Saturday, December 4, 2010






JENNIFER'S BODY (2009) In this comedy/horror Megan Fox stars as the title character Jennifer , a high school hotty who is kidnapped and sacrificed to Satan by an aspiring indy rock band in exchange for fame, but because shes not a virgin she comes back to life as some sort of demon who must feed on humans to stay alive. This is kind of a hard one to peg, as a horror film its almost a complete failure , not one remotely scary scene , minimal blood and with this kind of story there was potential for tons of gore . As a teen comedy its only fair , it had a few jokes that i laughed at but much like Quentin Tarantino's movies they get too caught up in trying to be witty and clever it comes off as pretentious. Now with all that being said I still cant say that I didn't like this movie , much like the movie HEATHERS it has a dumb , bitchy teenage charm , I fully understand how this could appeal to the MTV generation . The story is written by Diablo Cody , screenwriter of JUNO , if you enjoyed the humor in that you will probably get a tickle here, but as i said before there are not many scares so horror freaks use caution.


DOG SOLDIERS(2002) This mixture of the horror and action genres was given incredibly favorable reviews upon its release and while this British made film is pretty good I'm not quite sure it deserves all the accolades. As an action film its pretty damn good but as a horror film its a tad predictable and not the least bit scary. Don't get me wrong i enjoyed it but with all of the great press it received I was expecting the second coming of THE HOWLING or AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. A company of British soldiers on what is supposed to be a routine training mission in the remote forests of Scotland find out that their mission is not so routine when they come under attack by a pack of werewolves. The carnage begins , and after the first attack the remaining soldiers are rescued by a local girl and take refuge in a farmhouse where the attacks continue through the night and they fight for their lives and try to survive until dawn. The first half is fast paced and really good but once they get into the farmhouse it gets a tad dull , they try to hint at a government conspiracy but never flesh it out. Take ALIEN , NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and RAMBO mix'em up in a bowl bake for 90 min. and out comes DOG SOLDIERS , entertaining but a tad bit overrated.


DEATH WARMED UP(1984) This New Zealand produced film is a real stinker , so much so I thought my DVD player farted when I put this in. This is a disjointed mish mash of the horror , action and mad scientist genres that makes little sense . A prize winning doctor is hell bent on creating a race of mindless mutated killing machines with the use of experimental drugs he has developed , the reason why he wants to do this is never fully explained in the movie either , just a bunch of gore and chase scenes strung together without any semblance of storyline at all. Pretty worthless stuff here folks , I advise you to avoid this cinematic flatulence.

COUNT YORGA ,VAMPIRE(1970) Robert Quarry stars as the title blood sucker in this effective, somewhat underrated cult classic . Under the guise of a psychic medium Count Yorga conducts a seance with 2 young couples in attempt to contact the spirit of one of the ladies deceased mother , who we learn was a past girlfriend of the Count . He ends up falling for one of the young ladies and wishes to make her his vampire bride and proceeds to eliminate anyone who stands in his way. This is American International Pictures attempt at making a Hammer style vampire flick and for the most part they are successful. Quarry is perfect as the Yorga character and like most Hammer films its very stylish and atmospheric, it may seem a little talky and slow to some younger crowds but if your into the 60/70's drive in thing you should enjoy this.

THE RETURN OF COUNT YORGA(1971) Robert Quarry is back as Yorga in this sequel to the 1970 film. The Count moves into a mansion that is near an isolated orphanage and brings along his harem of female vampires and his deformed assistant . While attending a party at the orphanage Yorga finds a beauty he falls for and intends to make her his new bride. Even though the story is basically a retread of the first film and they never explain how Count Yorga returns after his demise in the earlier flick , this is actually a litter faster paced and in my opinion a better movie than the 1st. Even with that being the case it didn't have as big a box office as COUNT YORGA , VAMPIRE and didn't garner enough interest for a 3rd in the series. If you enjoyed the original you'll like this one , they are both available on a double bill DVD from MGM that goes for a very reasonable price , I only paid $7.50 for my copy , at that price you cant go wrong.



NURSE SHERRI (1978) While attempting to raise the body of a dead disciple, a cult leader suffers a heart attack. He's taken to a hospital and dies during surgery. His spirit possesses a nurse at the hospital , Sherri and he uses her to exact revenge against the surgical team that operated on him. This is an Al Adamson INDEPENDENT INTERNATIONAL release and if your familiar with his films you know that your in for, some great drive in cheese . Its a hybrid of the newly developing slasher films of the day and the glut of possession/satanic films that were all the rage in the wake of THE EXORCIST. While no masterpiece this is fun and worth a look if your a b movie fanatic.


HORROR HIGH(1974) Poor Vernon Pots is a nerdy student who is picked on by just about everyone in his high school , the meathead jocks, teachers , even the janitor wont cut Vern any slack. He develops a Jekyll/Hyde formula in chemistry class he intends on using on animals in some experiments ,the Janitor forces Vernon to drink it himself and he transforms into a beast who is out to get revenge on all his tormentors. I have fond memories of watching this on late night TV some time in the late 70's early 80's under the name TWISTED BRAIN . I really liked it then and i still like it now, yes its cheap, cheezy the acting is not all that good and the make up /gore scenes are all filmed with bad lighting so its just dark enough to hide all there imperfections , in other words everything a good drive in movie should be!! I practically grew up going to the drive in just about every weekend (thanks mom) and watching lots of late night horror programs so i really enjoy this type of stuff so i recommend it.