Another influential and ahead of its time horror movie, Raw Meat would pave the way for countless stories about underground mutants killing people in the subways, like C.H.U.D.(1984), (see my review) Creep (2004), and Clive Barker's short story and film The Midnight Meat Train (2008), and even The Descent (2005) takes a page from this film's book. When an important member of the British government goes missing in a subway station, the local police force takes the matter into their hands, and a somewhat manic Donald Pleasance (The Great Escape, Halloween) leads the investigation. Sir Christopher Lee also makes an appearance in the film, though his is much smaller. It turns out the lone survivor of a group of construction workers that got stuck in the subway tunnelsmany years ago (for so long
that the survivors resorted to cannibalism and inbreeding to survive) is responsible for the recent disappearances and murders in the subway. This movie is surprisingly funny, Donald Pleasance is a real hoot, and there are also times when the audience is called to feel empathy or even sympathy for the cannibal killer, (and it is rather effective at doing so), and then of course there are times when the film's atmosphere (dark London subways) is very disturbing/unsettling and freaky. This film was ahead of its time for the amount of graphic detail and gore it shows. There are some plot holes if you look hard enough and try to scientifically analyze everything, but you shouldn't be doing that for this film anyway. I thoroughly enjoyed it even though I don't like gore (the gore is ahead of its time but not necessarily a lot by today's standards), I would recommend watching this one in total darkness though, because I watched almost the whole thing with a light on, and then turned it off for the last 20 minutes or so, and it was a lot freakier in the dark.The monster could have seemed less human Also you'll never think of/hear the line "Mind the doors!" the same way again. I give it a 4.25/5. This film is mentioned in Rue Morgue magazine's 200 Alternative Horror Films You need to See. You can view the trailer below:
If you ask any film buff who Ingmar Bergman is/was, they would most likely tell you he's one of the greatest directors of all time, if you were to ask me who he is, I'd say one of my favorite directors. Bergman is known for his art house films, and such ground breaking pictures such as The Seventh Seal (1957). It is not a rare or strange occurrence for a Bergman film to be dark in nature, or to have dark over/undertones, (the Seventh Seal is about a Knight playing chess with Death) but Hour of the Wolf is Bergman's only official horror movie. Like a lot of Bergman's films, this one can be confusing at times, but I believe if you pay enough
attention to the beginning and end of the story, then you should have a good enough understanding of the film. The story is about an artist (Max von Sydow) who struggles with inner demons, which appear to be physically manifesting themselves and affecting his wife just as badly as they do himself. Now when I say demons in this context, I'm referring to the artist's inner mental struggles and guilt. There is a phrase that is bookended in the film (told at the beginning and the end) that best sums up this film's plot: "Do you think it is possible that if a woman loves a man enough for such a long time, that eventually she becomes like that man?" This film has some of the trippiest imagery Bergman ever used, and you almost feel that you're going crazy along with the main character. It is of course left to interpretation however if what happens to the character is actually happening to him or not, (that gives it a similar feel to The Innocents [1961]) but that of course was intentional. The movie has several allusions to classic horror movies/literature/concepts, one of them being an actor who looks exactly like Bela Lugosi, and another being the presence of Poe's raven. I really liked this one, the only thing that bothered me was that the plot was sometimes hard to follow, but as I mentioned before, the ending in my opinion more or less justifies that. I give it a 4.75/5, view the trailer below:
I don't have a lot to say about this one. It's about a small cruise of people (think Gilligan's Island) getting stranded on an island that was once used to experiment on Nazi soldiers to try create the perfect soldier that couldn't die, and could also survive/attack underwater. So yes this could quite possibly be the only film about underwater Nazi zombies, and Peter Cushing (Star Wars episode IV, Horror of Dracula, Dr. Who) is the Nazi commander who used to be in charge of the zombie operation. The only other notable names in the movie are John Carradine (Grapes of Wrath, The Howling, The Sentinel [1970s version] several dracula films), and Brooke Adams (Days of Heaven, The Dead Zone). The movie is a low
budget flick with a similar feel to a Roger Corman flick from the 70s: very gritty, limited makeup or costume effects, and film mostly during the day. The movie has some pretty good POV scenes as well as zombie stalking scenes shot underwater. The zombies are always creepy whenever they're shown too because they do everything in unison. The acting is all pretty well done considering the plot's premise and the movie's budget. The last notable thing that should be mentioned about the film is how wonky its soundtrack is. The film has a lot of very ominous unusual synthesizer tones that are at sometimes very slow and heavy, and at others super frantic and high pitched creating a near fever-dream of an atmosphere that is very effective for creating a very fitting atmosphere for this film (it's really similar to another little known classic 70s horror Let's Scare Jessica to Death[1971]). My only problem with this film though is that it does tend to drag in some spots and seem rather boring at times, so I give it a 4.25/5. You can view the trailer below:
This one was famously panned by both critics and fans. Everyone thought "where's Michael Myers?" or "What the hell are they doing getting rid of the main character?". Well what they were thinking was this: John Carpenter wanted to move the series in a new direction by making films with stories that were halloween related, one idea was to make a film of vignettes that were all centered around the idea of halloween, in other words, Trick 'R Treat (2007) 25 years ahead of its time (the film would also have an interesting new piece of theme music, though the old theme does appear via the original Halloween[1978] playing on a TV) . That would have happened had the third film been a success, but what actually happened is pretty much history. The film was a commercial and critical failure resulting in the return of the Halloween series' original premise and main villain in the fourth and later installments. This film deserves another look though, while it may not fit into the Halloween series very well, it is a GREAT halloween (holiday) film. I was a child of the early 90s but having older brothers from the 80s, tons of 80s toys and movies and products (such as our child halloween costumes and decorations) from the 80s, so this is pure nostalgia for me and I love it for that reason alone, but there are plenty of other things that are unique and good about this film. After the mysterious death of a
man clutching the newest "all the rage" halloween mask, warning "they'll kill us all!", a doctor and the man's daughter do some detective work of their own and find out the owner of mysterious Silver Shamrock mask factory has a sinister plan to unleash on halloween night involving the popular masks. It has a good "amateur detective" pace throughout the film until you learn the secret, and thrills and chills are delivered throughout. One thing that is unique about the film is that it is educational on the history of Halloween. The factory owner tells the doctor that Halloween is rooted in the Celts
(Irish/scottish) heritage, back when they used to do pagan rituals to celebrate the harvest and scare away spirits. It's cool because it proves that halloween is actually a very Irish holiday (the town the factory is located in is SUPER Irish). The secondary title for the film is "season of the witch" but as the doctor accuses the factory owner of witchcraft the owner says "we prefer to think of it as a way of controlling our environment." So it is similar to The Wicker Man in that the people are performing pagan rituals to ensure a successful harvest, not the same thing as what witchcraft and black magic usually implies. There is a connection to Stone Henge in the story, but it is never very well explained, that is its weakest point in my opinion, the other weakest point is the romantic fling between the doctor and the main woman of the story. He is blatantly cheating on his wife, and whatever excuse he gives to his wife for being gone (on the road) is super hard to believe. But as an enjoyable interesting and somewhat fresh take on a Halloween (holiday) movie, I give it a 4.75/5. This one is also featured in Rue Morgue Magazine's 200 Alternative Horror Films You Need to See, you can watch the trailer below:
The sequel to Suspiria (1977) and the 2nd of Dario Argento's Three Mothers trilogy, Inferno, was also a collaboration between him and the other creator of Giallo cinema, Mario Bava. The involvement of Bava meant wonderful gothic imagery (candelabras cats and gothic architecture) the special effects were great and actually endangered the crew in many different ways (being burnt to death, clawed to death by cats, or eaten by rats). The film also had a pretty cool soundtrack, by one of my favorite musicians, Keith Emerson of Emerson Lake and Palmer. The sets and cinematography also resemble that of Suspiria a bit, and the acting is good, BUT there are some big logic and plot holes in it, and that is why I do not give it a higher rating. Argento loves to throw in crazy stuff to confuse the audience so they won't get bored with the film, or know what's coming next; while Hitchcock or Agatha Christie may be able to due that to their audience while maintaining logic, continuity and context, Argento just throws in red herrings without necessarily having any explanation for them. I give it a 3.75/5. The film is available to stream for free on Hulu, view the trailer below:
