Splatter

"Splatter" (2009, Joe Dante, Roger Corman, Netflix) is a short web series from the earlier days of the concept of TV streaming.

Johnny Splatter (Corey Feldman) was a troubled rock star who filmed himself graphically committing suicide. A small group of family, friends and colleagues are invited to his home for a will reading. Each, suspecting that they're about to be handed a massive payout, turn up, despite revealing that they didn't exactly like Johnny much.

Suddenly, the TV springs to life, revealing that Splatter filmed his will prior to his untimely demise... Or, is he back to take vengeance on his unappreciative acquaintances? As the episodes progressed, viewers were asked to vote for who would meet their death next.

The series suffers from its overtly corny style that comes across as a little too sincere, but overall I found the layout, practical effects and over the top characters to be tongue-in-cheek and a bit of fun.  There were, apparently, more episodes but only the initial run of three are available to view easily on Netflix. It is undeniably a disappointing effort from Dante and Corman, but this is likely down to the confines of the schedule and the gimmick.

Horror films have a great and long history of using gimmicks, and this early example of a Netflix original is no different. Feldman's vengeful zombie delivers a demanding "Who's next?" at the end of every episode and, at the time, the audience were given the chance to vote. It's cheesy, but that's what I was there for. I've also just always liked Corey Feldman.

We have the usual tropes and a small cast of characters including the ever awesome Tony Todd bringing us the only seemingly sane character in the bunch. While the short series is hammy and manages not to be particularly innovative, despite its natty gimmick, it delivers its resolution quickly and was certainly part of Netflix's foray into changing viewer's habits and a step towards the innovation and horror series being created today.

[Image: Netflix]

Hani 

Masque of the Red Death

"Masque of the Red Death" (1964, Roger Corman, Alta Vista Productions) is the film version of Edgar Allan Poe's story of the same name.

Prince Prospero (Vincent Price) terrorises a plague-ridden, medieval Italian village whilst holding lavish parties in his castle home with the local, desperate but disillusioned gentry and a young, red-headed village maiden named Francesca (Jane Asher) whom he is holding captive.

The film boasts a macabre, spiteful and gleefully malicious prince in the form of Vincent Price, but we are also treated to a devious, dwarf court entertainer named Hop-Toad (Skip Martin) who likes his revenge served searing hot, a surprisingly strong female lead and two heroes, Francesca's lover, Gino (David Weston), and her father, Ludovico (Nigel Green). Ever present also, is The Red Death (John Westbrook), for you see death comes in all colours!

The Masque was to be one of Corman's most faithful Poe adaptations, and gladly so as the story is so outlandish and fun that there was little need to change it. The sets, costumes and colours are fabulous and lavish; well suited to the tale.

The gothic surroundings, debauched party atmosphere and the final lesson: that death does not discriminate, come together as a fun and characteristically cheesy horror tale.

[Image: Alta Vista Productions]

Hani

Body Bags

"Body Bags" (1993, John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, 187 Corp., Showtime Networks) is a made for TV horror anthology set in a morgue. The film was initially meant to become a weekly show similar to "Tales from the Crypt" but was axed, and so the completed pieces were pieced together into an anthology.

A creepy coroner (John Carpenter) sets us up for each segment, inspired by the bodies he uncovers from the bags. There are three tales all-in:

The Gas Station
Anne (Alex Datcher) is a student starting her new part time job as the overnight petrol station attendant. As if that job is not just creepy enough, she has to deal with knowing that a dangerous lunatic has escaped the asylum (she was kindly warned by her new colleague, Bill (Robert Carradine)). Soon all of her customers appear to be a little strange and Anne is frantic, not knowing who could be the killer! Horror hero cameos include Wes Craven, Sam Raimi, David Naughton, George Buck Flower and Molly Cheek).

The short is a bit of a lark with so many horror favourites gracing the screen with their nutty characters and a fair bit of bludgeoning. While it's your typical 'lone woman being stalked by a serial killer' plot, it's fun in its familiarity and really kicks off the film.

Hair
Richard (Stacy Keach) is hitting middle age. His girlfriend, Megan (Sheena Easton), is getting exasperated by Richard's obsession with his looks and his quickly thinning locks. In his desperation, Richard signs up for a hair transplant operation which appears successful. Maybe a little too successful...

A bit of a laugh with some effects that aged a little, but add to the charm of the film. I thought I knew where this one was going but after a point it changes tack slightly which pleased me. Yes, it's hardly 'scary' but I don't watch old anthologies for scare factor, they're purely for comedy. Cameos include Debbie Harry and David Warner as the mad doctor and his nurse.

Eye
Brent Matthews (Mark Hamill) is a baseball player. He is involved in a car accident where his eye is gouged out. Brent opts for some experimental surgery that is not considered so sci-fi these days, and receives an eye transplant in the hopes that he can return to his beloved game. But, similarly to the later 2002 and 2008 Singaporean and American blockbusters both called "The Eye", he begins to see things that are not there through the new eye: horrible things. Brent becomes suspicious that his new eye belonged to a killer and goes back to the doctor to investigate. Brent realises that there is only one way to end this problem... Cameos include Twiggy and Roger Corman.

A few gruesome bits make this one entertaining but it was admittedly my least favourite short of the three. In retrospect this one seems very tropey, but it's not its fault; it came first afterall!

We end back in the morgue where our creepy coroner reveals he is more than at first appears.

The film comes off as surprisingly low budget, but this may just be a sign of ageing SFX. While it's nothing new in terms of plot or set up, it's a playful horror anthology and is funny, self aware and even a little gruesome at times. Team this one with Creepshow 1 and you're onto a bloody good night in!

[Image: 187 Corp.]

Hani

The Raven

"The Raven" (1963, Roger Corman, AIP) is a somewhat comic adaptation of Poe's famous poem of the same name and should also not be confused with another Karloff film from 1935 of the same name which also starred Bela Lugosi.

In this film a sorcerer named Dr. Erasmus Craven (Vincent Price) is going about his wizardly business and mourning the death of his wife Lenore (Hazel Court), when he is interrupted by a rather blustery talking raven. Using a potion that the raven instructs him on how to make, Erasmus returns the raven to its true form, that of Dr. Bedlo (Peter Lorre), a fellow sorcerer.

Bedlo reveals that he was transformed during a duel with the evil wizard, Dr. Scarabus (Boris Karloff) and also happens to mention seeing Craven's wife's ghost wandering Scarabus' castle. Both wizards set out together, along with Erasmus' beautiful daughter, Estelle (Olive Sturgess), and Bedlo's son, Rexford (a very young Jack Nicholson), to deal with this Scarabus once and for all.

Of course, this advance results in a rather funny and tongue-in-cheek wizard duel between Price and Karloff with a lot of entertaining 60s special effects.

The wardrobe of the cast is also quite amusing: the wizard hats especially!

Whilst it's not really a horror movie, I like this film for several reasons:

• It stars some of my favourite horror icons
• It has a sense of humour
• It's set in a big creepy castle
• It involves B-movie special effects

Essentially, this is a light hearted romp starring some extremely wonderful people, and Vincent Price reading the poem really gives me the chills! (although it's notable that aside from that and the fact that there is a raven present for some scenes, this film has practically nothing to do with the actual poem).

[Image: AIP]

Hani

The Pit and The Pendulum

"The Pit and The Pendulum" (1961, Roger Corman, American International Pictures) is one of my favourite Vincent Price films and is based on the short story by Edgar Allen Poe.

It's 16th century Spain and a young man, Francis Barnard (John Kerr), has travelled from England to the castle where his recently deceased sister, Elizabeth (Barbara Steele), lived with her nobleman husband, Nicholas Medina (Vincent Price). He is greeted with suspicion by the butler and urged to leave, but upon meeting Nicholas' sister Catherine (Luana Anders) he is permitted entrance to the castle.

He is at first told that Elizabeth died of an unexplained heart complication, however, as the story progresses more details of Elizabeth's sticky end are revealed. It is upon the discovery of Nicholas' father's torture chamber that the final ghastly details are slipped and we begin to find that Nicholas is becoming severely unhinged with guilt and fear. Under the guidance of his physician, Dr. Leon (Antony Carbone), Nicholas exhumes the body of Elizabeth to find that his worst fear is apparently true; she was buried alive!

Believing that he is being haunted by the vengeful spirit of Elizabeth, Nicholas slips into insanity,  rampaging terribly and using his father's torturous devices. However, all may not be as it seems...

A riveting tale and one of my favourite performances from Price as the tortured but twisted Medina. An atmosphere from the sparse, classic surroundings really lends itself to the film and the haunting ending really works.

 

 

[Image: American International Pictures]

Hani

Humanoids from the Deep

"Humanoids from the Deep" aka "Monster" (1980, Barbara Peeters, New World Pictures, Roger Corman) is a slice of schlocky good-Mc-badness. A low budget 80s sea misadventure which is just a bit of cheesy fun!

The small seaside town of Noyo, USA is terrorised by humanoid fish creatures with a thirst for blood and a lust for human women.

Gloop, nude ladies, blatantly obvious jump scares, rubber monster suits, wooden acting, a plot so thin you can see through it & 80s clothing galore: what more can you ask?

A wannabe drive-through film that harks back to the old 1950s creature features, "Humanoids from the Deep" is a thoroughly 80s attempt. And that's what makes it so damn entertaining!

It's hardly a nail biter, and winds up being more funny than scary with its splattering blood and 'monster noises'.

Not one for the dog lovers, though, with a high canine death count. Be warned!

Things of note:

One of the tunes played by the band at the festival sounds a lot like 'head, shoulders, knees and toes'...

A guy with a ventriloquist dummy as part of his chat-up line actually almost gets laid! 

The monsters also seem to love boobs. Well, what self respecting salmon-monster doesn't?And the film's quota of naked ladies was certainly used to the full extent!

Something for when you're in a not-too-serious mood and you want to watch some slippery villains try to kill a bunch of fishermen and get as many blonde chicks naked as possible, with an ending that will make you snort cola out of your nose (or red wine in my case!).

[Image: New World Pictures]

Hani