Really packing them in at the minute....
The Vagrant
Bill Paxton is an annoying yuppie who becomes increasingly paranoid when he spots a scabby tramp living near his new home. Question is, is the vagrant stalking him or is Paxtons character totally nuts? Things get progressively worse for him when people in the neighborhood start turning up dead.
The films deeply flawed in many respects but it's still a fun watch thanks to the great central performance from Bill Paxton and the fact the whole thing is played like a deeply twisted comedy.
The Godsend
A very early 80's British horror from producers Golan and Globas. This is a great little brit chiller reminiscent of a Norman J Warren picture. A couple meet a strange pregnant woman in the woods and take her home (as you do) she has her kid then promptly disappears. The couple decide to raise the child along side their own fairly sizable brood. Soon their own kids start dying off one by one and the chief suspect is the adopted daughter.
This is a neat little chiller with a great story that never feels it has to explain itself with any goofy exposition. The true nature of the mystery woman and her child is never more than speculated upon. I really liked this one a lot and i'm surprised i'd never heard of it before. Well worth checking out.
The outing
Aka THE LAMP. A group teens are lured to the local museum overnight when one of them gets possessed by a genie, gruesome deaths soon follow. Not much more to say about this other than its a fun little horror with some nice effects work. It does nothing origional and it's never going to get any awards it's just a fairly fun, middle of the road horror.
Dungeonmaster
Aka Ragewar. A computer geek at the dawn of the cyber revolution takes time from his new google glass sunglasses to propose to his missus. That night they promptly get sucked into a demonic game after the devil decides this computer malarky is a lot of fun. Only Charlie band could attach his name to a film so nuts yet so weirdly entertaining. The whole endevour feels like the plot was hatched on the back of a matchbook so the three different directors attached to this 77 minute film could go as nuts as they wanted. Worth watching. If you have any drugs take them (kidding!
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Cellar Dweller
Exemplifies exactly what it is I love about Charles band productions. This one is directed by John Carl Beuchler. Jeffrey Combs comic book artist unwittingly unleashes a demonic beast from the pages of his comic book. He kills himself trying to get rid of it. Years later a fan turns up at his house, now an artists retreat, to continue his work. This film has plenty to reccomend it. Decent creature effects, gore, Jeffrey Combs and some T & A. A lot of fun.
Catacombs
From the director of Crawlspace David Schmoeller (who also provides a commentary track on this disc) and Charlie Bands Empire pictures, This is a superb little demonic possession film shot in Italy. A young woman visits a monastery as an ancient evil buried underneath is unleashed. Slow burning and well directed this is surprisingly restrained by empire pictures standards but still a great little movie with some superb photography from Sergio Salvati and another great score from Pino Donaggio.
Contamination 7
Not an Empire films production this is one I was still looking forward to. It's a FILMRAGE production! Yep trashy Italian horror and this one is grade A!
Joe D'amato is one of two directors attached to this American set tale of killer trees that at one point apparently was titled Troll 3. If I say now that the damned film gives Troll 2 a run for its money in the utter shite stakes know that i'm not joking. I loved it. Please bear in mind however my irrational love for god-awful late 80's early 90's italian trash before you watch!
Westworld
Bit of a departure but I had the Blu to hand. Still great piece of cinema after all these years even if Michael Criton did xerox the damn thing for the plot of Jurassic Park. The Blu has the Ted Post directed pilot episode for the never picked up Westworld TV series that while awful in many, many ways is a curio i'm glad to own.