews:

“There are plenty of killings (the body count is quite high) and the fake blood splashes often. Elina Madison supplies the T&A quotient, since we all know the Fair Hair Lead never goes naked or has sex. The deaths and mayhem aren’t really inspired, since most of them come at the wrong end of a pickaxe, and half of the mayhem is shown offscreen (a common problem with low-budget filmmakers).” Nix, Beyond Hollywood

“The tedious atmosphere is compounded by Buechler’s inexplicable and thoroughly wrong-headed decision to eschew instances of blood and gore, as the movie, instead, spends most of its padded-out running time fleshing out the killer’s backstory and attempting to develop the one-dimensional protagonists.” David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews

“There’s not much substance to this thrifty effort, but it bears the hallmarks of the early 80s, that earn it a little extra merit, plus some fleeting cameos from some once big names who probably owed some of the producers a favour or two. Points are deducted for flippant characterisations and poor attempts to squeeze laughs in while the story lags between slayings…” Vegan Vorhees

Cast and characters:

Karen Black as Aunt Nelly
John Phillip Law as Sheriff Murphy + The Three Faces of Terror; Blood Delirium
Richard Lynch as Old Man Prichard
Vernon Wells as Jeremiah Stone
Martin Kove as Caleb
Jeff Conaway as Reverend Sutter
Brad H. Arden as Forty-Niner
Sean Hines as Nick Berman
Carrie Bradac as Claire Berman
Stephen Wastell as Axl
Sangie as Tori
Rick Majeske as Hayden
Elina Madison as Rox Ann
Alexandra Ford as Eve
Shadrach Smith as Jared

Filming locations:

Agua Dulce Movie Ranch – 34855 Petersen Road, Agua Dulce, California, USA
Polsa Rosa Ranch – 5726 Soledad Canyon Road, Acton, California, USA
Sable Ranch – 25933 Sand Canyon Road, Santa Clarita, California, USA

Running time:

86 minutes

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: Alchetron

‘They come for blood’

Rise of the Gargoyles is a 2009 Canadian made-for-TV supernatural horror film directed by Bill Corcoran (Vipers; Friday the 13th: The Series) from a screenplay by Andy Briggs. It stars Eric Balfour, Caroline Néron and Justin Salinger.

In Paris, two workers find a hidden chamber while digging in the underground of the Saint Jean André Church. They find valuable objects but while collecting them together but they are attacked by a creature.

Meanwhile, discredited architect-historian Professor Jack Randall, who wrote a book about gargoyles that was ridiculed by his peers, is encouraged by his friend Carol Beckham to investigate the old church. They sneak in the site during the night and while Carol is collecting some artifacts, Jack is recording with his camera.

Suddenly, Jack sees a winged monster coming towards him and he flees from the location with Carol, but breaks his camera. They go to a bar and a huge stone falls over his car. Jack takes a cab to his boarding house and Carol is attacked and beheaded by a gargoyle at her apartment…

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Reviews:

” …a somewhat watchable little movie while also being completely disposable. Though we don’t get to see the gargoyle much, it is still always there, if only in spirit, making weird sounds leaving eviscerated Parisians in its wake and glowing rocks all over the place. Yes, we only see the gargoyle do one little beheading, but it was a cool beheading and we are thankful for that.” Christopher Armstead, Film Critics United

“You can see everything coming long before the limp script gets to the plot point. The special effects were few thanks to the lack of gargoyle screen time. And some of the dialogue (“Jack, give this story a happy ending”) can make your eyes roll. But for all of that, I didn’t hate Rise of the Gargoyles.” KillerReviews.com

“Not the worst in the genre and not the best. The acting is better and I personally like Eric Balfour. The story is silly but reasonably well written. The visual effects are OK for the few there are. A little bit long at times, somewhat dull toward the end. No surprises. Still, I could stick with it to the end without too much will power.” Michel Vega, IMDb

Choice dialogue:

Inspector Gibert: “You would be surprised what atrocities a man can commit.”

Main cast:

Eric Balfour, Caroline Néron, Justin Salinger, Ifan Huw Dafydd,  Nick Mancuso (Bloody Blacksmith; Death Ship; Nightwing), Tanya Clarke, Constantin Barbulescu, Gabriel Spahiu, Lucian Ciurariu, Alexandra Buza, Flaviu Crisan, Paul Niculita, Florin Busuioc, Mihai Diaconu.

NB. Ifan Huw Dafydd was dubbed by Benoît Rousseau.

Filming locations:

MediaPro Studios, Bucharest, Romania
Paris, France

IMDb | Related: Gargoyles – architecture | Gargoyles (TV movie, 1972)

‘There’s no sequel for you’

Skeleton Crew is a 2009 Finnish horror film directed by Tero Molin and Tommi Lepola from a screenplay by Tero Molin and Teemu Molin. It stars Steve Porter, David Yoken and Anna Alkiomaa.

In the 1970s, a mental institution near the border of Russia and Finland was shut down when it was discovered that main administrator Doctor Andersson (who had taken to calling himself “The Auteur”) had filmed himself torturing patients to death. Most of the doctor’s films were confiscated, though the rooms in which they were developed and screened were never found.

Around thirty years later, the asylum is being used as the set of Silent Creek, a film based on the murders committed in it. While doing recordings, two soundmen hear disembodied voices, and find a hidden room. The chamber contains Andersson’s undiscovered work, and while the bulk of the cast and crew of Silent Crew are disgusted by the snuff films, they decide not to call the police, since doing so would shut down production. Steven, the director of Silent Creek, becomes obsessed with Andersson’s films (which he is drawn to one night by an apparition) and begins acting deranged, claiming that Silent Creek is “not real enough”…

Reviews:

Crafted by two clear fans of the genre – novice writer/directors Tommi Lepola and Tero Molin – this attempted haunted hospital possession romp offers the appearance of a brash, bold scare statement. But as another old maxim reminds us, looks can be deceiving. In this case, what should have been suspenseful comes up dull and derivative, too obvious to be imaginative, too scattered to be unnerving.” Bill Gibron, DVD Talk

“It’s slow and plodding, and the actors that should carry us through such trying minutes fail at making us care about their characters, or the plot. The guy who played the director was just bad. The snuff/torture scenes were pretty good and tough to watch, but that’s about the only thing good about the entire movie.” The Horror Club

” …this is a generic, horrendously structured, and largely uninvolving slasher.” Brian W. Collins, Horror Movie a Day

“While it’s not a horrid film there’s simply nothing remotely original about it beyond it’s geographical origin. Cold Prey may have had a standard plot but it worked its arse off to squeeze every little bit of tension out of it. Skeleton Crew is just cheap and lazy, which is effectively worse than being crap but endearing.” Vegan Vorhees

Buy DVD: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Cast and characters:

• Rita Suomalainen as Lisa
• Steve Porter as Steven S./Sanders
• Anna Alkiomaa as Anna
• Jonathan Rankle as Darius K.
• Jani Lahtinen as Klasu
• Ville Arasalo as Erno
• David Yoken as Bruce
• Riikka Niemi as Mari
• John J. Lenick as Mike
• Ramo Kalupala as Pete
• Eija Koskimaa as Nurse 1
• Jukka Toivonen as Nurse 2
• Wiley Cousins as Jerry
• Markku Peltola as Doctor Andersson
• Karoliina Blackburn as Nurse in Snuff Films

Trivia:

In Germany, the film was re-released as Chainsaw Snuff Massacre and on DVD as Snuff Massacre – Skeleton Crew.

Wikipedia | IMDb | Official site

‘If you can’t breathe, then you can’t scream.’

Reeker is a 2005 American horror film co-produced, written, scored and directed by Dave Payne (Addams Family Reunion; Alien Avengers II; Alien Terminator). It stars Devon Gummersall, Derek Richardson and Tina Illman. A prequel, No Man’s Land: The Rise of Reeker, also directed by Dave Payne, followed in 2008.

Strangers trapped at an eerie travel oasis in the desert must unravel the mystery behind their visions of dying people while they are preyed upon by a decaying creature…

Reviews [spoilers]:

“Reeker works on several levels. It has it all from suspense to shock to gallons of grue, but the main thing that set it apart from the usual kill-the-teen pack is the great script and direction by writer/director Dave Payne and some really above average acting by the cast. Nothing about Reeker feels phoned-in...” Steve Barton, Dread Central

“Writer-director Dave Payne manages to keep the audience guessing as to what is going on, without ever making Reeker too confusing to follow, and, most important, so obvious that the audience unravels the mystery too soon […] Even with the problems that Reeker has, it is solidly entertaining (at least as far as contemporary horror films go).” David Walker, DVD Talk

“One of the appealing things about the film is the creature itself, which is clearly supernatural in nature, accompanied by an odious smell but is also seen wearing a gas mask and producing mechanical devices, suggesting something science-fictional. Where the film falters after a fine build-up is in the twist ending that pulls back to explain everything that is going on.” Richard Scheib, Moria

Buy DVD: Amazon.co.uk

“Alas, the longer this goes on the more idiotic it becomes, with every plot twist thrown up purely for effect in the moment and without much in the way of logic. Scripted by its director Dave Payne, it was a proudly independent film, but only went to show that sometimes a script doctor is sometimes exactly what your opus needs…” Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image

“Reeker is smarter than its genre, and so runs the risks of condescending to the fright-night aud. But the pic avoids smarmy posturing by being more than reverent toward its elders — Evil Dead among them — while sending them up at the same time. A no-brainer for midnight-movie glory, Reeker is also a glossy, gory takeoff on the teensploitation slasher flick…” John Anderson, Variety

Cast and characters:

• Devon Gummersall as Jack
• Derek Richardson as Nelson
• Tina Illman as Gretchen
• Scott Whyte as Trip
• Arielle Kebbel as Cookie
• Michael Ironside as Henry Tuckey
• Eric Mabius as Radford
• Marcia Strassman as Rose Tuckey
• David Hadinger as The Reeker
• Les Jankey as Trucker
• Carole Ruggier as Mom
• Paul Butcher as Kid
• Steven Zlotnick as Officer Bern
• Christopher Boyer as Officer Mansfield
• Wesley Thompson as Officer Taylor
• Alejandro Patino as Velez the Medic

Filming locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Wikipedia | IMDb

Adam West (September 19, 1928 – June 9, 2017), born as William West Anderson, was an American actor whose career spanned seven decades. He is best known for portraying Batman in the campy 1960s TV series Batman and its theatrical feature film.

From 2000, West made regular appearances on the animated series Family Guy, in which he played ‘Adam West’, the mad mayor of Quahog, Rhode Island. His role gave him a new wave of popularity and lead writer Seth MacFarlane claims to have gone out of his way to avoid typecasting West by deliberately not making any references to the caped crusader.

Beyond his most famous roles, Adam West’s extensive career included roles in a number of sci-fi/horror movies, beginning with an uncredited bit part in the Boris Karloff starrer Voodoo Island (1957) as ‘Weather Station #4 Radio Operator’.

West starred as an astronaut facing-off against a Sand-Beast in ‘The Invisible Enemy’, a 1964 episode of the original The Outer Limits television show. The same year, he was also in Bewitched (as Darrin’s friend Kermit).

Proving once again that light comedy was his forte, in Rod Serling’s Night Gallery TV series, West played Mr. Hyde in the tongue-in-cheek skit ‘With Apologies to Mr. Hyde’.

More TV work followed. The Eyes of Charles Sand is a 1972 TV movie about a young man inherits the ability to see visions beyond the grave. He helps a girl investigate her brother’s alleged murder. West played a doctor.

Poor Devil is a bizarre 1973 TV movie pilot for a comedy series that unsurprisingly remained unsold. Sammy Davis Jr. starred as “Sammy”, a demon from Hell who desires a promotion from working in the furnace room. Lucifer, played by horror veteran Christopher Lee, tells Sammy that he must first convince a San Francisco accountant named Burnett J. Emerson (Jack Klugman) to sell his soul. Adam West was the other star name in the cast.

One Dark Night is a lacklustre PG-rated 1981 supernatural horror film directed by Tom McLaughlin that sat on the shelf for a couple of years.

Zombie Nightmare (1986) is a hilariously awful Canadian heavy metal horror outing for body builder Jon-Mikl Thor. Sporting a moustache, West played an understandably weary police captain. The same year was also a police captain in The Last Precinct, a TV comedy series that attempted to nuance the inexplicably successful inane Police Academy movies. Horror-themed episode ‘Never Cross a Vampire’ featured Richard Lynch as an undead wannabe.

In the Tales from the Crypt 1993 episode ‘As Ye Sow’, West played Chapman, the head of a private investigation agency, hired by Hector Elizondo’s suspicious character to spy on his wife (see below).

He was The Galloping Gazelle in the two-part ‘Attack of the Mutant’, 1996 animated episodes of the R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps TV series.

In 1997, West played the Big Kahuna, a legendary vampire killer, in comedy horror outing American Vampire (aka An American Vampire Story).

In Seance aka Killer in the Dark (2001), West has a brief role at the end as a guardian angel/homeless man. The film concerns a preternatural spirit that haunted Jon (Corey Feldman) as a child and who is summoned by an ill-conceived séance to liven up a party only to unleash a litany of horrors and murders on the participants and anyone in his way.

2004 brought Tales from Beyond, a low-budget anthology horror movie in which West was a bookstore owner introducing the tales. MTV comedy-horror spoof Monster Island, which starred Carmen Electra (previously in the aforementioned American Vampire) provided West a more high-profile role as a mad doctor named Harryhausen.

Meanwhile, voice-overs for Scooby-Doo characters included Aloha, Scooby-Doo! and Scooby-Doo! and the Beach Beastie.

As with many actors whose careers are stymied by being identified with a major key character, Adam West struggled to rid himself of his Bruce Wayne/Batman identifier, yet he managed to land a vast amount of roles and was always willing to work in even the lowest of low budget movies as he simply loved acting. And he was never afraid to be self-deprecating, surely his greatest attribute (just see his The Big Bang Theory appearance). We salute the campest caped crusader and the mad Mayor of Quahog.

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

Wikipedia | IMDb

Susuk is a 2008 supernatural Malaysian horror film directed by Amir Muhammad and Naeim Ghalili from a screenplay co-written with Bijesh Jayarajan. It stars Diana Rafar and Ida Nerina. The story concerns a woman who uses the forbidden practice of susuk to be famous. It was touted as “the first Muslim lesbian vampire movie!” by co-director Amir Muhammad.

Soraya is a young trainee nurse who is starting to feel disaffected by her life. A chance introduction to the world of glamour piques her earlier ambition to be a star. She does not succeed at first, but she is told that the forbidden practice of susuk can help. She has to make a choice whether to stay the way she is, or cross the line. At first, susuk seems to give her confidence in her performance.

Meanwhile, Suzana is a prominent diva with an air of mystery. She has long been a practitioner of the black arts due to her use of the extreme susuk keramat. Every time she violates a taboo, a human life is required – first in the form of accidental deaths of her loved ones, then by outright murder and cannibalism. She develops inhuman, supernatural abilities…

Reviews:

“It’s easy to condemn Susuk as a fluffy piece of utter nonsense. The movie is silly, will not win awards for acting, has a daft-looking monster and is not scary at all. It is also too long and has an anticlimactic ending. But on the other hand it uses some clever scripting of events, shows its exploitation roots with pride and provides the viewer with an abundance of flashy visuals (including an absolutely gorgeous lead actress).” Ard Vijn, Screen Anarchy

“Somehow, the essence of the story as captured beautifully by having great camera works… seamless shot of scenes from one to another and great acting by the actors…. I think that it’s good that the director does not delve too much on the morality of the subject matter but by showing the consequences of these endless infatuation instead… with a touch of humour” Days with Deen

Cast and characters:

• Diana Rafar – Suraya
• Ida Nerina – Suzana
• Noorkhiriah – Mastura
• Gambit Saifullah – Kamal
• Sofea Jane – Mona
• Aleeza Kassim – Rozana
• Tengku Marina – Aini
• Anne Abdullah – Shasha

Wikipedia | IMDb

Sexual Parasite – aka Sexual Parasite: Killer Pussy – is a 2004 V-cinema Japanese horror film written and directed by Takao Nakano. It was originally titled: 奇性蟲 キラープッシー [Kiseichuu: kiraa pusshii]. It stars Sakurako Kaoru, Natsumi Mitsu and Tomohiro Okada.

Five teenagers enter a deserted jungle and trespass inside an abandoned house only to be haunted by a woman with a monster hidden inside her reproductive organs…

 Reviews:

Seriously, this film riffs on Parasite and The Deadly Spawn so hard it’s almost a joke. It also makes you cast your mind back to other Japanese V-movies like Evil Dead Trap and Entrails of a Virgin or Guts of a Beauty […] There’s some good splatter, if rather low budget, and the same kind of goofy black splat-schtick humour.” Mr. Intolerance, Digital Retribution

“There is also a nice assortment of gore, including a girl getting choked to death with her very own viscera. Overall this is a fast paced, short 60-minute film that delivers a bizarre storyline that is largely entertaining.” Severed Cinema

“This is similar to Cronenberg’s Shivers but with campy gore and exploitative sex and nudity. Theoretically this would deliver to fans of the genre but the nudity isn’t a pretty sight and the whole affair is silly and too low-budget.” The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre

Buy: Amazon.com

“…heck, for anyone who finds the concept of a sinister snatch monster hideously hilarious, Sexual Parasite is the film for you. It won’t provide untold moments of art imitating life realism, or in-depth social redemption, but for a wildly wanton time, this is the horniest genre exercise ever. It’s definitely the most biologically depraved.” Bill Gibron, DVD Talk

Main cast:

Sakurako Kaoru, Natsumi Mitsu, Tomohiro Okada, Togo Okumoto, Toshimichi Tasaki, Kanji Tsuchiya, Sachika Uchiyama, Yumi Yoshiyuki.

IMDb | Related:  Teeth 

‘He can taste your fear’

Jeepers Creepers 2 is a 2003 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Victor Salva (Dark House; Clownhouse). It stars Ray Wise, Jonathan Breck and Luke Edwards and is, obviously, as sequel to Salva’s Jeepers Creepers (2001).

At the box office, the film took $63.1 million against a reported budget of $17 million. An expected yet long-belated sequel, Jeepers Creepers 3, finally arrived in 2017.

The Creeper, disguised as a scarecrow, abducts young Billy Taggart in front of his father and Billy’s older brother. The following day, a school bus carrying a high school basketball team and cheerleaders suffers a blowout, after one of the wheels is hit by a handcrafted shuriken made from bone.

Cheerleader Minxie has a vision of Billy and Darry Jenner, the Creeper’s victim from the first film, who both attempt to warn her about the Creeper. With the party stranded, the Creeper singles out several of the occupants. Minxie has another vision in which Darry explains that every twenty-third spring, for twenty-three days, the creature emerges from hibernation and hunts victims for specific body parts which it then consumes in order to replace those of its own…

On June 14, 2016, Scream Factory released the film on a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray. Special Features Include:

Disc 1:
Audio Commentary by writer/director Victor Salva, and cast members
Audio Commentary by Jonathan Breck (The Creeper), Brad Parker (Production Illustrator), and Brian Penikas (Special Effects Makeup)

Disc 2:
“Jeepers Creepers 2: Then and Now” featuring new interviews with writer/director Victor Salva, director of photography Don FauntLeRoy, editor Ed Marx, and actor Tom Tarantini (22 minutes)
“A Father’s Revenge” – an interview with actor Ray Wise (15 minutes)
“Don’t Get Off the Bus” – interviews with actors Tom Tarantini, Thom Gossom Jr., and Diane Delano (20 minutes)
-“A Day in Hell” – A look at the filming of Jeepers Creepers 2 (26 minutes)
-“Lights, Camera, Creeper: The Making of Jeepers Creepers 2” featuring writer/director Victor Salva, actors Travis Schiffner, Josh Hammond, Billy Aaron Brown, Eric Nenninger, Nicki Aycox, director of photography Don FauntLeRoy, and more (15 minutes)
-“Creeper Creation” featuring interviews with production illustrator Brad Parker, special makeup effects artist Brian Penikas, and Jonathan Breck (12 minutes)
-“The Orphanage” visual effects reel (4 minutes)
-“Creeper Composer” – an interview with composer Bennett Salvay and writer/director Victor Salva (10 minutes)
-Storyboard Renditions of Scenes Not Filmed – “The Creeper’s Lair” and “Ventriloquist Creeper”
-Deleted Scenes (16 minutes)
-Photo Gallery
-Theatrical Trailer

Buy: Amazon.com

Reviews:

“Few things are scarier than a sequel to a bad movie, but, in fact, Jeepers Creepers 2 is substantially better than its predecessor, even while staying strictly within the genre’s well-defined boundaries […] Bennett Salvay’s score may be hugely derivative — bits of Stravinsky, Bartok, and Marius Constant’s Twilight Zone theme drift through — but it’s very effective.” Andy Klein, Variety

“Instantly taking to the meals-on-wheels concept, the creature selectively dines out on the captive students, and any remaining inventiveness and suspense has exited quicker than the air in the stranded vehicle’s tires […] while it may have minimized location setups, the concept gets old really quickly, and it certainly doesn’t help matters when those bickering kids are so annoying that the Creeper can’t seem to pluck them away fast enough.” Michael Rechtshaffen, The Hollywood Reporter

“JC 2 is by no means a great film, but it is a good one, especially if you’ve been disappointed by a lot of Teen Slashers out there right now. It’s probably too straightforward for its own good, and the middle, when the Creeper calmly takes its time assaulting the bus, might be a bit too slow for the teen crowd. Still, the film has enough action, suspense, and good special effects to satisfy most people.” Beyond Hollywood

“Jeepers Creepers 2 is competently made, but it lacks the suspense – and the scares – of its predecessor. As a sequel it delivers on bigger set pieces, improved special effects, and more bloodshed, but the writing fails to give us any compelling characters. The teenagers are entirely unlikeable, and I found myself excited by the prospect of watching the Creeper turn their school bus into a smörgåsbord.” Adam Frazier, Geeks of Doom

“The most notable character on the bus is Scott Braddock (Eric Nenninger), a virulent homophobe who doth, I think, protest too much as he accuses fellow team members of being gay […] To call the characters on the bus paper-thin would be a kindness. Too bad, then, that we spend so much time on the bus, listening to their wretched dialogue and watching as they race from one window to another to see what foul deeds are occurring outside.” RogerEbert.com

“JC 2 is by no means a great film, but it is a good one, especially if you’ve been disappointed by a lot of Teen Slashers out there right now. It’s probably too straightforward for its own good, and the middle, when the Creeper calmly takes its time assaulting the bus, might be a bit too slow for the teen crowd. Still, the film has enough action, suspense, and good special effects to satisfy most people.” Beyond Hollywood

“Jeepers Creepers 2 looks far more elaborate, and yet…it’s nowhere near as frightening as the first half hour or so of the original, nor is it any more coherent or meaningful than the original’s last half hour. Gloss has overtaken terror here, as director Salva indulges in longer and longer takes of wide, wide shots that certainly look pretty […], but which are inevitably drained of any substantial tension or suspense.” Paul Mavis, DVD Drive-In

Cast and characters:

• Jonathan Breck as the Creeper
• Ray Wise as Jack Taggart, Sr. (Halloweed; Suburban Gothic; Big Ass Spider!, et al)
• Luke Edwards as Jack “Jackie” Taggart, Jr.
• Garikayi Mutambirwa as Deaundre “Double D” Davis
• Nicki Aycox as Minxie Hayes
• Eric Nenninger as Scott “Scotty” Braddock
• Travis Schiffner as Izzy Bohen
• Marieh Delfino as Rhonda Truitt
• Billy Aaron Brown as Andy “Bucky” Buck
• Lena Cardwell as Chelsea Farmer
• Josh Hammond as Jake Spencer
• Al Santos as Dante Belasco
• Kasan Butcher as Kimball “Big K” Ward
• Drew Tyler Bell as Jonny Young
• Diane Delano as Bus Driver Betty Borman
• Thom Gossom, Jr. as Coach Charlie Hanna
• Tom Tarantini as Coach Dwayne Barnes
• Shaun Fleming as Billy Taggart
• Justin Long as Darius “Darry” Jenner

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘He’s just a scream away.’

Engine Trouble – aka Junior and Damned Forest – is a 2002 Belgian slasher horror film directed by Marc Ickx from a screenplay co-written with Liam Bradley. It stars Cecilia Bergqvist, Bob Dougherty and Marcel Romeijn.

Originally released in the US on DVD via Lionsgate Pictures as well as on Showtime Cable Television in standard definition, it is now available via SGL Entertainment for the first time in high definition widescreen, with a new edit. Blu-ray, DVD and VOD releases will follow via MVD Entertainment, Allied Vaughn and others.

When Sandra and Rebecca borrow a car for a weekend adventure, the girls decide to go for a car trip to the country for sun, fun and relaxation.

However, when they take a shortcut that lands them smack dab in the middle of nowhere and their car breaks down, an adventure begins that may be the very last one they take.

When a tow truck happens by the stranded car, but what seems like a godsend quickly turns into a nightmare. The “good” people at the gas station act oddly, hiding something that the girls could not have ever imagined…

Reviews:

“The most offensive thing about the movie is that it runs 90+ minutes, despite only having a pair of protagonists (a lesbian couple, one of the movie’s few somewhat novel ideas), an obvious plot you’ve seen in 596 other movies, and (ironically enough) a fairly quick route to the point of the movie where the car breaks down – it’s only like 15 minutes or so into it when someone who has never seen a movie before would recognize that something was amiss.” Brian W. Collins, Horror Movie a Day

“Director/co-writer Mark Ickx doesn’t have any idea how to stage scenes of horror even managing to make a decapitation scene boring and when you pair that with a script that’s muddled at best you’re in for trouble. If they were going for a distinct look for their killer they should have maybe not made him look like they basically rummaged in a trunk and threw together something in a few minutes.” Chris Hartley, The Video Graveyard

Main cast:

Cecilia Bergqvist, Bob Dougherty, Marcel Romeijn, Marlene Simons, Christa De Vries, Corine Boon, Arlette Adriani, Ron Smoorenburg, Karin Van Duuren, Sharon Gosler.

Filming locations:

Kortrijk and Lombardsijde, Belgium

Trivia:

Director Marc Ickx previously composed the soundtrack for Lucker the Necrophagous (1986).

IMDb

‘Born from a terrifying true tale…’

Beast Beneath – aka The Wrath – is a 2007 American horror film directed by Julian Higgins (Poker Run) from a screenplay co-written with Bertie Higgins. It stars Kristina Morales, Daniel Bonjour and Bertie Higgins.

The film is erroneously listed twice on IMDb as both The Wrath and Beast Beneath. In the UK, it received a DVD release in 2010 as Wolfman.

A large ranch, in the area now known as Griffith Park in Los Angeles, belonged to Don Antonio Feliz in 1861. The Don’s best friend and a greedy attorney stole the property by orchestrating an illegal will at the Don’s deathbed.

After unsuccessfully contesting the will in court, the Don’s blind niece, Petranilla, invokes a curse that remains to the present day…

Two young lovers are horribly mutilated and murdered in Griffith Park. Meanwhile, Angelina Feliz, a descendant of the Don, finds a map showing a hidden treasure underneath the park. Unfortunately, it seems that a terrifying creature guards the treasure deep in a cave. Those who come close to the cave [Bronson Cave] meet an untimely, bloody death…

“Monster movies often live or die by their titular terrors – suffice to say that the less we see of this particular hairy scary, the better […] Even so, if you’re feeling less than discriminating and are in the mood to watch a modern day ghost tale with a lycanthropic spin, plus a dollop of Southern Californian history on the side, this just might serve the turn.” Aaron Christensen, Horror 101

” …the prosthetics work is okay. The creature isn’t spectacular but it isn’t painful to look at. Kind of an interesting beast, visually speaking. It isn’t really utilized very well, and all of the killing scenes look like gentle nuzzles […] The rest of my issues lie within the dialogue. It’s really bad.” Rooster Illusion Reviews

Main cast:

Kristina Morales, Daniel Bonjour, Bertie Higgins, Roy Vongtama, Joel Bryant, Kurt Sinclair, Eddie Hedges, Tom Hippler, J.D. Rudometkin, Luis Fernandez-Gil, Tenelle Cadogan, Francisco Javier Gomez, Rhett Nadolny, Jessica Barbery, Bill Devlin.

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Filming locations:

Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

IMDb: Beast Beneath | IMDb: The Wrath

The Hills Run Red is a 2009 American slasher horror film directed by Dave Parker (It Watches; The Dead Hate the Living) and written by David J. Schow (Abbatoir; Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III; Critters 3 and 4). Sophie Monk, Tad Hilgenbrink and William Sadler star.

Tyler is obsessed with the horror film ‘The Hills Run Red’, considered the scariest movie ever made, with the deranged serial killer Babyface in the lead role. However, the film’s director, Wilson Wyler Concannon, disappeared years ago and there is no known copy of the movie. Tyler’s obsession with the film leads him to neglect his girlfriend Serena.

When Tyler discovers that Concannon’s daughter Alexa works in a nightclub as a stripper, he decides to meet her and ask about the lost film.

He visits Alexa and asks her about the project. As she gives him a nude lap dance, the audience sees Serena cheating on Tyler with their best friend Lalo. Alexa informs Tyler that the movie might be in her father’s home in the woods…

Reviews:

“What starts off as a potential “young people stalked in the woods” flick mutates into something much more original, twisted, sick and plain entertaining around the halfway mark. Once Concannon shows up, very much alive and well, this rollercoaster takes a whole new direction and very soon you’re forced to abandon what you think is going to happen and just sit back for the ride.” Gareth Jones, Dread Central

“This maniacal, gory, and smart slasher is exactly what we need more of in the sub-genre. While it does try its hand at being a “Scream” wannabe in some instances, that doesn’t affect what is a maddening, sick and entertaining slasher film with a great new slasher, some interesting horror villains, and a wicked premise that provides us with chills, thrills, and gory, gory kills.” Felix Vasquez, Cinema Crazed

“The Hills Run Red has a solid and interesting, if not entirely original, premise and a terrifying antagonist in ‘Babyface’ but it suffers from a script that’s not nearly as clever and knowing as it thinks it is and some poor plot development. While not a completely wasted opportunity, given the promise it had it ends up feeling a little too much like the prosaic slasher flick that we’ve seen a million times before.” Sarah Law, Gore Press

“While The Hills Run Red isn’t blazingly original, that’s not the point with this film. It’s a flick for film geeks by film geeks, horror film geeks in particular. A lot of times, when a film is too self-referential or pandering to “that 70’s/80’s vibe”, I’m usually coughing into my sleeve by the end of the first reel. But in the case of The Hills Run Red, all the tropes work.” Sean Smithson, Screen Anarchy

“Really, the biggest knock against The Hills Run Red is that it doesn’t offer anything new; then again, slashers have always been caught up in the conundrum of being criticized when they simply rehash and then bashed when they try something new. This effort plays it safe, and it succeeds in delivering what audiences should expect from it (nudity and gore).” Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror!

Cast and characters:

• Sophie Monk as Alexa (Blood Feast [2016]; Life Blood)
• Tad Hilgenbrink as Tyler (Amusement; Lost Boys: The Tribe; Grave Situations)
• William Sadler as Concannon
• Janet Montgomery as Serina
• Alex Wyndham as Lalo
• Ewan Bailey as Sonny
• Joy McBrinn as Belle
• Raicho Vasilev as Babyface
• Mike Straub as Gabe
• Hristo Mitzkov as Jimbo
• Ekaterina Temelkova as Sherri
• Danko Jordanov as Actor Babyface
• Itai Diakov as Teen Babyface

Filming locations:

Bulgaria

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘The Retro-Monster Comedy That’s Really NOT For Kids!’

Transylvania Television is an American TV series that has aired on various online platforms since 2007. It was created by Michael J. Heagle and Gordon Smuder. It stars the voices of Gordon Smuder, Michael J. Heagle and Charles Hubbell.

The show is a puppet-based sitcom for grown ups starring a nosferatu-like vampire named Count LeShoc, a party Yeti named Furry J. Ackermonster, Irving Batfink the majordomo of Castle LeShoc, Miss Mansfeild the disembodied skull, Esmerelda the gypsy woman, and Dwayne Frankenstein.

Although the last of the 51 episodes were created in 2012, there is apparently an intention to film new material in 2017.

900 year-old vampire Le Shoc is running a beat-down TV station in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania. He’s in dire need to pull it out of the toilet, so with the help of his Beatnik minion Batfink, they enlist college graduate Furry J. Ackermonster to be the station’s new manager. Assisted by the smartly stupid Dwayne Frankenstein, the three unleash the Frankenstein device that allows it to resurrect canceled shows and turns them into a twisted parody. The show takes aim at multiple B-movie monsters and clichés.

Reviews:

“Remarkably, and consistently, amusing, I can’t really go through the plot as there is pretty much not one.” Taliesin Meets the Vampires

Filming locations:

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

IMDb | Official website |  Facebook

Ouija Board – original titles: Bunshinsaba aka 분신사바 – is a 2004 South Korean supernatural horror film written and directed by Ahn Byeong-ki (Bunshinsaba [2012] and sequels; Apt.; Phone; Nightmare). Kim Gyu-ri, Lee Yoo-ri and Lee Se-eun star. In 2006, Tokyo Shock released the film on DVD in North America as Witch Board.

Lee Yoo-jin is a transfer student from Seoul, and along with two of her friends, she is constantly bullied by a group of classmates.

One night, Yoo-jin and her friends decide to place a curse on their enemies by creating a Ouija board on which they write the names of the female bullies.

Using the Bunshinsaba curse, her friend warns the others not to open their eyes until the spell is finished. The calling takes effect, and Yoo-jin, somewhat curious, opens her eyes. To her shock and horror, she sees an image of a pale-like dead girl with long hair beside her.

The next morning when Yoo-jin enters the classroom, she discovers the corpse of one of the bullies on top of the desk, with a burned face.

Meanwhile, the school hires a volunteer teacher, Lee Eun-ju, as the new art instructor. She starts to call the roll in her class and stumbles on seat number 29 as she mentions the name of a deceased girl, Kim In-sook. The students are terrified when they hear the name, and rush out of the classroom when they see her talking to thin air…

Reviews:

“Bunshinsaba is another disappointment for those looking for clever original entries in the Asian horror genre, but one that is relatively entertaining on an ‘assaulting the senses’ level. Fans of Phone will also get a kick out of the final reveal which is a welcome nod to the audience from the director.” Dave Foster, The Digital Fix 

” …the Asian horror film ceased to be “new” when it refused to innovate, and simply repeated the tropes of its genre ad nauseam. The result is a movie like Bunshinsaba, which has the budget to make something good, but instead seems unconcern, or unwilling, to even make an attempt. As such, you won’t find an Asian film more generic, derivative, and uninspired as Bunshinsaba”. Beyond Hollywood

“It’s a spooky and entertaining film with an engaging mystery. It has some flaws in its storytelling, which can be confusing, but the horror makes up for its shortcomings. By no means is it perfect, but it is definitely an entertaining treat for fans of ghost stories. And if you’re a fan of ghost stories, you should be watching Bunshinsaba.” Korean Movie Reviews

“Witch Board: Bunshinsaba is so derivative that it feels like the work of a hack, shamelessly ripping off other movies. Of course, Byeong-ki Ahn has never been noted for his originality, and his previous screenplays feel as if he cherry-picked favorite elements from other horror films. At least in Phone, he managed to synthesize these fragments into a coherent murder-mystery-drama in which the horror scenes acted as visceral punctuation marks.” Steve Biodrowski , Cinefantastique

“Honestly, I was surprised. Yes, this film borrowed from/was inspired by a number of films. Some of it could be purely inference from me, while other parts are hard to ignore. With that out of the way, I actually kind of liked it. Now bear in mind that I’m not a huge fan of K-Horror. So, if you happen to be one, you may like it even more!” Mondo Bizarro

Cast and characters:

• Kim Gyu-ri as Lee Eun-ju (Nightmare; Whispering Corridors)
• Lee Yoo-ri as Kim In-sook (TV series: The Haunted School 4)
• Lee Se-eun as Lee Yoo-jin (Bloody Beach)
• Choi Seong-min as Han Jae-hoon/Mr. Han
• Choi Jung-yoon as Ho-kyung

International release titles:

Germany: Possessed – Besessen
France: Incantations
Philippines (English title): Ouija Board: Bunshinsaba
Russia: Заклятие смерти
USA (DVD title): Witch Board

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘Sent from Hell … to feed on flesh’

Shapeshifter is a 2005 American supernatural horror film directed by Gregory Lemkin from a screenplay co-written with A. Everett Howe. The Asylum production stars Jennifer Lee Wiggins, Ocean Marciano, Chris Facey.

Inmates and guards alike become trapped in a maximum security prison when they fall prey to a demonic beast that feeds on human flesh. As the creature’s power multiplies with every kill, their only chance for survival is to uncover the ancient mystery that holds the power of the shapeshifter…

Reviews:

“Shapeshifter’s biggest flaw arrives hard and fast, and it’s not the off-cue opening rap music, the pointless sex scene between a man and his hooker, or the yellow color palette that hurts the eyes. It’s actually the Shapeshifter itself, a mysterious character that loses all ambiguity when the movie reveals him in full view within the first three minutes of the movie.”

” …director Gregory Lemkin (who also co-wrote) decides to shoot most of the attack sequences using the typical hyperactive camera and blurring most low-budget movies use to try and hide the fact their creature is just a “man in a suit” – which I find unnecessary as the film’s main audience are people used to this sort of thing.” Chris Hartley, The Video Graveyard

“Instead of character development, Shapeshifter jumps right to the gooey stuff right to the gore. I like gore don’t get me wrong here, but if you are going to go straight to the gore… you might as well do away with your plot while you’re at it. Such films to do so were films like Nikos the Impaler and boy did that reek.” Rick L. Blalock, Terror Hook

The monster looked pretty good and the movie had some decent gore effects, opening up with Leigh Scott getting ripped to shreds which I’m sure delighted many who saw Transmorphers and also the Green Mile Brother who went mano a monstero with the creature which was a pretty one sided affair…” Christopher Armstead, Film Critics United

Main cast:

Jennifer Lee Wiggins (American Exorcism; Bled; I Am Omega), Ocean Marciano, Chris Facey (Good Satan), Vaz Andreas, Marat Glazer, Thomas Downey, Joel Hebner, A.J. Hammond, Steven Glinn, Byron Washington, Charles Schneider, Louis Mendoza, Bobby James, Brian J. Garland, Elliot Ruiz.

Filming locations:

Lincoln Heights Jail, 401 N. Avenue 19, Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles, California, USA

Red band trailer:

IMDb

‘A new dawn has arrived’

666: The Child is a 2006 American supernatural horror film directed by Jack Perez [as Jake Johnson] (Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus; Monster Island) from a screenplay by Benjamin Henry [as Ben Henry]. The Asylum production stars Adam Vincent, Booboo Stewart and Sarah Lieving.

It should not be confused with the 2012 film 666: the Devil’s Child. A sequel, 666: The Beast, followed in 2007.

After a plane crash in which a boy – Donald – is the only survival, famous TV anchorwoman Erika Lawson convinces her husband and cameraman Scott to adopt the child. They bring Donald home and Scott’s father Big Jake offers to take care of him while the couple works.

However, after a series of bizarre accidents that includes the death of Jake, the nanny Lucy Fir comes to the Lawson’s home to work. However, Lucy is actually a follower of the Antichrist and together with Donald, they bring more tragedies to the Lawson’s family…

Reviews:

“It’s The Omen, but made for $500 in Los Angeles and with no creativity. The Evil Nanny actually does less, not even killing herself in this film. In this film, she shows her tits, stands near Not Damien and then dies in the finale. Most of the characters have even less to do. Lieving, for as much as I dislike her here (and in most films) does little other than react to previous scenes…” Mondo Bizarro

“Partly a spoof of The Omen and the many other films about evil little boys, it’s unfortunately never at any time funny, unless you think such things as citing the number 6 several times is just oh so witty […] Pretending to be spoofy seems merely the fall-back position when exploitation filmmakers dash off some product exactly like several others, but get everything wrong.” Weird Wild Realm

As a horror movie, 666: The Child is absolutely worthless. As an Omen rip-off, 666: The Child is hopelessly inept. As an “I cannot believe how freakin’ stupid this movie is” MST3K worthy film, 666: The Child is a real humdinger.” Foywonder, B-Ware The Blog!

“This is theoretically a spoof of “spawn of Satan” films, and had they made it clearer in pre-release, or even on the DVD box, that this was a spoof, the film might have been better received. As it stood, the fans of Asylum Films expected horror, and were not pleased. On the other hand, even if we assume a spoof, it is of dubious value.” Uncle Scoopy’s Movie House

Main cast:

Adam Vincent, Booboo Stewart, Sarah Lieving, Rodney Bowman, Nora J. Novak, Lucy Doty, Bob McEwen, Kim Little, Katie Winslow, Reza Riazi, Robert Pike Daniel, D.C. Douglas, Maegan Stewart, Ana Berry, Jason S. Gray.

Filming locations:

Simi Valley, California, USA
Stewart’s Film and Television – Burbank, California, USA
Valley Village, Los Angeles, California, USA

IMDb | Plot synopsis by Claudio Carvalho

666: The Beast is a 2007 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Nick Everhart (The Penny Dreadful Picture Show; Chilling Visions: 5 Senses of Fear, segment ‘Smell’) based on characters created by Benjamin Henry (666: The Child). The Asylum production stars Chad Mathews, Makinna Ridgway and Alma S. Grey

Donald Lawson, the devil child from 666: The Child, is now an adult, involved in big business, and is determined to fulfill his destiny as the Antichrist…

Reviews:

“There’s very little going on and absolutely no suspense to any of it aside from a few failed scares not generated by a creepy old bag lady who pops up on the street to hiss menacingly at Donald’s wife every now and then. There are, however, endless amounts of speechifying. We get business talk, religious gobbledygook talk, and occasional family squabbling. Bland actors reciting banal dialogue does not make for a good time.” The Foywonder, Dread Central

” …just cribs from a bunch of Devil movies, most notably End of Days, with a handful of Devil’s Advocate and a dash of Omen III for good measure. I’ve certainly seen worse from the company, but it was quite disappointing to see that they didn’t follow on the Final Destination-esque death scenes this time around – in fact the few deaths are pretty dull even by average standards.” Brian W. Collins, Horror Movie a Day

“The acting was sub-par and I felt like I was watching three movies all mashed into one (Stigmata, The Omen, and The Devils Advocate) […] There was nothing I would classify as gore, and there was very little blood. Given you have such demonic material to work with as a sequel looking at the first movie, hardly anything was brought out. Not once was I tense, scared, or sickened.” Quiet Earth

Main cast

Chad Mathews, Makinna Ridgway (Grimm; short: Shark Pool), Alma S. Grey (Don’t Look Up; Diary of a Serial Killer; 666: The Child), Amol Shah, Collin Brock, Giovanni Bejarano, Doug Burch, Justin Spanko, Damien Puckler, Justin Jones, Domiziano Arcangeli, Stephen Blackehart, Sam Ingraffia, Chris Alan, Sarah Silver.

Filming locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

International titles:

Germany – Das Omen des Bösen
Germany (reissue title) – Der Antichrist
Hungary – 666: A szörnyeteg
UK (DVD title) – 666: The Priest

IMDb

George Andrew Romero (February 4, 1940 – July 16, 2017) was an American-Canadian (dual citizenship) filmmaker, writer and editor, best known for his gore-filled and satirical horror films.

Peter Grunwald, the director’s longtime producing partner announced that Romero died in his sleep while listening to the soundtrack of one his favourite films, The Quiet Man (1952), having suffered a “brief but aggressive battle with lung cancer.” Romero was attended by his wife, Suzanne Desrocher Romero, and daughter, Tina Romero.

Romero was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1940. He studied at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, graduating in 1960. He began his filmmaking career making shorts and adverts.

In 1968, Romero and co-writer John Russo persuaded friends to finance Night of the Living Dead, based on Richard Matheson’s novel I Am Legend (itself filmed several times). Filmed in black and white on a budget of just $114,000, it became one of the most successful independent films of all-time, pulling in $30 million, and a seminal genre-changing horror icon.

A decade later, Romero came up with the equally important consumers-as-zombies sequel, Dawn of the Dead (1978 – partly financed with Italian backing via Dario Argento) and remade by Zack Synder in 2004.

The claustrophobic and intense Day of the Dead (1985) split critics and was not as well received by the public (they thronged to the comedic silliness of the same year’s The Return of the Living Dead instead). However, major studio backing allowed Romero to bounce back with the epic, impressive and financially successful Land of the Dead (1990). The same year, Romero also scripted makeup maestro Tom Savini’s remake of Night of the Living Dead.

Two lower budgeted and more personal movies, Diary of the Dead (2007 – a take on the found footage phenomenon) and Survival of the Dead (2009), rounded out Romero’s vision of the ‘zombie apocalypse’; a horror sub-genre that has spawned countless imitations and offshoots, such as his own son’s project Zombies (2017).

Romero’s final credits are for writing his contribution to the 2017 seconds remake of Day of the Dead (2017 – directed by Hèctor Hernández Vicens) and co-scripting comedy horror Road of the Dead, shooting in 2018. A TV series, based on Romero’s Marvel graphic novels, Empire of the Dead, is also in development.

Away from his zombie universe, Romero also directed There’s Always Vanilla (1971), Season of the Witch (1972) and The Crazies (1973), Martin (1978 – a unique take on vampire mythology), Knightriders (1981), Creepshow (1982 – a comedic horror anthology written by Stephen King), Monkey Shines (1988), Two Evil Eyes (1990), Stephen King’s The Dark Half (1993), and Bruiser (2000). Romero also found time to pen the script for Creepshow 2 (1987) and direct a zombie-themed music video for rock band Misfits’ 1999 single ‘Scream’.

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

A personal tribute to George A. Romero

Sifting through the veritable mountain of tributes that have been flooding the internet since the announcement that the film world lost one of its truly great auteurs today, it seems to me that almost all of them miss a vital point : sure, the man, myth, and legend that was George A. Romero is among a small handful of people — Stephen King, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Bernie Wrightson — who re-defined and frankly revolutionized horror across all media in the late 20th/early 21st centuries; he was beloved by fans for not only his staggering body of work but also his warm and engaging personality and infectious, perpetually-youthful enthusiasm; and there’s no doubt that he will forever be regarded as The King of the Zombie Movie. These are all givens. But what most people fail to remark upon — perhaps because the aforementioned alone are more than enough to cement a legacy that, like his zombies, will never die — is that Romero was also one of the most important, and trailblazing, independent filmmakers of all time.

I’ll tell you who never lost sight of that fact for a second, though — all the celebrated indie directors who followed in his wake. Go on, ask folks like Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith or Edgar Wright (read the latter’s personal tribute here) where they’d be without the road map Romero set out for them, they’ll tell you: nowhere. When a guy with a background in commercial and industrial film production hustles up $114,000, heads out to a Pittsburgh-area cemetery in 1968, and makes a flick that not only changes the face of a genre forever but plays both drive-ins and “proper” movie-houses for literally years on end, it fundamentally alters the definition of what is possible, and gives birth to the notion in many eager young minds that, hey, maybe they can do this one day, too.

Simon Pegg, George A. Romero and Edgar Wright

Here’s the damndest thing of all, though — Romero affected this fundamental shift not just once, but twice. Ten years on from Night of the Living Dead, he doubled-down on his claim to cinematic immortality with Dawn of the Dead, a rising tide that lifted any number of boats along with it. Just ask Tom Savini. Or Ken Foree. Or Goblin. Sure, they’d all done fine work in the past — and would continue to do so — but would any of them have risen to legendary status absent their involvement with Romero’s masterwork?

While we’re at it, let’s try to imagine the contemporary horror landscape had Romero never happened: there’s no 28 Days Later, a film that made its mark by dint of its open flouting of Romero’s unwritten-but-so-effective-everyone-else-followed-them “rules.” There’s no Zombie (or Zombie Flesh Eaters, if you prefer). There’s sure as hell no Walking Dead.

Like any number of artistic standard-setters, then, Romero gave birth to a veritable slew of either outright imitators on the low end or more slick, mass-audience-friendly progeny on the high, and surely others (thanks to an infamous copyright indicia oversight) profited from the fruits of his imagination, either directly or indirectly, more than he ever did himself — but if he let that bother him, he certainly never showed it: George was indie to the core, and while he did some damn fine work for the studios intermittently over the years (The Dark Half, Monkey Shines, Creepshow), after returning to the by-then-an-industry he’d created with Land of the Dead, he couldn’t wait to get back to his low-budget, DIY roots.

Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead may not have been as well-received as Night or Dawn or Day of the Dead, but do yourself a favor in the coming days as you program your home-viewing Romero marathons: watch ’em again with an open mind and tell me that they don’t feel like the work of a guy who’s absolutely in his element, making the kinds of movies he wants to make, saying the things he wants to say, with an admirable lack of concern for commercial considerations.

And while you’re perusing through his unjustly-less-celebrated works, don’t forget to give Martin a go and silently weep for what the vampire genre could have become if it had chosen to follow Romero’s lead rather than Anne Rice’s; enjoy the ethereal and intriguing admitted near-miss that is Season of the Witch; frighten the living shit out of yourself with The Crazies, a film every bit as prophetic as his zombie tales; check out Knightriders for proof positive that he could step outside horror altogether and produce a damn-near-sprawling moody character-driven drama tinged with understated melancholy. There’s a lot to choose from, and all of them are “master-class” offerings on how to do a whole lot with very little by way of resources — other than the two most important, vision and will.

Others have commented — and will continue to do so — on the expert analysis Romero offered on subjects ranging from racism to consumerism to sexism to Cold War and post-9/11 “security state” paranoia in his films, and it’s no secret that he proudly wore his “social justice warrior” bona fides on his sleeve well before that term became either a badge of honour or an intellectually lazy, reactionary insult, depending on who’s using it.

Suffice to say, though, that even the most politically conservative viewer would have to admit that what Romero’s perspective revealed was a guy who understood that horror is most effective when it’s rooted in the world we know, and when it both reflects and lays bare certain uncomfortable truths about our society, indeed or reality, that we’d rather not talk about. George understood, intuitively it seems, the words of the late, great Walt Kelly — “we have met the enemy, and he is us.”

This writer would humbly suggest that we lost a whole lot more than the father of the modern zombie movie. We lost a pioneering independent filmmaker, an insightful social and political commentator, and a singular artistic talent. We lost the best there is at what he did, and I don’t think any of us would begrudge him getting back up from the dead for a minute in the least, if only to take a well-deserved victory lap.

Ryan Carey – a version of this personal reflection first appeared on Trash Film Guru

Related: Doc of the Dead (2014)

Martin Landau (June 20, 1928 – July 15, 2017) was an American film and television actor. His career took off in the 1950s, with appearances that included a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959). Later, he had famous roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and mid-70s British sci-fi series Space: 1999.

Landau was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1928. His family was Jewish; his father, an Austrian-born machinist, scrambled to rescue relatives from the Nazis. Aged seventeen, Landau began to work at the New York Daily News, where he spent the next five years as an editorial cartoonist until his decision to focus on acting. By the 1950s, he was working regularly on TV in series such as The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

Landau’s first appearance in a horror film was in the obscure TV movie The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre (1964), notable mainly for it being scripted and co-directed by Psycho writer Joseph Stefano. Terrified of being buried alive by mistake, a woman puts a phone in her crypt to be able to call home if she needs help. She dies and nothing happens. One day, the phone suddenly rings. Paranormal investigator Nelson Orion (Landau) is brought in to investigate.

In a 1966 episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Landau was up against Robert Vaughn and David McCallum playing Count Zark, a Thrush agent, who operates from Transylvania and has developed a worldwide menace involving bats nicknamed ‘Operation Nightflight’. Evil Zark’s castle even had a moat filled with piranhas! With Landau in full-on heavy accented Lugosi mode, it must be assumed that Tim Burton or one of his associates may have recalled this deliberately OTT performance when casting for Ed Wood (1994), not that they mentioned it publicly.

A 1979 television version of Edgar Allan Poe‘s The Fall of the House of Usher gave Landau the opportunity to ham it up as none other than Roderick Usher himself. As if naturally, this romp led to a slew of early 1980s horror/sci-fi roles in low budget but fun alien invasion movies Without Warning (1980, with Jack Palance), The Return (1980) and The Being (1980 but released 1983), plus slasher Alone in the Dark (1982, alongside Donald Pleasence and Jack Palance, again).

Rounding out the 1980s, Fred Olen Ray cast Landau in his science fiction action movie Cyclone. But it wasn’t all ‘B’ movies, critically acclaimed roles in Tucker: The Man and His Dreams (1988) and Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) led to an upsurge in Landau’s career that culminated in the aforementioned performance as Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood. Landau studied Lugosi’s career extensively and excelled as the drug-addled Hungarian horror icon (“This is the most uncomfortable coffin I’ve been in!”).

Five years later, Burton’s Sleepy Hollow provided the actor with an uncredited cameo appearance, as a nod to his earlier lauded performance, and he voiced Mr. Rzykruski in the same director’s animated and exquisite Frankenweenie (2012).

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

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