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	GRAVE ROBBERS(Mexico) EXCLUSIVE! Who's in it? Fernando Almada, Edna Bolkan, Erika Buenfil and Maria Rebeca What's it about? Four teenagers decide to double their fun on their camping trip by robbing a nearby grave. They stumble across an ornate grave and tomb housing the corpse of an executed Satanist from the days of the Inquisition. Plucking opulent riches from the corpse, the teens run off without a hitch. Or so they think. Soon the deceased Satanist rises from the grave to claim what's his and gorily slaughter the teens with his massive battle-axe. Comments What a movie! This is what the Friday the 13th sequels should have been! And this is what more Mexican horror should be as well! If you're weary of Santo and all that wrestling nonsense and have already exhausted some of the more common channels of Mexican horror (such as Rene Cardona Jr.'s work), then this is a must-see film! For one, the film contains some very nice gore sequences (like any self-respecting slasher film should!) such as a nasty throat-slitting, hands chopped off, battle-axes to the face and one amazing sequence where the killer reaches through a victim's chest and pulls out his intestines! Add to that a flawless pace, a superbly atmospheric score, and great set design. And the baddie deserves mention. He's an amazing amalgam of Jason and one of the Deadites from the Evil Dead series. He's quite fearsome with his skull face, imposing stature and accurate historical garb and of course his gigantic battle-axe. IF YOU WANT TO SEE MEXICAN HORROR AT IT'S VERY BEST, SEE THIS FILM NOW. It remains true to the slasher conventions (gore, stupid teens) and even invents some new ones.   OSCENITA (Italy-Italian spoken) Who's in it? Antonio Maronese, Marcello Bonini, Ivana Giordan, Anna Maria Ardizzone, Maria Teresa Baldoni What's it about? The film is sort of an anthology of short, sexually perverse vignettes concerning a doctor's experiments in trying to alter his test subject's personality. He tries to prove that through various sexually depraved acts he can permanently alter his test subject (Mirey). Comments Don't worry about the admittedly feable plot. It's just director Renato Polselli's (an expert in sleazy Italian horror, notorious for his graphic excesses) excuse to show a mind-boggling array of sleaze and jaw-dropping perversion, including graphic (and totally real) bestiality, masturbation, hardcore sex (possibly Italy's first domestic hardcore, as the film was released in 1979 but actually made four years earlier as Quando L'Amore E Oscenita and was delayed because of censorship problems) and sexual violence. Actually, the film is quite similar to Polselli's 1973 film Rivelazioni Di Uno Psichiatra Sul Mondo Perverso Del Sesso. It's a claustrophobic, dingy, and downright nasty film. While some of Polselli's best players (Mickey Hargitay, Rita Calderoni) understandably sit this one out, this isn't a film that begs for Shakesperean acting anyway. I'd recommend this film to fans of Joe D'Amato's porn/horror hybrids such as Le Notti Erotiche Dei Morti Viventi or Papaya of the Caribbean. The film was released through GRP Cinematografica, a production company Polselli had filmed for since 1971.   RATU SAKTI CALON ARANG (Indonesia)* EXCLUSIVE! Who's in it? Suzzanna, Barry Prima, Dr. Amoroso Katamsi, Dorman Borisman, Nena Rosier. What's it about? A quaint village in Bali is terrorized by a black priestess (Suzzanna). The village retaliates by organizing a religious (probably Muslim as that is the dominant religion in Indonesia) task force led by the pious Barry Prima (a typical role for him). Suzzanna also stars in a double role as a modest, kind-hearted villager who also joins in the attack. Comments This is one of the more entertaining and solid entries in Indonesian horror, directed by one of the genre's very best-Sisworo Gautama. Putra's natural knack for swift pacing and lush, exotic visuals serve the film well. One of the opening scenes-where a wrathful Suzzanna presides over a black mass-is one of the most powerful in the genre. In the scene she spews blood over a cadaver which then seeps into its chest and resurrects it. She then tears its heart out and throws it on a ritual pyre! And the astonishing visuals don't let up: garish gel lighting (long a staple in Indonesian horror), natural phenomena and ambitious lighting effects. And like many Indonesian horror entries, the film has an abundance of Silat (Indonesia's own brand of kung fu), pitting the evil priestess' coven against the religious warriors. The film has a fair amount of traditions for the genre: the terrorized village and the community working together to dispatch of the evil (using traditional wali dances to ward off evil spirits from the village), and a none-to-subtle endorsment for Islam, as Prima channels Allah for his victory. The film's date is 1985. Later on Indonesia would co-produce with the US (like in 1993's Dangerous Seductress). *A very special thanks to Jean-Claude Michel for information on this film (including the correct title and date!). **For a more in-depth and detailed look at Indonesia's horror film industry and it's many traditions and customs, please read my Indonesian horror article "Witches, Spells and Politics: the Horror films of Indonesia"   VAMPIRE AND THE BALLERINA (Italy) Who's in it? Helene Remy, Tina Gloriani, Maria Luisa Rolando, Walter Brandi, Isarco Ravaioli, John Turner What's it about? Two members of a ballet school, Luisa and Francesca (Remy and Gloriani) escape from a raging storm and hide in a seemingly abandoned castle. However, the castle is inhabited by a vampiress (Rolando) and her vampiric servant (Brandi). Soon the girls' lives and very souls are at stake as the vampiress needs to claim new victims in order to retain her eternal beauty. Comments Polselli's first horror film, and Italy's very first true Vampire film! Contrary to popular belief, Riccardo Freda's I VAMPIRI (1956) is not a traditional vampire film, it is a adaptation of the Erszebet Bathory legend. However, although Polselli's film does feature honest-to-god vampires in the film, it does have a thread of Bathory. The legend was tremendously popular in Italian horror as well as other European horror such as Jorge Grau's Ceremonia Sangrienta (Female Butcher-1972) and Claude Mulot's La Rose Ecorchee (Blood Rose-1969, it also featured a strand from Georges Franju's 1959 Les Yeux Sans Visage, another highly influential work in Euro horror and even Asian horror). The Bathory legend works so well in Italian horror because it encapsulates the main theme of the role of women in Italian horror: beautiful and deadly. The Italian horror female will achieve beauty at any cost and often use it to lure unsuspecting males. The film itself is a rather plodding affair, but it does have its moments which are very atmospheric. But it does meander. However, there are some rather good special makeup effects at the conclusion where Rolando disintegrates and loses her eternal beauty. Legendary Italian screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi (famous for his collaborations with top giallo director Sergio Martino) was also assistant screenwriter and director in the film. And yes, that is a real skeleton in the film! It cost Polselli such a princely sum that he used it again in his following film, Il Mostro dell'Opera (made in 1961, released in '64).   THE WICKED CARESSES OF SATAN (Spain) Who's in it? Silvia Solar, Olivier Mathot, Daniel Martin, Jose Nieto, Victor Israel, Evelyne Scott What's it about? An enraged medium, Claire Grandier (Solar), decides to avenge her husband's suicide by most unusual means: no less than constructing a Frankenstein-like monster and ordering it to kill the Baron of de Haussemont (Nieto), who was responsible for his suicide! COMMENTS This is a sublime, obscure and very bizarre Spanish horror film from 1975. Director Georges Gigo (who has a small part in the film) spreads his film with moody blue and purple lighting, moldy, crumbling castles (a staple of Spanish horror cinema) and outrageous sexual shenanigans. There are some pungeantly atmospheric scenes where the monster shuffles through the dark castle hunting victims. The scenes with Solar presiding over her monstrous creation are superbly eerie and some of the best in Spanish horror. The film is also truly bizarre at points, such as the opening footage of a scantily clad dance number and impromptu fashion show in the Baron's ancient castle. The cast includes some real Euro-horror stars, most notably Silva, who starred in many of Paul Naschy's efforts from that era (including the 1973 Waldemar Daninsky entry El Retorno de Walpurgis and Carlos Aured's 1973 Profilms effort La Venganza de la Momia). The film has been released totally uncut from Somethingweird Video (pictured here). It has also been released recently by Pete Tombs' company Eurotika! (a subdivision of his Pagan Films in a widescreen print, which is quite colorful.   PATRICK VIVE ANCORA (Italy) Who's in it? Maria Angela Giordano, Gianni Dei, Sasha Pitoef, Paolo Giusti What's it about? Young Patrick's (Dei) life suddenly takes a turn for the worse when he lands in the hospital (actually, it's more of a mansion) from a nasty concussion (conked on the head by a passing motorist's hurled beer bottle!). Patrick is comatose and seemingly harmless until he exercises his telekenitic powers to kill the mansion's inhabitants and, of course, frisk the leading ladies. Comments Outrageous! That is the only way to describe this vintage Italian horror film! Only a director as shameless as Mario Landi (director of the equally insane GIallo a Venezia, also starring Giordano and Dei and filmed prior to this film) could pull off this spurious "sequel" to the 1978 Richard Franklin original. The film is very low budget but it's gore sequences are queasily realistic, including a heinous sequence in which the very unlucky Giordano has a spear graphically gouged through her vagina and through her mouth! And that's not all: there is a nasty sequence where a man is "hooked" in the neck and a woman is decapitated by a car window! And if that's not enough, there is plenty of nudity and sleaze to fill in any cracks. Landi joins the ranks of Polselli, Joe D'Amato and Andrea Bianchi (as well as his son Mario with his 1980 film La Bimba di Satana) as the reigning king of Italian sleaze. Attention must also be paid to Giordano, who is a small legend of the Italian sleaze films of the late 70's and early 80's. As well as starring in Giallo a Venezia, she also starred as a nun(!) in Andrea Bianchi's Malabimba (a hardcore "Exorcist" type film), La Bimba di Satana, Le Notti del Terror (a gory, sleazy horror film also by Bianchi) and most recently in Jess Franco's 1996 film Killer Barbys. It is also very likely that Malabimba, Le Notti del Terror and Patrick Vive Ancora were filmed in the same castle. Finally, it is interesting to note that Landi made only two horror/thriller films, this film and the aforementioned Giallo a Venezia; Landi's true forte was in his work for Italian tv.   GHOST NURSING (Hong Kong) Who's In it? Norman Chu, Suit Li, Mei Wong What's It about? Jacki's (Suit Li) boyfriend has just been killed by the mob. She joins a band of prostitutes to protect herself, but soon she is involved in tragedy once again when she involuntarily causes the death of a gang member. She decides to take hold of her life by consulting an ominous mystic. She follows his directions to "nurse a ghost"-that is, nurse a deceased fetus and allow its small body to be inhabited by a ghost. To do this she must prick her finger monthly and sprinkle her blood on the fetus. Things seem to be working well for her, as the fetus graphically destroys anybody who gets in her way. However, Jacki soon falls for Raymond Cheung (Norman Chu, also starring in the ne plus ultra of the Shaw Bros. horror films, 1986's Seeding of a Ghost) and the ghost grows murderously jealous, ultimately possessing Raymond and taking him on a bloody killing spree. Comments This is a solid entry in the gross-out Hong Kong horror cycle, initiated by the Shaw Brothers' seminal entry Gang Tau (aka Black Magic, 1975). It is also one of the rarest. It has the usual criteria for the genre: maggot vomiting, a mystic dueling against evil, and some truly astonishing and unique effects. Undoubtedly, the most compelling sequence is the introductory sorcery scene in which the mystic initiates the fetus and instructs Jacki on how to care for it. In an elaborate ritual he takes a deformed fetus from a jar (which looks frighteningly real) and spews a mixture of Jacki's blood and herbs onto it. He then pierces it with needles and the body begins to revive, it's ugly trunk resing and falling with breath. The whole effect of reanimation is surprisingly realistic for such an obviously low budget picture. Other highlites include some unabashedly nasty deaths, such as a mean scalping, bloody gunshot squibs, a woman levitated and then impaled by a giant spoon(!), and the same victim's face gouged by glass. It is also important to note that the film has a decidedly serious tone and is not marred by goofy humor like many HK horrors. However it is not a total success by any means. The low-budget renders some of the more outlandish action (such as the frenetic duel between Chu and the mystic) unintentionally silly. The soundtrack is also highly pirated (however a common practice among HK horrors, such as 1983's Devil Fetus) and a cue from Bill Lustig's 1980 film Maniac is used in a rape scene. Also, some of the various scuffles between the possessed Chu and his victims are embarrasingly choreographed, deflating any possible suspense.   HUMAN SKIN LANTERNS (Hong Kong) Who's in it? Lo Lieh, Liu Yung, Chen Kuan-tai, Lin Hsiu-chun What's it about? Tan and Lung are two bitter rivals who anticipate to settle the score once and for all at a lantern-making contest. Lung seemingly takes the upper hand by consulting expert lantern maker Chao Chun-fang (the legendary Lo Lieh) to construct one of his exquisite lanterns for the contest. Unfortunately, Chun-fang's methods are highly unorthodox and downright deadly. It turns out that he creates lanterns of such beauty by taking the skin of female victims and stretching them over the lanterns. Soon tragedy strikes as Lung must pay the price for his lanterns: the deaths of three women (Tanny, Linda Chu and Liu Yung), including his sister. Comments This is one of the rarest Shaw Bros. horrors, and also one of the most worthwhile. It has some veteran Shaw bros. personel such as Lieh and screenwriter I Kuang (who scripted the Shaw Bros.'s 1976's Ngau Wan Gong Tau AKA Black Magic 2). Lieh again plays a villain here, and he definitely commands the screen. The scenes of him stalking victims in his skull mask and fur are both suspenseful and strangely sensual. It is also worth noting that this is one of the rare horror films that mixes straight horror with kung fu. The outlandish combat particular to the vintage Shaw Brother's films fits the equally wild color schemes and situations. Attention must also be paid to the wonderful period detail, such as the women's costume design and colorful mise-en-scene. Lieh's lair is especially atmospheric, with a rotting underground mill and musty wooden contraptions. And the violence is unflinching, such as when Lieh ties a victim to a post, pours molten silver over her scalp and then proceeds to graphically pull her skin off. Highly recommended.   HARDCORE (US) Who's in it? George C. Scott, Peter Boyle, Season Hubley, David Nichols What's it about? Scott plays the role of Jake VanDorn, a deeply religious midwestern man in search of his teenage daughter, who has strangely disappeared. His private investigator (Peter Boyle) digs up a porno film starring his young daughter and soon Scott leads his own investigation. The trail leads him to the porno industry in LA, as he tries desperately to find his daughter. COMMENTS Whoa! What's this "mainstream" drama doing here? Don't worry gang. This is a real winner. It is an absolutely shattering, honest, and disturbing drama that often dives headfirst into the horror genre with its unflinching views of the netherworld of the adult film industry. Simply put, powerful films such as this will never be made again in the US mainstream. While the film first portrays the hardcore industry tentatively, it soon delves into truly black and horrific territory, such as snuff and S&M. But what gives the film its emotional wallop is not its exploitative value, but its emotional performance by Scott, a masterful actor. Scott's performance is sensitive, painfully naive (he often appears to be out of his element in the hustle and bustle of LA) and thought-provoking. In fact, his pious, morally rigid character reminded me of Dante in Dante's Inferno. Scott's investigation very much resembles Dante's descent into the various rings of hell. And just like Dante' s inferno, director and writer Paul Schrader's vision of the pornography industry is populated with despicable characters racked with personal demons. The film builds such an emotional momentum that by the film's final half-hour I found it very hard to watch. There is one particularly odious sequence in which Scott and a small group of men screen a tattered snuff film that, while largely implied (no, it's nowhere near as graphic as Guinea Pig: Flowers of Flesh and Blood or the pseudo snuff in Joe D'Amato's Emanuelle in America) still packs a tremendously emotional punch. It makes my skin crawl to think that this stuff is readily available for download on the net. Jesus, is nothing sacred anymore? And that is the key word here: emotion. While scores of other films have catalogued the excesses of the porno industry, very few have come as close to honestly and hauntingly portraying it as this film. Highly recommended.   SEK HUNLAIGA MA LA POB (Thailand) Exclusive! Who's in it? Sonic Sonny, Ann Osiri What's it about? An evil witch terrorizes a small Thai community. COMMENTS This is a disappointing Thai horror. Most of its running time is wasted on silly, broad comedy. A shame, because the film does have a few unique and truly surreal scenes. Most impressive is the witch herself. Those expecting a uniquely Thai influence on the witch's looks may be disappointed, as she is a witch in the truly western sense. Think "the wicked witch of the west" from Wizard of Oz and the typical depiction of a witch in Grimm fairy tales (wrinkled face, long gnarled nose, frizzy white hair). The scenes in her cave are great. The cave is bathed in candy red lighting and she has a collection of skeletons and skulls which are constantly chattering and bustling about. For some reason, the skeletons that were dressed in scarves reminded me of the "true" form of the Sundelbolong. In one impressive scene she gives a character a small charm: a small figurine made of knotted wool. He then makes use of the figurine to defend himself. The figurine comes to life and grows to lifesize to fight off his assailent! What ensues is a bizarre chase between a very frightened woman and a man in a suit made of hay and wool! A truly wild creature that's right up there with the "chicken man" from the infamous Blood Freak.   SHANKS (US) Who's in it? Marcel Marceau, Tsilla Chelton, Philippe Clay, Cindy Eilbacher, Larry Bishop, Don Calfa, Giff Manard, Helena Kallianiotes, Phil Adams What's it about? Marceau (in an astounding double role) plays the titular Shanks, a mute puppeteer. One day Shanks breaks his mundane routine and painful existence by venturing into a nearby castle, ruled by an aging Baron (also Marceau). The Baron has constructed a contraption that can re-animate dead tissue and organisms. Upon his death, the Baron leaves his invention to the incredulous Shanks, who employs the device to reanimate and control dead bodies and to use them to dispatch of his foes while protecting his sole loved one, a young girl (Cindy Eilbacher). Comments This is a truly remarkable film. Why has Paramount (its original distributor) gone to such great lengths to suppress it (it's never been released on any home format in the US)? Director William Castle (his final film as director) does a wonderful job of merging fear, joy, wonder and suspense. The film is so unique because it is largely without dialogue (silent film style dialogue cards often move the story along), employing the three professional mimes in the cast to a great degree. The scenes in which Shanks uses the device to manually control the dead humans like robots are remarkable as they are both eerie and strangely humorous. The oscar-nominated fairy tale score by Alex North beautifully accentuates the storybook atmosphere. The film has a hypnotic rhythm that is infectious and simultaneously unsettling and soothing. The final showdown between Shanks, the girl and a band of bikers in a shadowy courtyard is superbly atmospheric and inventive. I highly recommend this film. It's certainly on my top 10 list of horror films. Just be aware that it is a most different horror film.   KILLER SNAKES (HONG KONG) Who's in it? Kan Kuo Liang, Chen Chun, Li Lin Lin What's it about? Kan Kuo Liang plays Chi Long, a put-upon loser. He's grown up from a broken home in which his parents engaged in deviant S&M games and beat on him. His only solace were his pet snakes, a hobby that comes in handy for him in the present day. Long soon learns he can put his mastery of his pet (and poisonous) snakes to good use by having them fend off various street punks and trap women to satisfy his sexual hunger. Comments As you can probably tell from the synopsis, this is a nasty and lurid film. Although it may not have the unprecedented bloodletting of some other Hong Kong horrors, it maintains a feverish, grimy and unpleasant pitch throughout. Contributing heavily to the atmosphere is the palpable sense of claustrophobia, courtesy of Yu Chi's expert cinematography. The film has an almost noir-ish feel, as Hong Kong is portrayed as a withered knot of ramshackle backstreets and filthy markets. Never is the skyline shown, hinting at the impending doom and imprisonment for Chi Long. In fact, Killer Snakes is one of the best directed Hong Kong horrors. Director Kuei Chin Hung (no stranger to horror-he directed the mind-blowing Boxer's Omen under his Gui Zhihong pseudanym) brilliantly plays on the snake theme by using careful imagery to suggest Chi Long's snake-like nature. Chi Long is always seen peering through cracks in walls and broken boards in fences, enterting through these portals like a slithering snake. Occasionally, subjective shots are used when Chi Long spies on a victim, effectively resembling a coiled snake ready to strike. Yu Chi brilliantly enhances Liang's naturally slender body to a snake-like resemblance by blocking him tightly between two objects, presenting the optical illusion of increased height and length. These more cerebral elements are nicely balanced with the more visceral action, which can be quite graphic. One scene, in which Chi Long ties up a female victim in an S&M pose while sadistically teasing her with a snake will undoubtedly make viewers squirm. Much of the film's violence occurs from the snake bites, which are gruesome, bloodied boils on the victims' bodies (foreshadowing the psychadelic green and yellow exploding boils in The Boxer's Omen). And the finale, in which a vengeful Chi Long sets loose hundreds of venomous snakes on his arch-rival, has to be one of the most thrilling and ambitious set-pieces of Hong Kong horror. Highly recommended. **Trivia note: this film was scripted by I Kuang, a horror veteran, who also scripted such classics as Black Magic, Seventh Curse and Human Skin Lanterns (reviewed in this section).   CAPTURED FOR SEX 2 (Japan) Who's in it? Souji Kanehako, Shiko Shima, Kei Sano What's it about? When an innocent young couple, Shingo (Souji Kanchako) and Miki (Kei Sano) break down in a remote wooded area of Japan, a mysterious stranger (the frightening Shiko Shima) comes to their assitance and offers his nearby home as a night's lodging. Soon, however, his true nature is exposed as he ensnares the couple in brutal, unrelenting and perverse sex games. Although understandably shocked and reluctant to join him, the oppressive atmosphere soon corrupts Shingo, and the film concludes with him and Shima kidnapping more young girls for their sadistic sexual games. Comments Obviously, this is a very upsetting film and definitely not for all tastes. It has little redeeming value and even less narrative momentum other than showcasing seemingly endless sequences of depraved sexual acts. The film actually plays like an deviant sex guidebook, with Shima's character lecturing on the various virtues of rough sex and astonishingly detailed (and imaginative) directions on how to perform the various acts. One scene, in which he displays to an incredulous Shingo implements used to probe and widen the vagina and anus and to regulate urine flow is particularly disturbing. There is also a nasty (and highly graphic) enema sequence, as well as some oddly breathtaking scenes of rope torture (the scene in which a group of naked women are tangled in suspended, spider web-like ropes while being burned with torches comes to mind). While not as horrifically graphic as the infamous Bushido series, this 1986 production is a far cry from Seijun Suzuki's groudbreaking pinku eiga filmed for Nikkatsu studios! As usual, however, any genital nudity is fogged. Also par for the pinku eiga course is cultural significance. The film is certainly a good, representative entry in the genre because of its fascination with going to the very limits of sexual experience and testing out such social taboos safely in cinema. And the scenes of torture are very fastidious and meticulously crafted, clearly conveying the fascination the Japanese have with ritualizing just about anything. The film was directed by Go Ijuin, a collective pseudanym for a trio of filmmakers: Genji Nakamura, Ryuichi Hiroki and Hitoshi Ishikawa.   TRAMPA INFERNAL (Mexico) Who's in it? Charly Valentino, Adriana Vega, Marisol Santacruz, Pedro Fernandez What's it about? A group of campers decide to take the day off for a day of hunting. Unfortunately for them, their fun in the sun takes a turn for the worse (and the deadly) when a maniacal, murderous recluse decides to defend his natural habitat by planting deadly booby traps for the group. Soon the terrified campers are engaged in a brutal battle for survival... Comments More contemporary (1989) Mexican horror! Unfortunately, the fascinating premise is letdown somewhat by deliberate and sometimes sludgy pacing, placing this film behind the brilliance of other contemporary Mexican chillers such as Grave Robbers (also reviewed this section). The premise is quite similar: a group of well-meaning yet naive teens trespass across a madman's (or monster's) domain, waking the otherwise dormant evil. The film's main problem is its hesitance to "go all the way" with the brutal gore and violence that slasher fans are expecting. The film's premise promises gobs of gore, such as victims torn in half by traps or impaled in lion traps, but no such instances occur. Usually the violence is relegated to gunshot squibs or explosions. However, there is one standout murder sequence that tantalizingly suggests what the film could have been: the disfigured killer dons a bladed glove (obviously a nod to Freddy Krueger) and slits a female victim's throat. Her neck is upturned to the sky, spewing a fountain of blood, which blows in the wind like a red mist. Such a powerful and fetishtic sequence proves that director Pedro Galindo III understands the potential of the horror film and his film, but unfortunately such an understanding of the genre is not repeated.   BARN OF THE NAKED DEAD (US) Who's in it? Andrew Prine, Manuella Theiss, Shelly Alberoni, Gyl Roland, Al Cormier, Gil Lamb, Chuck Niles, Sheila Bromley What's it about? Three young women travel cross country to Las Vegas to open up a show to showcase their singing talents. Along the way their car breaks down on a desolate stretch of Nevada desert. Saving them from their peril is a mysterious stranger (Prine) who offers to take them to his nearby farmhouse to use his phone to call for help. The good sumaritan's mask of kindness is soon discarded, however, when he chains the women up in his abandoned barnhouse, keeping them captive. He then "trains" them for his very own "circus", a trade his father used to specialize in. Periodically he feeds his female stock to his father, a horribly disfigured mutant forever scarred by radiactive fallout from H-bomb testing in the area. Comments Don't be fooled by the outlandish premise. This is a rather dull film, although not entirely without interest. Director Alan Rudolph (yes, the illustrious protege of Robert Altman, who went on to direct such films as Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Cycle and Made in Heaven) doesn't seem to be that interested in investing in his neat premise's full potential. The result is a very slow, languished film that betrays its microscopic budget. The closest Rudolph gets to a "circus" of female slaves is when he douses a few women with animal blood and unleashes a lion on them! And then, of course, there are the numerous whippings (not very graphic) he deals out to keep his women in line. That's about as far as the gore goes. There isn't any gooey cannabalism when the father chows down on the victims, as Rudolph does the old budget cop-out routine of cutting away and then showing a blood-spattered corpse. Boo! However, the makeup effects (by Byrd Holland and Douglas White) of the mutated father can be quite disturbing, giving the film a much-needed sense of dread and horror. The other major asset of the film is its bleak atmosphere, set against the sterile dustbowl of the Nevada desert. It really does give the film an occasionally haunting feel, and is evocative of the abandoned circus in the desert of Herk Harvey's classic chiller Carnival of Souls. Strangely, the film's sole US release, on "Showcase Productions" video, benefits from a shoddy telecine job. The transfer's poor color correction gives the film a sickly greenish tint, supplementing the film's unhealthy atmosphere. As it stands, Barn of the Naked Dead is a most curious (although deeply flawed) midnight movie, worthy of one look for cult and horror fans.   MORBUS (Spanish) Who's in it? Victor Israel, Joan Borras, Carla Day, Mon Ferrer What's it about? A crazed scientist develops a serum that can resurrect the dead. Soon a troupe of zombies scour the Spanish countryside looking for fresh human meat. They come across a group of prostitutes in a forest and a sect of Satanists (led by the incomparable Victor Israel) on which they feed. Comments Sound derivitave? It is. Morbus is a particularly sorry entry in the zombie subgenre. The film boasts practically no gore, no imagination and certainly no competance. Director Ignasi Serra is content on merely stuffing the film with as much nudity and sleaze as possible, making the same mistake that fellow Spaniard Jess Franco often makes with his films: assuming that sex scenes and bared flesh will hold the viewer's interest for eighty minutes. Various couples copulate, and clothes are shed with little purpose and even less enthusiasm. Perhaps the film would have succeeded if it mixed sex with violence more imaginatively, as in such sex/gore hybrids as D'Amato's Carribbean entries or some of Polselli's films. Unfortunately, this isn't the case. No limbs are lopped off, and no guts are pulled, painfully exposing the film's minuscule budget. In fact, the "zombies" of the film don't even have any kind of makeup to speak of! Such carelessness renders the title more of a dress rehearsal than a finished horror film. Only Victor Israel's (star of The Wicked Caresses of Satan, also reviewed in this section) typically loony performance saves the film from total disaster. His goofy charisma fits in well with the film's casual sleaze and laziness. He brings a much-needed perverse authenticity to the film's best scene: a group satanic orgy. It's a real hoot to see ol' Vic dressed in a satanic cloak, presiding over the nude, copulating audience as he sacrifices a nude female victim to some all-purpose evil god. But that's about it for the good stuff. Morbus is one of the rarer Spanish horrors, and unfortunately for good reason. I'd recommend the obscure French zombie film Revenge of the Living Dead as a better alternative for sleazy Euro zombie mayhem. It's not a stellar title, but it certainly has more imagination and delivers the goods (gore) far better than this eighty minute tease.   PHI TA BO (Thai) Exclusive! Who's in it? Phochet, Naowarat Yuktanant, Lor-Tok What's it about? From what I can tell (the film is in Thai language only), it is the Thai version of Eyes Without a Face! Sort of. A doctor's daughter is scarred in a car accident and he is intent on restoring her face. He kills a man and steals his eyes and transplants them to his daughter. However, the cadaver is soon vengeful and wants his eyes back! He rises from the grave, terrorizing the doctor and his family Comments All I can say is WOW! What a great little film that I've been searching for for ages! This is a TRUE Thai horror for once! It even has a healthy dose of GORE! The film has an amazing sequence early on which is quite graphic: the doctor gorily removes his daughter's damaged eyes, placing the eyeballs in a beaker! Yes, you actually see the removed eyes (optical nerve and all!), and there is a very gory closeup of the doctor removing the eyes from the sockets (the sockets spouting blood). Kind of reminded me of a scene from the "Guinea Pig" Flowers of Flesh and Blood episode. And it doesn't stop there! The vengeful corpse is a sight (no pun intended!) to behold. He rises from his grave in the inky black Thai forest, stumbling around with bleeding, eyeless sockets. He holds out his hands, moaning for his eyes. And he even attacks the villagers with his arm that extends into this long, slithery serpent thing and strangles them! Awesome! The ending of the film is a showstopper, in which he fires (superimposed) eyeballs at his victims! He also rips the eyes out of members of the doctor's (presumably) family! And yes it's fairly bloody too! In one scene a pair of eyeballs even grow on a tree! This is definitely the best Thai horror I've seen. Hell, it even has an effectively eerie electronic score (although it may very well be pirated). While it is unevenly paced and does have that achilles heel of so much Thai horror (broad humor), it is kept to a pleasing minimum. DEFINITELY seek this rarity out! *By the way, this IS the film that is featured on the frontpage to this site (the pic with the Thai writing, of course!)   SUMPAH PONTIANAK (Malaysia) Exclusive! Who's in it? Maria Menado, Salmah Ahmad, Mustaffa Maarof, Yem What's it about? Again I have to guess because it's in Malay language only! Actually, the film reminded me a lot of Indonesian horror: a disfigured, hideous village outcast terrorizes her village by resurrecting a zombielike creature. Comments Seeing this film is a dream come true for me. I've wanted to see a "Pontianak" film for ages. This is a black and white Malaysian shot horror film from 1958(!), directed by the Indian filmmaker B. Narayan Rao. In fact, he directed a few more Pontianak films as well. The Pontianak films are the stuff of legend; most are considered lost. The Pontianak films still have some notoriety, however, as they were covered in an issue of the long gone Spanish horror magazine "Vudu."   So was the wait worth it? Well, I'd say overall yes! The b&w photography is quite striking and certainly unique. What's so interesting about the film is that many of the outdoor scenes in the lush Malaysian forest MUST HAVE BEEN shot on a set. This really lends an otherwordly feel to the film and reminded me a lot of Mario Bava's similar set trickery in his debut film Black Sunday. While the scenes of horror are rather few and far between, they are potent and satisfying. The scene where the hag resurrects the creature is wonderfully atmospheric as the creature peels out from the moist soil and hay. Unfortunately, the film is weighted down somewhat by a bulk of dialogue-heavy scenes (it is somewhat unfair for me to say that since I couldn't understand a word, but still..) and the expected humor. However, the film is still a one-of-a-kind experience that is not to be missed by fans of rarer Asian horrors. *For more information on the Pontianak films, check out the "Fear Withouth Frontiers" book website (see links page) and click on the Jan Uhde article "The Exotic Pontianaks." Jan is a real expert on these films and the Pontianak legend itself, which will be covered in more detail in the upcoming Fab Press publication Fear Without Frontiers: Horror Cinema Across the Globe.   Baan Phi Porp 1 (Thailand) Exclusive! Who's in it? Treeruk Rukkarndee, Eakkapun Bunlue-rit, Thongchai Prasongsunti What's it about? A witch disrupts life in a small village Comments This is an above-average Thai horror. While it may not be as delirious as Phi Ta Bo, it can hold its own. For one thing, the film is beautifully lit. The various night scenes in the jungles surrounding the village feature colorful gel lighting dappled through the foliage, increasing the tension and atmosphere a thousandfold. In fact, it was so effective the lighting reminded me of Mario Bava's similar treatment of his gothic "village" in Kill Baby Kill!. There are also a few impressive scenes, such as when the witch sends charges through a local mystic's body and then graphically pulls out his intestines! And the final fate of the witch is most satisfying. Her entire body melts into a mass of bubbling skin and maggots, and then finally to a skeleton. Be warned however: the film does have many dull, dead spots in between the more horrific scenes. And since this is the first in a series, there is an ending that leaves an open door for the sequels!   The House on Skull Mountain (US) Who's in it? Victor French, Janee Michelle, Jean Durand, Xernona Clayton What's it about? Basically, a group of relatives of a deceased Voodoo priestess travel to her ominous estate (on "Skull Mountain") to claim their slice of the will. They have little time to get acquainted, however, as strange-and deadly-happenings soon occur. One by one the guests are killed by various mysterious circumstances and soon only young Lorena and Andrew Cunningham (an anthropologist) remain, forced to fight the forces of evil and uncover the skeletons in their late relative’s closet. Comments This is one of the lesser blaxploitation horrors. It is also one of the most forgotten-for good reason: it’s utterly ordinary. While I’m a big fan of some blaxploitation horrors for their great, primal and oddly lyrical imagery (Sugar Hill, Ganja and Hess), this one just goes through the paces. The ever-fascinating subject of voodoo is very watered down here. The "pay off" to all the waiting is a lame climax in which various practitioners gyrate in grass skirts and bone necklaces. Wow. I was really hoping for something wild and bold like the voodoo sequences in Amando de Ossorio’s excellent Night of the Sorcerers, but not so. The best images in this film are the scenes of glowing red skulls dripping with your typical all-purpose voodoo glop. And the "skull mountain" is a very lame item indeed: it’s a cheap oil painting painfully matted onto the film, and the superimposition betrays the film’s low budget. Bottom line: if you’re new to this sub-genre of horror, skip this one and see better entries like Ganja and Hess, Blacula, Sugar Hill or Abby (an underrated gem in my opinion).   Succubare (Hong Kong) Who's in it? ???? What's it about? From what I can understand (read the comments to see what I mean), the film is about a remote, mountainous region of China that has an indigenous group of villagers with fearsome powers (told to us by a handy-dandy narrative voice-over). The women keep their men in line by casting vicious and often fatal spells on them if they dare cross them. When a group of men from a distant village travel to the mysterious region intending to trade goods, problems arise. Especially when one of them falls in love with one of the region’s notorious sorceresses… Comments Succubare has to be one of the strangest, most baffling Asian horrors I’ve seen (and that’s saying something!). Is it a mondo film? Is it a horror film? A thriller? A kung fu film? It’s a little bit of everything. And it rarely makes sense. Why, for example, does the film sporadically revert to sequences with an un-introduced, mysterious man who eats various LIVE animals? These particular sequences are definitely not for the squeamish (and those who consider the Italian cannibal films reprehensible for real animal slaughter should stay FAR away). He eats a snake (messily tearing it open before wolfing it down), a toad, a salamander type thing and more! And it’s all REAL. And inexplicable. My only guess is that the US video release (the only way to see this film as far as I know) was taken from an edited print for US theatrical release. This makes sense, as there ARE a few blunt cuts. I can just see a grindhouse schlockmeister like Jerry Gross re-editing the film, tacking on a spurious mondo style narrative introduction and passing it off to audiences. I’m almost certain the whole documentary angle is a put-on. The insanity continues. There is a VERY brutal sequence that rivals mondo films in its cruelty in which a cow is slaughtered and then skinned in unflinching detail (the gawking close-ups rival the infamous "turtle" sequence in Cannibal Holocaust). There is also the usual HK horror stuff, such as a very graphic scene in which one poor sap under the spell has his stomach clamped open and slithery snakes jump out of his bloody cavity! There is also some not-bad kung fu sequences that are gratuitous in their randomness (strangely fitting for this oddity). Although the film is indeed baffling and often impossible to make any sense out of, it is rarely boring. It is one of the more neglected HK horrors (thus its presence here), and is heartily recommended for those already well-versed in this stuff. If you’re into dodgy, rare and bizarre HK horror, check out the rarely seen Red Spell Spells Red. It’s a rather slow film, but it does have some very extreme mondo type scenes of animals being slaughtered that is indeed shocking and bizarre.   RETURN TO THE HOMEPAGE