The Pumpkin Karver, Off with your Faces this Halloween

Less than 90 days until Halloween!  The summer heat is still keeping us down, but before we know it the crisp fall air will usher in our favorite holiday.  So, to kick off this elongated countdown to our October celebration, let us look at Robert Mann's 2006 shocker, "The Pumpkin Karver."  A spunky tale, perfect for the season, our film will have, even us horror professionals, turning our heads.  There will be booze, rock'n roll, pre-marital sex....and lots of hunks and babes...and of course....a slasher. Unfortunately, many of these great looking young characters will meet gory demises....but that's the way we like it on this blog.

On Halloween, the sultry Lynn (Amy Weber), clad in pink lingerie, is waiting for her boyfriend, Alec (David J. Wright).  Uh oh....Alec has a warped sense of humor and decides to scare Lynn with a prank.  Clad as a pumpkin faced fiend, Alec approaches Lynn as Michael Myers nears his sister. Double uh oh, Lynn's brother Jonathan (Michael Zara) believes he is defending his sister when he stabs Alec in the head a dozen times.  Totally accidental, sure, but now Alec is mentally scarred (sanity issues).  One year later, Lynn and Jonathan move to a really small town.  Lynn finds a Halloween party held near a rural pumpkin patch. Okay, not the best idea if your brother has Halloween sanity issues.  The good news, Lynn has set up her brother with a babe named Tammy (Minka Kelly).

Tammy and Jonathan hit it off.  Tammy seems normal, though Jonathan is hearing voices and has visions of a pumpkin-faced slasher pursuing him.  Visions?  Maybe not.  As the party commences, the lovely Rachel (Charity Shea) will be interrupted in her pursuit of pre-marital sex and meet the object of Jonathan's hallucinations.  Her fate will be stomach turning...you'll see.  Now Jonathan continues to see his nemesis, but Lynn tries to convince him it is just his past haunting him.  As the wide-eyed and vulnerable Tammy and Jonathan grow closer, and even kiss, the pumpkin fiend gets more overt. Some great looking young people will meet all sorts of wild deaths, including decapitation.

You may think you know who lives and who dies while watching this film. Beware, Robert Mann isn't interested in following a standard norm with his slasher film. Will Jonathan, with his sanity issues, be able to convince drunk babes and hunks that a slasher is also present at the party?  Who is this pumpkin-faced fiend?  Might it be Jonathan? What does our fiend have planned for his victims? Hint: The title of this film!  Is Minka Kelly too cute to be carved up like a jack-o-lantern? "The Pumpkin Karver" joins "Halloween" and "Trick or Treat" as the perfect Halloween film.  When deciding on which DVDs to put on this October, don't miss "The Pumpkin Karver."

Flight 7500, A Haunted Airplane?

Movies where really hot stewardesses fight evil have done well on this blog.  In Quarantine 2 the sultry Mercedes Mason battles a zombie virus on her flight. In Crocodile 2 Heidi Lenhart plays a beautiful stewardess battling a giant reptile and an evil rock band.  In Loaded Guns  the ravishing Ursula Andress battles an Italian crime syndicate in various states of undress. So today, clad in alluring red stewardess outfits, Leslie Bibb and Jamie Chung battle supernatural ghostly forces in 2014's "Flight 7500."

Laura (Bibb) and Suzy (Chung) are two hot stewardesses on Vista Pacific 7500. Both these women have issues with their men...this isn't insignificant.  They welcome aboard some great looking passengers, all with serious life issues causing much angst.  Oh yes, also welcomed aboard is a weird man (Rick Kelly), carrying a mysterious wooden box.  In a very disturbing scene, our weirdo dies....and weirdness permeates our flight to Tokyo.  Unexpected turbulence and a mysterious bout of decompression almost doom the flight.  Laura and Suzy evacuate First Class, leaving our corpse all alone.

Uh oh!  Our corpse is missing, and his ghost is making some appearances. As the passengers begin getting scared, Suzy, Laura, and four passengers decide to figure out who exactly the deceased was...the immediate answers they find are startling.  As mysterious doom befalls a couple of misbehaving passengers, our heroic stewardesses make some more horrific discoveries.  In unlocking a macabre mystery, Laura, Suzy, and everyone else on Flight 7500 must confront their own choices and selves....the results here will be mixed.  Will Flight 7500 make it to Tokyo?  Who exactly was the deceased? Can our sultry stewardesses defeat paranormal forces?

This film is heavy on the psychological horror, and is sort of an Asian horror flick. Directed by Takashi Shimizu (The Grudge), and featuring a great looking cast, including Ryan Kwanten, Amy Smart, Scout Taylor-Compton, and Nicky Whelan...in addition to our Ms. Chung and Ms. Bibb, this is a perfect film to download for your next international airline flight. Flawed perhaps, but a creepy ghost story, nonetheless.

Island Claws, Moby Dick Watch Out!

No doubt, Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" is a flawed work of literature.  The would be classic story was finally perfected by the creature!  That's right....the creature from the Black Lagoon himself....Riccou Browning.  After terrorizing sultry babes in white swimsuits, the creature wrote 1980's "Island Claws." Yep, the sight of Gregory Peck mounting and harpooning the white whale left us all wanting more.  Fear not, the creature, in "Island Claws" gives us a much more rewarding spectacular....Robert Lansing mounting and harpooning a giant crab.

The beautiful Jan (Jo McDowell, a Cheryl Ladd look-a-like) arrives on a Florida island to study Dr. McNeal's (Barry Nelson) crabs.  All right, cut it out! Get your mind out of the gutter.  The good doctor, in order to fight world hunger, is playing around with crab DNA to make the species bigger, so more people can dine at Red Lobster.  Uh oh, the island's nuclear power plant, run by Jan's dad just happens to have some sort of accident. Double uh-oh....the crabs start acting funny and seek out humans to devour.

As some unfortunates fall prey to hordes of crabs, a giant one also starts wreaking havoc. Most on the island are too drunk to put two and two together, but after Jan is almost eaten by the creatures, she and her new beau, Pete (Steve Hanks) start investigating.  Meanwhile, Moody (Lansing), after some of his friends are picked apart, also starts snooping.  As Jan and Pete fall in love, and we are treated to a spirited harmonica and banjo duet featuring Lansing...our giant monster converges on the population base.  Will our crabby monster eventually find the nuclear power plant? Will the perky and vulnerable Jan don a white swimsuit to fight the beast (remember who wrote this film)?

In a Mystery Science Theater 3000 type of way, "Island Claws" will surely please. If you found Gregory Peck's Ahab annoying and judgmental, you will enjoy Robert Lansing as the usually drunk barkeep as he tries to save this pitiful island from monsters. Available on YouTube, take a look at "Island Claws" with a couple of robot friends.

Island of the Burning Damned, Aliens and a Slut

The island of Fara is about to be invaded.  A beautiful, sweaty seductress looking to ruin marriages is headed there.  Oh yeah, so are aliens. In 1967's "Island of the Burning Damned" (aka "Night of the Big Heat"....really), directed by Terence Fisher, this quaint British isle will endure a nymphomaniac's desire....and an invasion from space.  Throw in Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and we have a neat science fiction tale.

The temperatures on the isle of Fara are abnormally high this winter.  Global warming? I doubt it...see, the thermometer is reading 109 degrees.  A weird, and very rude scientist, Godfrey Hansen (Lee) arrives on the island and is tight lipped.  Also arriving is the beautiful and sweaty Angela (Jane Merrow).  Both head to the pub, The Swan.  Hansen gets a room to set up his lab, and Angela reports to Jeff (Patrick Allen).  Jeff is a writer, and a grouchy one....there is a lot of moodiness in this film.  Uh oh....Jeff is alarmed that Angela is his new secretary, as Angela is the slut (not my term, but she is referred as this repeatedly throughout this film) who Jeff bedded in London.  Angela just won't take no for an answer.  Oh yes, not only are the temperatures, literally and figuratively, heating up, some islanders are being charred to death.

As the radios and electricity fail, and the liquor is ruined (that's it, war!), Jeff confronts the weird scientist.  Oh yes....our happy-homewrecker confronts Jeff and his wife (Sarah Lawson), as well. Neither of these confrontations go well.  Hansen tells Jeff of his theory about aliens using Fara as a landing base for a future invasion of Earth...and Angela sweats some more in either a bikini or an unbuttoned blouse. As more humans are fried, Hansen makes some startling discoveries about the mysterious invaders. As Angela continues to sweat, Jeff and Hansen come up with a plan to defeat their invaders. The two enlist more survivors and act...but is it too late?

Will Angela's promiscuous nature doom her to a burning fate?  Will the moody Hansen and unfaithful Jeff be able to work together to save the planet?  As always, seeing Cushing and Lee together on screen is a pleasure.  Seeing the sweaty and scantily clad Jane Merrow on the same screen, is also a pleasure, though in a different way.  "Island of the Burning Damned" will please fans of campy British horror or scifi.  Available on YouTube (beware, I had to click on two different links to see the entire film), enjoy this scorcher.  To order the BluRay DVD of this film click on this link Classic Direct

Revenge of the Creature, An Old Monster Never Dies

...at least the classic Universal monsters don't.  All aboard the Rita II with Captain Lucas (Nestor Paiva), and back to the Black Lagoon! An important sequel that will answer many questions...most importantly, can any 1950s actress rival Julie Adams in a white swimsuit?  So watch out Jacksonville....the horrors of the Amazon are on their way! From 1955, let us examine "Revenge of the Creature." Oh by the way!  Clint Eastwood has a nice, non-credited role in this one.

After the aforementioned voyage captures our gill man, the monster is brought to Ocean Harbor Oceanarium, near Jacksonville.  Held in captivity for tourists to ooh and aah over, our monster is not happy...and lonely.  The bane of his existence, Joe (John Bromfield), the man who captured him, continues to taunt him.  In addition to being a great tourist attraction, the gill man (Ricou Browning) also attracts the attention of the science community.  On cue, Professor Clete Ferguson (John Agar) arrives...and so does a sultry science student, Helen Dobson (Lori Nelson).  These two will, of course fall in love....much to the consternation of the love-struck gill man.

As our two lovebirds delve into the tank to attempt to tame the monster, our gill man goes goo-goo eyes over Helen and her white swimsuit.  The gill man's hormones go crazy and he breaks his chains and escapes...terrorizing the park and coastal Florida while doing so.  With Helen continuing to wear that white swimsuit, our creature decides not to return to the Amazon, but pursue his new love interest...can we blame him?  Believing the gill man is headed back to Brazil, Clete and Helen let their guard down as they continue their romance.  Bad move, as the gill man continues to pursue his goddess, determined not to let any mortal get in his way. As our fiend emerges from the depths once again, all of Florida is in peril.

Does the gill man have any chance to replace Clete as the object of Helen's desires?  If so, what will their offspring look like?  Oh yeah, this isn't a Roger Corman film. Perhaps not as Freudian and deep as the original  Creature From the Black Lagoon  this sequel is still a lot of fun.  Maybe we can discern a message about the dangers and evils of putting wild animals in captivity, especially with the developments at Sea World this past year, but this movie serves us best when taken as a perfect horror film for the summertime.  Oh yes.....the answer to that all important question...well...lets just say if you prefer blondes, Ms. Nelson will edge out Ms. Adams....if you prefer brunettes....Ms. Adams prevails.  This film is offered in great quality on YouTube.

Road Games, Serial Killer Drama in France

We know they're coming.  Those weird twists that make horror films so scary.  Knowing they're coming can serve to make these twists predictable.  Not here, though.  2015's "Road Games" is a quirky gem which throws a lot at us.  In horror films, skinny dipping and pre-marital sex will get you killed....unless the maniac is the one doing it.  We're never sure who the killer, or killers, are, and who the victims are...or will be.

Jack (Andrew Simpson) and Veronique (Josephine de la Baume) are two really great looking hitch-hikers.  They meet by chance in rural France as Veronique escapes from an automobile of a pervert and Jack plays her knight in shining armor.  Uh oh...neither one of these wanderers seems legit.  Jack doesn't have any bags, and his story about why he is in France is weak. Veronique? She is practicing writing a signature of a name which graces her, or someone else's, passport.  Now they hitch-hike together, only to be picked up by the weird Grizard (Frederic Pierrot).  Grizard reminds them that a serial killer is chopping up people along these rural roads and strewing their body parts over the countryside.  He invites them to his home for the night...and Jack accepts.  Veronique tries to tell Jack this isn't a god idea...he should have listened.

The good news....the sultry Barbara Crampton plays Mary, the madame of Grizard's estate.  The good news ends here.  Mary is weird and has some bent attraction for the younger Jack.  Grizard attempts to keep his two new friends at the estate longer, but both Jack and Veronique are creeped out by Grizard and Mary's eerie behavior.  Oh yes...the killings continue, as we get glimpses of a killer disposing of bodies nearby.  Is Grizard or Mary the Killer?  In fairness to our hosts, Jack and Veronique are just as weird, perhaps one of them is the killer?  But wait!  Enter a weird neighbor who collects road kill and.....well...you'll see.

Every character has their deviations from sanity, but just who is the killer?  Ms. Crampton is terrific, and we never know, until the end, if she wants to protect....or kill.  Directed masterfully by Abner Pastoll, and shot in France and Kent, England, "Road Games" is a neat horror film available on Netflix.

The Torment of Laurie Ann Cullom, Agoraphobic Horror

Take Roman Polanski's "Repulsion" (our film of the month).  Now add lots more spice and kick it up a few notches.....and now we have 2014's "The Torment of Laurie Ann Cullom."  Also add some great gore by Michele Mulkey, a louder and more worldly protagonist (...not that anything was wrong with Catherine Deneuve), and a whole bunch of people we actually feel we know, and we have a glorious Indie, low-budget, horror flick. Written and directed by Mark Dossett, with a tour-de-force performance by Shannon Scott, "The Torment of Laurie Cullom" is a must see for Indie-Horror fans.

After a horrific rape, Laurie (Scott) is reduced to a helpless agoraphobic.  Like zombie films, the safety of the indoors is always invaded by the outside evils.  Seemingly functional in her home, the outdoors reduces Laurie to a shriveling mess.  The indoors seem safe, after all, there is a fiend out there who is killing young woman. This film takes place in the 1980s and Laurie is almost too comfortable in her new reality of MTV and soda addiction.  Uh oh...slowly her safety and remaining sanity are invaded.  Is there an intruder in the house or is Laurie merely hyper-paranoid?  The incidents get more intense as night falls and she watches horror films.  Her pleas to the sheriff (Dossett) are met with some skepticism, even after a battle with a menacing reptile.

Completely on edge, the invasion, or hauntings, of outside forces get more intense for Laurie. Horror film fans will see Mark Dosset's homages to "Repulsion," "Jaws," and "Halloween."  These are appropriate references as insanity, nature, and slashers seem to be converging on our beautiful damsel.  As helpless as Laurie appears, she will have to muster up courage and eschew her agoraphobic tendencies to do battle with murderous tormentors, real and imagined.

Everyone involved in this film were first-timers.  This is amazing because the acting by Ms. Scott is sensational and the direction of Mr. Dossett is first-class.  From the equipment used to shoot, and the economical strategies to secure appropriate sets, this is totally a low-budget film with big budget scares and acting. The spiral downward into fear and paranoia, captured brilliantly by Ms. Scott as Laurie, is the core of this slasher film.  Of course, gore, a slasher, and other horrors are added in, which is fine with all of us.  "The Torment of Laurie Cullom," will satisfy and  scare all you out there. So..if you found "Repulsion" a little too ethereal or vague....consider this film a "Repulsion" for real people. To download or stream this film click on this link Torment of Laurie