TRAILER TRASH! Hammer Horror Edition!

Jean Rollin 1938-2010

In the pantheon of horror directors, there are those whose names only become known to a relatively small yet fervent cult of followers. There are also those whose work transcends the narrow category in which it would seem to have been relegated--it becomes much more than that, especially to those in the aforementioned group. Jean Rollin was one of these. Controversial, possibly misunderstood, yet always intriguing; he and his work have long fascinated fans of exploitation horror. Yet now, it is only his work that remains, as Jean Rollin himself passed away Wednesday at the age 0f 72, after a long illness.

I first came across his work the way I think many fans did, via the bizarre yet beautiful 1978 zombie flick The Grapes of Death--known in his native France as Les Raisins de la Mort. Unusual, beguiling, and rightfully described by many as dreamlike, it remains in my opinion one of the all-time underrated horror films. There is much of Argento in it, or perhaps it is more accurate to say that there is some Rollin in much of Argento's work. I will not endeavor here to put him in the same category as the Italian master of the giallo, but he certainly deserves a lot more credit than he really got.

Of course, much of the Rollin stigma derived from the subgenre of what some might call "Euro-sleaze" that he spent much of his career working in. Softcore (and in some cases, even hardcore) pornography, mixed with horror, is certainly not everyone's cup of tea--especially amongst the mainstream movie-going public (at least in what they'd comfortably admit). Rollin was not always picky with what he worked on, only that he kept working. But we can forget titles like Sodomania or Anal Madness (although that's undeniably a hard title to forget), thanks to memorable films like Fascination (1979), Demoniacs (1973), Lips of Blood (1974), and of course, Living Dead Girl (1982).

"Euro-sleaze" though much of it may be, one cannot deny that it transcends such a limiting stigma. There is true eroticism to his work, mixed with creeping terror, and he achieves a somnambulistic sublimity on occasion that even the most jaded critic would have to acknowledge. While he may not have been among the giants of horror cinema, it is also not hard to understand why his work has accumulated such a loyal following. You will simply not find films like Grapes of Death being made today, and that is a real shame.

Rollin was passionate about film, looking for any way into the business, even going back to his teenage years in France during the 1950s. By age 15, he was writing screenplays, and by 16 he had already taken his first job doing menial work for a local studio. This led him eventually to directing--first documentaries and industrial films, and finally telling the stories he wanted to tell.

He began his sojourn into horror in 1968 with The Rape of the Vampire, already setting the tone for the rest of his career, blending sexuality and the macabre with aplomb. And yes, as the years wore on, he began to take on more questionable projects, veering beyond the erotic and into the pornographic, which he admitted arose sheerly out of the need to keep working. And so work he did, and he can hardly be faulted for that. The man continued making movies right through the 1990s, and was in the midst of a comeback as of late that include The Night of the Clocks (2007) and the forthcoming Mask of Medusa.

We've lost one of the most interesting figures in the history of European horror this week. I will always identify him with The Grapes of Death first and foremost, as I think many American fans might--and I encourage anyone who hasn't seen it to honor the memory of Jean Rollin by checking it out. It really is one of the most unique films in the entire zombie subgenre, and will give you a greater understanding of the man whose work must now live on in his place.

VAULTCAST: Conversations in the Dark... w/Christine Hadden

I'm thrilled about this week's edition of Conversations in the Dark, because Italian horror is one of my favorite topics to discuss. And if there's anyone whose name is synonymous with Italian horror, it would be Dario Argento. Suspiria is one of my all-time favorite horror films, and Argento's signature style in other movies like Deep Red and Tenebrae have long fascinated me.

So of course, I had to bring in one of my favorite Argento fanatics, Ms. Christine Hadden of Fascination with Fear. Christine is more well-versed in Argento than myself--and so, seeking, as always, to make myself look good by surrounding myself with talented individuals, I invited Christine to join me this week. By listening in on the embedded player below, you can hear us wistfully sing the praises of Italy's ambassador of terror, as well as veer into Hitchcock, Deodato and all points in between.

You can also proceed directly to the official Vaultcast page and download the audio!



Fascination with Fear: http://fascinationwithfear.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/slewfan77
Blood Sprayer: http://www.bloodsprayer.com/author/christine/

VAULTCAST: Conversations in the Dark... w/Miguel Rodriguez

Have you recently found yourself overcome with the unrelenting need to hear two 30-something year-old men talk for nearly an hour about Japanese monster movies? If so, then boy, have you come to the right place.

This week on the Vaultcast, it is my distinct honor to have as my guest Mr. Miguel Rodriguez, a fellow Godzilla-phile who also happens to run his own podcast, Monster Island Resort. As you can probably tell from the name of his show, Miguel is a huge fan of the big green lizard and his many far-out cohorts and foes. And given my own unconditional love of all things kaiju--see my three-part history of the original Godzilla series--I figured it might be a very good idea if we put our heads together and engaged in some mutual worship of rubber monster suits.

I warn you ahead of time: The geekery involved this week reaches alarming proportions. Your mileage may vary. If you dare to take a listen to our discussion of singing fairies, cockroach people and little boys in tiny shorts, then check out the embedded player below--or proceed directly to the official Vaultcast page to download.



Monster Island Resort podcast: http://www.monsterislandresort.org/
For more on Horrible Imaginings: The Horror Film Festival of San Diego
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MnstrIsleResort

*Special thanks to Captain Cruella of Village Invasion - Crawl of the Dead for forging the unholy Solomon/Rodriguez alliance!

What Is Hardkor 44?

By Paige MacGregor

Last month, an announcement was made that work had begun on a feature film about the Warsaw Uprising of 1944--a heroic and tragic 63-day struggle to liberate the Polish capital from Nazi occupation. The film is a collaboration that involves Polish artist and animator Tomek Baginski, best known for his Oscar-nominated short film Cathedral, and the Polish film studio Platige Image, on behalf of the Warsaw Uprising Museum. Hardkor 44 will be the debut film for the Platige Image, and is described as a “sci-fi reimagining of the events of the Warsaw Uprising” that will have "steampunk overtones."

Unfortunately, the news about Polish film Hardkor 44 didn’t garner much attention in the U.S.; but now that promotional images of characters have hit the Internet, Hardkor 44 is catching people’s attention—and with good reason. Hardkor 44 utilizes the film techniques developed by Zack Snyder and Frank Miller in the making of 300 (2006) and Sin City (2005). Like Snyder and Miller’s films, Hardkor 44 will star live-action actors with backgrounds created using computer-generated imagery. Based on the promotional images released for the film to date, it looks like the live actors will be stylized using CGI, similar to the way the actors and actresses were transformed in Robert Zemeckis' 2007 film Beowulf.

All of the press materials currently available for Hardkor 44 are written in Polish, but from what I can gather, the insurgents in the film are courageous, beautiful, well-armed young girls reminiscent of American comic book heroes. The Germans, on the other hand, are perverse cyborg monsters and robots—all of which look extremely cool and terrifying.

Obviously, the Nazi soldiers who fought at Warsaw in 1944 were not cyborgs or robots (although many would agree that they could be described as monsters), and it’s debatable whether a force of beautiful young women resisted the Germans’ attacks for over two months, but Hardkor 44 promises to be entertaining and visually stunning nonetheless.

The official website for Hardkor 44 is live and downloads are available for press kits, however you’ll need to use a translation service to get anything out of the documents and text on the site. Hopefully as the project gains momentum, international attention information will be made available in English (or any other language that you might desire), but until then it’s still cool to visit the site and see some of the images they have posted.

[Rec] 2: A Better Film, But Also a Less Scary One

In the early days of The Vault of Horror, Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza's [Rec] was the one of the very first new horror films I passionately championed. I wanted to get the word out about this fantastic Spanish zombie film that, unfortunately, was not known to many American fans. It turned out I wasn't the only one, as lots of other writers in the horror blogosphere with which I was just becoming acquainted were also raving about it.

In my opinion, the original [Rec] was the most downright terrifying horror film of the previous decade. It was the kind of a movie that grabs the neckhairs of even a hardened fright film watcher like myself and says: "Be afraid." So it was with great relish that I latched on to the opportunity to experience [Rec] 2, Balaguero and Plaza's continuation of their tale of undead outbreak. And I'm excited to say that it was an intense flick that's almost as much fun as the original, and in some ways, even more interesting.

[Rec] 2 picks up the action right where we left off at the end of the first one--kind of like a Rocky movie, except with dead people instead of boxers. We're right back on the scene of the quarantined apartment building, as a SWAT team and a special government agent infiltrate the structure to figure out just what the hell is going on inside. Matters are further complicated by a group of overly curious teens who sneak into the building as well.

The story is told, once again, in cinema verite style, with all the action depicted via "real life" video recordings. It's the same "found footage" approach taken by cinematographer Pablo Rosso in the original, except this time the film makers kind of riff on that style, giving us several different points of view from a few different camera sources, such as the cams carried by the SWAT members, the camera inevitably carried by one of the teens, etc. It's all edited together to create a real feeling of development from the original; Balaguero and Plaza are consciously exploring and expanding the visual "gimmick" they introduced the first time out.

This time, however--and this felt like an intentional decision--the action is less chaotic, and more coherent. One of the criticisms of the original (thought not by me) was that it was almost too realistic, with a constant stream of panicked yelling and screaming, and stretches of action so muddled by movement and noise as to be overly disorienting. This time, the whole thing feels a bit more dramatized, more traditional in presentation, and I don't mean that necessarily as a negative. Rather, I found it to be a change of pace and just one of the things that make this movie anything but the tired aping of the original that it easily could've been.

Another area in which there is bold and fascinating development going on is the direction taken by Balaguero, Plaza and their scripting collaborator Manu Diex in the actual narrative. Whereas the first time out, we got a straightforward modern, infection-style zombie film, with only some hints at the end of the supernatural, this time things go full-tilt into the realm of the occult. This might put off some who appreciated the more "grounded in reality" approach of the original (whatever that may mean in a movie about the living dead), but I found this to be the most rewarding development of all.

[Spoilerish stuff ahead] What we wind up with is sort of a cross between 28 Days Later and The Exorcist, with our undead turning out to be not quite zombies after all, but closer in species to Sam Raimi's Deadites, or perhaps a whole bunch of very angry Regan MacNeils, if you prefer. It's demonic possession that spreads organically, like a contagion. I was totally enthralled by this concept, and pleasantly surprised that the story went in this direction. Science and religion are blended into the kind of hybrid that takes a little getting used to, but is nevertheless original, engaging stuff.

My biggest gripe would be the one aspect in which this sequel does slavishly attempt to follow its predecessor, which is in the presentation of the monstrous Madeiros girl who is the source of the infection. You can feel the movie building up once again to the big reveal, just as it did the first time, and you get the sense that they were shamelessly trying to reproduce the sheer terror and adrenaline rush of that infamous climactic scene in the original in which main character Angela Vidal first encounters the possessed girl.

Here, the scene feels forced, tacked on, and worst of all, is built on some heavy-handed pseudo-religious/scientific nonsense I just didn't buy, which insisted that the girl could not be seen in the light, since she was shunned by God or something like that. As a result, the only way to see her, conveniently enough, is via the night-vision camera used to see her in the original. Furthermore, this doesn't explain why the creature was unable to interact with them earlier in the film (just because they couldn't see her?) Anyway, not to belabor the point, this is a relatively small problem in an otherwise very enjoyable horror film.

[Rec] 2 also ends with a little twist and some flashback footage that both lets us in on what exactly happened to Angela when she got pulled down that air duct, and also sets us up for a [Rec] 3 which looks like it will go in a far more large-scale, ambitious direction than the previous two. All in all, it's a more traditional horror film than its predecessor, with some intriguing thematic and narrative developments, even if the re-treading of somewhat familiar territory unavoidably ensures that it's not quite the white-knuckle roller coaster of pulse-pounding terror that the original was.

21st Century Terrors, Part 8: 2007

The year 2007 is a special one here in the Vault, because it was the year this blog first got off the ground. And boy, did I pick an interesting year to get things started. There was a lot going on in 2007 in the world of fright flicks, and I was definitely fortunate to have some of these films around to write about at the very beginning.

The remake and sequel craze was in full swing by this point, but luckily there was also a lot of fascinating and original material being put out on the market as well. Interestingly enough at the time, a great deal of it was coming from overseas.

In particular, the one movie that will always come to mind for many when 2007 is brought up is Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza's [REC], which many would consider among the most downright terrifying films of the entire decade, if not the most terrifying. From Spain came this unique, mockumentary take on the zombie subgenre, featuring a team of TV reporters and firemen trapped inside a quarantined apartment building during an outbreak of some sort of disease which turns the living into bloodthirsty undead.

Visceral, straightforward and extremely realistic in its presentation, [REC] became an instant sensation. People from all over the world clamored to see this (formerly) little movie that had emerged from Spain, a country many hadn't thought of as much of a horror haven since the heyday of Paul Naschy. It also managed to keep the zombie resurgence going strong roughly half a decade after it first exploded.

Spain also produced a very different kind of horror film that same year in Juan Antonio Bayona's The Orphanage (El Orfanato), a movie that was helped along in its overseas exposure by the blessing of Guillermo del Toro, who was understandably taken with it. A very unorthodox combination of ghost story and psychological thriller, The Orphanage takes its place amongst the likes of The Uninvited, The Haunting and The Changeling as one of the finest motion pictures of its kind.

Meanwhile, from just a few miles to the northeast in France, came Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury's Inside (À l'intérieur), a deeply disturbing and shockingly violent motion picture that became another international sensation and immediate film festival darling. The 2000s gave us quite a few depraved horror films, but Inside has to be very near to the top of the pile in terms of subject matter and the unflinching portrayal of said subject matter.

Following a nine-months-pregnant widow on the eve of her induction, as she fends off a psychopathic intruder bent on stealing the unborn child from her body, the film struck a nerve with even the most jaded horror viewers. As dead serious as the genre gets, Inside delivered extreme tension and extreme violence in equal doses, resulting in one of the most unsettling viewing experiences imaginable, and a movie that literally challenges the definition of entertainment.

And yet, while in most any other year, Inside would win hands down as most disturbing French movie, in 2007 it was a toss-up! There must have been something in the water in France that year, because the French also gave us the equally grim and harrowing Frontière(s). Xavier Gens' story of fugitive thieves held prisoner by demented neo-Nazis is another film that helped propel France to the cutting edge of international horror cinema.

But the Americans certainly weren't sitting on their hands while the Europeans had all the fun, either. Rather, some of the best and brightest filmmakers around were delving deep into the genre. Tim Burton took a crack at the beloved Stephen Sondheim splatter musical Sweeney Todd, putting his go-to star Johnny Depp in the lead, and adding wife Helena Bonham Carter to the mix to produce a typically sumptuous and subversive slice of cinema reminiscent of some of his best work.

Genre junkies Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez joined forces to create Grindhouse, a one-of-a-kind 21st century double feature that paid homage to the sticky-floor movies of old. Though greatly hyped, it did not quite live up to box-office or critical expectations--nevertheless, Rodriguez' contribution to the effort, Planet Terror, is a balls-to-the-wall, over-the-top zombie trash epic that certainly has its fair share of avid supporters. If anything, RR has to at least be recognized for having a great deal of fun with the subgenre, in the grand tradition of Dan O'Bannon. Plus, we also got the infamous line, "I'm gonna eat your brains and gain your knowledge..."

Steve Niles' acclaimed 30 Days of Night vampire graphic novels were adapted by director David Slade in highly bloody fashion--and although the slickly stylized film divided many fans, its unapologetically brutal approach to the bloodsucker mythos was at least an effective alternative to the Twilight-mania just tightening its grip on popular culture. Another film which divided fans was The Mist, in which Frank Darabont, director of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, turned his attention to his first Stephen King horror story. A monster movie in the tradition of classic 1950s fare, with a modern twist and a gut-punch ending, it may not have pleased all the King fans out there, but it had to be considered better than the other King adaptation of 2007, Mikael Håfström's 1408.

As alluded to previously however, we were also bombarded with more than our fair share of remakes and sequels in 2007. And although remakes and sequels are not necessarily bad by definition, looking at the catalog of releases from that year, one could not be blamed for coming to that conclusion.

With long-time favorites like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Hitcher served up in tepid "re-imagined" form, it was a tough year for some long-time horror fans. Most egregious of all would have to be Rob Zombie's Halloween, a film which managed to enrage the legions of fans of John Carpenter's 1978 original, with its post-modern deconstruction of the Michael Myers character, and less-than-creative regurgitation of much of the material of its predecessor. Although the extensive Myers' backstory added depth and was appreciated by some, in the end, the film sometimes unaffectionately termed "Zombieween" came off as a largely unnecessary affair.

On the sequel front, it seemed like every notable film/franchise of the decade was being pumped for all it was worth by the studios desperate for the next fix of genre-derived revenue. There was Saw IV, Hostel 2, and The Hills Have Eyes 2, each of which either killed off, or should've killed off, their respective series.

George Romero followed up 2005's Land of the Dead with Diary of the Dead, a fresh, cinema verite approach to his zombie series which unfortunately came off poorly thanks to being released in the wake of [REC] and, to a lesser extent, Cloverfield. Although this blogger enjoyed the film, most felt it to be the nadir of Romero's revered zombie cycle to date. As far as zombie sequels go, 28 Weeks Later was received a bit better, with some (including yours truly) finding it to be superior to Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. Once again, it seemed that Uncle George had been beaten at his own game--a game which, in 2007, also gave us such less-than-memorable fare as Resident Evil: Extinction and Flight of the Living Dead.

An erratic year of highs and lows, and perhaps a bit of a comedown from the heady days of the mid-2000s, 2007 was still a very good year to be a horror fan, with lots of quirky, soon-to-be cult classics emerging as well, such as the vagina dentata chestnut Teeth, the Australian giant crocodile picture Rogue, and the cheesy send-up Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer. One could certainly never say that there wasn't a little bit of something for everyone, and all in all, I'd have to say that The Vault of Horror picked a pretty cool time to be born!

Also in 2007:

• Dead Silence
• The Deaths of Ian Stone
• I Know Who Killed Me
• Mother of Tears
• Primeval
• The Signal
• Vacancy

Part 1: 2000
Part 2: 2001
Part 3: 2002
Part 4: 2003
Part 5: 2004
Part 6: 2005
Part 7: 2006

Eden Lake: Blood, Depravity and a Competent Female Protagonist

By Paige MacGregor

What could possibly go wrong when Stephen Taylor takes his girlfriend Jenny for a romantic weekend camping trip to Eden Lake, a picturesque getaway of his childhood slated to become an expensive housing development? When the couple runs afoul of a group of delinquent teenagers and their vicious rottweiler Bonnie, the weekend getaway turns into a nightmare replete with blood, barbed wire and lots and lots of running.

Eden Lake is a 2008 British horror film that depicts the sadistic harassment endured by Stephen (Michael Fassbender) and Jenny (Kelly Reilly) at the hands of a gang of loud, vulgar teenagers. The harassment escalates until the teens leave for the night. Unfortunately, the end of the day does not mean the end of Jenny and Stephen’s suffering at the hands of the local teens—in fact, it is quite the opposite. The next day the couple’s troubles only increase, as the teenagers’ attacks escalate, becoming more and more violent and life-threatening.

Written by first-time director James Watkins (My Little Eye, Gone), Eden Lake is not a simple horror movie. As with many horror films, the gender relations depicted in Eden Lake are extremely interesting, ranging from a traditionally submissive teenage girl named Paige (played by Finn Atkins) who is loyal to the sociopathic ringleader of her group of “friends”, to the female horror victim Jenny, a debatable “final girl”, as the last woman left alive in a horror movie is often called.

Jenny is an interesting character. While she displays many of the infuriating characteristics of the stereotypical female horror movie victim, I would argue that she embodies a more competent version of this character type than traditionally present in the genre. (Whether that is necessitated by the fact that she is the only female protagonist is a debate for another time.)

We can look at both recent and classic examples of the female horror victim to explore this argument. Take Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode character in the original Halloween: although she displays traditional female victim characteristics like poor decision making, she also manages to evade Michael Myers and survive to the end of the film. Laurie Strode is a competent female horror victim--one who, despite her shortcomings, manages to stay alive to the end of the movie.

Although Jenny may not display the same degree of competency that Laurie does, she does have the wherewithal to evade the delinquent teenagers that are harassing her and her boyfriend, Steve, longer than Steve himself does. Audience members will find themselves rooting for her survival as the film goes on, despite her apparent inability to run through the woods without falling or puncturing one of her feet on a railroad spike. But what would a good horror movie be without some gratuitous violence that works to prevent the main victims from surviving their respective plights?

Eden Lake is not only memorable for its interesting characters, but also for the degree of (realistic) violence, and the apathy toward human life displayed by the teenagers depicted in the film. There are two scenes from this film that will forever be emblazoned in my mind because of how disturbing they were to me when I first watched the film. The first is when the teens of Eden Lake use Michael Fassbender’s character, Stephen, as an initiation tool, requiring each member of the group to stab or otherwise harm him while he is tied to a post with barbed wire. The most squeamish of the teenagers—and probably the youngest member of the group—is reluctant to participate, but under threat of death he sticks a box cutter into Stephen’s mouth and scrambles it about a bit before removing it. The scene is so expertly constructed that it manages to deeply disturb viewers without explicit use of blood or gore. I still shiver when I picture it in my mind.

Alternatively, it is the blood and gore of the second Eden Lake scene permanently imprinted upon my brain that makes it so memorable. I’m the type of viewer who “covers” her eyes in a horror movie when I expect a particularly gory scene, but I managed to avoid that habit when watching Eden Lake, perhaps out of disbelief at what I was seeing on the screen. After Jenny rescues Stephen and finds a relatively safe place to hide, she attempts to treat her boyfriend’s wounds in an effort to keep him from losing too much blood and passing out. The first glimpse of Stephen’s worst injury, a stab to the side of his lower abdomen, reveals clumps of black blood oozing out from a large perforation in the skin. Stephen insists on seeing the damage, despite Jenny’s protests, and when he realizes that he’s bleeding black blood, he comes to grips with the fact that he is probably dying. That image of Stephen’s bleeding, oozing wound is burned in my mind in part because of how realistic it looks, and in part because the wound is so much more severe than audiences might expect after watching Stephen's torture at the hands of the teens.

Overall, I highly recommend Eden Lake, especially to British horror film buffs. The relatively small cast delivers excellent performances, particularly the younger actors, and the film is anything but boring. The production value and special effects of Eden Lake are exquisite, rendering the violence and depravity depicted on the screen that much more effective.

VAULT VLOG: How I Spent Cinco de Mayo

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The Deadly Dolls House of Horror Nonsense

TRAILER TRASH: Jean Rollin Edition!

Lesbian Vampire Killers: More Than Just a Great Title

[Editor's Note: I'd like to welcome The Vault of Horror's newest contributor, Paige MacGregor of Fandomania, who joins us for the first time with a review of that recent UK horror comedy with the hard-to-miss name...]

In true buddy movie fashion, Lesbian Vampire Killers follows a pair of friends as they set out on an adventure into the wilds of the British countryside. After Jimmy’s “serial dumper” girlfriend Judy breaks up with him for the seventh time, Jimmy’s best mate Fletch—recently canned from his job as a clown—convinces Jimmy to go on holiday with him in order to forget about Judy (Lucy Gaskell).

Given their limited resources, Fletch and Jimmy set out on a hiking trip, leaving their destination to chance, and wind up in the small village of Cragwich. When the townspeople send Fletch and Jimmy to a nearby cottage, where they’ve already sent four gorgeous female university students also visiting the village, the two think they’re in for the time of their lives. Unfortunately, their weekend of debauchery is over almost as soon as it begins when the girls--Lotte (MyAnna Buring), Anke (Louise Dylan), Heidi (Tiffany Mulheron), and Trudi (Ashley Mulheron)--start mysteriously disappearing.

Lesbian Vampire Killers follows the traditional horror-comedy formula of movies like Shaun of the Dead, using exaggeration, comedic timing and over-the-top effects to poke fun at the stereotypes used in the horror genre. The film’s premise is a purposely ridiculous one, based on the idea that a powerful lesbian vampire queen named Carmilla (Silvia Colloca) cursed the village of Cragwich hundreds of years earlier, causing each of the girls in the town to turn into a lesbian vampire on her eighteenth birthday.

As is often the case in film, there is only one individual capable of killing the vampire queen once and for all—the last male descendant of the knight who initially killed Carmilla all those years ago—and it is that same individual whose blood can resurrect the vampire queen, making her more powerful than ever before. As those viewers familiar with this formula can imagine, it just so happens that one of our male protagonists is that particular individual, and it just so happens that he ended up in the village of Cragwich.

Each of the characters featured in the film represent an exaggeration of a traditional stereotype, from the exceptionally slutty stoner chick Trudi, to the overzealous village Vicar (Paul McGann) and his daughter, the soon-to-be-eighteen country beauty Rebecca (Emer Kenny). The way that Lesbian Vampire Killers’ plot hinges on these exaggerated character types, and on coincidence, does not take away from the film (as it might in a more serious genre,) but rather adds to its comedic nature.

As previously mentioned, Lesbian Vampire Killers functions very similarly to movies like Shaun of the Dead, but the combination of the dialogue provided by the film’s writers, Stewart Williams and Paul Hupfield, and the antics and repartee of actors Mathew Horne (Jimmy) and James Corden (Fletch) actually elevate Lesbian Vampire Killers beyond Shaun of the Dead and similar films, in my opinion. There are far more laugh-out-loud moments in Lesbian Vampire Killers than in any of the other British horror-comedies I’ve seen, making Lesbian Vampire Killers a must-watch for fans of the genre.

VAULTCAST: Conversations in the Dark... w/The Divemistress

Delve down into horror's murky underwater depths with me this week, as I'm joined by the Divemistress, of the blog Zombots! and The Avod podcast. DM is probably the best horror blogging oceanographer around, and she's also Canadian--which is why we've devoted the Vaultcast this week to talking about Canuck horror.

Listen in as we discuss the inevitable greatness of Cronenberg and try to figure out why Fido never gets the attention Shaun of the Dead does--plus, get a handy crash course in Canadian economic history! You may even hear about some horror movies you love that you never even knew were Canadian. And best of all, we get through an entire half hour without once saying "The Great White North", so give us some credit for that.

As always, check it out on the embedded player below, the actual Vaultcast page, or download it right here!

Conversations in the Dark: The Divemistress

The Vaultcast!

* * * * * * * * * *
On the Manic Monday front, for those still curious about the movie, I encourage you to check yesterday's post and take note of the first letter of each paragraph ;-) My apologies to the clever readers who felt compelled to let the world know they had figured it out. Sorry about deleting or ignoring your comments--nothing gets past you folks, that's for sure! But I had to commit myself fully to the effort. Kayfabe! (It's a wrestling thing, Google it.)

TRAILER TRASH: Paul Naschy Edition!

Retro Review: Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)

This here is the kind of a movie that is going to help determine if you are a tried-and-true kaiju fanatic, or just someone who enjoyed watching a couple of Godzilla movies on syndicated TV when you were a kid. Simply put, Frankenstein Conquers the World is not for everyone. But if you love this sort of thing--Japanese giant monster movies--then it's a veritable treasure trove of rubber-suited goodness.

Who knew the mythos created by Mary Shelley and reinterpreted by Universal would come so far, and be taken to such a nearly unrecognizable point? Toho co-opts the classic Euro-American pop culture figure with an enthusiasm that's just tough to knock. Sure, they seem to have no grasp of what the source material is really all about--but it just seems mean to trash a movie in which the Frankenstein monster grows to gigantic size and fights a classic Japanese kaiju. This is the kind of a movie where you know what you're getting into. Either it's exactly what you're looking for, or it's nothing you'd ever go near. And you can count me firmly amongst the former.

The story begins in Germany at the end of World War II. Nazis raid what appears to be Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory (in 1945? and was it in Germany to begin with??) and seize the heart of the monster--which is inexplicably the only part left of him. The scene in which they steal the heart is quite bizarre, as it is done completely in mime, almost as if the screenwriters couldn't be bothered to write German dialogue. It's weird and goofy, and pretty much sets the tone for the entire flick.

The Gerries hand the heart over to their allies in Japan, just as everything is going to hell in Europe. It's interesting, by the way, to notice how in Takeshi Kimura's script, the Japanese distance themselves from their former wartime buddies--they seem to regard the Nazis as pathetic and desperate losers that they can't wait to see crash and burn.

Anyway, just as scientists in Hiroshima are studying the heart in order to breed a race of super soldiers (what else?), the city is hit by the big one. Well, there goes that experiment. Ah...but you forget, this is a Japanese monster movie, which means that the Frankenstein heart, irradiated from the atom bomb, mutates into a sort of bizarro clone of the original creature.

Fast forward 15 years later, and the young monster is discovered by yet more scientists--who, it's interesting to note, insist on pointing out that the creature is Caucasian, when actor Koji Furuhata clearly is not. And thanks to the dose of radiation, he's growing way beyond the bounds of his platform shoe-wearing predecessor In fact, he grows big enough to be able to take on the mighty Baragon, who for no reason at all shows up out of nowhere to wreak some havoc. Frankenstein (as he's referred to throughout the movie) escapes the lab, and fights Baragon, followed by....a giant octopus! Why? Not a clue. But I loved every minute of it.

The 1960s is often looked at as a golden age by fans of this sort of stuff, and Frankenstein Conquers the World (which he doesn't even come close to doing, by the way), is an excellent example of how much fun these movies were. Ishiro Honda, the director of the original Gojira, takes the reigns, accompanied by his ace special effects man Eiji Tsuburaya, and musical composer Akira Ifikube. Together, this trio delivers a balls-to-the-wall mega kaiju extravaganza which will either have you jumping up and down on your couch with glee, or scratching your head quizzically for 90 minutes. This movie will definitely determine what kind of genre fan you are!

The effects in Toho films take a lot of flak, and much of it is deserved, but a lot of it is also ignorant. Yes, the effects suffered a decline in the 1970s, but during the mid-'60s they were pretty slick for the time. Here in America, the completely different, stop-motion approach of the Ray Harryhausen school may have tended to bias some fans (the constant maligning in the pages of Famous Monsters of Filmland didn't help, either), but there's definitely something to be said for Tsuburaya's work in this film, and others like it. There's some very cool composite work to be found, for example.

Yes, the whole thing builds to what amounts to a guy with fake teeth, a flattop wig and a furry loincloth wrestling with another guy in a rubber lizard suit, but hey, what were you expecting, Wuthering Heights?

Ifikube contributes some of his best film music, and that's saying a lot. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the score helps save the movie in parts, adding much-needed atmosphere at times. Actually, since with Frankenstein in the title, one would think this movie was vaguely connected to horror, it should be pointed out that Ifikube's music really helps to convey a sense of dread and mystery in places. I was surprised to find that there are several moments in the film, mostly involving the monster, that are actually pretty creepy.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the one and only Nick Adams, the poor man's James Dean, in the role of American doctor James Bowen. This was Adams' first kaiji film, followed soon after by Godzilla vs. Monster Zero. Unfortunately, unlike that film, the version of Frankenstein Conquers the World currently on DVD is subtitled rather than dubbed, which means you don't get to hear Adams own voice speaking English in that woefully out-of-place Bowery boys accent.

The beautiful Kumi Mizuno appears as Bowen's love interest, Sueko. She and Adams would be reunited immediately after for Monster Zero, and in fact Mizuno even appeared in the last (to date) G-flick, Godzilla: Final Wars. Adams' partner, Dr. Kawaji, is played by Toho favorite Tadao Takashima, who had already appeared in King Kong vs. Godzilla and Atragon, and would later turn up in Son of Godzilla.

All in all, Frankenstein Conquers the World delivers on everything one would expect from a movie called Frankenstein Conquers the World. It's boatloads of fun, and just plain cool to see a classic Western monster interpreted in such a foreign milieu. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but for lovers of Japanese giant monster fare and general Cold War-era cheese, it's a relative rarity that yields some wonderful, oddball things.

VAULT VLOG: B-Sol & Zombelina Take on Hammer's Night Creatures!

Yet another video review featuring my progeny and me. This time out, it's Zombelina of Book-Town joining me once again. Our first time out, we talked about Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, and this time it's another Hammer Films gem, Night Creatures (1962)...

VAULTCAST: Conversations in the Dark... w/Mike Snoonian

Tonight I bring you the second installment of Conversations in the Dark--this time featuring Mr. Mike Snoonian of All Things Horror. The topic of conversation is foreign horror in the decade just concluded. So listen in as two 30-something dudes chat on a Friday night about the French obsession with gore, the twisted genius of Guillermo del Toro, Japanese panty dispensers, and much, much more.

Check out the embedded player below, head to the Vaultcast page, or download directly!

Hump-Day Harangue: Cannibal Holocaust--What's the Big Deal?

Going along with the Cannibal Holocaust theme today, I bring you a special guest HDH from Vault contributor Marilyn Merlot, who was less than impressed with the notorious film, and clearly has a much stronger constitution than poor little me (except when it comes to turtles)...

So, after so much hype surrounding this movie, and so many people asking me if I’d ever seen it, I really felt like Cannibal Holocaust must be the movie to see. I was also hoping it was going to leave a lasting impression on me. I guess in some ways it did, because I still can't get over what a letdown it was!

The movie is concerned with a documentary team of three young men and a young woman. They are heading for the South American jungle to search for real cannibals. But did anybody else feel this movie was more about torturing and killing animals than humans? Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. Granted, don’t get me wrong, this movie did have its graphic, violent rape and torture scenes (though not nearly enough).

I felt like for the most part these people were running around lost in the rain forest and killing animals. Maybe this is why I was let down. When you have the word CANNIBAL in the title, I’m thinking the movie is going to have more to do with violence against humans than animals. Also--and this has happened to me before--I think I may have watched it way past its prime. Maybe it would have had more of an effect on me if I had watched it when it was first released in the U.S. in 1985, when I was only 10 years old.

Anyway, to end my little rant, for those of you who may have not seen it yet, I will leave you with the one thing that really got to me. I’m all for something gruesome and a little gory, but Holy Ninja Turtle, that scene with the giant river tortoise can almost make anyone vomit. So please watch with caution, and with a bucket or toilet nearby...

Fermat's Room: Math Just Isn't Scary

Once, on a third grade math test, I was asked to find the difference between 9 and 6. My response, instead of 3, was to say that the number 9 has a circle on top with a line below it, while the six has the circle on the bottom with the line above. This should help illustrate my level of competency at math throughout my school years.

Knowing this, one would think I'd be downright terrified by Fermat's Room, the Spanish suspense thriller from directors Luis Piedrahita and Rodrigo Sopena (what is it with these Spaniards and their co-directing?). After all, terror was exactly what mathematics inspired in me throughout most of my education, and Fermat's Room is all about mathematics.

Yet, while it is a reasonably effective thriller, in the end it left me flat. Perhaps this is due to my own bias against the field of mathematics, but I simply had a hard time engaging with the film, and much of the heavy import of the goings-on was lost on me, due to the fact that when I hear the name Euclid, I'm more likely to think of an avenue in New York City than of Greek geometry.

Fermat's Room tells the story of a group of gifted mathematicians who are all invited by a mysterious stranger to take part in a private think tank, in which they will be asked to solve a series of mind-bending mathematical problems and riddles--a challenge to their intellects that they can't pass up. Once there, however, they discover that not all is as it seems, since the room they wind up trapped inside is actually a huge hydraulic press, and they must solve the problems as quickly as possible to avoid being squashed into cranberry sauce.

A clever little premise, sort of like Hitchcock meets Saw. And in the beginning, it is quite fascinating. The characters, each with a code name taken from a famous mathematician, are all very strong: Pascal (Santi Millan), the no-nonsense pragmatist; Oliva (Elena Ballesteros), the beautiful mathematrix; Galois (Alejo Sauras), the conceited wunderkind; and Hilbert (Lluis Homar), the prim and proper elder mathematician. Homar in particular shines in his role, and the character interactions highlight the film.

However, as the plot twists unfold, the film paradoxically begins to lose steam. Personally, it was hard for me to invest myself emotionally in the situation, revolving as it did around the lofty importance of byzantine, high-level mathematics. Call it my anti-math bias, but I was unable to identify with the characters' passion for arcane and trivial (to me) mathematical enigmas. Yes, I feel ignorant saying this, and yes, some of the solutions to the problems presented were fascinating, but ultimately I found the whole affair somewhat silly.

And then there's the final plot twist and resolution, which is more than a bit of a letdown after the decent amount of tension built over the course of the picture. I won't spoil anything, and I definitely didn't see it coming. But the big twist was sabotaged for me, again, by its being tied to a seemingly ridiculous dispute amongst mathematicians (kind of reminds me of those medieval theologians who would debate how many angels could dance on the head of a pin).

The final resolution is equally disappointing, and worst of all, sadly mundane. It's definitely one of those, "Oh, that can't be it..." moments.

In closing, there is some solid acting here, impressive characterizations and a decent script. Nevertheless the suspense is ultimately deflated by a rather weak central premise. It's definitely worth a look, and if you're more of a math geek than I am, you may actually find the whole thing far more captivating than I did. If so, let me know!

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And while I have you here, please be so kind as to pay a visit to Cinema Geek, a movie blog run by fellow LoTT-D member and Classic-Horror.com impresario Nate Yapp. I've just kicked off a special quasi-weekly series I'm doing over there for Nate entitled "52 Perfect Movies", and I just got started with Charlie Chaplin's City Lights...

Edward Woodward 1930-2009

The great English star of stage and screen, Edward Albert Arthur Woodward OBE, passed on this morning at the age of 79. For many, he might have been known as the star of The Equalizer, a late 1980s private detective TV series (on which my great uncle appeared a bunch of times as an extra). But to horror fans, and fans of genre cinema in general, he will always be known as the self-righteous Scottish policeman Sgt. Howie, star of the ultimate cult classic, The Wicker Man.

Aside from the 1973 masterpiece, Woodward did little else in the genre--a minor 1970 flick called Incense of the Damned, with Peter Cushing and Patrick Macnee, being a rare exception. Yet, for most us, his iconic performance in The Wicker Man is more than enough to cement him amongst the immortals of horror film history. Clicking on the picture below will take you to video of the infamous closing scene of the film--one of the most harrowing and truly horrifying endings to a fright flick you will ever see. Alongside Christopher Lee, Woodward gave one of the finest lead performances in a horror movie, ever. Let's remember him today.

Retro Review: The House by the Cemetery

"Anne? Mommy says you're not dead... Is that true?"

Let me make this perfectly clear. I LOVE Lucio Fulci. Not everyone does. This is an argument that can never be won one way or another. Some love him, some hate him. Over the years, he's become one of my all-time favorite horror directors. It's been said that his films resemble nothing so much as "fever dreams" or nightmares, and I find this to be very true. Especially in a film like this, which may very well be my favorite of his.

Only Zombi 2 equals The House by the Cemetery among Fulci's body of work, in my opinion, and it is my personal favorite amongst his revered "Lovecraftian" trilogy. It may be because it's the most conventional, linear and plot-oriented of the three, I don't know. I just get a major kick out of seeing Fulci take on the tried-and-true haunted house subgenre, and adding his gore-soaked fingerprint to it. As I've written before, this is his take-off on The Shining.

First off, the thing that grabs me is what may be the finest of all the scores for Fulci's films, and that's saying quite a bit. This one comes not from Fabio Frizzi, Fulci's usual collaborator, but rather Walter Rizzati.

The lovely Catriona MacColl returns yet again in this final installment of the trilogy, playing Lucy Boyle, wife of Dr. Norman Boyle, and mother of young Bob (odd name for a little boy, no?) Just as in the other two films (City of the Living Dead and The Beyond), MacColl is something of an anchor for the film, with her excellent performance conveying so much of the horror.

And what a monster we have in Dr. Freudstein (great name!!), the bizarre, ghoulish undead denizen of the Boyle's creepy-as-hell basement. A deranged scientist who has somehow managed to prolong his life indefinitely by consuming the blood of the living, he is a truly dread-inspiring creation. We experience all the terror and slowly building panic of the Boyle family, and little Bob in particular, as we learn the truth of what evil resides in this new home they are trying to settle into.

Despite this being supposedly the most linear of the trilogy, it certainly has its fair share of surreal Fulci-ness. There's the prolonged scene in the kitchen with the vampire bat. The freaky housekeeper mopping up blood, and not even being questioned by her employer as to how the blood got there. And that ending, which makes about as much sense as any of the other endings to Fulci's films. But I think what most people misunderstand about Fulci is that these are not signs of poor filmmaking--rather, this was Fulci's exact intention, to throw you off your guard and create this not-quite-right version of reality.

As with any Fulci flick, the gore is here on full display. Few brought the grue like Senior Fulci, and this movie is no exception: necks spouting blood, maggot-filled wounds, throats ripped out, and the usual eye trauma is all here for you weirdos to enjoy. And for some reason, I care more about the victims this time around than in most of Fulci's other movies, which makes it all the more difficult to sit through.

I'm always a sucker for a horror flick that puts children in peril--this will always elicit a visceral terror response from me. And in this respect, The House by the Cemetery pushes all the right buttons. Although reviled by some Fulci fans, little Giovanni Frezza in the role of Bob is the perfect cherubic target for the demonic horrors of Freudstein, and he does well portraying a child for whom the irrational fears of nearly every child are actually real.

I will say this with regards to Bob, and this goes for the entire movie--at least the American print. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there is no American version in Italian with English subtitles, which would've been my preference. And so, the only version I've seen is the one dubbed in English. More specifically, dubbed very badly into English. So bad, that it does occasionally take something away from the film, particularly in the case of the grown woman they chose to record Frezza's lines. I really wish this wasn't the way I experienced the film, but even through the bad dubbing, the movie's excellence shines through. I urge you to be patient with this one major flaw.

One of the most underrated of the films of Lucio Fulci, The House by the Cemetery is well worth discovering for any fan of haunted house films, gore flicks, or Italian horror.

* Thanks once again to the lovely Marilyn Merlot for this week's Retro Review suggestion!