Phenomena (1985)

A young girl, with an amazing ability to communicate with insects, is transferred to an exclusive Swiss boarding school, where her unusual capability might help solve a string of murders.  

Phenomena is a 1985 Italian horror film directed by Dario Argento. An edited version of the film was released in the United States under the title Creepers.  When I was younger I remember seeing the video sitting on the shelves in the local video shop.  It was under the "Creepers" title and it looked sort of silly so I never rented it.  I'm glad I didn't.  That version for the US was butchered up with a lot of footage cut.  I've now gotten around to viewing the entire film with all the sliced footage intact.  

It has a 14-year-old Jennifer Connelly, playing a sleepwalker who has a bizarre telepathic bond with insects and uses them to help her solve a string of gory murders at a girls boarding school in the Swiss Alps. A lot of people love this film and a lot of people hate this film.  I fall right in the middle.  It's not bad but I don't find it very good either. Donald Pleasance is in the film as a wheelchair bound bug dude. But the entire time I'm watching him on screen I keep thinking he's going to burst out in a rant about Micheal Myers being the devil.  Instead he's hanging out with a pet monkey. 

Bubbles, did MJ touch you in the bad place?

 Phenomena is a surreal, magical and surprisingly beautiful film.  It also has gruesome gore with a swimming pool full of maggots and rotting corpses, a mad dwarf, a razor wielding monkey and grisly decapitations. And we get a kick ass soundtrack with Iron Maiden and Motorhead.  Partially a Giallo, and partially a horror film with psychic and transcendental elements, "Phenomena" is a creepy film that gets kind of silly of times in my opinion with the bug communication deal.

The special effects were decent, given the year. The firefly special effects were cool, and there was at least one swarm scene that I thought looked pretty neat.  A lot of people love this movie but I don't fall into that group.  It's well below Suspiria in my opinion.  But if you ever wanted to see a monkey go ape shit with a razor blade then this is a movie you want to see.

Weird

 Trivia

Shot in English and dubbed into Italian. 

Most of the Italian and other non-English speaking actors/actresses actually dubbed their own voices into English for the USA and UK distribution.

A sequel to Phenomena was going to go into production in 2001 but it was canceled due to Dario Argento's contract with Medusa.   

Director Dario Argento said that his idea for the look of the killer child came from the real genetic disorder Patau Syndrome, which causes severe deformation of the face. For this reason, Argento calls the child Patau, even though he is never named during the film. 

Director Dario Argento often cites this film as his personal favorite among his works.

The trained chimpanzee that plays Inga escaped into the woods at one point during shooting. After a few hours of searching she was found and returned to the set. 

Jennifer Connelly said in an interview that she was bitten by the chimp in this film. Apperently during one scene the chimp kept turning around and Dario Argento, not wanting to film her behind, asked Connelly to place her hand on the animal to stop her from turning. But when she attempted to do so, the chimp became enraged and bit her; and then became very hostile toward Connelly for the rest of the film.  

The film was inspired to Dario Argento after he learned that insects are sometimes used during murder investigations. 

The story Jennifer tells about her mother abandoning her was an actual story from Dario Argento's own childhood. 

Jennifer Connelly had part of her finger bitten off by the chimpanzee in the final scene at the end of the film. She was rushed to the hospital and the finger was re-attached.  

A young Jennifer Connelly

Halloween Resurrection (2002)

When a group of teens win a contest to spend a night in Michael Myers' childhood home to be broadcast live on the internet, they believe they are in for a little fun and some free publicity. But, things go frightfully wrong and the game turns into a struggle to make it out of the house alive. 


Halloween Resurrection is the 8th film in the "Halloween" franchise and it blows.  I hate this film. It makes all the previous films in the series look like Citizen Kane.  I don't know which reviewer on the poster says, "One hell of a fun movie", but he needs to fired from whichever company he reviews for.

Here's the amazing plot of the film.  An organisation called Dangertainment, headed by the entrepreneurial Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes) sends 6 contest winners into the old Myers house with cameras strapped to their head and broadcasts it over the internet.  Mike shows up and starts butchering everybody while the world watches online.  

Yes I will play Laurie one more time and die so I never have to do it again.

Jamie Lee Curtis is stuck in a mental institution to open up the film and Mike shows up to finally put her out of her misery.  The chase to kill Laurie is actually the lone bright spot of the movie.  It's all down hill from there.  We have Busta Rhymes running around and here's a spoiler...I don't even get to see his annoying ass get killed.  He lives and is the hero. Rock Rosenthal directed this nonsense.  He's the same guy that directed Halloween 2.  No wonder they handed the next movies to Rob Zombie to direct.  

Myers is stunned by the horrible acting he's watching. 

 I don't know what else to say.  I could write 10 more paragraphs about how awful this movie actually is but I'll just also mention that Tyra Banks is in it.  That should sum it up perfectly. I think I'll just pretend this movie was never made. 

 Trivia:
Was first named "Halloween: The Homecoming", but producers wanted a title that said Michael Myers is alive so in February 2002, the film was officially named "Halloween: Resurrection."  

Was originally set for a release date of September 21st 2001, but producers at Dimension Films wanted the film to be stronger so re-shoots took place from September to October 2001.  

Director Rick Rosenthal previously directed Halloween II - 21 years earlier.

The name Jen Danzig is a reference to Glenn Danzig, the former singer and leader of The Misfits, whom wrote and sung the songs Halloween and Halloween II after the original movie was released. The two songs have little to do with the movies since their lyrics do not even touch the main plot.  

Tyra Banks' characters death was cut. You can still see the aftermath in the movie.

A picture of Josh Hartnett, who played Laurie Strode's son John in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, can be seen on the wall above Laurie's bed in the sanitarium.  

Please do it Mike.

 Michael Myers is not given credit for any of the murders that occur in Halloweens' 4, 5, or 6. A sanitarium resident even notes that Myers was not heard from for the twenty years between the events that occur in Halloween II and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later.
 
Jamie Lee Curtis agreed to do her part, only to make sure her character, Laurie Strode (or herself) wouldn't appear in another sequel.  

The name of the psychology professor at Haddenfield University is Dr. Mixter. This was also the name of the doctor in Halloween II that treated Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and was killed by Michael Myers with a needle in the eye.

Several new endings were written during production and the cast was never sure how the film was actually going to end. Four different endings were filmed, and the director wanted the studio to ship a different ending to each theater, a technique used before during the theatrical release of Clue. However, the studio disagreed and the endings now appear on the DVD and the Internet.  

Originally, the executives of Miramax wanted to continue the franchise by creating a whole new story of which didn't have anything to do with Michael Myers after the last film, in a similar manner to Halloween III: Season of the Witch. However, poll results conducted throughout fan websites proved to the producers that fans wanted Michael Myers to return again.

This is the second Halloween film to make any sort of reference as to what exactly Michael Myers eats. In the original Halloween, when Sheriff Brackett and Dr. Loomis enter the Myers house, they see something on the floor, which turns out to be the corpse of a dog. Dr. Loomis simply says "He got hungry."  

Body count: 10 (Plus one character presumed dead, but it's unconfirmed. If you count the bodies from the flashbacks then the body count is 14.)

Laurie Strode is only in the film for the first 15 minutes and only says 11 lines of dialog. 

Yeah baby...we're going to get Oscar nominations for this film.

 

Death Occurred Last Night (1970)

A chief police inspector investigates the disappearance of a 25-year-old, mentally retarded woman, the daughter of a lonely widower. After she turns up dead, the cops race to find the killers before the grieving father does. 

This a pretty good unknown Italian Giallo directed by Duccio Tessari.  In Italy a crime story is nicknamed "giallo", that is to say "yellow", because a very successful series of detective stories published before WWII by Mondadori had yellow covers.  The film stars Raf Vallone's and his performance as the troubled father is incredibly painful to watch.  Painful as in actually being able to feel his sorrow with his daughter missing.  Frank Wolff also does a great job as the police detective also searching for the missing girl.  This was one of his last roles.

A grieving father gets his revenge.

 The story involves a mentally retarded woman being kidnapped and sold into prostitution. Both the father and the police search in every brothel in town looking for her.  The film has a slow burn approach, focusing on the dramatic and psychological impact on those involved.  Highly recommended if you can actually find a copy.

Let me sing you a song before going back out to investigate murder.

Cannibal Apocalypse (1980)

Giovanni Lambardo Radice and John Saxon are Vietman vets that bring back a contagious virus that turn people into cannibals when bitten. 

Cannibal Apocalypse is a 1980  horror film directed by Antonio Margheriti, written by Margheriti and Dardano Sacchetti, and starring John Saxon.

It starts off in Vietnam where John Saxon gets bitten by P.O.W. John Morghen who has been infected with some sort of cannibal virus. A few decades later in Atlanta, Georgia, Saxon wakes up from a nightmare flashback of what actually happened back in 'Nam. Saxon then receives a call from Morghen asking him if he wants to go out for a drink but Saxon refuses remembering the incident in 'Nam. Morghen has turned into a cannibal and is soon on the run after biting into a woman's neck. He barricades himself in a department store and shoots some dudes with a shotgun. The cannibal virus spreads and soon Saxon joins veterans Morghen and Tony King along with some others to wreak some havoc.

John Saxon

We all know who John Saxon is.  He was in Enter The Dragon with Bruce Lee.  He was Nancy's dad in Nightmare On Elm Street.  And he even showed up in an episode of Wonder Woman.  And apparently he was not too pleased about being in this film. He has spoken out about the film many times. Not sure why with some the shitty films he's been in, but for some reason this one burns his ass. It's actually not a horrible film. At times it is kind of corny and it has the stupidest biker gang in the history of films but it's not horrendous.  To Saxon's credit he does deliver some silly lines with a straight face.

Oops

 The film has some cannibals but it falls short of any apocalypse.  It also includes a rather strange scene of a young teenager trying to bang John Saxon.  He goes down on her alright by biting and taking a chunk out of her. I'll give credit to director Antonio Margheriti for trying something different but this film didn't overwhelm me. Apparently Quinton Tarantino loves the film and my taste usually falls in line with his.  In this case it really didn't.

The music is rather cheesy and there are more action scenes than straight horror.  But there are several stand out gore scenes, the most memorable being when Morghen's stomach is blown away by shotgun blasts. Other gore highlights, courtesy of FX wizard, Giannetto De Rossi (Zombie, The Beyond, Living Dead at Manchester Morgue) include - a girl having her breast torn away and eaten, a doctor having his tongue bitten out then spat next to his dying body, a garage mechanic having his thigh sliced like a slab of beef.   If you're a fan of John Saxon or cannibal film maybe this is your cup of tea but it feel flat to me.  I keep going...but..but..but.  Though this is supposed to be an 'extreme gore classic,' it's pretty tame by today's standards.

Damn I'm hungry....

Quotes:

Captain McCoy: Charlie can you hear me?
Charlie Bukowski: I can hear you. Shitface.

[seeing a cannibal policeman bite a woman's breast]
Captain McCoy: Oh, my God! Put that down, son!

Nothing like an awkward scene of a 16 year trying to seduce a 40 year old man.

Body 19 (2007)

Chon is suffering from nightmares. He tries not to sleep because he's scared of a girl that he sees each night in his dreams. In the dreams, the girl screams for help before she is cruelly killed. Ae, Chon's sister is worried about the illusion that Chon sees in his dreams, so she introduces him to a psychiatrist. Chon tries to prove that what he sees is not just the illusion. Finally, Chon is right when some clues in his nightmares lead him to a morgue number 19. And now, the story of the dead body inside the morgue is gradually  

Body is a Thai horror-thriller film. It is produced by GTH, the same production company that made the hit Thai horror film, Shutter. Body is directed by Paween Purijitpanya and co-written by Chukiat Sakweerakul.

I was very impressed with the Thai film Shutter and consider it one of the better Asian horror movies that I've seen.  The same company has now brought us Body 19 and it's damn good.  Like the best movies in Asian horror, this film is at times difficult to understand. But that's also why I love them.  You need to watch the movie several times to catch things that you missed or that didn't stand out on the first viewing.   When you see it again, it becomes "Oh shit...this makes sense now."

 Body 19 has parallels to an actual murder case in Thailand, in which a physician was convicted and given the death penalty in the dismemberment of his estranged wife. It's a stunning film visually for the most part.  The one scene that truly stands out is from the museum where the butterflies come alive. But then in other places there is an obvious use of CGI which stands out a bit too much.  The camera tends to take different directions often showing us views that induce paranoia and voyeurism.  But this film doesn't rely on the effects.  It's the story and suspense that make it really stand out.  But isn't that the case with all good movies.  I really don't want to go into too many details of the film because it has a twist and the enjoyable part of these great Asian horror films is not knowing what's coming next. The mystery all leads back to a corpse that is behind door No 19 in the hospital morgue.

 The film stars Pae Arak Amornsupasiri as Chonlasit (Chon),  Pang Ornjira Lamwilai as Ae, Kritteera Inpornwijit as Usa, Patharawarin Timkul as Dararai.  The acting is fair for the most part.  However, I felt Pae did a great job as Chon. His slow realization that he may be crazy was excellent.

I'm still here....FIND ME

It’s a long film….running to 1hour and 58 minutes which could drag for some viewers.  The film does have a slow pace at times.  Small trims could have been made here or there, but not without making the story seemed rushed.  The long running time allows us to journey into the slow descent of madness that Dae sinks into. Asian horror fans will dig this movie....others with small attention spans will probably not. I loved it and my opinion is usually correct.

Trivia
The original title was 'Body number 19', for the international English title, 'number 19' was dropped. This takes much of the meaning out of the title, since the meaning of the body in drawer #19 was the whole climax of the film.

Was in its release year the biggest hit in theaters in Thailand.

About halfway through, we see a woman in a zoologic museum, where many of the animals suddenly show little sings of life (an eye blinking, a tongue slipping from a beak, etc), and gradually the size of the animals increase, from a little snake to a full grown elephant. After that, suddenly a huge dinosaur skeleton is shown. In an Q&A during the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the director of the movie said this was a homage to Steven Spielberg (whom the director is a big fan of), who can, according to the director, make dead animals live again using his imagination.

Body 19

Curse Of The Swamp Creature (1966)

Deep in the rural swamps of Texas the insane Dr. Simond Trent is conducting experiments on the local swamp people in an attempt to discover the secret of evolution. When a party of oil surveyors comes upon his isolated laboratory he decides to take the final step and turn one of them into a grotesque amphibious creature.

Curse of the Swamp Creature is a 1966 American film directed by Larry Buchanan.  It is a movie where Buchanan proved that he was a master of suspense and horror much like Hitchcock.  Naw...I'm just kidding.  This is one of the worst movies ever created.  The only reason to watch this movie is for the huge amount of laughs you will get.  Much like "Plan 9 From Outer Space" this film is so bad it's good. The performances are bad...alligators hanging out in swimming pools...people doing voodoo dances to curse the mad doctor....a deaf mute girl pushes a guy into the water and somehow it becomes quicksand.  I could go on and on.  Oh and the film also has John Agar...who obviously was intoxicated when he agreed to sign on for this film.

The only view you get of the creature until the final 3 minutes of the film.

The story is as follows.....a group heads into the swamp looking for oil.  They trek through deep marsh after the boat can no longer go on.  They eventually stumble on a mad doctor's house and he's experimenting with creating a man-phibian.  Somehow the doctor has a manicured lawn, swimming pools and a mansion deep in the swamp.  And he finally succeeds in creating his creature, who appears for a couple minutes to wrap up the film and jumps in the pool to get eaten by alligators.  True terror.  And somehow this goofy doctor has a smoking hot wife.  He must have a pecker the size of a large cucumber.

The face of horror

 This movie won't be for everybody.  In fact, it won't be for 95% of Earth's population.  But for those that love shitty movies that are so horrifically bad this is a gold mine.

Son, you're close to being alligator food.

Quotes:
Tom: Doctor, I was thinking... just the work that you've done with the crocodiles and taking them back along the evolutionary path and making them into fish would be enough to win you world acclaim.
Dr. Simond Trent: Yes, but acclaim... that's nothing. To create life, to move it up and down the evolutionary path... that's something. Something I don't you quite appreciate, Tom.

Dr. Simond Trent: You’re ready. Awake! The sound of my voice is your master!  Get up! Get up! The world awaits you as my first citizen!

Dr. Simond Trent:  Well, Tom – at last you’re going to make a contribution to science! Everyone has his place in the field of research. Tom? Tom, are you listening? Nod your head if you are! You'’e doing fine -–fine! You’re strong. You can stay under water indefinitely. You’re almost bulletproof! I’m envious of you, Tom! Hmm? Are you hungry? How clumsy of me! Let me get you a snack! [He hands ‘Tom’ a turtle] Here, boy! Here!

  

Dr. Simond Trent:  You’re ready to come off the preserver, and make your debut – my beautiful, indestructible fishman!

Scientist:  How can you look for oil without equipment – seismographs, drilling equipment?
Geologist:  Well – it’s not easy.

I can see everything clearly through these glasses.

Cat In The Brain (1990)

Dr. Lucio Fulci is a director of splatterfilms. He stages a gestapo-orgy like it was any other movie scene. But he is influenced by these things more than he likes. He is hunted by bloody visions day by day. Is Fulci still normal? He asks a psychatrist. He doesn't know that the psychatrist has much bigger problems than Fulci himself. The psychatrist uses Fulci's visions for brutal murders in real life.

Are you ready for a cavalcade of craziness and chaos?  Just one insane scene after another?  This is the film for you then dear friend.  Lucio Fulci plays himself and after years of making horror movies, he thinks he's going insane.  Basically he starts seeing the craziest shit you can imagine. He goes and sees a shrink who hypnotizes him into thinking he's committing terrible murders when in fact it's the doctor that's getting off on butchering people.  That's the film.  It's as if Fulci decided that he was going to take every crazy death scene he had stored in his mind and somehow get them in a film.  He did....it's just one violent sequence after another and it's very entertaining.  Don't get me wrong....it's a mess.....but an entertaining mess. 

Fulci throws an insane amount of violence into this film and it surpasses any other film he's ever made.  Just some fun decapitation, child murder, cannibalism and some heads getting chainsawed off.  Oh did I mention the Nazi Orgy. But in reality, I think this was a personal statement film for Fulci and was an attack against censorship.

The acting in the film is awful.  Fulci is no actor himself but he's actually the best one in the film.  The budget is of course almost non existent but as usual Lucio works around that and creates his demented artistry.  Also after seeing the movie, I don't think it's a stretch to say that Wes Craven stole this idea of a "film within a film within a film" for "New Nightmare".   Granted, I think Craven's film is much better overall...but hey...Fulci deserves some credit for the idea at least.

The shrink needs a fucking shrink.

This is a Fulci film.  If you're a fan....you'll love it.  If you're not...you will think it's trash.  I like Fulci and I approve this message.  The film is way underrated by most horror fans.

Bitch, I said cook dinner.....

Trivia:

This film was refused a video classification in 1999 by the British Board of Film Classification, but was finally passed uncut with an '18' rating in mid-2003.

Many events in the film are based on Lucio Fulci's experiences as a filmmaker.

The original script was 49 pages long and contained no dialogue. It consisted of descriptions of bodily mutilations/imagery and sound effects that would compliment them on screen.

How about a little Nazi Orgy fun?

 

A Girl Called Tigress (1973)

Right off the top let me say that Polly Shang Kuan may be the best female fighter in Kung Fu cinema. If not the best, she's certainly in the top 5. Major ass is kicked in this film. She did not get training from the Peking Opera like many of the other female martial arts stars but over the years she got a black belt in taekwando, karate and judo. Kuan could play both a silly female role or a serious role.  In this film she was a serious ass kicker.

Kuan plays a spunky girl looking for her sister. (Also played by Kuan)  She gets into numerous fights with the minions of the local crime boss and makes a friend with a guy (Kam Kong) and when he realizes she's a little short on cash, he puts her up in the local hotel. She eventually finds her sister who is shacking up with the crime boss and they pull a switch since they're twins. The boss discovers the switch and the fighting commences.

I'll whip your ass boy.

The fighting in this film is very good.  It seems to be more karate instead of Chinese Kung Fu.  Kuan has good kicks and an excellent presence whenever she's onscreen...with both her acting and fighting.  Kam is rather weak in the film and wasn't nearly as impressive fighting or kicking. His moves are sometimes clumsy and seem to be lacking in power.  But the best fighter is villain Yasuaki Kurata.  The only problem is he doesn't fight enough. But it's obvious in his fights that he has the better technique and is much more graceful than the rest of the cast.  The blame for some of the short comings could probably be blamed on the action director.  They can easily make or break a martial arts film.

These gentleman are about to get their ass kicked by a woman.

One surprise for me was Pink Floyd being ripped off and used in the soundtrack.  The chances that they were paid royalties are zero to none.  Sort of strange to see ass kicking and Pink Floyd popping up in the same vehicle.

Overall, this is an average martial arts film but it is an enjoyable experience if you're a fan of the genre. It's a treat to see Polly Kuan kicking so much ass and there are worse ways to spend 80 minutes.

Know your role woman.

A Fist Full Of Talons (1983)

Qing I-ming (Billy Chong) joins up with Ding Wei-zhong (Pai Yin) to ward off a final rebellion against the newly-established Chinese Republic. Ding is carrying highly important documents to the government when he is attacked by two men in league with the counterrevolutionaries. When Ding's stolen horse ends up on the block in the marketplace, Qing I-ming notices the animal and assumes that Ding is in trouble. Inspired by his new girlfriend Eagle Woman Ma (Liu Hao-i), Qing is ready for action.

Billy Chong....he was supposed to be the next big action star.  But alas, it never happened.  This however, was easily his best film. When he first appears on screen, he's washing a horse and comments on the horse's huge cock.  Needless to say, I wasn't sure what direction this film was going in at that point. Is this a martial arts film or gay horse porn?  Thankfully there were no more comments on horse genitalia throughout the rest of the movie.

Talons was directed by Sun Chung, who previously had worked with Shaw Brothers Studios.  He has several well known films in the kung fu genre, "Avenging Eagle" and "Human Lanterns".  It also has the legendary Robert Tai orchestrating wire-assisted fight sequences and the fighting mastery of "5 Deadly Venoms" action director Robert Tai.  Even though most releases of this film on DVD absolutely blow in picture quality, this is a pretty damn good kung fu flick.

When I get this coat off, I'm whipping your ass son.

Hwang In-shik’s performance as the lead villain (Ni Sin) is disappointing.  He had masterful performances in "Hapkido" and "When TaeKwondo Strikes", but doesn't really show up in this film until the final climatic fight.  This was also his last major film appearance.

The film has several unusual characters such as a crazy mother fucker called "Little Bandit". Mr. Bandit ends up getting his ass handed to him by the Manchus and somehow makes it back to warn Ding and Yi Min.  Ding then proclaims what a great hero Little Bandit was and gives a mind numbing speech about it. The film copies Sergio Leone's A Fist Full of Dollars in title but it is in fact also a reference to Eagle Woman Ma and her pet eagles.  Chong's character at one point is set up in an arranged marriage with her and when he jets out, she chases after him the whole movie. She even aids in his battle in the climactic fight by sending her eagles to peck out the eyes of the villain.  And in the final shot, which is unforgettable, her eagle is ripped in half by Ni Sin just as Yi Min gives him a kick to the skull.  It's one of those "Holy Shit" moments.

The Climax of the film....not the horse.

Overall this film has plenty of fights and cool stunt work. The actors are all good fighters and fans of old school kung fu movies will enjoy it. And once again...when he rips that eagle in half....Holy Shit.

The 36 Crazy Fists (1977)

A young man decides to learn Kung Fu to avenge the death of his father, a peaceful shopkeeper who was murdered by Manchurian gangsters for not paying protection money. At first he is rejected by his teachers because he is weak, but through persistence, and some help from other students and a mysterious drunk, he learns the skills he needs to avenge his father

First off let me tell you right up front....you may see Jackie Chan's name blasted all over the DVD covers for this film but he's not in it. According to Jackie, he was furious about them using his name, but there was little he could do at the time.  He was instead the stunt coordinator. The prints of this film are awful. I'm not sure if there's a remastered version out there somewhere...but most of the releases in the USA are poor quality and look there were recorded right off a TV.  It's also known as : "Bloodpact," & "The Master and the Boxer,"  It is not the fault of director Hua Chen that his movie was pirated and deviously marketed.  The film actually is not that bad.

Leung Siu Hung stars as a young man who is trying to learn kung fu for revenge.  He not only has one teacher...home boy has two.  He must be a super quick learner because he masters shit in a week's time. It has some of the typical marital arts themes....old drunk master, bumbling sidekicks and the girl who sticks her nose into everything. Although the girl does get topless which is not common in such films.

I came here to drink wine and kick ass....and I'm all out of wine

 The film has a few good fights such as Fung Hak-on using a chain rope and the climax fight against the white haired villain.  When a guy has white hair in a martial arts film he can kick major ass. It also has a lot of comedy.  Personally, I'm not a big fan of the comical martial arts films. I'm usually rolling my eyes and not laughing very much.  On the other hand, if you're a fan of these older martial arts films then you will probably enjoy it.  As a professional student of kung fu films, I say it's only average.  If I could see a remastered, uncut film I could be persuaded to change my mind.  But this version didn't have me kicking for joy.

Jackie coordinating with what appears to be a cigarette in his mouth...now that's bad ass.

The Blood Splattered Bride (1972)

A young husband's sexual fantasies frighten his new wife and cause her to seek advice from Carmilla, a descendent of Mircalla de Karnstein. Carmilla seduces the young bride and forces her to commit gory acts of mutilation.

The Blood Spattered Bride is a 1972 Spanish horror film written and directed by Vicente Aranda, based on the vampire story, "Carmilla" by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.  It stars Simón Andreu, Maribel Martín, and Alexandra Bastedo. The film has attained cult film status for its mix of horror, vampirism and seduction with lesbian overtones. 

I was surprised with how much I enjoyed this film.  It has some weird shit going on. It begins with a couple that has just been married and when the bride does not like the honeymoon suite at the hotel, they go instead to the groom's family mansion.  The bride has issues dealing with her husbands insatiable rough sex. She sees a strange ghostly figure roaming the woods in a wedding dress.  Could this be the woman from the portrait who murdered her husband years ago on their wedding night?  When a nude woman is found on the beach and brought home, the bride becomes alienated from her husband and drifts into the arms of this erotic stranger.

Kill your husband....

When I say weird shit....I mean incredibly weird shit.  The woman found on the beach nude is buried in the sand with only a snorkel to breathe and a dive mask on.  What the fuck?  Turns out she's a lesbian vampire with a deep hatred for men.  She enters the dreams of the bride where they cut out the husband's heart....then joyfully squeeze it and blood flows freely over their nice white wedding dresses.  But in spite of all the craziness it has the gorgeous cinematography and beautiful locations.  It moves slow at times and certainly isn't a rocket ride but it does keeps your attention with the imagery.

Cut out his heart

The movie also is a battle of the sexes....the husband versus the lesbian vampire for control of the bride. There is also a blurring of the lines between reality and fantasy.  We are never really sure what the bride is dreaming and what's real. It makes for some very visual sequences.  The performances are all wonderful and the cast is crucial in pulling this crazy film off. (Especially Maribel Martín) If you enjoy Euro-horror than you will really love this film.  I do recommend it.  Just don't watch with the kids.

Trivia
The Anchor Bay release of the film is in English, also dubbed in English to clean up the Spanish accents of the actors attempting English throughout. It is not likely that a Spanish language version of this film exists.

The title of the movie says it all.

The Vampire Bat (1933)

When the villagers of Klineschloss start dying of blood loss, the town fathers suspect a resurgence of vampirism. While police inspector Karl remains skeptical, scientist Dr. von Niemann cares for the vampire's victims one by one, and suspicion falls on simple-minded Herman Gleib because of his fondness for bats. A blood-thirsty mob hounds Gleib to his death, but the vampire attacks don't stop. 

The Vampire Bat is an American horror movie starring Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Melvyn Douglas, and Dwight Frye.  It was directed by Frank Strayer.  This movie was turned out by Majestic Pictures and had a pre-famous Fay Wray since King Kong had not yet been released.  It also has Dwight Frye, who basically plays Renfield throughout the movie.  He's very effective and creepy, but all I kept thinking while watching the movie was....that's Renfield.  His performance is fine, it's just a carbon copy of what he did in Dracula.  He is amusing though when he gives unsuspecting people bats as gifts...he's obsessed with bats you see.  Comic relief is provided by a hypochondriac aunt of the doctor's. 

Bats are furry....like cats.

This is not a horror film in the traditional sense but is instead more of a murder mystery.  It's not an awful picture and it's certainly visually inspired by the Universal horror films. The characters aren't developed at all and the ending will leave you scratching your head as to what the hell was the purpose of all this. True horror fans will appreciate this film more than a casual viewer.  It's a fun little film and it's cool to see Fay Wray with her natural brown hair color. There are three things that make "The Vampire Bat" stand out from the other poverty row films - the cast, the direction, and the comedy.

Trivia:
Filmed at night on Universal's European village set. The interior of Lionel Atwill's house is the set from The Old Dark House.

Majestic Pictures cashed in on the success of Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray, who had been a sensation in the Technicolor thriller Doctor X and had already completed Mystery of the Wax Museum, which was also being heavily promoted at the time. Majestic was able to get this film into theaters over a month before the release of the latter one.

Goodnight, gentlemen. Don't let the vampires get you.