Review: Project Wolf Hunting

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2023
Images from the Internet

Project Wolf Hunting (aka Neugdaesanyang; 늑대사냥)
Directed by Hongsun King
The Contents On (TCO); Cheum Films; Contents G; Finecut International; Well Go USA Entertainment; Hi-YAH!
122 minutes, 2022
https://wellgousa.com/films/project-wolf-hunting 
#ProjectWolfHunting @WellGoUSA

I am no expert on Asian horror cinema, even though I enjoy it, but it seems since Train to Busan (2016), Korean cinema has taken blood, gore, and violence up a notch. It is nearly as though they are in competition with Japan and Hong Kong to be the hardest edge. Well, this film definitely has that in mind.

A cargo freighter has been reassigned to ship a large number of extremely violent criminals (serial killers, gangsters, murderers, necrophiliacs, and the like) that have tried to flee justice and extradite them from the Philippines (where this was filmed) back to Korea for sentencing.

Right from the beginning, before the credits, this starts with a bang and a leg up on the body count pedestal, setting up the premise of why the boat is in play. The convicts of both sexes are easily identifiable by sight, but forgive me if I get a name or two incorrect listing them.

This crosses many genre boundary lines, which is impressive, from crime drama, escaped prisoners (c’mon, that is a given), body horror, creature feature, and mutilation. But more on this later.

The lead criminal is the multi-tattooed sociopathic serial killer, Park Jong Du (Seo In-Guk, who really seems to be relishing the role). He is part of a gang that has also infiltrated the ship to steal a whole bunch of moolah from the cargo hold. Also captive is Do Il (Dong-Yoon Jang), a laid-back martial arts expert. Meanwhile, deep in the bowels of the ship, a doctor is brought along to deliver a serum to what looks like a rotting and maggoty cadaver, but you know there will be another layer to that. He is accompanied by a very nasty nurse, personality wise, who has no idea of his actions.

Once the prisoners escape their bonds, the bloodshed is practically enough to keep the boat afloat on its own; yeah, I know it is a ship, but “boat afloat” sounds better, doncha think? My question is though, if the convicts escape, where will they take the ship? They certainly cannot go to either Korea or the Philippines, and I cannot imagine China or Japan taking them. Maybe they all can get to Carnage City coz they are heading to a bloodbath.

Besides, how many will survive once Alpha (Gwi-hwa Choi), the revived Frankenstein’s monster-ish (green skin and all) super strong creature gets loose? The body count is literally in the multiple of dozens by various gory means.

Most of the actors, from what I understand, are major players in Korea, and it shows in the performances in this film. Sure, there is a bunch of yelling, as in just about every Asian film ever made, but there is also subtly, such as with the policewoman, Jung So-Min (cute Lee Da Yeon).

Part of what makes this film so powerful is that, even though some plot lines are predictable, at the same time most of it – especially during the explosive middle and third act – certainly caught me by surprise a number of times, both in story plot, and who lives and who dies. There are a multitude of influences here, such as the isolation with a killer monster as in Alien (1979), the uprising of convicts such as No Escape (1994), and the genetically enhanced human through science of Seobok: Project Clone (2021; also from South Korea).

The SFX, both practical and digital, is nothing short of stunning, with more blood than, say, the lawnmower scene of Dead Alive/Braindead (1992). That is saying a lot. According to IMDB (see the link below), more than 1.5 tons of “blood” was used. Now, to be truthful, it looked a bit watery, but shit, it is beautiful and plentiful. The photography is also quite exquisite, in wide screen, as well as the editing. On occasion it is a bit hard to see all the action due to the narrow spaces in which the film was shot, but it may still take your breath away.

Either this was filmed on an actual ship, or the set designer deserves an Oscar. Much like the corridor scene of Oldboy (let us get real, the original 2003 version), the spaces tend to be tight with pipes all around; it could only be more squished if it were a submarine. They make the use of the space they have and use it to its ultimate purpose.

Literally, from the beginning to the end, there is barely a wasted moment, even at the full two hours running length. Great storytelling, amazing bloodletting, spot on acting, and a wonderous mix of genres. The director, Hongsun King, who also wrote the screenplay, does a masterful job.

Available on Blu-ray and DVD, Project Wolf Hunting features an all-new English dub (I saw the Korean language version with subtitles), along with bonus content including “Behind the Scenes” and “Making the Alpha” featurettes.

IMDB listing HERE

Review: Bridge of the Doomed

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2022
Images from the Internet

Bridge of the Doomed
Directed by Michael Su
Mahal Empire; FilmCore; Spicy Ramen Productions; Blaen-Y-Maes Bootleg Films; Wicked Monkey Pictures; Gravitas Ventures
82 minutes, 2022
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100046239651325

With four films out this year, director Michael Su is proving to be quite prolific. And the level of carnage he displayed in his recent Death Count  (2022) shows that he is not afraid to step up to the blood and gore. So. it makes sense that he would jump on the popularity of the zombie genre, especially after Army of the Dead (2021), and put his toe in the evisceration.

A group of soldiers are given orders to hold a bridge (A Bridge Too Close?) to make sure no one or any thing crosses it, especially since they are trying to curtail the zombie apocalypse. The film does not waste any time giving us what we are waiting for, full on splatter. There is a lovely mix of practical SFX and digital (including the erasure of star Robert LaSardo’s infamous neck tattoos).

Kate Watson

Most the soldier at the bridge range from a couple of interesting characters to some expendables. The lead in the film is one of them, Sgt. Hernandez (Kate Watson). Su likes to pick strong women characters and he does well here with Hernandez’s tough as nails yet likeable sergeant.

The zombies are not slow nor fast: they stumble along, but they are quick at the grab, and consistently overwhelm their prey with numbers as they seem to always travel in groups. This middle tone of fast vs. slow is a nice touch and gives the chance to be viewer-friendly to both sides of the debate.

The film is essentially broken into two parts which are intermingled. First, there is the HQ, which is run by General Vazquez (LaSardo), with some cameo work by Michael Paré as Colonel Charon (great choice of name: Charon was the ferryman of mythology who brought your soul across the River Styx). Nice to see Paré work, as always, even in cameo form, though there was a time he walked Streets of Fire. Just because it is the headquarters, however, does not mean it is immune from the occasional zombie horde attack.

Robert LaSardo

The second is at the titular bridge, which looks like at one time it was a railroad crossing. Either way, it is over a very treacherous and fierce river, but not as much as the munchers on the other side. Also on the wrong side of the river are a bunch of survivalists living in a commune without much brains among them. Political commentary about the right wing? Among this group is Susan (Sarah French; she was the lead in Dead Count,). A third of the way in, I am going to assume that at some point, the two groups of antagonists (soldiers and survivors), will work together.

And as if a multitude of teethers were not bad enough, there is some kind of growling troll under the very bridge that the army is to defend. Just keeps getting better when it strikes. The SFX good nice and gooey, and as I said earlier, there is a lot of it.

There is no reason given that I could tell (or missed) about why the zombie romp started, but honestly, does it really matter? Radioactive satellites from space? Chemicals? We pick up the story well into the effects, and that is what matters.

There is a very slight overtone of religiosity here, as talk among the survivors discuss the “End of Times” and “judgment.” However, it is not preachy or annoying, even for this atheist. It is more questioning what is going on in a wider scheme, than pointing a finger.

Michael Paré

The main cast handles the roles extremely well, and some of the tertiary ones not so much, but they are the equivalent of “Star Trek’s” “red shirts” and are really only there to, in the words of the original Willard (1971), “tear ‘em apart!”

One of the aspects I like about director Su is that he does not follow the formula of Act 1 to introduce the characters, Act 2 to present the situation, and Act 3 to contain the main brunt of the violence. No, he picks it up right from the beginning and keeps it cropping up throughout the film, actually making it more suspenseful than less because it could come at any time. There is a bit of exposition here and there, but it certainly does not get in the way of the “yum-yum-eat-‘em-ups.” Filmed in Nevada with a nicely diverse cast. I am quickly becoming a Su fan.

IMDB listing HERE  

Horror Shorts Reviews: May 2022

Horror Shorts Reviews for May 2022

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2022
Images from the Internet

Filmmakers, please note: usually, I do not review films (unless requested) that appear on sites like Alter and Screamfest, because they have a known platform, which is great, while I would rather focus on films with no sponsored online affiliations. These films are not in ranked order, but rather alphabetically listed by first letter.

 

Don’t Hide
Directed by Dillon Vibbart
Ninja Brothers
12:30 minutes, 2022
www.dillonvibbart.com
There is a lot to recommend about this short, even with its overt Christian overtones. Chloe (Ashton Solecki) is in the middle of a crisis of unknown origin, but enough to have a trio helping her with an intervention (Caitlin Duffy, Omar Cook, Matt Kohler). Their purpose is to keep a demon (Terrence Wentz) at bay, and to give Chloe the possible skills to face it. The demon looks particularly cool in a The Evil Dead (1981) way, and what it represents is pretty obvious from the beginning, yet this is very watchable. Despite the drawbacks (religious overtones and easy to guess where it is going), I just sighed at them and it still kept my attention until the very end. It is smartly written generally, and looks well put together. Definitely a watcher.
Full film HERE 

 

Found Footage Dracula
Directed by Hunter Farris
Bueller Studios
25:24 minutes, 2022
It’s an interesting thought. The director has stated that the original novel was a collection of letters, newspaper articles, etc., and therefore was a presentation of evidence, or a 19th Century found footage novel. So why not update the story and make it a modern found footage (FF) tale? To give you an example, rather than Jonathan Harker (Mitch Tyler) employing a horse and carriage to Castle Dracula, instead he takes an Uber. This is threadbare to the original novel, of course, considering the length and budget, but we have the main characters, including Lucy Westenra (Brookelin Backus), Mina Murray (Yvonne Bass), Doctor John Seward (director Farris) who runs the asylum, and Renfield (RJ Hall) as his chief patient. Of course, the Count himself is never seen because he casts no reflection and cannot be filmed. There is a lot of yelling in fear here, and I found it quite amusing (though not funny, I am glad to say). This is as indie as one can get, with a bunch of friends getting together and doing it on TikTok. I’m quite proud of the troupe, actually: they took a premise, executed it, and did a relatively decent job of it. The short is available in a computer-able version and one that can be watched on the phone. I am hoping that this leads to a full length attempt next. Or perhaps, an adaptation of another classic, like maybe Found Footage Frankenstein.
Full film HERE 

 

Host
Directed by Pat Baker
Postmortem Films; HarLau Productions
24:13 minutes, 2022
A young, yet struggling couple take some time off to a vacation house that’s more of a mansion (the Stoneleigh Estate in Martinsville, VA), with little around them. Annie (Josie Juliette Wert) is lonely and wants some attention from Jeff (JD Starnes), a workaholic, who has trouble leaving his job behind even with a sex scene (a longer short gives more time for stuff like that). Meanwhile, she is seeing visions from the past of previous residents from the 19th Century of an angry and brutal man, Jacob (Zach Ball) and his abused wife, Sara (Bethany Paulsen). Sort of like the television show “Ghosts,” but not a comedy; she can see them, though, but they don’t acknowledge her. Of course, Jeff doubts what Annie sees in demeaning ways. He may not be as physically brutal as Jacob, but he is verbally unsupportive and condescending. She is trying, and he is, too, but at, like, 50 percent. There is a mix of surprises and expectations in this lush tale, beautifully directed and shot. It’s long enough to give some form of exposition of the two main characters’ personalities, and yet short enough not to drag the story along. For a third short film by the director and producer of seven, it is a solid piece of work.
Full film HERE 

 

The Room Upstairs
Directed by Jacob Arbittier
Burnt Mill Road
4:27 minutes, 2020
Extremely prolific of late, this is one of Arbittier’s earlier films, and it is simple and to the point. A mother and daughter are trapped in a house with… well, the poster says it. It’s a bit of a nail biter, though it does not go into detail about how their sitch came about. The music is really creepy and effective at helping build the tension, and the ending is actually a surprise. Simple, short and to the point, and excellent.
Full film HERE 

 

Run
Directed by Alex Magaña
ACMofficial
3:18 minutes, 2022?
http://bit.ly/ACMofficial_Horror_Shorts
As Marshall McLuhan once said (among others), first you use technology, and then technology uses you (e.g., cell phones). For this film, it is FitnessTracker, the fictional equivalent of a Fitbit, that helps organize an exercise plan. However, thanks to a bug, it causes the uses to exercise to death. That is the problem facing the main character (Michael Glauser), as the device on his wrist takes control. And because of his relationship with his girlfriend (Esther Lane Montes), being that he’s the toxic masculinity type, this makes this a really sharp comedy that deals with both the human and tech. Wonder if this device is made by Skynet? Oh, and check out one of the director’s earlier films, which is one of my favorites, “Smiling Woman.”
Full film HERE 

 

Whitetail
Directed by Josh Minyard
Sunhouse Entertainment
15:51 minutes, 2020
www.facebook.com/whitetailshort/?modal=admin_todo_tour
This short is multi-award winning, and it is easy to see why. Beautiful cinematography, well-paced, and well-packed with tension. The very end is a bit obvious, but works incredibly. A young couple on the verge of engagement, Robbie (Derek Evans) and Alex (Tara Parker) are on a hunting trip. It’s not clear if this is for food, or pleasure (personally, I have no problem with the former, uncomfortable with the latter). He goes off to a hunter’s blind in the woods, and she to the spare and isolated cabin. But in a Most Dangerous Game, things do not exactly go as planned. My question is the motive for the action, which is: is it a comment on the first or the second reason for hunting? It probably doesn’t matter, because it is the sheer tension of the actions that occur in the story that make this watchable. One could call the ending ironic.
Full film HERE 

Review: The Mark of the Bell Witch

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet

 

The Mark of the Bell Witch
Directed by Seth Breedlove
Small Town Monsters
85 minutes, 2020
www.smalltownmonsterss.com

Seth Breedlove has become a cinematic cryptid monster maven over the years, directing a number of documentaries about mysterious creatures that may or may not exist, such as Bigfoot, the Mothman and the Missouri Monster (aka Momo). A few of his releases have been reviewed on this blog; if you search for his name, you will find them.

For his latest, Breedlove dissects the Bell Witch haunting in the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee, arguably one of the more infamous and deadly hauntings in American history. I remember learning about it as a youth from a Ripley’s Believe It or Not comic book, and it has been adapted into movies, books, and other comics over the years.

As with most adaptations, these other sources tended to be glorified versions to enhance the “scare” factor, which led to parts of the story being left out due to time. Breedlove aims to be more comprehensive. He not only has interviews with residents of the area of Adams, Tennessee (population 600), but also has the events play out with actors in black and white “flashbacks.”

Of course, there are no first-hand witnesses interviewed because, well, the events depicted are from nearly 200 years ago, in 1817 to 1821, on a farm run by John Bell, Sr. and his family. This is, however, due to its urban legend status, one of the more documented “hauntings” in American history, especially in that neck of the woods, yawl. It was first written about in M.V. Ingram’s book regarding the Bell Witch from 1894, An Authenticated History of the Famous Bell Witch.

The manifestation started slowly with knocks and raps on the walls and doors, then with strange animals like a mysterious hare (not a common rodent in that environment; as King Arthur might say, “Jesus Christ, that rabbit is dynamite!”) or a trash-talking Cerberus-type pooch with two heads (and this is way before Triumph, the insult dog).

If you are into this kind of thing, you probably know that poltergeists are attracted to young people, especially women, and this fits here as one of the victims of malevolence (hair pulling, welts, etc.) was Betsy (played by Sue Matzke), the youngest of the Bell children who was in her late pre-teens, just the right age for the spooky pokings. Perhaps it was a possession of poor Betsy? Tyler Estep, a pastor who in interviewed, says the area was ripe with Protestant revivalism at the time, which may have led to “spiritual warfare.” As a skeptic, I’m – err – skeptical.

As the power of the Witch (apparently named Kate) grew and developed a literal voice, preachers were called left and right to try and figure out what was going on, supposedly talking to the spirit. I like how Breedlove gives multiple explanations of possibilities, whether it was the curse of a neighbor on the clan, or the spirit of a disturbed Native American’s resting place, or perhaps a demon, leaving it open rather than positing an answer that would be a guess at best.

Although no mention of their works are listed, there are multiple interviews with authors, such as Timothy Henson (also the historian for Adams), John Baker Jr., and Pat Fitzhugh (The Bell Witch: The Full Account, 2000; I looked this up myself), so the connection to the legend is unclear. There are also folklorists and historians like Brandon Barker and Beau Adams, a Classics professor named Heather Moser, and the host of “Astonishing Legends,” Forrest Burgess. Again, in many cases, the link to the story is not transparent, which is arguably the weakest point of the documentary, even if their stories are interesting and occasionally far-fetched (especially the Christian and “spirituality” end of it).

The thing about any media dealing with a Cryptid topic is one can say anything, since there is little real info. Was Bigfoot circumcised? Does Mothman dislike light? Sure, why not; try proving it’s either true or not. But on the flip side of that coin, that’s also part of the appeal: it’s the mystery of the whole thing. That’s why I find it so fascinating and enjoy Breedlove’s work, including this one.

Having the story play out in black and white scenarios really boosts the tale, keeping it from getting too bogged down in talking heads by just relating the events. Smart move. Either way, John Bell Sr., died of poisoning, supposedly given to him by the Witch. Of course, I have my own thoughts, such as their slaves concocting a way to get rid of a bad master, or possibly Betsy was abused by her dear old dad and her welts  were by him – even if she was somewhat in denial – with her getting him outta da way.

That does not, however, fit with other parts of the legend, such as the apparition appearing to neighbors in their own abodes, or that one entity would migrate into multiple ones (perhaps a family), so who knows. The point is, the facts were written down by one of the Bell’s sons to start, which we hear parts through the narration of actor Lauren Ashley Carter (star of the 2013 cult classic Jug Face) and then the just grew exponentially after that, much of it written years if not decades after the “fact.” A majority of what was published was when pulp fiction was becoming popular, with the likes of the Western Tall Tales (Davy Crockett’s feats, Paul Bunyan, and Mickey Finn, to name a few) and legends of crime like Billy the Kid being fed to an audience fascinated by a new medium.

Again, it all comes down to what is real and what is not, and with cases like this, there is the speculation of the gray areas in between with possibilities and tales to be told around a campfire. Breedlove does well to collect this information, present it in an easy and palpable form, and lets the audience speculate on what might have been a rare supernatural murder.

 

Review: Lifeform

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020

Images from the Internet

Lifeform

Directed by Max Dementor (aka Brian Schiavo)

Strangewerks Films / Wild Eye Releasing / MVD Entertainment

105 minutes, 2019

www.facebook.com/Lifeform-The-Horror-Movie/

www.wildeyereleasing.com

www.mvdb2b.com

People being inadvertently changed into monsters through nature or science is hardly new. It isn’t difficult to go even further back than, say, The Hideous Sun Demon (1958) to find this subgenre. A big difference, though, is that in earlier versions, it was usually men that were transformed, but as time passed on, it focused more on women, usually the sexier the better. The obvious notation that will be associated with this release is the Species franchise (beginning in 1995) or its lesser cousin Splice (2009), but it has continued, even as recently as Bite (2015).

As for trying to bring back the dead through science hoping with a result of normalcy has also been present for years; again, the obvious touchstone is the Re-Animator films (starting in 1985). These sub-genres tend to be films I enjoy, so when I saw the trailer for Lifeform, I definitely was hoping to get the chance to see it… And, Ta da!

Social worker Sam(antha) (Virginia Logan) is married to stem cell research scientist Hadrian (Peter Alexandrou). Hadrian and his assistant, Chloe (Kate Britton) are working on a project to help heal by replacing cells. They also have the working-close-together-for-a-long-time hots for each other, and Hadrian (man, that’s a clumsy name; perhaps it is to explain indirectly the actor’s accent) is torn between his love for his wife and his attraction for his assistant. While I don’t respect that as I’ve happily been loyal for over a quarter of a century, this really is quite the fetching cast. But I digress…

When Sam catches the two scientists neckin’, she runs out into the New York City street where she promptly has a brain embolism and collapses on the sidewalk (this is all in the trailer, by-the-by). Natch, Hadrian is in remorse, but is still working with Chloe, and they inject her with some test fluids taken from a jellyfish, of all things. Of course, this leads to transformations, brain eating, and lots of tentacles, but more on that later.

 As time passes, Sam mutates more, sexual tensions rise all the way around, and people drop like flies (yes, there is a decent body count).

The film is beautifully shot in widescreen, and while many of the images are dimly lit, it looks really good; many apply a Sergio Leoni-level close-up so at least parts of the face or forehead are out of camera range. Again, good looking cast, so it’s not a problem, other than on occasion (but not often) it’s a bit hard to define exactly what is going on.

As for the logistics, this is a decent story with some interesting subplots regarding the scientist’s boss and family, even with some holes here and there, but the dialogue is bland and could use some punching up. The same can be said for the fetching participants’ not so fetching wooden acting.

The effects run from looking decent (appliances) to pretty cheesy (digital). One of the creatures even looks like pre-Ray Harryhausen stop motion. Actually, considering the obvious budget constraints this film must have been under, this is some decent work (remember how near the end of the first Evil Dead how fake the clay body looked as things goo’d out of it?). And for those who are into this sort of thing, there is a lot of female nudity, especially from the navel and up. Again, not complaining!

Speaking of the carnal phases of it, there are a lot of subtle fetishes thrown in here along with the bare skin. For example, even though the original cells were from a jellyfish, there is a lot of inspiration from tentacle hentai, and also some B&D thrown in, with various women tied to chairs or chained up. Now one of the reasons for the various monstrous varieties that appear is that the creature (Sam) is a shapeshifter (says the publicity), and as an example, one of the more interesting ones is a cross between a preying mantis and scorpion (and a nod to 1956’s The She Creature).

I do have a few quite silly questions here and there that took me out of the story. For example, there is a monster running loose killing people in Park Slope, Brooklyn; have you even been to Park Slope? Even in the middle of the night, it’s a pretty hopping place, even by the warehouses between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. Also, some shots were obviously filmed on a main Avenue, but it’s like they all appear to be from the same block, if one goes by the scaffolding that seems to nearly always be there. What’s up with that, asks this Brooklyn born and bred boy?

For me, the biggest fault is its length, as it could have easily been edited down to under 90 minutes. But this is only the director’s second feature, and he’s got some learning to do. His first full lengther from 2010, The Shriven, also has similar themes, such as a murderous shapeshifting woman and tentacles (I have only seen the trailer), I say give him a chance. With its flaws, this was still a fun flick.

Review: The Puppet Monster Massacre

Text © Richard Gary / FFanzeen, 2011
Images from the Internet



The Puppet Monster Massacre
Written, puppeteerd, edited, executive produced, and directed by Dustin Mills
MVD Visual, 2010/2011
70 minutes, USD $14.95
MVDvisual.com

There is a sub-sub-genre of puppet-charactered horror and exploitation films that goes back a few years. Some titles include Mad Monster Party (okay, that one was rated G), Peter Jackson’s early Meet the Feebles, parts of Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated (reviewed in an earlier blog), the all-out hardcore Let My Puppets Come, and now this new splatterfest. These are hardly Puppetoons you would show along with Frosty the Snowman to the kiddies.

With tongue in cheek (and hand in felt) writ large, Dustin Mills does an homage to the early plethora of cheesy video-era horror flicks; this one takes place in 1985. Some of the puppets, which look similar in style to the Henson variety, were created by Dustin’s mother, with varied and imaginative looks. It’s not just the gore (of which there is plenty, some of it CGI splatter), the nudity or the sex, it’s the writing that that truly makes this something worth seeking out...other than the novelty of an all puppet exploitation film, of course.

The central theme is that the evil scientist Dr. Wolfgang Wagner (voiced by Steve Rimpieri) and his sidekick penguin, Mr. Squiggums (aka, the comic relief), has built himself a monster parasite that he plans to feed through inviting some town teens to come stay at his house under the premise that if they spend the night, they get… one million dollars.

The first teen (and main character) is Charlie (Ethan Holey), who is afraid of his own shadow, especially compared to his apparently loony World War II hero grandpa (supposedly, grandpa kicked Adolph in his Hitlers…actually – and I doubt this would make Final Jeopardy – the German leader actually only had one testicle, FYI); shame Grandpa (Bart Flynn) couldn’t have been in the movie more as he is so much fun (the crusty and vulgar old man film stereotype that Alan Arkin has embodied so well), though he is actually in the film just the right amount for the story. However, Charlie wants to restore the family honor by reopening the family dollar store (what, you’re looking for sense in a horror puppet movie? What is wrong with you?).

Also invited is Gwen (Jessica Daniels), the hoodie-wearing girl Charlie has been in love with since kindergarten and is now his best/only friend, but is afraid to ask out. We all know where that relationship is heading (some cliché’s remain true), if you’ve ever seen any of a thousand Sixteen Candles kinds of flicks. She comes across smarter, braver and more logical than him, but remains unassuming.

Third is Raimi (an obvious tribute, voiced by Mills), an Elmo-colored film geek/freak who talks in quotes and references. He is buck-toothed, has what I’m assuming are pimples (though they could be blotches; they move from one side of his face to another in different scenes), and has a Wolowitz kind of relationship with his mother (also unseen here). Actually, his oversexed, under-experienced annoying nature is also similar to the Big Bang Theory character, but is hardly a rip-off.

The fourth invitee is a bald tough guy named Iggy (of course) with a too-thick Cockney accent and lots of piercings, who is obviously monster fodder (ah, but will he have a comeuppance? Or is that a comeupuppetance?). Iggy (also Bart Flynn) brings his uninvited gothic, mohawked girlfriend, Mona (portrayed by Mills’ real-life girlfriend, Erica Kisseberth; also the voice of Raimi’s mom), who supplies the “nudity” in a couple of occasions. She is tough as nails and has more than a larcenous streak to her.

The five show up at the Rocky Horror-inspired house, turrets and all, of course on a rainy Friday night. Plot-wise, what happens from then is highly clichéd, but there are moments of lunacy equivalent to the Bugs Bunny cartoon where a horse is walking in the middle of the air who states, as Bugs flies by in Superman style, “A rabbit? Up here?” There are bunny farts (actually there are a lot of farts from numerous characters) and, well, isn’t bunny farts enough? But there is more.

It’s all very amusing, and I can understand why this won the 2011 Motor City Nightmares Film Festival’s Best Animal Film award. In the end credits, Mills lists some who inspired him to make films, such as Guilliamo Del Toro (imagination), Kevin Smith (zippy dialog and lower-level humor situations; even in Smith’s best film, Dogma, there’s a shit demon, or “poopy-boy,” as Muse/Selma Hyack calls it), Robert Rodriguez (action pacing and editing; his Planet Terror is a joy to watch for that), the aforementioned Peter Jackson (certainly not for his Lord of the Rings work, but rather his also excellent early films), and Jim Henson (well, that’s kinda obvious, doncha think?). Bugs Bunny (hey, bunnies run through the film, so why not this review?) and/or Scooby Doo can be added in such scenes as when Raimi and the monster duck around each other in varied directions.

There are two commentaries, one by Mills alone, and one by him and assistant director Brandon Salkil. While Mills mentions that he feels the one both of them is better, in actuality, they are both excellent. In either/or, he details how the film cost $3500 (for copyrights, camera, computer, software, felt), and goes on to explain that “An average day of filming was two Jackasses [Mills and Salkil] in my living room with a green screen and bunch of puppets.” Two of the characters are portrayed by professional (i.e., as Mills explains, they’ve done it for money before) voice actors: Rimperi and Flynn; they emailed in their readings, and Mills has never actually met them at the time of the commentary).

Mills goes on to explain why he made the film, his plans for the future, scene by scene his finest and least favorite (a certain CGI shot) moments, and the experience as a whole. He does a better job than most in keeping in the moment on both tracks, which is appreciative as so many other commentaries are wastes of time (including by one of his inspirations, Kevin Smith). There are also two short examples of monster styles that were not used, the second not too bad.

You really have to be of a certain type to like this kind of film, and I’m fortunate that I am, because I had a lot of fun watching the whole she-bang, and listening to all of the two commentaries. Whether there is a sequel or not (there is a typical ‘80s-style hint of it at the end), I hope these guys keep going. Texas Puppet Massacre? Last Puppet on the Left? Night of the Puppet Dead? Puppetzilla (Mills mentions that he has a thing for giant monster films)? It! Puppet From Beyond Space? The Puppet of Gore? Incredibly Strange Puppets Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Marionettes? Okay, I’ll stop now while you order this film…

This review was originally published HERE

Review: Abominable (Special Edition)

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2018

Images from the Internet

Abominable (Special Edition)

Directed by Ryan Schifrin

Red Circle Productions / MVD Rewind Collection

94 minutes, 2006 / 2018

www.abominablethemovie.com

www.mvdvisual.com

Some form of the Sasquatch, or big foot, has been the subject of horror films for so many films over a span of decades that it could easily be classified as a sub-genre on its own; for example, there is another film called Abominable due out in 2019, which features an animated and kid-friendly Yeti. Personally, I feel the reason for the proliferation of this monster is a move that mixes the mystery of the dark and dangerous woods and a bit of the werewolf motif, i.e., a creature that is not normalized in culture (such as a lion, or wolf), but still human-line and… possible. Director Schifrin also points out during the commentary that  the Bigfoot is one of the few well known monsters that is not under copyright. More times than not – okay, nearly always – the beastie is a guy in suit (including here), which is okay with me because it depends on how it looks and how it’s used that matters.

This re-release version of the 2006 film is a two-disc combination of Blu-ray and DVD, both discs identical with one exception which I’ll get to in the next paragraph. For point-of-reference, I only put in the Blu-ray disc.

Right off, there is an option for an 8:35 minute contemporary introduction by the director, Ryan Shifrin, who discusses how the film was taken from its original format and made into 2K HD from the original camera negative, with some extra production values (e.g., redoing the CGI glowing eyes). For this reason, there is both the original and HD version available on the Blu-ray disc only, hence the two-disc difference.

Matt McCoy

Starting the film, there is a prologue about some scared farmers, namely Dee Wallace Stone, who I think of more in The Howling than the overrated ET, and veteran character actor whom you’d recognize in a sec, Rex Linn (that’s just the start of the many cameos, but I’ll get to that later, too). After, we are introduced to the protagonist, Preston, played by Matt McCoy who most people probably remember from many television appearances, but to me he’ll always be Lloyd Braun (“Seinfeld”). After an mountain climbing accident that cost him his wife and the use of his legs, he has now returned to a cabin he owns in a wooded area, doing the Jimmy Stewart / Rear Window thing, seeing all through a window with binoculars. He’s caught on that there is something literally afoot out there in the dark.

The others in the locale are Preston’s nurse and caretaker, the obnoxious and creepy Otis (Christien Tinsley, who also did the effects and make-up for this release, is a master make-up artist on the likes of “American Horror Story,” “Westworld,” and he won an award for Gibson’s The Passion of Christ), and a group of five young women partying in the cabin next door, which is apparently the only two in the vicinity. Soon, one of the women becomes missing, and only Preston has an idea of what’s going on.

As for Biggie, we see him in bits and pieces, such as his glowing eyes, and the inside of his mouth, but we do get the classic monster-in-woods-POV-shots with starburst flare around it, as he watches his potential prey. A group of attractive and nubile women in peril; isn’t that special. Dare I say shower scene? Well, it is way back in the good-old-days of 2006. Make Horror Movies Great Again?

Haley Joel

Okay, okay, I know I’m kinda mocking this as a throwback to the ‘80s, and yeah, in some ways it is, but don’t get me wrong: considering some of the hokey bits, such as the way the creature looks when we finally get to see it in full, it’s still a very effective film and honestly, quite enjoyable.

I read a review recently about the horror genre in general (sorry, but I can’t remember the source…if you know it, tell me and I’ll add it in), and it posited that jump scares are overused and they customarily have sudden loud sounds and spiked, dissonant shrieks in music to enhance the effect. Well, this film definitely relies on that formula, but they manage to use it quite effectively. Also, what Hitchcock liked to do is leave some cinema “space” on one side so you expect the jump to come from there, and then come from the other side. This is another tool that this film uses effectively because it doesn’t overdo it, unlike Carpenter did in the original Halloween, which kinda ruined the fear in the film for me.

A large cast means a numerous kill count, and this one goes hog wild. Not only are there the people in the two houses as potential fodder for the freak, but there is also a string of very impressive cameos (see, told ya I’d get to it) that show up throughout, such as those I mentioned before, Lance Hendricksen, Jeffrey Combs (the Re-Animator, himself!), Paul Gleason (the principal in The Breakfast Club and a high level police officer in Die Hard; he passed away the same year this was originally released), Phil Morris (who was the Martian Manhunter on “Smallville,” and best known as lawyer Jackie Chiles on “Seinfeld”), the underrated and yet arguably the one with the longest film credit list Tiffany Shepis as one of the members of the inevitable slumber party Bigfoot massacre. The entire cast does incredibly well for the budget we’re talking about at the time, considering it was shot on film stock. And may I say, Haley Joel’s sustained lip gloss in both volume and longevity considering the activity is impressive.

Dee Wallace Stone and Rex Linn

Speaking of body counts, the deaths are nice and gruesome with some fine effects. The gore looks great and there’s lots of it, building up to near the end. Despite the addition of some CGI in post-production, most of the SFX by Tinsley are practical and look great.

As with most Blu-rays, as I’ve said numerous times, there is a teeming of extras, so let’s get to the ones I haven’t mentioned yet. Because they had all the original negatives, they were able to put together some nice raw footage for the “Deleted and Extended Scenes” (6:13). Everything that was excised feels right, especially the last one as it gives out too much infomraiton; it’s left in much more subtly, which works better. Then there’s the “Outtakes and Bloopers” (4:09), which is time-coded footage with errors. Some of it is quite amusing and during one scene filmed over and over due to laughing, I kept thinking, “This is film stock and I bet the director is pissed.”

Some of the minor extras are different sound choices, two trailers for this film (and a few for other MVD Rewind releases), a “Poster and Still Gallery” and “Storyboard Gallery.” On a larger scale, there is the original cut of the film, which I saw parts of and there is a definite difference is some aspects and the way scenes are present, but I just skipped and jumped.

Jeffrey Combs

It starts to get more serious with “Back to Genre: Making Abominable” featurette, a 37:15 documentary of the making of the film from story to distribution, broken up into chapters filled with interviews with most of the cast. Now, long making-of documentaries tend of be tedious, but this really was interesting all the way through. It kept a nice pace and also avoided the fluff. Nice!

There are two short films included by the director, one of them being the 8:07 student film, “Shadows.” Shot in black-and-white, which follows a paranoid, wealthy artist who is afraid to leave his house hearing about local murders on the radio (the only voice you hear throughout). He is not nice guy to others, but is that his fear or sense of privilege? The other one is “Basil & Mobius: No Rest for the Wicked” (16:16), which follows two British scallywags as they try to steal some secret plans from a mob boss who runs a gambling house in Jolly Olde (played by Malcolm McDowell). There is gunplay, martial arts, quick repartee dialogue, and even a couple of zombies (one is Kane Hodder). These films are touched with some humor, and quite excellent fun.

Last up is the full length commentary, which I found very impressive. Just so you know, I usually write the main part of the review before watching the extras, so it was nice to hear some confirmation on some of my comments (e.g., the Rear Window connection and the lip gloss). Recorded in June 2006, it features Schifrin, McCoy, Combs and the film's editor Chris Conlee. Now, what I thought was remarkable was that while McCoy was there for most of it, Combs and Conlee’s comments are edited in (sans McCoy) for just the scenes with Combs’ Clerk character. This cut down on the over-talking and made everything clear. What’s more, the content of the conversation was kept to the film, so while there is some humor, it’s pretty straight forward and hardly any filler. A great commentary from beginning to end, and I don’t say that very often.

There is a folded, printed poster that also comes with the Special Edition, which is neat. The only thing missing, that I could think of, was captioning, but I’m not holding that against anyone.

I have to say, for a throwback via homage of some of the great horror films of the 1970s-1990s (though Rear Window was 1954), this is an effective thriller, and a fun time all around on so many different level.