Fear of the Dark

"TRUE HORROR HAS BEEN UNLEASHED!"

The Todd Sheets madness continues! Today we're taking a look at the last film Todd made before going on his near decade long horror hiatus. Fear of the Dark follows a group of delinquent girls taking part in a program that requires them to stay in a creepy building for a few days. Soon after they get settled in, all kinds of alarming things start taking place. The power is on the fritz, there are papers scattered all around about the history of the building as well. It's discovered that many years ago, the building was used as an orphanage. The orphanage was later shut down after the children slowly went missing.

The group of girls are spread throughout the building doing their work and meanwhile each of them are experiencing their own set or problems. Warden Wanda, who is leading this operation, gets the worst of it. She is greeted by a naked woman who vanishes into thin air. Don't be alarmed though, the fun has just begun. She is quickly replaced with an aggressive dominatrix. The dominatrix takes control of Wanda and yells out orders, like, "Lick my boot!" and, my favorite "LICK ME AND TAKE MY NECTAR!!". The dominatrix then goes down on Wanda, and apparently, she really knows how to treat a lady. Wanda's vagina begins to ooze some worrisome green goo. Terrifying vaginas will continue to be a theme throughout this film, so if that's your thing you are in luck. Rather than lighting up a cigarette after this experience, Wanda decides that a sexed up bloodthirsty rampage is the way to go.

Meanwhile a few of the other girls are quite creeped out. In typical Todd Sheets fashion, they decide that a seance would be their best bet at getting to the bottom of things. One of the girls channels some spirits that explain they are in need of help. Unfortunately not all of the spirits within the building are quite so nice. The seance takes a rough turn and the majority of the girls blackout. From here on the spirits begin to show themselves and everything goes to hell in a handbasket. The ultimate battle for survival is at hand as the remaining mortals must fight to shatter the horrible history that has lingered and haunted the area for years.

Fear of the Dark is an all out gore and sex extravaganza that wastes no time getting to the goods. Once the spirits start to really run the show, the movie completely derails into a feast of gory perversions. The remaining security guard in the group comes to a realization. With the SECURITY t-shirt he received, came great responsibility. Luckily, he is fully prepared to fulfill his duties. When things get real, he has his sword fighting and ability to rattle off one liners down to a science. As soon as he goes into full blown badass mode things take a ridiculously fun turn. The effects in this flick are awesomely gruesome. The only complaint to be had here is that the lighting at times makes it a bit hard to bask in the full glory of the nastiness. As usual with these mid-era Sheets films there are also a few CGI effects that do their job. The performances are actually fairly solid throughout as well.

Overall Fear of the Dark is another crazy fun installment into Mr. Sheets filmography. Prior to Sheets comeback, I'd say this is his movie with the best crossover appeal to please mainstream audiences, although greats like Zombie Bloodbath and Violent New Breed aren't far behind. The film does have a few shortcomings with the lighting, but otherwise there is nothing but good things to say about it. I highly recommend this one to micro-budget horror fans. Plus, we almost get a glimpse at Pamela Anderson's plastic juggage! GET IT!

Catacombs

"THERE"S A NEW FACE IN TERROR!"

Catacombs is a supernatural slasher flick from 2000 directed by Todd Sheets. This was one of the last films Sheets directed before taking a long hiatus from horror filmmaking. Kansas City has had a long reputation for having some of the best haunted houses the US has to offer and this film was set in one of them that shares the same name. The movie offers up a wide variety of things all horror fans love. Loaded with gore, atmosphere, intense lighting and just a dash of some classic blaxploitation goodness there's something here for everyone to enjoy.

Catacombs follows a group of horror fans that get summoned to a fear study at the world famous Catacombs haunted house. We get a pretty diverse cast of characters to watch get brutalized. Personal favorites of mine include a wannabe thug who will go Columbine on yo ass if you deprive him of his blunts, and of course, the loud mouthed horror fanatic who writes scripts for Troma. As a surprise for the participants the dynamic duo Mack Brazzle and Durville Sweet come into the fold as well. The conductor of the study splits them up into small groups and sends them into the haunted house to roam around. It is quickly revealed that they are not alone in the building. There's a silent killer in a white mask lurking in the darkness just waiting to shed the blood of whoever crosses his path.

As the group begins to drop like flies everyone begins to wonder whether something serious is happening or the study was just rigged to scare the living hell out of them. Unfortunately for them this is much more than just a cruel joke and nobody is safe in the Catacombs. Once the killer reveals his true motive the stakes raise with a demonic force coming into play. Our white masked killer is merely a servant to a demon that needs souls to feed on. Now the remainder of the group is forced to battle not only with the crazed maniac but also his legion of forces from the beyond. The epic battle ensues with some of those classic kung-fu kicks from Durville Sweet, but will the group be able to overcome the onslaught of the occult powers that be?

This flick is loaded with awesome death scenes. My personal favorite would have to be the nod to Fulci's City of the Living Dead. We get a double death here featuring some good old fashioned gut regurgitation and a press drill making it's way through a skull. There's also plenty more where that came from for all you splatter fans out there. For each gore shot seen you'll be happy to know that there's another one just as disgusting right around the corner. On top of all the gore we also get some pretty solid CGI effects. Sheets is one of the first shoestring budget directors that comes to mind to use effects like these in his films.


Overall Catacombs is a fun low budget slasher. There have been many flicks over the years that take place in haunted houses and the result isn't always satisfactory. That being said when Sheets sets something there it is always a recipe for greatness. The setting of Catacombs gives a naturally eerie atmosphere. The lighting is perfect, along with the set pieces and even the entrance to the building. What more could you ask for? The moment they step through that entrance the tone changes completely. Highly recommend this one to those into low budget horror. I've been on the search for it for years and it definitely didn't disappoint! GET IT!

House of Forbidden Secrets

"SOME THINGS SHOULD STAY BURIED..."

House of Forbidden Secrets is Todd Sheets big return to horror after going nearly a decade without releasing a film. After watching Spirits I was very pleasantly surprised that the two films tie together. House of Forbidden Secrets gives a deeper look into the tale of the brothel that was briefly touched on in Spirits. Where Spirits honed in on pure, unrelenting suspense, Forbidden Secrets brings the suspense, gore, atmosphere and a plot with almost as many turns as the labyrinth within it. 

It's Jacob's first day on the job as a security guard at the Shadowview Manor. He comes in for work and gets introduced to the colorful group of people who stay in the building after hours. One of which is a clairvoyant woman who does occasional séances for people in the building. Although Jacob is very superstitious about messing with the occult he joins in on the circle after a bit or peer pressure. The seance quickly goes awry when the medium begins to lose control and an entity begins to speak aggressively through her vessel. Upon awakening she can't remember anything about what happened. Luckily there was a small crew present to film the event. Shaken to the core the woman who the seance was performed for leaves in a hurry. Once in her car she is attacked by one of the many tortured souls that are inhabit the Shadowview Manors grounds.

Everyone involved in the seance is ready to evacuate the building but they soon realize that the spirits have other plans for them. With no way to escape they are trapped in this haunted house for the long haul. Due to the seance the veil that separates our world from another with terrifying otherworldly inhabitants has been spread paper thin and the sinister possibilities are endless. With the wall being broken our small group begins their hellish descent into the vicious past of the Shadowview Manor. Hideous events had taken place there in the 1930's back when the building was used as a brothel. The group finds themselves decreasing in numbers and encountering things that the eyes can't unsee. 

The Prince of Gore without a doubt shows his true colors here. RED! There's plenty of gore to be found within House of Forbidden Secrets. The face tearing and womb removing are just a few highlights that will without a doubt have gorehounds foaming at the mouth. The death scenes are just as gruesome if not more than they were in Sheets past efforts. If he keeps going at this pace on future films a knighting will be necessary. The film also has a star studded cast for those into classic cult flicks. A definite highlight would be Dyanne Throne (Ilsa!!). Not to mention other greats like Lew Temple and Llloyd Kaufman among others. Surprisingly Lew Temple plays quite a big part in this one. I was expecting a few minutes of screen time but he definitely exceeds that and delivers an excellent performance. The whole cast really delivers solid performances though. Even though the faces may not be familiar the grand majority of them seem pretty natural in front of the camera. 

This film is loaded with so many send-ups to classic horror movies. Some are extremely subtle while some are more upfront. Surely most die hard horror fans can pick up on most of them but I'm sure on repeat viewings I'll realize I missed some. Forbidden Secrets is a true to form love letter to the horror genre. The influence from Italian horror of the 70's and 80's shines through big time in the form of surreal lighting. The movie also sports a stunning score by the one and only Fabio Frizzi who reached legendary status from his extensive work with Lucio Fulci. This score does a fantastic job at setting the tone of the movie. It really lends itself to the overall Italian vibe that comes across when watching. As a horror fan Italian horror has always been my pick of the litter. With that being said this is easily THE BEST modern day film to recapture the feeling of Italian horror from that era. The sense of dread and delirium is all there and served up in surplus.

Overall House of Forbidden Secrets is one of the greatest horror films of recent years. It delivers on all fronts. I loved Spirits but man this one solidifies the fact that Todd Sheets is without a doubt back and ten times better than ever. After nearly a decade long break for him to be able to knock the dust off and come out of the gate with something at this level is amazing. He managed to find the perfect balance of atmosphere, humor and suspense and rather than delegating each to their own sections they all coexist at once and compliment one another. This is an extremely difficult task that is not done often these days, but he knocked it out of the park with ease. Although I feel Sheets has been stiffed in the past and under-acknowledged there's absolutely no way this film can slip through the cracks and not find it's audience. WATCH OUT FOR THIS FLICKS RELEASE, IT WILL BE WELL WORTH THE WAIT!

Spirits

"EVIL. IS. REAL."

Spirits is the latest film from Todd Sheets. Being from the Kansas City area Todd Sheets has always been a hometown hero of mine. In his early days when he was churning out flicks like Zombie Rampage, Nightmare Asylum and many others you could literally feel the passion for horror flooding out of the screen on any nearby tube TV that you had the pleasure of viewing it on. These early films from him were low budget DIY horror in its most primal form and although Todd seems to dislike these efforts that's were the passion started for me. Sheets took a brief hiatus from horror to focus on his radio show Nightwatch and also encountered some health problems before returning. Luckily these past few years the master of splatter has slowly but surely been making his triumphant return to horror. Unfortunately I've still not had the privilege to see The House of Forbidden Secrets but I was lucky enough to snag a copy of the limited VHS release of Spirits.

Spirits follows a group of teens who are obsessed with the paranormal investigation shows on TV. After one of the girls in the group scores a job at the Shadowview Manor she quickly hears rumors from coworkers that the building is haunted. Being the supernatural enthusiasts that they are they decide to sneak into the buildings after hours with cameras in hand. They show up with their fancy ghost detecting gadgets and soon realize they aren't alone in the building. They bump into the janitor that has been working the late shift there for ages. He is all too ready to give insight on the rumors of the building being haunted and begins to discuss all of the evil things that have occurred there over the years. 

After a bit of conversation with the custodian the group notices the guy seems to have a few screws loose. He leads them down to a section of the building where he claims to feel the most energy and then heads off when his shift is over. The teens begin to play with the Ouija board in the dark room. Once the dial begins to move they become pretty startled. Little do they know a little Ouija board activity will soon be the least of their worries. The Shadowview Manor has a life of it's own and it believes that the supernatural isn't something that the local teens have any business meddling with. Banging starts happening throughout the building, dolls appear out of nowhere, chairs are found stacked and that's just scratching the surface of what our wannabe paranormal investigators will be experiencing.

Spirits is an extremely odd outing for Todd Sheets. It is done in the found footage style that has grown more and more popular in recent years. Normally I'm not a huge fan of this style but I love it when it's done right (which is not as often as I'd like). The really strange thing about the film though is the fact that it is completely goreless. Sheets has become well known for his extremely gory horror onslaughts that aren't shy about showing the red stuff. This proves not to be a problem for the film though, merely a surprise. The story doesn't necessarily call for much in terms of bloodshed. 

The best thing about this movie is the very convincing performances from our tiny cast. This was achieved by the genius idea of not the letting the cast know what was going to happen or when it was going to happen. This technique got some excellent authentic performances from all the actors and actresses involved. One of the things that sets this one apart from the recent batch of other supernatural found footage films is this aspect. Spirits easily has the most convincing reactions from the cast and it doesn't hurt that the dialogue doesn't consist of them mentioning the fact that they are recording every few minutes. 

The genuine performances really help cause the aspect of this movie that makes it shine above the others in this vein. Suspense. My main problem with many of the supernatural found footage films of today is the fact that the suspense is substituted for a constant array of jump scares, or, even worse moving the movie along at a turtles pace and trying to pass it off as suspense due to how shocked the audience get when something finally happens. Spirits doesn't have that problem. From the moment this begins to the very moment the credits start running this film is OOZING with suspense. When a horror flick gets my pulse racing a little more than usual that's a sign that it is a success. I watch horror movies everyday and nowadays the pulse pounding is a semi-rare occurrence for me.

Overall Spirits quickly shot up the list as one of my favorite Todd Sheets flicks and also as one of my favorites of 2014. I've got my fingers crossed that The House of Forbidden Secrets will be up to par when it gets released. Sheets sure set the bar high for his return to horror with this one. Highly recommend this to all the horror fans out there. Even if found footage and low budget horror aren't up your alley. This film surpasses the restraints of both of those things and prevails as just a damn good horror flick. Plain and simple. GET IT!