Return of the Evil Dead (1973)
Filed Under Movies, Sequels, Series, Zombies | 1 Comment
Confusingly, Return of the Evil Dead has nothing to do with Sam Raimi’s trilogy of horror movies. Instead, it’s the rather odd english title given to Spanish director Amando De Ossorio’s follow up to his blind-zombies-on-horseback magnum opus Tombs of the Blind Dead. Made two years later, it’s a rather less original effort than its predecessor; nevertheless, it ups the pace of Tombs and is actually a lot of fun. Read more
The Exorcist (1973)
Filed Under Classics, Creepy stuff, Movies, Nasties, The Occult | Leave a Comment
The Exorcist is that rare beast - a genre film that becomes a genuine cinematic and cultural touchpoint. A controversial phenomenon on its release - and banned in the UK until the late 90s - it achieves its unique power through William Friedkin’s deliberate, un-flashy direction and author / screenwriter William Peter Blatty’s absolutely rigid plotting and pacing. Read more
Junk (1999)
Filed Under Asian movies, Movies, Turkeys, Zombies | Leave a Comment
The rise of the J-horror industry earlier this century was a natural reaction to the stagnation of progressive stagnation of Western horror over the course of the 1990s. But an unavoidable consequence of the rush to ransack Asia’s cinematic riches is the lionisation of films that simply don’t deserve the scrutiny. Atsushi Muroga’s 1999 effort, Junk, is one of the most widely available Japanese zombie movies in Britain; but those searching for something more taxing than the Resident Evil movies will be disappointed by not only how bad it is, but also by how little it has in common with its fellow countrymen. Read more
Contamination (1980)
Filed Under Italian, Monsters, Movies, Nasties, Sci-fi | Leave a Comment
Considering how closely intertwined science fiction and horror are, it’s surprising how few films successfully keep one foot in each genre. Most people would agree that Ridley Scott got the hybrid formula down to a tee with Alien; at the very least, director Luigi Cozzi thought so, which goes some way towards explaining why Contamination turned out the way it did. Read more
The Evil Dead Trilogy (1981-1993)
Filed Under Classics, Comedies, Movies, Nasties, Series, Zombies | Leave a Comment
The Evil Dead trilogy confounds expectations in all sorts of ways. At the most basic level, it’s not really much of a trilogy: an original film, a remake of that film and a third instalment that wilfully contradicts the first two. But it’s worth considering all Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn and Army of Darkness for two important reasons: firstly, all three represent important milestones in Sam Raimi’s bizarre journey from video nasty director to Hollywood maven, and secondly, I watched all three in one sitting, so I’ll damn well write them up in one. Read more
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