[Inspector Abberline]

Torture Garden.
Not my favourite of Amicus anthology movies,that being reserved for they're two Ec Comic adaptations, Tales From The Crypt and the much maligned Vault of Horror..I find the stories in Garden a wee bit on the under whelming side,even though they are based on Robert Bloch's short stories...But saying that the wraparound story with Burgess Meredith is still a lot of fun,especially the scene involving Michael Ripper at the end,like I say not my favourite from Amicus but still worth a revisit now and again...

Dead Alive...
Peter Jackson pulls out all the stops in his gore filled comedy horror,everything about this film is gross,the comedy,the special effects and more importantly the characters... Especially Lionels mothers Vera,probably horror cinemas most repugnant mothers ever to grace a blood covered screen...That said most of the characters are highly unlikeable,apart from Lionel and his girlfriend...Vega Cosgrove is a horrible clinging caricature that isn't much better when she returns as a zombie...I remember when this first came out,feeling almost jaded and bored by all the gore,so I haven't watched this for quite awhile,and I'm happy to say I probably enjoyed it more now than then...

Legend Of The Seven Golden Vampire's..
Hammer goes all kung fu,with there collaboration with the Shaw Brothers and while on paper it probably sounded like a marriage made in heaven,the end result was a bit of a hit or miss affair..It probably does not help that the character of Dracula who appears briefly at the start,is not played by Christopher Lee,although it's very doubtful he would of appeared in such a brief role anyway at that time let alone don the cape...But never mind as we still have the ever reliable Peter Cushing to fly the Hammer flag...Seven Golden Vampires suffers from a very dull first half,apart from a couple of scenes involving the vampire dead,luckily the last quarter of the film picks up momentarily... What always surprise's me is the topless scenes, I'm assuming this was the Hammer influence...

Mimic...
Guillermo Del Toro brings back the bug movie for the 90s,and does a first rate job in resurecting the science fiction horror hybrid... It starts with a pandemic that is killing off the children of New York,due to a disease caused by the cockroach population in the cities sewers and adandoned underground rail network... But have no fear as scientist Mira Sorvino ,has come up with a solution, in the form of a mutated insect that destroys the plague carrying roach...Toro manages to combine some rather plausible scientific mumbo jumbo with good old fashioned monster movie shenanigans, and also pulls no punches,as he is not adverse to killing of two of his child characters...

Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue...
Possibly the first ever environmental zombie gore movie ever made by a Spanish director set in the north of England...Im not sure what the appeal is here,whether its the scenes set in the Peak District. (Which I have passed through few times) or maybe its Ray Lovelock's beard,or Arthur Kennedy doing his columbo impression...Any way the whole film has an air of impending doom and gloom,as the Derbyshire district are invested with horrible ugly mutant's, but thats enough about the locals the zombies aren't much better either.. As much as I love Romeros Dawn of the Dead,this one just edges into my favourite zombie film alongside Zombie Fleash Eaters.....