J. D.’s Revenge is a blaxploitation horror film released in 1976 directed by Arthur Marks. It stars Glynn Turman and Lou Gossett. It was AIP‘s last blaxploitation horror film.

Set in modern New Orleans, the film tells a story of a law school student working as a taxi driver, Ike (Turman). One day, just for fun, he and his friends decide to see a hypnotist’s show, in which Ike volunteers to be on the stage. Being hypnotized as part of the show, however, he sees something very bizarre … and his plight begins. He gets possessed by a 1940′s mobster, and the mobster is seeking revenge upon the people who killed him and his sister…

Wikipedia | IMDb

Related : Blacula | Abby | Sugar Hill

“J.D’s Revenge is not as much fun as Blacula, but it still has some nice things going for it and it was an obvious influence for Ernest Dickerson’s recent Bones. It’s played completely straight despite the silly premise, and good performances mixed with an ample dose of sex and blood make this one very tolerable.” George R Reis, DVD Drive-In

“This here movie sounds whack but, straight up, it is dope: we got
violence, blood, plenty o’ older-than-old-school badass, and even some titties.” The World of Mr Satanism

Post by Will Holland

Nurse Sherri is a 1978 American horror film, with possession, nurseploitation and blaxploitation themes, directed by trash auteur Al Adamson from his own story. The screenplay was by Michael Bockman and Greg Tittinger (both of whom were also editors) and it was produced by regular Adamson collaborator Sam Sherman (as ‘Mark Sherwood’) for his own Independent-International company. In classic exploitation movie manner, the film has been released under a plethora of alternate titles, including The Possession of Nurse Sherri, Beyond the Living, Black Voodoo, Hospital of Terror and Killer’s Curse.

A hospital nurse is possessed by an evil spirit, and proceeds to kill off the hospital’s patients.

The film stars Geoffrey Land, Jill Jacobson (as Sherri), Marilyn Joi, Mary Kay Pass, Prentiss Moulden, Bill Roy, Erwin Fuller, J.C. Wells and Clay Foster.

“Adamson lives up to his reputation as a purveyor of pedestrian schlock, though actually, this is still better than I expected, which was something along the lines of an Andy Milligan flick. The performances was not as bad; it’s mostly the production values, which left a lot to be desired, such as the startlingly bad visual effects which accompany the actual possession, which looked more as if the print had been badly damaged in transit. The script also shows us far more of a lot of things than serves any actual purpose: for instance, the cult leader’s ambulance ride. There are some cool elements, such as the way it’s actually the black nurse who is easly the most proficient.” Trash City

“Basically, Nurse Sherri is an awkward variation of the film Carrie and the nurse sexploitation sub genre. (A match made in exploitation hell.) In fact, producer Sam Sherman … offers a candid audio commentary where he credits Carrie and the Roger Corman film Student Nurses as inspiration. The final result is probably the most coherent of all of Sherman’s collaborations with the late director. It’s also one of the more compelling pieces of low budget schlock released at the time.” Bradley Harding, Monsters at Play

Buy Al Adamson’s Nurse Sherri + Five Bloody Graves Grindhouse DVD from Amazon.com

Buy The Possession of Nurse Sherri Special Edition DVD (sexy and horror versions) from Amazon.com

Buy Nurse Sherri poster from Amazon.com

Satan’s Mistress (also known as Demon Rage, Fury of the Succubus, Dark Eyes and, confusing, Demon Seed) is a horror movie released in 1982. It is about a sexually frustrated housewife, Lisa (played by actress Lana Wood), who having been distanced from her husband (Don Galloway as Carl) begins having nightly trysts with an apparition that gradually takes on the form of a tall, dark stranger (played by Kabir Bedi) who turns out to be a ghost from the other side.

The film is notable for its inadvertent James Bond, agent 007, connections. Kabir Bedi later appeared in Octopussy, Britt Ekland  (who has only a minor role but gets top-billing) starred in The Man with the Golden Gun and main star Lana Wood is known to many as Plenty O’Toole, a minor but highly memorable character from  Diamonds Are Forever.

Although the film came and went unnoticed theatrically, Satan’s Mistress became a favourite on home video, especially with fans of ‘celebrity skin’, who enjoyed Lana Wood’s frequent nudity and scantily-clad runs down a beach. It’s been generally acknowledged that these sexploitation moments are the only parts of the film worth watching, the rest of the story notably lacking in action or convincing supernatural horror. The film also has a cameo by veteran horror actor John Carradine as Father Stratten.

The film was released the same year as the similarly themed The Entity, differing in that the sex in Satan’s Mistress is consensual.

“This little-known horror film is not great by any standards but it does hold your attention and there’s plenty to laugh at from the demon dust to Ekland’s wide eyed dialogue delivery. It’s obvious the director, James Polakof was hoping for a sexy, adult thriller and indeed the setting is quite glamorous as well as Wood’s fabu wardrobe and gigantic hair, but the rape theme is guaranteed to lose a good portion of the audience from the get go. However, the topic is dealt with in such a ham-fisted manner that it’s pretty hard to get offended. I guess if a woman is lonely enough, she’ll screw anything, but before ghosts, you think she’d try toys or hiring a male escort or something. I’m just sayin’ is all.” Planet Fury

“By any title, it sucks. They really should have just called it “Excuse To Get Plenty O’Toole Naked” since that’s what the true agenda seems to be from the very first scene of Lana Wood running down the beach in slow-motion with her breast popping out of her nightgown.” The Bloody Pit of Horror

“Miss Ekland receives top billing but only appears in only about four short scenes, and Carradine has just one. It is really Miss Wood who carries the film on her shoulders, and other places! I hope Mr. Bedi (with emphasis on BED) wasn’t paid by the word, since he never said anything. However, if Miss Wood was paid by the moan, she could probably retire by now. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen her around lately… ” Temple of Schlock 

“Tedious, predictable and taking forever to build to its non-arousing climax. John Carradine is wasted in a thankless cameo as a priest.” John Stanley in Creature Features, Berkeley Publishing Group, 2000

Wikipedia | IMDb

Posted by DF

Terror is a 1978 British horror film directed by Norman J. Warren from a screenplay by David McGillivray. Producers Les and Moira Young provided the storyline.

It stars John Nolan, Carolyn Courage, James Aubrey, Sarah Keller, Tricia Walsh and Glynis Barber.

Royal ancestors feel the wrath of the curse of the condemned witch Mad Dolly, who spews forth her prophecy while she is burned at the stake. The victims suffer death by having their heads removed in various fashions, getting their limbs caught in animal traps, knife wounds, and other methods of medieval torture.

Wikipedia | IMDb

“McGillivray’s script is efficient and unobtrusive, its sole purpose is to string together the many delightfully exuberant set-pieces. Warren’s direction is assured and all the members of the cast appear to be having a wonderful time. Particularly praiseworthy is the standard of the special effects, which are especially impressive when one considers the tight budget within which the film was concocted.” Harvey Fenton, Ten Years of Terror, FAB Press, 2001

Buy Terror + The Devil’s Men on DVD from Amazon.com

“The lack of practical congruence between the murders and the witch’s curse isn’t just something that becomes evident in retrospect, nor is Anne’s absence of motive any less immediately obvious. Whatever resolution Terror might offer in the end is unmistakably foredoomed to be total bullshit, if indeed it will deign to offer any resolution at all. That being so, the whole midsection is mere wheel-spinning, and McGillivray, the Youngs, and director Norman J. Warren are all powerless to make it seem otherwise.” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

“The ending is mind-bogglingly stupid and pointless, the deaths seem to bear no relationship to the initial curse, and there’s even an appearance by a particularly fat and washed-up ex Doctor Who companion, in the portly form of Michael Craze. If you like your horror short, bloody and daft, Terror is for you.” British Horror Films

“It is unfortunate, though, that Warren’s penchant for marking every climax with excited closeups of mangled and maimed throats – a tendency further aggravated in his Inseminoid (1980) – makes this a cheap and nasty movie.” The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror (edited by Phil Hardy, 1997)

Trailer:

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The Car is a 1977 supernatural horror film directed by Elliot Silverstein (Nightmare Honeymoon) and written by Michael Butler, Dennis Shryack and Lane Slate. The film stars James Brolin, Kathleen Lloyd, John Marley, and Ronny Cox, and tells the story of a mysterious vehicle that goes on a murderous rampage, terrorizing the residents of a small town.

In the fictional Utah community of Santa Ynez, a mysterious black car is follows down the road. At the bridge, the car rams them at the back, causing them to fly over the bridge, killing them on the spot.

The police are called to the first of a series of hit and run deaths, apparently caused by the same car that appears heavily customized and has no license plate, making identification difficult. Sheriff Everett Peck (John Marley) gets a lead on the car when it is witnessed by Amos Clemens (R. G. Armstrong) after it runs over a hitchhiker. After the car claims the sheriff as its fourth victim, it becomes the job of Captain Wade Parent (James Brolin) to stop the deaths. During the resulting investigation, an eyewitness to the accident states that there was no driver inside the vehicle…

Wikipedia | IMDb | Rotten Tomatoes

“The supernatural elements are worked in quietly – the first hint we get that this might be more than just a crazy guy behind the wheel comes when the kids hide in a cemetery and the car is unable to follow them (because it’s consecrated ground). It’s a twist handled well, and thankfully the film avoids too much discussion of the demonic (and even more thankfully doesn’t have a car exorcist show up).” David Flint, Strange Things Are Happening

“At the very least, the film isn’t boring.  Even the dialogue-heavy scenes are entertaining to watch merely for the insane performances on display.  I found myself grinning frequently while the filler scenes in between Car sightings kept me amused.  And when you do get to see some Satanic auto-play, the score (which is a reworked orchestral version of Berlioz-Symphonie Fantastique) does a pretty good job of setting a sinister tone for each scene where the demonic murder vehicle takes another life.  In fact, the Car scenes themselves – as few and far between as they are – actually manage to pull off being menacing.” Donnie Sturges, CHUD.com

Wither (original title: Vittra) is a 2012 Swedish horror film directed by Sonny Laguna and Tommy Wicklund and starring Patrik Almkvist, Lisa Henni, and Patrick Saxe. It is based on the legend of the mythological creature of the same name.

Ida and Albin are a happy couple. They set off to a cabin in the vast Swedish woodlands to have a fun holiday with their friends. But under the floorboards waits an evil from Sweden’s dark past…

IMDb

Buy Wither on DVD from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

“Wither is gore heaped upon gore, with good practical effects and a bit of atmosphere. The directors know how to work within their extremely small budget to deliver a movie that feels good, moves fast, and even has the chance to turn the stomach a little with the makeup effects they use. It’s not a great film, nor is it particularly original, but it is bloody, occasionally creepy, and basically satisfies the horror itch. It delivers what it promises; no more and no less.” Daryl Loomis, DVD Verdict

“When it comes to the horror genre it is hard to make an interesting or at least put inventive enough spin on subject matter that has been exploited for all it is worth. But then there are always rules to the exception and in the case of Wither this is such a film. It is a film that far exceeds the sum of its parts with its tremendous amount of atmosphere and ample amount of gore.” Michael den Boer, 10k Bullets

Posted by WH

Hands of the Ripper is a 1971 British horror film directed by Peter Sasdy for Hammer Film Productions. Produced by one of the few female members of staff at Hammer, Aida Young, who had previously worked on the likes of One Million Years B.C., She, Taste the Blood of Dracula and Scars of Dracula, the film employs many stars of period BBC drama as opposed to the usual faces regularly seen in their films.

Poor young Anna (Angharad Rees from TV’s Poldark) witnesses the brutal slaying of her mother at the hands of her father, who happens to be Jack the Ripper. Catching sight of the flames in the background, she is psychologically scarred (or maybe possessed) and commits terrible acts herself in her adulthood whenever flickering lights are present or she is kissed.

Taken in as an orphan by local camp medium Mrs Golding (an always barking Dora Bryan) she is rescued from a life of prostitution by kindly sceptic, Dr Pritchard (Eric Porter, best known on television from 60′s sensation The Foryste Saga). Denied the opportunity to sample Anna when she stabs Bryan to death, permanently shocked-looking Mr Dysart (Derek Godfrey from The Abominable Dr Phibes) is jointly accused of being prime suspect by Pritchard, who rather than informing the authorities prefers to study their motives and behaviour having become an student of psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud.

We are introduced to Pritchard’s son, Michael (Keith Bell, Island of Terror) and his blind fiancée, Laura (an unconvincing Jane Merrow) who live a carefree life of high society and handkerchiefs but meanwhile, Anna is increasingly being exposed to flashing lights and 15 years on from her father’s murder sprees around London’s East End, is playing catch-up numbers-wise. Despite Dysart’s pleas to let the noose be her judge rather than science, Pritchard continues to support Anna and find an answer to her condition (despite her decimating his staff) until she becomes a threat to his son and his beloved and the climax leads to a tense resolution in the Whispering Gallery of St.Paul’s Cathedral.

Buy Hands of the Ripper on Blu-ray + DVD combo from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Shot at Pinewood studios and utilising sets from James Bond productions and exteriors from Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Hands of the Ripper is less typical Hammer horror and more gruesome period drama, the actors slotting into the period setting seamlessly. Featuring considerably less nudity than early 70s audiences had become used to (especially considering it played the lesser of a UK double-bill with Twins of Evil) the film is nevertheless tightly plotted and features one of Hammer’s most gruesome killings, with shouty prostitute, Long Liz (Lynda Baron, best known as Nurse Gladys Emanuel from TV comedy, Open All Hours) receiving a handful of hat-pins to her eye, a scene that was trimmed significantly by the British Board of Censors and entirely by their counterparts in America.

Director Sasdy, a Hungarian, also helmed the fun Taste the Blood of Dracula, the not-really-fun-at-all Countess Dracula and the highly regarded Stone Tape television play, a medium in which he eventually stayed. Both he and Young had a very particular vision, leaving behind the previous Ripper films which had focused on the mystery of the Victorian slayer’s identity (indeed, even the killer seen in the film’s prologue is played by a still unknown actor) and homed in on the tragedy and lives affected by such tragedies. As he often did, musical director, Phillip Martell took a chance on a previously unknown composer, Christopher Gunning, who supplies a score which is all sweeping period drama and less stabbing booms of dread.

The film suffers slightly in tone, the over-the-top camp of the fake clairvoyants and grizzled prostitutes being at odds with the demure Anna and ultra-serious Pritchard, the two worlds, whilst clearly a very real Victorian Britain, sitting uneasily together onscreen. The sets are superb, a perfect backdrop for mystery and murder; even faced with a flat refusal by St.Paul’s Cathedral to film inside, the sneaked shots of the interior are faultlessly used as a projected backdrop for the film’s resolution.

The numerous killings are well-executed and shown in pleasingly graphic detail. The downbeat nature of the film is tied up nicely with a suitably gloomy finale, though the lack of a major horror star hampered its commercial appeal at the time, and it only retrospectively became something of a fan favourite.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Wikipedia | IMDb | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Related: The New York Ripper | Ripper Street

Buy Hands of the Ripper + The Monster + The Uncanny on DVD from Amazon.co.uk

Buy The Hammer Story book from Amazon.co.uk

Hell Baby is an American independent horror-comedy film written and directed by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon. The film stars Rob Corddry, Leslie Bibb, Keegan Michael Key, Riki Lindhome, Paul Scheer, and Rob Huebel. Writer-directors Garant and Lennon also co-star as a pair of priests.

An expectant couple move into a haunted fixer-upper in New Orleans. There, they encounter a neighbour named F’Resnal who tells them about the bloody history of their house. Vanessa (Ms. Bibb) and her husband, Jack (Rob Corddry), exhibiting a certain carelessness in their house hunting, buy a foreboding wreck of a place in New Orleans that the local residents have given demonic nicknames like “House of Blood”. Vanessa is already extremely pregnant when they move in, and soon she is talking like the kid in “The Exorcist.” The Vatican sends some ghostbusters (Mr. Lennon and Mr. Garant)…

“Hell Baby is a horror comedy, although it errs largely on the side of comedy. It’s loose and silly and often hilariously funny; the jokes that hit hard make up for the ones that don’t quite connect. It could be argued that Hell Baby is nothing more than a sketch dragged out to feature length, but I’d say that’s unfair. It’s probably three or four sketches dragged out to feature length, and it totally works.” Badass Digest

“Tedious and tasteless in equal measure, the lazy horror parody Hell Baby gives grossout comedy a bad name. The latest collaboration from Reno 911! creators Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant will play only to the duo’s most faithful fans, providing anyone can tolerate a pileup of poorly improvised scenes and repetitive gags demonstrating zero flair for either satire or straightforward comedy. Variety

Buy Hell Baby on DVD | Blu-ray | Instant Video from Amazon.com

Wikipedia | IMDb

WH

Night of the Demons – also known as Halloween Party – is a 1988 American horror film written and produced by Joe Augustyn and directed by Kevin S. Tenney (Witchboard, Brain Dead, 2007). The film tells the story of ten high school seniors having a Halloween party in an isolated mortuary. Their party turns into a nightmare when after conducting a séance, they unlock the demon that remains locked in the crematorium.

Filming of Night of the Demons took place in South Central Los Angeles and lasted for two months. Anchor Bay Entertainment released the film on DVD in 2004; Scream Factory will release a special edition Blu-ray in 2014 (date to be confirmed). The film was followed by the sequels Night of the Demons 2 (1994) and Night of the Demons 3 (1997), along with a remake in 2009.

Stooge, Helen, and Roger are driving to a party thrown by outcast Angela Franklin and her friend Suzanne at Hull House, an abandoned local mortuary. The car passes by an elderly man. Once alone, the elderly man shows that he is carrying apples and razor blades.

Judy and her friends arrive at Hull House, where Max, one of the party goers tells Judy the legend of Hull House. The house is rumored to be cursed, with the evil spirits inside contained only by an underground stream that surrounds the building.

The party stops when the radio’s battery power dies, prompting Angela to hold a séance as a party game. Helen sees a demon’s face and her dead body in the mirror, which causes the mirror to fall and shatter. This prompts a demon to come out of the crematorium furnace and possess Suzanne…

“The wonderful accomplishment of this darkly comedic possession slasher is that it can take itself seriously while still boasting some laughs and immaturity for the hell of it. Some sex comedy such as when Suzanne is helping Angela steal supermarket food by distracting the two clerks with her ass is so exploitative that you know it is meant to bring out laughter, and that is okay. The power of Night of the Demons is that it can romp around like a kid with its nudity and lame (though sometimes hysterical) one liners but remain drenched in its sinister aroma.” Oh, the Horror!

“What Night of the Demons may be lacking in traditional components of cinema such as acting, continuity, budget, and production is made up for in one line of dialogue. In typical ‘80s fashion, the one- liners floweth over, but in Night of the Demons the pliancy of the English language is pushed to fantastic new heights. I submit to you the utterance of the phrase “Eat a bowl of fuck, I am here to party!” as exclaimed by Stooge. This is but one of many examples of the genius of dialogue that facilitate sparse plot points along into a deserved oblivion.” Forbidden Features

“Everything about this movie is sub-standard; the special effects, the acting, the writing, the plot. A few of the characters were tolerable, but mostly I didn’t care if they became blood-oozing zombie-ghouls by the end. In fact I wanted it to happen, thinking the faster they became demons, maybe the faster the movie’d be over! There are no redeeming qualities here; no charm whatsoever.” Schlock Wave

Wikipedia | IMDb

Help Me… I’m Possessed (aka The Possessed) is a 1976 horror/exploitation film directed by the Americanised Belgian director Charles Nitzet (Voodoo Heartbeat, The Ravager) and stars Bill Greer in his only acting role, Deedy Peters and Lynne Marter. The film remained in the cinematic wilderness for many years, having only a limited theatrical run in the 1970′s and only appearing on video in 1984.

In the American desert, a young couple have been brutally murdered and the local sheriff immediately suspects fishy goings-on at the castle-like sanitarium run by reclusive Dr Arthur Blackwood (Greer). Assuring the sheriff that his work there is entirely above board and consists of little more than helping disturbed individuals return to society, he does little to allay the police’s fears, not least when his loopy doll-hugging singing sister appears.

Indeed, we soon learn that the doctor is perhaps not entirely qualified, housing a collection of chained up, scantily clad ladies, a Catweazle-alike prisoner and a hunchback in his basement, all at the mercy of his insane experiments, designed to rid them of madness. These ‘volunteers’ when not being whipped and brutalised suffer an even worse fate if they don’t behave or illicit positive results, being killed by snake, guillotine and being hacked up to fit the wrongly-sized coffins.

The arrival of the doctor’s new wife (Peters) sees his plans begin to unravel as disappearing members of staff and her cranky husband arouse her suspicion. Worse still, when she uncovers his experiments she learns that the harnessed ‘evil’ extracted from the patients has manifest itself as something malevolent and hideous…

Written by both Peters and Greer (somewhat remarkably considering her later life as the girlfriend of David Soul and his as writer and producer of TV shambles Charles In Charge), Help Me… I’m Possessed! feels like an amalgam of Al Adamson’s films, slightly restrained H.G. Lewis fare and lunatic imprisonment films like Blood Sucking Freaks. The acting standards are all of the same unremarkable quality but are engaging and fun, particularly Greer who looks completely ill-fitting in the role, and all the better for it. Though the torture and blood-letting are tame in comparison to Lewis’ films, they are still brutal and heartless enough to raise a serious question mark over the film’s initial PG rating!

The title is somewhat misleading (it was filmed with the more apt working title Nightmare at Blood Castle, there’s no possession in the film as such, only the mysterious evil presence which is represented by Lovecraftian red tentacle-like appendages wafting at the camera. Coming to a conclusion just before it starts to go around in circles once too often, perhaps the most arresting aspect of the film is the avant-garde  electronic score, completely unnerving and genuinely excellent though the film does not name any composer, only an Al Bart in the sound department, who evidently did not go on to better things.

Grimy and fun, Help Me… I’m Possessed! was recently released on DVD by Code Red in a double-bill with Blind Dead director Armando de Ossorio’s Demon Witch Child, the connection being that they were both known as The Possessed in various releases.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

With thanks to critic online and mondodigital for some of these images.

Demon Witch Child is a 1975 Spanish horror film directed by Amando de Ossorio, best known for his Blind Dead series of films. Starring Marián Salgado, Julián Mateos, Fernando Sancho and Kali Hansa, the film is generally judged by one of two camps – those who see it simply as one of the slew of post-Exorcist cash-ins and those who see it something of a minor classic from one of the more overlooked of Europe’s genre directors.

In remotest Spain, a witch is ransacking a church in order to obtain relics for her coven’s Black Mass. The local police close in on the old crone and add child snatching to her list of crimes, prompting much cackling until the police threaten her with a truth serum injection, at which point, rather unexpectedly, she throws herself out of the police station window, killing herself. Decidedly more attractive witch (Hansa, also seen in de Ossorio’s own Night of the Sorcerers and Jess Franco’s Perverse Countess), vows to avenge her partner in crime by cursing the police inspector (Italian Western regular, Sancho) and giving his young daughter, Susan (Salgado, who also pops up in Who Can Kill a Child?), a cursed talisman, which she hides inside her teddy bear – just their little secret, you understand.

Though initially coming across as a rather innocuous bunch of loons in the woods, the witches soon reveal themselves as extremely evil-hearted and Susan’s curse soon takes effect, changing her from a sweet little girl (actually, the least convincing sweet little child since Peter Bark in Burial Ground) to a levitating, (mildly) swearing, baby-killing, castrating maniac, though in her defense, she does gift-wrap the severed penis to give to her mum as a present (keep that receipt!). A doubting priest (Mateos from Cold Eyes of Fear) enters the fray but will he have the faith and strength to lift the curse and stop the witches’ mayhem?

In fairness, Demon Witch Child would have sufficed as a three-word synopsis. However, what de Ossorio regularly lacks in narrative and the ability to harness acting talent, he again makes up for in genuine creepiness and an often startling gloom, right up until the final frame. The slender budget inevitably makes the effects look shakey, especially the levitation scene but also adds a strange otherworldliness to Salgado’s make-up and the scene in which the old hag’s soul inhabits Susan’s body. Though centered on witchcraft rather than the demonic possession of The Exorcist, there is a connection between the two films, with Salgado dubbing Linda Blair’s voice in the Spanish language edition of the more famous film. The film is, by turn, ridiculous and intriguing, some scenes seemingly having no bearing on plot and the priest’s moral and religious dilemmas being more Jeremy Kyle than a search for divine truth. Titled La Endemoniada (the cursed or the damned) in the original Spanish, the film has been released on dvd by Code Red as part of a double bill with Help Me…I’m Possessed!

Daz Lawrence

Things Happen at Night is a 1947 British comedy horror film, directed by Francis Searle,  a jobbing director who worked fairly steadily from the early 1940s to the beginning of the 1970s without making anything of any significance. This is no exception.

Based upon a stage play, The Poltergeist, by Frank Harvey Jnr, the film tells the story of the Prescott family, who are beset by strange events, usually involving coal. Hot coals from an unlit fire have burned a hole in a bearskin rug, other hot coals smash through windows and are found scattered on the floor. As insurance man Joe Harris (Gordon Harker) shows up to assess the damage, a psychic investigator also arrives and announces that the acts are the work of a poltergeist, most likely connected to the  family’s teenage daughter, who is going through a rebellious stage (this being a 1940s British film, this consists of announcing that she doesn’t like school).

While modern British cinema’s obsession with ‘street cred’ is rather pathetic, you can perhaps understand it more when you see older films like this, where everyone is frightfully posh – only member of the royal family seem to talk like this anymore. It’s one of those films that features a family who are supposedly struggling with money but still live in a massive house and employ a cook and a butler – I imagine working class audiences were less than sympathetic to their plight. That such characters were considered ‘typical’ by the flmmakers says a lot. Harker, the main star, offers up a comedy turn as the lower class Harris (though when I say ‘lower’, he’s still essentially middle class, with aspirations of social climbing that are of course mocked).

Snobbery aside, the main issue with Things Happen at Night is that it is neither scary nor funny. Performances are weak, characters unconvincing and the humour is feeble while the scares are non-existent. It takes more than the odd bit of petty vandalism to make a poltergeist scary.

The only real point of interest here is that this may be the first film to deal with poltergeists as opposed to ghosts or spirits. It’s also, oddly, structurally similar to The Exorcist – a young girl ‘possessed’, a mysterious expert turning up to exorcise the demon. That’s about the only point of interest though. A song and singer are credited, although neither appear in the film.

David Flint, Horrorpedia

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‘If you invite it in… it will never let you go’

The Possession of Michael King is a 2014 American horror film produced by Paul Brooks (White Noise; The Haunting In Connecticut) and written and directed by first-time director David Jung from a story by Jung and Tedi Sarafian (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines). It stars Shane Johnson, Dale Dickey (Iron Man 3), Julie McNiven (TV’s Supernatural), Cara Pifko and Tomas Arana (Bats: Human Harvest; Guardians of the Galaxy).

Anchor Bay Films is releasing the film in cinemas on August 22nd and on iTunes, On Demand, DVD, and Blu-ray on August 26th.

Official plot teaser:

Documentary filmmaker Michael King (Johnson) doesn’t believe in God or the Devil. Following the sudden death of his wife, Michael decides to make his next film about the search for the existence of the supernatural, making himself the center of the experiment – allowing demonologists, necromancers, and various practitioners of the occult to try the deepest and darkest spells and rituals they can find on him – in the hopes that when they fail, he will once and for all have proof that religion, spiritualism, and the paranormal are nothing more than myth. But something does happen. An evil and horrifying force has taken over Michael King. And it will not let him go…

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‘The ultimate experience in gruelling terror’

The Evil Dead is a 1981 American horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi and executive produced by Raimi and Bruce Campbell, who also stars alongside Ellen Sandweiss and Betsy Baker. The Evil Dead focuses on five college students holidaying in an isolated cabin in a remote wooded area. After they find an audiotape that releases a legion of demons and spirits, members of the group suffer from demonic possession, leading to increasingly gory mayhem.

Five Michigan State University students: Ash Williams (Campbell, Bubba Ho-Tep, Maniac Cop) and his girlfriend Linda (Betsy Baker, 2084, Witches’ Night), accompanied by Ash’s sister Cheryl (Sandweiss, Satan’s Playground, The Dread), their friend Scotty (Richard DeManincor), and his girlfriend Shelly (Theresa Tilly), venture into the Tennessee hills to relax in an isolated cabin during their spring break. The journey quickly escalates from small-talk to a near crash and then a portentous collapse of the bridge leading to their destination just as they’ve crossed it. That night, while Cheryl is making a drawing of a clock, her hand becomes violently possessed by a mysterious entity, causing her to draw a picture that looks like a deformed, evil face. She fails to mention the incident to the others, dismissing it as her imagination.

When the trapdoor to the cellar mysteriously flies open during dinner, Ash and Scotty go down to investigate and find the Naturon Demonto, a Sumerian version of the Book of the Dead, along with a tape recording of incantations – unable to resist, they play the tape and though finding the recording unnerving think little more of it, though the audience is now very aware that the recitation of the words have unleashed something within the woods outside. Cheryl becomes hysterical when a tree crashes through the window, and retires to her room but is soon awoken by voices beyond the cabin. She goes outside to investigate but away from the cabin and out of earshot, she is attacked and raped by demonically possessed trees. Returning to the cabin after the ordeal, the others do not believe her story but Ash agrees to drive her to town where she can find a place to stay for the night, only to find that the bridge connecting the cabin to the rest of the world has been destroyed. Back at the cabin, a card game takes an unexpected twist when Cheryl becomes possessed, telling them that demons will kill them, stabbing Linda in the ankle with a pencil – they see little option but to lock her in the trap-doored cellar.

Shelley too succumbs to possession and is decapitated by Scotty, who buries her outside. Scotty survives another tree attack whilst seeking an escape route – when he returns to the others, he finds only Ash is of sound mind, the two girls now under the control of demons but feigning innocence in a bid to be released. Ash stabs and kills Sally whilst defending himself and, after having second thoughts about dismembering her with a chainsaw, buries her too in the garden…only for her to rise again. Removing her head swiftly with a shovel, Ash finds Cheryl has been freed from the cellar, Scotty too now ‘under the influence’. Now armed with a gun, is there any hope left for Ash to survive the hoards of ancient demons?

Buy The Evil Dead trilogy on Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk

School friends Raimi and Campbell and harboured thoughts of The Evil Dead for some time prior to filming, eventually leading to the making of a short film, Within the Woods, an 8mm effort made for only $1600 (it set a precedent of sorts as it had never been necessary blow up the format for 35mm cinema projection). The film was used as a bargaining tool to gain funding for a full-length film along the same lines but Raimi was informed that a minimum of $150,000 would need to be raised to accomplish this. Raimi approached Phil Gillis, a lawyer to one of his friends, asking if he wanted to invest money into the production of a remake.

 Gillis was unimpressed with Within the Woods, but offered Raimi legal advice on how to approach further productions. Raimi approached several investors, “begging” for money, and eventually acquired nearly $90,000 of the funds needed and set out to make the movie anyway. As a paen to the writer H.P.Lovecraft, the film was originally to be called The Book of the Dead.

The cast were recruited via an advert in The Detroit News, though Campbell and Sandweiss were already in place from the previous film. Crew consisted of friends and family, including Tom Sullivan, who was in charge of make-up and effects and Joe LoDuca as composer, already a fixture on the local music scene. A location was found more through process of elimination than choice, though the cabin itself was already in existence and suitably remotely situated.

Buy The Evil Dead on Blu-ray from Amazon.com

It’s of credit to all involved that the budget and lack of experience were more evident to those participating than to audiences either then or now; injuries were common place from trips and falls to eye-lash ripping and the insertion of thick glass contact lenses to approximate demonic possession. To achieve to POV shots of the evil force hurtling through the woods, a camera was strapped to a piece of wood and two operators set off running, armed with the contraption, presumably with those watching praying they didn’t drop it.  In truth, the sound design is critical to the real success of this effect, the low, bassy rumble which seems to emanate from all angles. The cold, wet and swiftly decaying set left the actors miserable and filthy – the copious amounts of blood actually being corn syrup.

If anything about the film divides critics, it’s the fine line the film skirts between horror and humour. Laughter is often an involuntary defence mechanism against fear which is fine so long as:

a. You’re not sat near anyone who affects this quirk

b. You do not have humour unwilling thrust upon you.

Of the three original Evil Dead films, the original relies the least on humour, the broken resolve of the actors, fast shooting schedule and original intent being overriding factors. The low budget does reduce some scenes to a somewhat comedic level of depravity but the sure relentlessness of the danger, the obviousness of their plight and the impressively claustrophobic setting are an utterly engaging watch. Importantly, it is possible to disengage your brain and watch the film as a straight-ahead horror. The acting is perfectly acceptable and if anything a step above what many slashers made around this time could muster.

In the case of the tree-rape sequence, one which was highlighted by the BBFC and informed censorship on the film for several years, it’s a scene which sounds much worse than than what is seen on-screen – only three years previously, cinema audiences were being subjected to images of ferocious sexual attack in the film, I Spit on Your Grave, it would be absurd to compare the two further.

A ripped poster of The Hills Have Eyes (1977)  is visible at one point in the cabin. Ostensibly, this was in reference to a ripped poster for Jaws (1975) that appeared in that film; Sam Raimi and the others interpreted this as Wes Craven suggesting that “Hills” was much more frightening than “Jaws,” thus they showed a ripped “Hills” poster because their film was to be even scarier yet.

If anything, other than time, does a disservice to The Evil Dead, it’s the two sequels and the remake, all of which, perhaps unwittingly, are in some ways at pains to suggest that you need to move on and watch another film instead. The Evil Dead 2 is an attempt to fix alleged issues with the first with an improved budget, the third wants to create a mythology, the remake supposes we’re too dim to understand films and throws in a social angle for good measure. The end result is that two factions have appeared, those who buy-in to the franchise and those who despair of meddling and have reduced their opinion of the original accordingly. This is a shame as the film has a lot of heart and real invention, not to mention some effective jumps and originality.

The film attracted the interest of producer Irvin Shapiro, who helped screen the film at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. Horror author Stephen King gave a rave review of the film, which helped convince New Line Cinema to serve as its distributor. King later went on to hail Clive Barker as the future of horror and future endorsements of Ebola and famine seem likely. Though a meagre commercial success in the United States, the film made its budget back through worldwide distribution, and grossed $2.4 million during its theatrical run. Both early and later critical reception were positive and in the years since its release, The Evil Dead has developed an avid following from fans and regularly appears in published lists of the greatest horror films ever made.

As mentioned, the film spawned two sequels and a remake, not to mention comic book appearances by Ash, console games, a musical and an unlikely, if cult, star in Bruce Campbell. Raimi is now a major Hollywood director but showed with Drag Me To Hell that he still has an eye for horror.

Daz Lawrence, Horropedia

With thanks to The Wrong Side of Art and Silver Ferox for some of the pics

Inner Demons is a 2014 American found footage horror film directed by Seth Grossman and starring Lara Vosburgh, Morgan McClellan, and Kate Whitney.

Plot teaser:

Inner Demons follows an ‘Intervention’-style reality show crew that films an episode about a sixteen-year old girl, a former A-student, who is fighting addiction but may in fact be suffering from something even more destructive: demonic possession. The movie is an inquiry into the truth about her – with symptoms that straddle the disturbing and scary intersection between insanity, addiction and true possession…

Reviews:

“While the concept may be a little lackluster, the efforts of Vosburgh unite with a booming ending to make Grossman’s rehabilitation haunter worth a trip down the rabbit hole.” We Got This Covered

“The story plays out in predictable fashion through the bulk of the film — and even worse, it’s pretty tame for a sub-genre that relies largely on shock factor. Then, in the final 10 minutes or so, it’s as if the filmmakers realized they had to kick it up a notch, and it turns into a virtual blood bath. It’s a much-needed jolt of edge and energy that turns an average demonic possession movie into…an average demonic possession movie with a good ending.” About.com

“Grossman generates almost no suspense, save for one or two of those static surveillance shots, since we know almost right from the beginning that Carson is under a demonic influence. How do we know? Among other things, the camera image becomes unstable. Shocking!” Den of Geek

IMDb

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Ghastly – original title: 기생령) aka “Gisaeng Spirit” - is a 2011 South Korean horror film directed by Ko Seok-jin from a screenplay by Kim Yoo-ra. Its stars Eun-jeong Han, Hyomin and Min-woo No.

Plot teaser:

After his parents are murdered, Bin is taken into the care of relatives. He begins to act strangely, the new occupants of his house experience horrific nightmares, and a mystery unfolds as a terrible secret is revealed…

Reviews:

“Ghastly is a very decent and commendably economic entry in the Korean horror genre. Despite its lack of originality, the film effectively brings together its various elements and definitely benefits from an upped gore quotient, making it very much worth the short running time for fans.” James Mudge, Beyond Hollywood

“The ending also leaves something to be desired. While some films do leave open-ended conclusions, those movies also have strong, coherent storylines from start to finish. But since this film has plot holes as large as craters, it doesn’t really explain the most important part in any horror movie: who survives in the end.” Jason Yu, Green Tea Graffiti

“Ghastly did not live up to its captivating opening scene. Technical issues niggled at the film, especially the latter half, as poor filmmaking decisions jarred the experience beyond repair. Questionable casting and basic story line threads were mishandled and it’s a shame when the film had such an interesting base holding it together. Ghastly is one of those films that lingered with me after the credits had rolled as I began to internalise the meaning of events rather than enjoying how they were actually executed in the film.” C.J. Wheeler, Hancinema

“No amount of gore and shock and jump cuts ending in someone gasping and sitting up in bed is worth seeing four freaking times unless you’re eventually going to get to a bloody scene that doesn’t end that way!” My Horrible Idea

IMDb

‘Face the true horror of beauty’

Possessed is a 2006 Malaysian/Chinese horror film directed by Bjarne Wong from a screenplay he co-wrote with King Chi, Jeff Leong and Sam Wong. It stars Amber Chia, transsexual Harisu, Alan Yun, Steve Yap and Sharifah Amani.

Possessed was a joint venture between Malaysia’s Hock Star Entertainment and China’s Beijing 3 Bros Film & Media Company, and the second feature film by director Bjarne Wong after The Legend of the Red Curse. Speaking at a press conference prior to the start of filming, Wong expressed his desire to “make a movie that is aesthetically beautiful, using the cast and especially the backdrop to show audience the beauty and wonders of Malaysia.”

Plot teaser:

Amber (Malay name Nurlin) and Lisu are two sisters from China, who have come to Malaysia to further their modelling and singing careers. One day Lisu goes missing, while Amber falls into a coma and is taken back to China for treatment. She awakens five months later with no memory of her past, and returns to Malaysia with her boyfriend, Dino. Amber decides to resume her modelling career and search for Lisu, but finds herself being harassed by an obsessive male fan and haunted by visions of her sister…

Reviews:

“Bjarne Wong, the director, is new at this, Possessed being only his second film, and it shows. Much of the film is clumsy and in Neko’s opinion, badly edited, creating a feeling of awkward continuity. Sometimes this is the result of an overzealous censorship board, but that doesn’t feel like the case here.” Nekoneko’s Movie Litterbox

“Overall, I say the movie is very much worth watching, especially if you’re from Kuching and you’d like to see how your hometown was projected onto the big screen. For the rest, it’s best to watch this movie without too much expectations. It’s not to say that The Possessed is bad. It is just a lot better than most plotless B-grade Korean horror flicks.” Kennysia.com

Cast:

• Amber Chia as Amber
• Harisu as Lisu
• Alan Yun as Dino, Amber’s boyfriend and manager
• Steve Yap as William, Lisu’s boyfriend who also had an affair with Amber
• Sharifah Amani as Fara, Lisu’s assistant and close friend
• Liu Yan Yan as Belle, Dino’s personal assistant who is jealous of Amber
• Smyth Wong as Cisse
• Manolet as the obsessive fan

Wikipedia | IMDb

Crocodile Evil is a very obscure 1986 Hong Kong horror fantasy film directed by actor Hon Gwok Choi. It stars Lau Chi-Wing, Kwan Hoi San and Siu Yuk-Lung.

Plot teaser [paraphrased from VHS sleeve]:

Cha Dick violated the doctrine of his denomination and was punished by his master with the evil spirit of the crocodile. Cha Dick killed his master when he failed to snatch a jade bracelet from him, which could relieve the crocodile evil.

Wo Tin travels from Hong Kong to Thailand for business, having been invited by his brother. A young Thai woman, Lala, accompanies him and they pick up a wounded young woman before being embroiled in crocodile evil…

Reviews:

‘Anyway, since this film is in Chinese sans subtitles, we’re only guessing here… Family Curse. A crocodile stunt show run by a nefarious Shaman. Lots of possessed sex. Lots more croc killing… a plot to breed possessed humans and crocs… hey, you got us… it was hard enough trying to nail down the release date on this… we had a blast watching it though, even if its weird vibe is off the scale precisely because we were pretty lost overall.’ Cosmic Hex

Clip:

J. D.’s Revenge is a 1976 US blaxploitation horror film produced and directed by Arthur Marks from a screenplay by Jaison Starkes. It stars Glynn Turman, Lou Gossett, Joan Pringle, Carl W. Crudup, James Watkins, Fred Pinkard, Jo Anne Meredith, Alice Jubert, David McKnight.

Plot teaser:

Isaac Hendrix (Turman) is a young college student studying law and a taxi-cab driver in New Orleans. While out on a night of fun with his friends and wife, Christella during a hypnosis act, he becomes an unwilling host for the restless spirit of J.D Walker, a hustler killed during the 40s.

“Ike” gradually finds his own personality gradually being taken over by the sociopathic Walker, even eventually going so far as to adopt his hair and fashion style, mannerisms, and psychotic tendencies (including an attempted rape on his wife after she mocked his J.D. haircut).

With the spirit of J.D. in complete control he turns his attention toward wreaking vengeance against the man responsible for killing his sister, Theotis Bliss. Ike commits havoc all over town along the way before making his way to the church where Theotis’ brother works as a preacher, where he finally reveals himself and instructs Elijah to tell Theotis to meet him “on the killin’ floor”.

Meanwhile, Ike’s wife goes to her ex-husband, a cop who is out for Ike’s blood believing him to be a simple psycho hiding behind a false persona — until he mentions to the Chief that Ike claimed his name was J.D. Walker, a man who was not only real, but had died over 30 years ago…

Reviews:

‘What makes the movie work, to the degree that it does, are the performances by Turman, Lou Gossett and Joan Pringle. Turman, in particular, has fun transforming himself from the mild-mannered law student to the zoot-suited 1940s two-bit gangster that J.D. used to be, complete with straight razor.’ RogerEbert.com

‘To its credit, the ending is pretty clever and slightly alters your perception about some of the characters. J.D.’s Revenge also becomes progressively more entertaining as it unfolds and you realize this isn’t just Black Caesar done up in horror digs. Most of the gangster elements are subdued, and, with the exception of a few flourishes (such as the requisite funky score and the fashions), J.D.’s Revenge doesn’t constantly announce itself as Blaxploitation fare either.’ Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror!

‘Mark’s movie has a lot of sleaze appeal mostly with the abundant nudity and several dream sequences featuring a cow being slaughtered, but it doesn’t have the level of violence found in so many other movies of the genre. This is predominantly a character study and all the better for it. It’s one of the best, if not the best representations of blax-horror…’ Cool Ass Cinema

‘An efficient and effective piece of blaxploitation, the film is very much in the Southern gothic tradition and uses its New Orleans locations to great effect to create an atmosphere of incipient, imminent violence. Turman’s slow transformation has its welcome moments of humour and the film is crisply photographed and tightly directed, with a fairly liberal helping of blood scenes.’ Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

Buy on DVD from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Choice dialogue:

“That was the best fuckin’ I ever had.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna cut you every which way but loose!”

Cast:

• Glynn Turman as Isaac aka Ike
• Louis Gossett Jr. as Reverend Elijah Bliss
• Joan Pringle as Christella
• Carl W. Crudup as Tony
• James Watkins as Carl
• Fred Pinkard as Theotis Bliss
• Jo Anne Meredith as Sara Divine
• Alice Jubert as Roberta ‘Betty Jo’ Bliss
• David McKnight as J.D. Walker
• Stephanie Faulkner as Phyllis
• Fuddle Bagley as Enoch Land
• Earl Billings as Captain Turner
• Paul Galloway as Garage Man

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: Blaxploitation Pride