Category Archives: Review

50 Essential Gore Films :#6 Luther The Geek

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Luther The Geek is an odd experience to say the least. The film is very low budget, with some huge plot holes, and bad special effects, yet it’s still fun to watch, and keeps your attention though the short running length. It’s one of those movies that I shouldn’t like, but yet I find myself quite drawn towards it, like a fly to a bug zapper.

The film starts with a mob of people, complete with torches, break into a barn to see a caged up geek bite the head off of a chicken. During this, a small child is pushed down, and loses his teeth. Jump to years later, and we’re in a meeting to see if Luther can be released from prison, after killing three people twenty years ago. He’s now a model prisoner, albeit one that bites people with metal teeth, and clucks like a chicken all the time, but hey, who am I to say what’s model or not. Upon leaving prison, Luther kills an old lady at a supermarket, and then follows a woman home to her farm house, where we spend the rest of the movie with him stalking and killing members of the family.

While the film is clearly shot cheap, and the effects match this, it still comes out looking alright. It’s very dark, in the same way many of my favorite 80s and 90s horror movies looked. One question I do have though, is why this was on the Essential Gore Films list, as there is little gore in it, and it’s not done overly well. Luther, during the course of the movie, only kills a small handful of people, and none of the ways are overly gory, it’s mostly just bites to the neck, that even low budget zombies movies have done better since.

Edward Terry in the role of Luther is interesting, as his only dialog is to cluck like a chicken, it’s nice to see he was still able to make the character seem menacing. This is director Carlton J. Albright’s only movie in the directors chair, he also helped write this, and The Children, which is the only other credit he and Edward Terry have on their IMDB. I don’t know what happened to them, but it would of been nice to see a couple more of these low budget films come out of the duo.

Luther The Geek is a weird film to say the least, but it’s a weird film that holds your attention, and thankfully doesn’t run to long. I know people say, always leave them wanting more, but there’s something to be said about an experience that ends just when your finally getting tired of it. Does it belong on a gore film list? Well no, but if it wasn’t on the list, I don’t think I’d ever of heard of it other wise.
Score – B-
Gore – 3/10
Quality Of Gore – 1/10

 

50 Essential Gore Films : #3 Maniac

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Maniac started out with a budget of $48,000 in cash, which was put into a stock market account, which brought it up to $135,000, which was enough to get British producer Judd Hamilton to put in almost $200,000.  This budget,  while quite low, in no way reflects the level of gore used in this film. Tom Savini came in to do the special effects, and blows everything away, quite litterly in the shotgun scene, in which a dummy of Savini get’s a point blank shotgun blast to the face. The dummy, afterwards, was locked in the truck of the car, and dumped in the water, I wonder if that got cops wondering?

Maniac is the story of Frank Zito, a schizophrenic man who enjoys scalping young girls, and nailing them to mannequins in his apartment. While there is a love story tacked into the mix, the film is best known for being a non-stop barrage of violence and gore. After killing Frank is seen talking to himself, regretful of the things he’s done, and these scenes are some of the creepiest moments in the film, due largely to the great performance by Joe Spinell, who had previously worked with greats, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese, on The Godfather, and Taxi Driver. The scenes of Zito in his apartment filled with mannequins and dolls are terribly creepy in the claustrophobic atmosphere they present, with each shot being filled with dolls.

Maniac was directed by William Lustig, who’s known for the classic Maniac Cop series, and is lesser known for getting his start directing pornos. To save money on Maniac a lot of the woman who were just in it for a body count were played by contacts he made in the adult film business. After seeing Maniac and Maniac Cop, William Lustig was Quentin Tarantino’s first choice to direct True Lies, but it never happened. It’s clear in watching that Maniac was inspired a lot by Argento, in the use of colors, and music both. The music in Maniac plays about as perfectly as any horror film I could ever see, mixing into the soundtrack a heartbeating slowly as the life is slowly being choked out of it.

And slowly indeed! The strangulation scene I’m talking about is one of the longest I’ve ever seen, clocking in at an impressive 1:25, the entire time cutting between the dying prostitute, and the terrifying look on Zito’s face. Mere moments after we have Frank scalping the woman, with some of the best sound effects I’ve heard for making your gut turn. The dream sequence at the end of the film may be the goriest scene ever shot, with the mannequins coming to live in order to exact revenge on Zito. The headless one is the body of Ms. Voorhees from the original Friday The 13th.

Maniac is one of the films I wish was mentioned more often. It is the pinnacle of the body count slasher movie, with the gore to keep you interest in the kills, and a performance that is worlds above what most slasher films were offering.

Score – A
Gore – 10/10
Quality of gore – 10/10

Skew

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I’d like to start this out by saying I’m not the biggest fan of ‘Found Footage” films. With that being said, I have seen quite a few, mostly the more well known, or one’s mentioned on the Bid,such as ‘Megan Is Missing’. While not the biggest fan, it’s always nice to see it done right. I am on the other hand, a huge fan of psychological movies, such as ‘Bug’, and ‘May’, and will sit and re-watch one until I think I fully understand it. ‘Skew’ is both a found-footage film, and a psychology horror film, and gets it right, for the most part.

Our main character of ‘Skew’ is of course our camera-man Simon, the young twenty-something who brings a camera with him everywhere he goes. Trust me, you know this character. The main thrust of the film involves Simon, and dating couple Rich, and Eva, on a road trip to attend a wedding. Along the way, through means of the camera, we get to witness some odd occurrences. I know, your thinking, “Isn’t all found footage films through means of the camera?”, well yes, but the camera is picking up images that the characters themselves aren’t seeing with their eyes. Said occurrences being that the faces of people are showing up all disfigured and Skewed ( see what I did there?). Shortly after your image is caught on camera this way, you die some how.

‘Skew’ is a movie that has more going on in it than you might think at first. The story is easy to follow in the most basic sense, but to really understand it, you have to delve much, much deeper than the surface level. There’s themes and ideas at play, that aren’t going to be popping out at the viewer, and I for one am thankful. It’s nice to see a director, who is willing to believe in his audience’s intelligence, and not force fed every aspect down our throats. I for one hope to see more come out of director/writer Sevé Schelenz.

I have a few minor problems with ‘Skew’. While the acting for the most part is rather strong, there are a few scenes that stand out as just terrible performances. Shortly after the first person turns up dead, Rich delivers some lines, and poorly would be a nice way to put it. The acting is this scene was so wooden you could build a boat out of it. Thankfully this scene is one of only a couple rare occurrences in the film, but since the rest is so strong, it really stands out. Another of my problems is there’s a scene later on when a police officers face is seen all fucked up, but his death scene following makes very little sense, and is never mentioned again. It feels as if it was just a last minute addition to the film, in order to add another freaky moment.

The best thing going for the film is by far it’s atmosphere, which early on, before anything happens even, has a way of taking a hold of the viewer, and persisting throughout the rest of the film, all the way until the eerie, yet confusing ending. There are a couple jump scares in the film, and while none of them got me, I can see how the first one will get people. The first jump scare, while not scaring me, unnerved me throughout the rest of the scene, which I find to be more enjoyable than being startled.

‘Skew’ is not a perfect film, but is a great mixture of two sub-genres of horror, that relies on it’s audiences intelligence, rather than exposition. The unnerving atmosphere is sure to get under your skin, the slow burn aspect of the film may leave viewers wanting a faster paced film. I highly recommend it, but it’s clearly not for everyone.

Score – B
Gore – 2/10

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Liam Neeson, Liam Neeson, Liam Neeson, what can I say about you? From Jedi to father with a mission, to plane crash survivor, you never seem to disappoint. There is something about the way Liam Neeson looks that really allows you to believe that he is truly able to do the things that he is depicted as doing. The Grey, while a fantastically shot film, filled with great performances from everyone, really is Liam Neeson’s movie, and I for one, do not see a problem with it.

The Grey is the story of a group of oil drillers, who’s plane goes down, and their struggle to survive in the wilds of Alaska, while a pack of hungry wolves protecting their territory tries to kill them. There you go, there’s the film in a nut shell, from that you know just what it is your getting in to, but of course, there’s more to it than that. The Grey is really a film about it’s characters, and their struggles, and the emotions they face while trying to survive, everything from fear, to anger, to sorrow. The plane crash has been described as “doing for planes what Jaws did for swimming”, and while I can understand where they are coming from with that, I personally didn’t find the crash to be scary. But the scene immediately after with an unknown person on the flight dying, and Liam Neeson talking him though it, is one of the scariest death scenes I have seen in years, not because of the effects, but because of the emotions associated with everyone witnessing the event, including me in the audience.

The effects in The Grey are great, it’s gory than one would expect, with some rather disturbing scenes involving the wolves, and a fall. Normally I am not one to be bothered by heights, or falling, in movies or in real life, but there is a fall in this film that looks to be just about the most painful experience anyone could go through. The wolves are mostly cgi, and while not a huge fan of cgi, I didn’t find myself bothered too much by it, since the wolves are either moving to fast to really tell, or are stalking our characters in the shadows.

The Grey is a great film, which anyone who is a fan of cinema in general should see. The characters are all great, and you will find yourself caring for all of them by the end, regardless of how they first present themselves. It’s a film where it’s easy to picture yourself going through the same experiences, and is utterly chilling because of it. The only thing I will say against the film, is that if you are depressed, don’t watch it, as you’ll be committing suicide shortly after. It’s not a happy tale, it’s a brutally honest look at what it takes to survive, and how some times it doesn’t matter what you’ve gone through.

Score – A+
Gore – 7/10

H.P Lovecraft’s Necronomicon (1993)

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H.P Lovecraft is one of the greatest writers in history, in my own opinion, influencing many, many authors, and even directors, including Stephen King, Stuart Gordon, and more importantly Brain Yuzna. I say more importantly, since in this anthology, Yuzna directs both the wrap-around, and the final segment, as well as play a cameo.

Based on three works by Lovecraft, Necronomicon starts with a wrap-around featuring Jeffery Combs as the late author, coming to a monastery to study some of the books they have there. Upon arriving however, he quickly steals a key from one of the monks, and gets his hands on a forbidden copy of the evil Necronomicon, the book of the dead. From his reading we are shown the three stories to make up the film, but reading the Necronomicon doesn’t come cheap. B+

The first of the three stories is directed by Christophe Gans, who also directed Brotherhood Of The Wolf, one of my favorite epics, and the ever popular Silent Hill adaption. Called ” The Drawned” or ” The Drowned” depending where you look, this segment is loosely based on the story ” The Rats In The Walls”, and follows Edward De LaPoer, as he returns to New England in order to receive a hotel that was left to him in his uncles will. Reading a letter left to him from his uncle, he learns that his uncle has found a way to bring the dead back to life, with the help of the Necronomicon, but nothing ever comes back as it seems. A-.

The second of these tales is directed by Shusuke Kaneko, a famous Japanese director who at the time of filming couldn’t even speak English. “The Cold” is based on “Cool Air”, and is the story of a reporter who thinks he’s figured out the finally clue in a series of murders and missing peoples. He approaches the daughter of Emily Osterman with his suspicions, and she in return tells him the story of her mother. Upon renting a room in Boston, Emily Osterman meets the always freezing cold Dr. Madden, who people say has to be at least 100, yet looks sixty at best. Finding out his secret, and seeing the ending makes this by far the best of the stories. A.

Finally we come to “Whispers” based on ” The Whisperer In The Dark”, this time directed by Brain Yuzna. Whispers starts out with a bang, with two cops chasing after a speeding car, while fighting about the fact they slept together and now the driver is pregnant. They crash the car, should of paid more attention to driving, and “The Butcher”, the driver of the other car, pulls out the man, and drags him though a twisted and weird apartment building. Chasing after her partner, the pregnant cop meets an odd couple, who never seem to be on the same page, and who keep changing what they say. Is there something more to this couple, or are they just afraid of the Butcher and  the underground tunnels that lay in wait beneath. B+.

While all of the stories are quite good, all except for ‘The Cold’ seem to be aimed at people who have read Lovecraft’s work in order to fully understand it. Weird shit just happens at every turn, and it rarely bothers to explain it’s self, and while as a fan of Lovecraft’s work, it doesn’t bother me, I can see where some one could be really put off by it. “Whispers” is really bad for this, and after I finished the film, I had to go back and re-read the short story to have a better understanding of it.

Since Brain Yuzna is involved in the film, you know right from the get go it’s going to be bloody, and the effects are going to be crazy, and it delivers there. Everything from the fish-people based on ” The Shadows Of Innsmouth”, to the bit of Cthulhu you see, the film’s creatures look great, and there’s plenty of them. Add to the mix a fair share of blood, and guts, and you got yourself a fun anthology film.

The whole film is screams late ’80s style horror, even though it’s from ’93, and comes across as a horror film not just meant to scare, but meant to be fun as well. The acting is hit and miss, with the best coming in the form of Jeffery Combs, and the crazy couple in “Whispers”, they played it with such a level of goofy eccentricity that your never quite sure if you can trust them.

Necronomicon is a great anthology film if your just looking for some fun effects, and some crazy stories, and a even better film if your a fan of Lovecraft to begin with. Either way, I’d say it’s worth a watch, if only for ” The Cold”.

Score – A-
Gore – 7/10