Death Passage, Ghost In Australia

Yep, one from Australia today. Though as the years have gone by Aussie horror has become more mainstream and less identifiable with the Land Down Under. Oz-ploitation seems to be a term for yesteryear. Italian horror is similar, no longer Giallo...sad. Still, we do have a creepy one about a ghost wanting vengeance. Our feature today is 2014's "Death Passage" (aka "Lemon Tree Passage"), directed by David Campbell.

Three great looking vacationing young Americans find themselves at the beach. The sultry Maya (Jessica Tovey) is with the babe Amelia (Pippa Black) and her brother Toby (Tim Pocock). At the beach they meet two fun Aussies, the weird Oscar (Andrew Ryan) and the hunk Geordie (Tim Phillips). Yep, Maya and Geordie fall in love. What could go wrong? The otherworldly, that's what! Seems there is a recent urban legend Oscar lets them in on. If one drives really fast on Lemon Tree Passage Road, a bright light appears behind the car. They have to see for themselves and do it...and guess what. Yep. The bright light? Let's talk about Sam (Nicholas Gunn). He seems to have secrets and some evil forces converging on him. The evil forces try to get him to commit suicide, or order him to "find her." Find who? Okay, whatever that bright light is, it begins tormenting Geordie, Maya, Amelia, and Toby.

Now Maya develops some weird psychic connection with something from the other side. She sees some horrible act of violence against a girl (Piera Shannon). Now Sam, desperate to stay alive, follows orders and heads into the wilderness to look for...well, you'll see. He doesn't find it, it finds him. Now the others drive back to that weird road and try to recreate their feat. Mistake. Now the evil entity turns homicidal and in the weirdest ways, people begin dying. Maya, on the other hand, seems to be beckoned by some spirit and eventually possessed. Sam turns crazy and whatever force is in the woods, Sam wants to kill it. Fat chance. The secrets are revealed and we see what this entity is, or who it was. Maya may be the human vessel that the spirit uses to further its wrath of vengeance.

Will any of these great looking characters survive the bright light of Lemon Tree Passage Road? Will the evil spirit enjoy intimacy with Geordie just as Maya did?  Will Maya be able to break free of the spirit before all her friends are dead? This is a creepy ghost story and its strength is definitely the great looking cast. Perhaps the scares are mild, but we do like looking at the characters in peril. See "Death Passage" and take in a not too surprising, but still satisfying ghost story. 

Killer Fish, Brazil, a Heist, Explosions, a Hurricane, and Piranhas

Lee Majors! Karen Black! Margaux Hemingway! Marisa Berenson! James Franciscus! Powerhouses of the 1970s, movies and TV. Other than the Lee Majors TV show "The Fall Guy," the 1980s sort of left these peeps behind.  Today we look at an action packed heist/disaster/monster movie from 1979 that was partially financed by Lee Majors and his then wife, Farrah Fawcett..."Killer Fish," directed by Antonio Margheriti. Shot in Brazil, it has as antagonists hundreds of thousands toothy menaces we know as piranha.

A heist...and it is beautiful. Robert (Majors) and Kate (Black) lead a team that will rob a vault of emeralds. A diversion? No, not a smoke bomb, or a fire alarm...nope. The buggers blow up a power plant! You gotta love it! Explosions galore. They crack a safe and get away with a fortune in jewels. The heist was financed by Kate's man, Paul (Franciscus). He has a heart condition and Kate tries to give him heart attacks by making passionate love to him. Robert? Kate really loves him, but he falls for the fashion model, Gabrielle (Hemingway). Okay, Ann (Berenson) owns a clothing line and her and her husband Tom (Gary Collins) are there to enjoying a work-honeymoon. Oh! Remember Dan Pastorini? He played under Bum Phillips with the old Houston Oilers...Earl Campbell was on that team. He's one of the gang members. He'll be eaten by piranhas.

See, after getting away with the jewels, as planned, the gang tosses the spoils into a lake by a dam. They don't know Paul has put thousands of piranha in the lake as an extra means of security. So when gang members try to steal the gems, they're eaten. How long after the robbery does it take for the gang to turn on itself? 60 seconds. Kate would like to take the gems and be off with Robert. Robert doesn't trust Kate and has a lot of pre-marital sex with Gabrielle. Now all go try to get the box of gems but a hurricane and tornado destroy the dam and the boat they're on starts sinking in piranha infested water. The boat slowly sinks and Paul figures on betraying everyone by absconding with the gems and leaving everyone else to be eaten by piranhas.  First he has to get them. He seduces Kate to dive in and get them...that's all for the plot in this review.

Will Kate come back up with the gems, or will only her skeleton come up? Will Gabrielle and Kate get into a catfight over the Six-Million Dollar Man?  After Dan Pastorini gets ingested, will terry Bradshaw be recruited into the gang. This one has a lot of action and even works as a disaster film.  The cheesecake factor is top-notch and so is the beefcake factor. For a nice nostalgic look back at the 70s, see "Killer Fish." 

Red Night at Skye's, Zombies, Meth, and Nazis

Zombies, Meth, and Nazi's? To say the least. We have a heist film today.  One of those heist films when the idiots with a perfect plan get more than they bargained for when not all is as it originally seemed. Yep, the idiots are gonna hit a pawn shop with a Meth lab. what could go wrong? Zombies? Sure, but that's not the half of it. Our feature today is 2024's "Red Night at Skye's," directed by Chris Grega.

Cole (Brock Roberts), a good guy, has money problems and jobs are hard to come by. His wife (Julie Layton) is dying of cancer, and a million medical bills are past due. His dad (Bill Moseley) is on some disability, and Cole can't afford to feed his two great kids. Giving in to temptation, he let's his best friend Tom (Skully Shemwell) talk him into hitting a pawn shop. The pawn shop staff has a Meth lab and has millions, and won't call the police if robbed. Tom has a few idiot friends and together with Cole, head over to Skye's Pawn Shop to rob it. All goes wrong...so wrong. A Meth lab? Not just any Meth lab. Doc (John Bratkowski) is the owner and he is also a Nazi mad scientist cut from the same mold as Josef Mengele. He's producing a Meth that turns its users into cannibalistic, ravenous zombies. His plan is to release it in urban centers to clean out the low-class peeps.

During the robbery, Cole and gang get into a shoot-out with the pawn shop staff and flee to the basement...which is a Meth lab and also has cells for the experiments. The experiments? Doc experiments on human subjects turning them into the aforementioned cannibalistic zombies. The creatures are released and set upon Cole and his buddies. Enter Emma (Jackie Kelly). The pretty blonde is one of those experiments, except she reverted back to a real human...she's an aberration.  Emma helps Cole. and together the two try to find a way out. There's more...so much more. Doc has plans and he also may be infinitely more dangerous than any Nazi of the Third Reich.

Will Cole be able to escape and get back to the family that needs him? Will Emma be able to stay human after being a zombie for a short time? Just what is Doc really up to, and what else is in the basement of that pawn shop? The ending is quite ambitious and yes there is something else down there that may be a scourge onto the entire world. For an ambitious heist film with cannibalistic zombie overtones, see "Red Night at Skye's." 

Death Screams, Babes and Hunks Slashed

An 80s slasher film with skinny-dipping, bimbos and hunks having pre-marital sex, a campfire by a lake, and sex on a motorcycle! Yes! Why can't they make films like this anymore? The babes in this one are unbelievable! Movies here in 2026 can't find enough attractive babes, but back in the 80s, they were all over the place and had no qualms about doing skinny-dipping scenes. So, if you really want sultry dames in the throes of peril, see a 1980s slasher film. If not, be a wuss, and go see that new Spielberg monstrosity "Disclosure Day." For a real movie, we can actually enjoy, let us look at 1982's "Death Screams," directed by David Nelson.

As we begin our story, Ted (Larry Sprinkle) and Angie (Penny Miller) are nude and having pre-marital sex on top of a motorcycle. They both get macheted and dumped in the river. They'll float down the river the entire movie, quite poetic actually. Okay, a carnival is in town but before that we meet some sultry babes. Lily (Susan Kiger) is a clerk in a market and desires bigger things. Stop! Don't say it. Ramona (Jennifer Chase) is a bigtime slut who has slept with every man in town. Kathy (Andrea Savio) is a good girl, but sultry. Sandy (Judy Kay) is not such a nice girl but will give us one of the best skinny-dipping scenes in movie history. She'll be macheted during it and will join Ted and Angie in a death float downstream. Poetic! There are more. Okay, Neil (Martin Tucker) is a coach and desires Lily. He'll be decapitated before he can get to her. Sarah (Sharon Alley) will get it on the merry-go-round with an arrow. 

After all that, the movie moves to a campfire by the river. All the babes are looking really good and showing a lot of cleavage, or in some cases nude. The machete wielding killer converges and his goal is to pick off everyone with his machete. Suspects? Oh yes, there is the town mentally challenged brute (Hanns Manship) who has some history with Ramona. Ramona? Being  the slut of all sluts in this film, will there be something special waiting for her? Oh yes, Lily seems to have a backstory that only bores us, but suggests if there is going to be a final girl, she will be it. There will be so many killings and so many babes will be felled by our slasher.

Just who is the killer and why does he seem to dislike skinny-dippers and youngsters engaging in pre-marital sex? Are the floating corpses of Ted, Angie, and eventually Sandy a metaphor for man's inhumanity to man, or for the oppression of women in 20th century America? Just how many actresses can deliver the allure while floating down stream with a slit throat, and naked? Yes, this is a fun one and might have been missed back when a slasher film came out at the theater every week. For great nostalgic fun, see this 80s slasher flick "Death Screams" and see what it was like when beautiful women used to be cast in films. 

Giant from the Unknown, Devil Conquistador Wants a Dame

Who doesn't? This fellow has been in suspended animation for 500 years, we can understand his urges. Sure, nursing those urges can make one behave anti-socially, but we can only hope modern civilization will understand. We understand when he takes Ann (Jolene Brand). We like Ann, too. Sadly, our monster gets too excited and Ann will be annihilated. Sad. We liked Ann better than the blonde leading lady. However sultry Sally Fraser's character is, she talks a lot and makes sure all the conversation centers on her. Ann seemed more amenable to just stick with giving goo-goo eyes to hunks.  Anyway! Let us look at 1958's "Giant from the Unknown," directed by Richard E. Cunha. 

A farmer has been ripped apart, and so has cattle and horses in a small California mountainside town. The townsfolk pressure Sheriff Parker (Bob Steele) to do something. Parker hates the know-it-all archaeologist Wayne (Ed Kemmer) and tries to pin the violence on him. Then they arrive. The dull Professor Cleveland (Morris Ankrum) and his nubile blonde daughter., Janet (Fraser). Wayne had his chance to pick up Ann, but ignored her. Now he has to listen to Janet drone on and on about nothing...always dominating the conversation...okay, back to the plot. Cleveland is set to go up the mountain and find a 500 year old giant conquistador named Vargas (Buddy Baer). Legend speaks of him. Wayne will go with him. Janet, in between yapping about nothing, falls for Wayne and he falls for her. The trio go up into the mountain and soon find Vargas' armor. Nearby, Vargas awakes from a shallow grave and gets up.

What is the first thing Vargas does? Ask Ann...oh, wait...she's been violated and pulled apart. Vargas heads back up the mountain and witnesses Janet stripping out of her clothes as she gets ready for bed. Wayne and Cleveland sit by the campfire probably happy for the break in having to listen to Janet go on and on about nothing. Vargas returns and grabs Janet and takes her higher up the mountain. Fortunately for him, the dame faints. Wayne and Cleveland go after him. Sheriff Parker and a posse join the duo and now Vargas declares war on modern man.

Will Janet wake and begin endlessly yapping at the devil conquistador?  Will Wayne, Cleveland, and the posse find Janet before she is violated or has her mouth sewn shut? Will Vargas teach Janet 500 year old etiquette for a dame in courtship? Sure, Janet could learn a lot from a 500 year-old stud. Still, Wayne is in love and Cleveland is sorta used to her, as Janet is his daughter. See "Giant from the Unknown" and get a glimpse how real men liked their dames back in the 1400s. 

The Last House on Dead End Street, Gross!!!!!

Amputation! Disembowelment! Dissection! Rape! Porn! Oral sex with animal parts! Okay, I watch them so you don't have to. Any redeeming quality to this film? You decide. A big clue, none of the cast and crew use their real names in the credits. Let us take a look at 1973's "The Last House on Dead End Street," directed by Roger Watkins. Low budget, grindhouse, exploitation, and a few inches away from porn. Snuff?  You may wonder.

Terry (Watkins) gets out of jail and is angry. He now wants to make films. He assembles a bunch of perverts who do porn films and offers them a chance to do something a bit different...a bit more extreme. He has some helpers. The beautiful but psycho Kathy (Kathy Curtin) who will ultimately help him disembowel and dissect beautiful women is on board as well as pornographers Ken (Ken Fisher) and Bill (Bill Schlageter). Now let us talk Patricia (Patricia Kuhn). She is an actress/performer. Her husband Jim (Edward E. Pixley) is having trouble selling his porn. He throws parties in which Patricia dresses in lingerie, shoe polishes her face black, and allows some guy to whip the snot out of her. I assume this is weird, though maybe I don't get out enough.

Kathy convinced Patricia to act in Terry's movies. She does. Terry muscles a deviant promoter, a couple of actresses, and Patricia's husband to come to his set. There the carnage continues. References to Zeus, virgins, human sacrifice, and mutilation seem to define Terry's theme. There will be long and excruciating scenes of beautiful woman getting gutted and having their legs amputated while alive. Eyeballs will meet power drills, goat hoofs will be sucked, and innards will be yanked out of abdomens. All for what?

What are Terry's motives in pulling women apart...and some men? Will anyone survive Terry's cinematic wrath? Goat hoofs? Does this movie make a statement about the increasing misogyny in western civilization. Does this film promote misogyny in western civilization? Should it have ever been made? I know...gross! Despicable! No way! I get it. For the record I'm not recommending it...but admit it, you're curious and some of you are looking for it now. "The Last House on Dead End Street," you can watch it and never have to tell anyone you did.

World War Bigfoot, Sasquatch and the Krauts

Krauts! Yes...gotta love the Germans...Krauts! These war movies when our side calls them Krauts are so priceless.  Germans don't yell and scream for us to stop using "the K-word." Gotta love them for that. You don't get fired from your job or banned from social media, even in Germany, for using the "K-word." Krauts! There!  Today we have a war movie, entirely factual (not really) about Bigfoot's involvement in World War 2. I bet if we called Bigfoot a "Skunk Ape," the Bigfoot community would not yell and scream for us to stop using the "S-word." SKUNK!  SKUNK!  SKUNK! They probably even laugh at that term. Our feature today is 2026's "World War Bigfoot," directed by Jason Mills. 

Secret missions abound. Sarge (Gavin Marck) leads a ragtag group of GIs into the European forests on a secret mission.  The Germans have sent a similar team in. The Krauts and the Yankees...Ha! Yankees!  The Y-word!  Guess who is not getting wet in the panties because they were called the "Y-word"? Back to the plot. The Yanks and the Krauts battle and most die. The troops are scattered and two medics, the Yank Doc (Jason Benson) and a Kraut try to save some of the wounded...to no avail. Sarge survives and when asked about the mission by fellow GIs, he kills them. Uh oh...Bigfoot appears and he is wounded. Doc tries to save him and the Kraut medic tries to help...to no avail. Other Bigfoots witness this unsuccessful act of charity.

Meanwhile Sarge continues murdering any soldier, Yank or Kraut, who might compromise the secrecy of this mission...to secure a Bigfoot. Sarge finds Doc and Doc realizes there is something off about his commander. Sarge is intent on killing a Bigfoot and is delighted to find the dead one. Doc kind of likes The Bigfoot...even though it probably smells like a skunk...hence we can call it a Skunk Ape without being banned from civilization. The German medic is hiding because Sarge would surely kill him...though it is apparent that Sarge intends to off Doc. Growls in the distance suggest more and more Bigfoots are converging and do not appreciate humans waging war in their home.

Will Doc survive this insane mission and his mad commander?  Will the Bigfoot community survive the human inflicted war in their forest?  Will members of the Bigfoot community be appointed to governmental boards, or UN agencies, to make up for their marginalization by the world community in the past? This may be one of the most important World War 2 movies ever made...but probably not. Still, it is not as preachy as "Saving Private Ryan," and Krauts the world over will appreciate not being stereotyped in this film. So grab yourself a hotdog and add some sauerkraut, and enjoy "World War Bigfoot."