Mad Max: Fury Road

WHAT A LOVELY DAY.

Fury Road marks the triumphant return of Mad Max on the big screen, after a 30 year absence. Being a huge fan of the original three films, I was obviously a bit excited for the release of this. Whether it was the classic revenge oriented flick Mad Max, the genre defining Road Warrior, or the larger than life epic Beyond the Thunderdome there was one thing the series always guaranteed; An action packed viewing that left me in awe throughout my entire childhood. Going into the theater, I'll admit I was a little nervous about how this flick would turn out. It seemed odd to finally have a new addition to the series from Miller after a three decade break. The moment the lights dimmed and the screen lit up, all of those nerves completely vanished. 

Fury Road makes no excuses or compromises about what it is. This is a post-apocalyptic film that is loaded with balls-out action from start to finish. Insane stunts litter the screen throughout the entire runtime, and a significant amount of them happen to be practical. Whether an effect is practical or CG has very little relevance in this film. It's all badass. Hell, you could re-imagine the whole movie in CG animation and it would still annihilate ten times more ass than any action flick I've seen in the theaters the past decade. 

This movie is damn near a wall to wall chase scene. It's 2 epic hours of non-stop, pulse pounding action. A full movie of constant action can easily turn into a steaming pile of shit, but Fury Road manages to avoid that, by developing characters amidst the action sequences. The character development in this film is fantastic. Our group of central characters turn in amazing performances, and manage to give themselves an impressive amount of depth, without the need for much in terms of dialogue. This is one of the many factors that made this flick flourish as well as it did. Any movie that can push the film forward without ever slowing its full throttle momentum is an extremely impressive achievement. 

Overall, Mad Max Fury Road is a modern day anomaly. I can't believe something like this has hit theaters in this day and age. They just don't make them like this anymore. Fury Road is extremely reminiscent of a classic 80's action/adventure film. I strongly urge everyone out there to go give this one a shot in theaters. Maybe if this makes a boatload we can get a renaissance of awesome action flicks, or possibly even a stream of future movies exploring the Mad Max universe. GO SEE IT IN THEATERS, THEN BUY IT WHEN IT COMES OUT. OBEY.

Malignant

HE JUST WANTS TO HELP!

Malignant is a 2013 mad scientist flick directed by Brian-Avenet Bradley. Bradley has been directing horror films since the early 2000's. Somehow, I've managed to go until now without seeing any of his work, but I have heard high praise for his last feature length effort, Dark Remains. Although it may seem strange to take an 8 year break after your most successful film, Malignant is a very good indicator that if Bradley had it then, he's still got it now.

Gary has been leading a rough lifestyle since the untimely passing of his wife. Getting blackout drunk every night has become the main objective of his after-work routine. One day, he leaves the bar and remembers the good old days, when his significant other was still present. A strange man shows up and jerks him back to reality. The man offers help to Gary, hoping to free him from the grip of alcoholism. He wakes up the next day at his lonely house with a freshly stitched up scar on his chest.

Gary is understandably a bit bothered by this fresh wound, and decides to get it checked out at the hospital. He gets a rude awakening when he is told by the nurse that he had just been checked in the previous night for a "bar fight" he was supposedly involved in. Things aren't making sense, and a nice liquor filled evening is in store. After getting blackout drunk once again, he wakes from his stairway slumber covered in blood. An email from the man who tampered with his insides gives a bit of insight. That fateful night, Gary had a device planted within him. This device allows the mysterious man to take control of Gary's mind whenever he pleases. If he drinks at all, people die. Sometimes it takes a little tough love to put an addiction to rest.

Things pick up at a rapid speed that never really lets up. The only complaint I have about the film, is that the ending didn't quite pack the punch I was anticipating during the build up. Even that doesn't manage to overall damper the viewing experience. The film keeps you guessing throughout, and there's a genuine interest to learn more about the mysterious villain. Along with the thick tension, there is also a fair amount of violence. The film isn't an all out gorefest, but there are definitely a few scenes that are quite gruesome. If eye violence is your kryptonite as it is mine, there are without a doubt a few cringe-worthy moments to be found here.

Malignant's plot is pretty unique, to say the least. The idea of a man tearing apart what is left of someone's life in order to end an addiction is interesting. All the while the mystery man is indulging in an addiction of his own; human experimentation. Brad Dourif's performance as The Man is stellar. His role as the film's villain was, without a doubt, a make-or-break kind of character. Luckily, they put the role in good hands, and Dourif delivered a performance that fit the mood of the movie perfectly.

Overall Malignant is a damn fine indie flick. The movie has a very engaging, well paced plot that keeps things moving along at a fast, yet tension building speed. Between Dourif's performance and the strong writing there's more than enough here to leave most satisfied. There really aren't many movies about mind control in recent years so this plot was a breath of fresh air. GIVE IT A WATCH!

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!

Sodomaniac

"Freddie fucking Mercury has never even seen anal carnage like this before."

Sodomaniac is the first feature film from upcoming director Anthony Cantanese. The film is a send-up to the rape revenge flicks of the 70's and 80's. It blends the old school exploitation aesthetic and brings it into the modern day club scene. The killer in this movie is easily one of the best to surface in the horror genre in quite some time. There's nothing better than seeing a rape victim scoring that sweet revenge while wearing an ass mask on their head.

 The film kicks off with a crime scene showing the aftermath of a murder involving some butt guts. Soon we are introduced to a group of douchebags at the club who refer to themselves as the "Wolf Pack". The group goes clubbing constantly and unfortunately their glowing personalities just aren't enough to bag the ladies. They easily solve this problem with a little GHB, which apparently makes for some exhilarating sex. The movie wastes no time getting to the revenge. One of bros gets separated from the pack after consuming his own date rape concoction. He soon stumbles into the streets and is quickly buttfucked to death by a killer sporting an ass mask. Once the humping commences we see a shadow silhouette of the kill and hear what appears to be some sort of power tool. It appears this vigilante killer is packing quite the lethal weapon downstairs. You know the old saying, fight fire with fire, fight rape with deadly rape.

The Pack heads back to their bachelor pad to take turns with the woman they've drugged. After waking up the next morning the woman they drugged from the night before believes she just got too drunk and made a mistake. The crew taunts her before she leaves and go about planning their big annual party. Some flowers get delivered to their door with a name on it. Soon enough it becomes clear that the notes included with these flowers aren't just empty threats as the gang of rapists begin to get them one by one before they get picked off (perhaps plowed off is a better term). As the gang is slowly decreasing in numbers due to severe anal trauma the head wolf is fearless. Without any regard the packs' assholes he continues on with the party plans. As the party takes place many of the guys get a little paranoid about someone roaming around potentially wanting to scramble their poopshoots.

It must be mentioned that the film has nearly no gore to speak of. It doesn't work against the movie since it is more comedic than anything else but those who come in looking for a splatterfest will be severely disappointed. The acting is actually surprisingly solid and it is easy to see that the cast had a damn good time in the making of this. Characters like Teddy and Cunter are what really make Sodomaniac as fun as it is. The drug montage towards the beginning of the movie is pure gold. The movie also shines big time on the comedy aspect. This thing is LOADED with great one liners and gags. Once the party kicks off the comedic side really gets going.

Overall Sodomaniac is an extremely fun play on the rape revenge genre. This may sound a bit off-putting due to the subject matter of these films but Sodomaniac really tackles the sensitive topic in a lighthearted manner. The film really delivers on the comedy and that is the primary reason to check it out. Aside from those who are easily offended I think most people into horror and exploitation can enjoy this for what it is. It's a blast from the past updated for the youth of today and it does what it sets out to do pretty damn well. Sodomaniac has still yet to see a release but if this sounds up your alley I'd definitely recommend keeping an eye out for it.

Headless

 

Headless is a 2015 shocker directed by Arthur Cullipher. The film is a full-length feature expansion on the movie within a movie shown in the 2012 epic Found. Found was one of my personal favorite indie films over the past few years. The way the buildup evolved it, from a drama to a full blown horror in its finale, was near perfect. The flick had a tone that, in a way, took me back to Toetag's opus Sella Turcica. Having enjoyed Found so much, I was pretty excited to see that this was being made. With that being said, fans of the previous film should be fully aware that Headless is a completely different beast in terms of execution and tone. It should also be noted that Headless is based in 1978. Headless is one of the few throwback horror romps that doesn't go too overboard with all of the scratching/cigarette burn effects. They pop up every now and then, but don't pop up enough to get on the viewers nerves.

The film kicks off with a shot of the original footage from Found. Followed with a nice little montage of gore to introduce us to the Headless killer. Little time is wasted before the audience gets their chance to dive into what the daily routine is for a tortured soul who loves to fuck skulls. The hulking killer is "guided" by his young companion Skullboy, his silent, mysterious entity that keeps his madness going. Headless also has a bit of backstory to show how the killer became such a sick bastard. He was kept in a cage throughout his childhood by his abusive mother. His sister and mother spent a lot of their free time letting him know how sick he was. He was subjected to a diet that consisted of rabbit heads and his sisters urine. After a while, Skullboy creeps into his life, and a seed of vengeance is planted within him. Years of this torture and humiliation go by, and his sister opens the cage so her brother can "play" with her. Little does she know he would much rather use his newfound freedom to play with just her eyeball in particular.

We bounce back and forth between watching the killer's deeds and getting to know his future victims. Jess is a young, hard working woman struggling to pay the bills, while her boyfriend, Pete, lounges at the house smoking joints with his "band" The Dead Bugs. She is holding onto the relationship in hopes that he will finally grow up and get a job. She won't have much time to find out whether that was ever in the cards or not. The killer makes his way to the roller rink and sets his sights on everyone she knows and loves.

GORE GALORE! This flick is loaded with one nice effect after another. Eye removals, skull-shagging, de-limbing, it's all here, plus more. The best moment in the movie is when we get to go down into the killer's pit of corpses. That was a great setting, and you wouldn't have caught me complaining if there was a bit more of it. Gorehounds will most definitely find their fix here, although I could see fans of Found having a problem with the movie feeling a bit more like an effects reel than anything else. Sure, Headless isn't exactly flooding over the brim with plot, but neither were many of my favorite films of the 70's, so naturally, I don't have a problem with it. The story doesn't call for the drama buildup that was present in Found, and if it went that route it simply wouldn't have worked as well.

Overall Headless is a pretty damn good modern day exploitation flick! It's one of the few that doesn't feel the need to constantly wink at the audience. For that, along with it's random tendency to spiral into strange, psychedelic sequences, I can do nothing but applaud everyone involved in the making of this. The movie isn't perfect, but it delivers what I wanted from it. I'm off to continue the skull-humping madness with Header. 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!

The Fine Art

"REALITY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER"

The Fine Art is the second film from St. Louis director Eric Stanze. Stanze is most well known for his later efforts like Scrapbook and Ice From the Sun, while typically his first efforts Scare Game and The Fine Art have gotten lost with age falling into the obscurity that many low budget films from the VHS era succumbed to. His first two flicks were relatively short and got chopped up and released as a compilation tape which seems even harder to come by these days than the individual releases. I was lucky enough to stumble upon a copy of this a year or two ago but unfortunately still haven't managed to track down a copy of his first release.

The movie kicks off with Julie bugging her painter friend Val to go on a blind double date. Julie and her boyfriend back out leaving Val on her own to date the stranger. Luckily for Val despite her fear of how things will go the two of them hit it off very quickly. Before she knows it he is proclaiming his love for her and she is feeling much of the same. Things couldn't be more perfect, hell they even share a love for painting! Soon the two spend a romantic night together. Val wakes up before her new man and decides to venture through the house. She stumbles upon some of his paintings which consist of intense violent images of women freshly murdered.

Val reports back to her friend Julie and describes one of the paintings. Once she mentions one displaying a woman tied up to a road sign it rings a bell that shakes both of them to the core. About a year ago there was a local serial killer that was never caught. One of his victims was found hanging from a street sign on a nearby highway. The two hatch a plan to have Val sneak into his house while Julie keeps him busy at work. They've read up on the murders and upon breaking into his house all the paintings seem to match up perfectly. Val discovers that he has some loopholes to his murderous ways. Phil has his "rules" for these killings and he has them dialed down to a fine art. An art that in his mind simply cannot be broken. Now all Val needs to do is beat him at his own game.

Stanze would later become well known in horror circles for his very visceral style with titles like Scrapbook. Although it is far from fair to call him a one trick pony as a director. Over the years Stanze has managed to show off a wide variety of skills in tackling films with heavy atmosphere, gore, and strong surreal moments. The Fine Art is very low on gore. In fact, aside from the paintings gore in the film is nearly nonexistent. That being said the lack of on screen violence is completely made up for with a healthy dose of suspense. Surprisingly for such an early work in his career (apparently a student film according to the behind the scenes) this may very well be Stanze's most suspenseful movie to date. The plot is fairly simple but kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. Most of the tension that kept me from drifting off into boredom can be attributed to the acting. Don't get me wrong there aren't any award winning performances present here but the small cast does a pretty damn good job.

Overall The Fine Art is a great flick that really shattered my expectations upon first viewing. The few people I had spoken with over the years that had seen this always have the complaint that it is VERY slow. While I can see why some people may feel this way I'd have to disagree. The plot trots right along pretty quickly and there isn't much unnecessary downtime. The runtime is a swift 54 minutes and it really flies by. I'd imagine most who didn't enjoy the film had more of a problem with the overall lack of gore rather than the pacing. I can recommend The Fine Art to anyone out there into low budget films and specifically Eric Stanze fans. I've always been a big fan of these shoestring budget horror flicks from the early 90's and this one is no exception. GET IT IF YOU CAN!