LEATHERFACE (2017)

  Just like with Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN remake the brilliant idea here is to delve into the origin story of a movie villain that doesn't need a backstory. By 2017 there had already been 4 sequels to the original film(with really only Part 2 being entertaining and Part 3 already using the title of LEATHERFACE!), a terrible remake and then a prequel to the terrible remake so I guess a prequel to the original film would be just the perfect thing to add to the confusion of this series timeline. I'm not exactly sure how you make a movie that has bloody chainsaw killings, necrophilia, a good bit of blood and gore with a group of mental patients on a kill-crazy rampage so boring but they somehow managed to do exactly that. It's probably due to the fact that I never really cared about anyone in this film or what was going to happen to them. Our main character, besides young Leatherface(who they try and fool you with who exactly he is), is so non-descript that it was hard to sympathize even when she was in peril and that's the problem with every other character too. Now I'm stuck with the knowledge that Lili Taylor is Leatherface's mum and that just don't seem right. 

THE LOSERS (1970)

 Filmed in the Philippines where life is cheap! What you get here is a great mashup of a biker flick mixed with a Vietnam action movie. Not to be confused with THE BORN LOSERS from a few years earlier this one stars William Smith as the leader of a biker group called The Devils Advocates(which was also the name of the gang in RUN, ANGEL, RUN ) who get sent on a mission into Cambodia to free a prisoner of those filthy commies there. Vic Diaz shows up, of course, since we're in the Philippines and there's lots of gun-fu and huts exploding. 

 This movie was shown playing briefly in PULP FICTION which I'm sure boosted it's popularity amongst film nerds. 

AKA NAM ANGELS:

Known in Italy as A BUNCH OF BASTARDS:

and known in France as THE DEVIL'S MACHINES:

NIGHT OF THE STRANGLER (1972)

   With a title like NIGHT OF THE STRANGLER you might think there would be some strangling going on here but you would be sadly mistaken. The closest we get is a drowning in a bathtub but besides that there are a bunch of other ways our mysterious killer offs his victims, non of which is by strangulation. To add insult to injury not much of this movie takes place at night either!

  I've seen this movie referred to as blaxploitation which is another untruth. There are a couple of black characters and racism does play a big role in the proceedings but the soundtrack is not quite funky enough to qualify as a proper 70s blaxploitation flick. Ex and future member of The Monkees, Micky Dolenz does a decent job in this non-comedic role and while the novelty of seeing him in an exploitation movie like this might make it worth a watch for some people there's not much more to recommend this one for. AKA DIRTY DAN'S WOMEN and IS THE FATHER BLACK ENOUGH? Re-released as THE ACE OF SPADES.

 Not to be confused with the Kolchak TV-movie THE NIGHT STRANGLER which does actually feature some strangling victims. 

ANGEL (1984)

  This is a sentimental favorite from back in the VHS rental days. I think the thing I like most about it is that it mixes a few different genres together slasher movie/revenge flick/teen drama and it wallows in a great 80s Los Angeles sleazy environment. In addition to this all the characters here are bonkers. Comedian Dick Shawn in drag as Angel's fairy godmother, the always wacky Susan Tyrell as his mate/insult-trading partner, Rory Calhoun as a lost-in-time cowboy and a killer(John Diehl) who is a literal egg-sucking hooker-killing nutjob. Our main character played by Donna Wilkes is supposed to be a 15-year old prostitute but clearly is not and that's probably a good thing. 

 There were 3 sequels to this. I've only see 2 of them and just found out about the 4th one where our Angel has become a blond. Sadly Wilkes never returned to the series and Angel is played by a different actress in each subsequent movie. 

SANTO VS. THE KING OF CRIME (1962)

  I generally love Santo movies and while I don't hate this early one it's probably down there around the bottom on my list of favorites. The main problem with this is the long drawn-out Jai Alai matches that serve to pad the film out. I know these movies always have long wrasslin' matches thrown in, this one has a couple of those also, but they really focus on the Jai Alai more in this entry. It's also kind of a weird origin story of Santo being a role, and a mask, that a father hands down to his son. There is a very fat criminal kingpin with a humpbacked midget helper so it's not a total loss but I think if I'm looking to re-watch a Santo flick I'll stick with his 70s monster mashes. 

               Santo using the immense power of Jai Alai!: 

THE MAJORETTES (1986)

  Directed by the guy who played the first zombie in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD(Bill Hinzman), written by the guy who co-wrote NOTLD(John Russo) and featuring appearances by those 2 guys and the guy who played Johnny in NOTLD(Russell Streiner) this is clearly a Pittsburgh production. With all that local star power it's kind of a letdown that this is not better. You get a pretty basic slasher movie about cheerleaders getting offed and some religious overtones thrown in for motivation. Has a decent amount of blood, nudity and even a couple of explosions when it turns into an action movie for a bit. Might keep you entertained if you've seen all the big slasher flicks already. 

GIRL BOSS BLUES: QUEEN BEE'S COUNTERATTACK (1971)

 The first of the GIRL BOSS BLUES series despite the title sounding like it's a sequel(AKA QUEEN BEE STRIKES AGAIN). This would be followed by 6 more movies of which I think I've seen maybe half. I caught this one as part of a marathon of Japanese girl gang movies yesterday and quite a few of those also starred Reiko Ike and Miki Sugimoto. They also all had pretty similar themes of young girls getting mixed up with The Yakuza, great soundtracks and they seem to all start out as women-in-prison films before our main characters get released back into the underworld of Japanese crime. This one does stand out for one particular scene of a group of bikers incorporating fucking on motorcycles into a race. Beyond this it all does become a bit of a blur.

 

MORITURIS: LEGIONS OF THE DEAD (2011)

  One of the more nasty films I've seen in a while. The easiest way to describe this is for about an hour it's reminiscent of LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT with all the expected brutality that entails(a pair of scissors in some private parts was the part that got to me the most) before then swerving off into resembling TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD. I am generally a fan of this type of sub-genre-mixing and was surprised that anything made in 2011 was halfway decent. Check it out if you have a strong stomach. 

 This was apparently inspired by a real-life crime that occurred in Italy where a group of lunatics raped and tortured a couple of young girls, murdering one of them resulting in it being banned there. I'm assuming the 2nd half where some ancient Roman zombies show up to add to the nastiness is not based on anything real. 

ASSAULT OF THE PARTY NERDS (1989)

  In my ongoing quest to see everything that Linnea Quigley ever acted in before I die I arrived at this. A very USA UP ALL NIGHT-type of sex-comedy/boobie-movie, this one is clearly inspired by ANIMAL HOUSE which only came out a mere 11 years earlier. It involves a nerd-filled fraternity dealing with a rival group of jocks(or are they preppies? Maybe both). Linnea and Michelle Bauer both get their tits out but beyond those highlights it's the expected really stupid stuff.   

 There was a sequel 6 years after this which is most likely just as dumb. 

                                                 Glorious VHS cover!:

RUN AND KILL (1993)

   One of the rougher and better Hong Kong category III movies I've seen in a while. This one features Fatty(Kent Cheng) who gets himself mixed up with not just one but 2 mobster factions that you don't want to be involved with. You get lots of violent fighting, various murders, torture and a very notorious child death scene. For hardcore Hong Kong  fans only.

 The first time I saw this was in a little art theater near me and it was hosted by the author of a book titled THE SWEETEST TABOO which was a look at child death in films and this was the very fitting film which they chose to exemplify that. 

DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK (1973)

  While I'm a bit too young to remember when this made-for-T.V. movie originally played I do recall bits and pieces of it from one of it's many re-broadcasts over the years. It's definitely one of the highpoints of television horror and despite the absurd-looking onion-headed miniature monsters here it still manages to be a creepy classic. 

 I know there's a modern remake of this written by Guillermo Del Toro but I'm not sure I want to see a big budget version of this since the original manages to pull of the atmospheric chills with very little. 

 Uncle Charley from MY THREE SONS is the featured harbinger of doom here who is sadly ignored.

THE BLACK CAT (1989)

  Luigi Cozzi gives us his version of the 3rd movie in the SUSPIRIA trilogy way before Argento gave us the official one with MOTHER OF TEARS. While I didn't completely hate M.O.T. this one is way more enjoyable and wackier watch. We get a movie-within-a-movie which is also a sequel to SUSPIRIA, a crud-faced witch who likes to puke green slime on people, a black cat lurking about(which is really the only thing this has to do with Edgar Allen Poe), Caroline Munro being her sexy self, an outer space fetus, laser beam fights, time travel, a rocking soundtrack which includes Bang Tango and a bunch of other nonsense that makes no sense but boy do I love it! 

 Released in Italy as DEMONS 6, and it has even less to do with the DEMONS series than it does Poe!

SLAUGHTER HOTEL (1971)

               

 Although the ad up there tries to make you think this will be about serial killer Richard Speck it's really more of a standard Eurotrash giallo deal featuring Klaus Kinski as a doctor at a rehab center and a mystery slasher hacking people up. I say standard but this one does feature quite a bit of nudity and sleaze thanks to Rosalba Neri and all the other ladies in the cast. There is some mass nurse snuffing towards the end though so it's not total false-advertising. 

 The original version features explicit vaginal shots which were edited out of the U.S. release to get an R rating. AKA ASYLUM EROTICA

Original Italian title is THE BEAST KILLS IN COLD BLOOD:

This ad just steals a shot from fellow sleazy Italian classic FRANKENSTEIN 80!: