Cannibal Apocalypse

Cannibal Apocalypse - 1980 - Italy - Cannibal/Action

Dir: Antonio Margheriti

Unlike almost every other Italian cannibal film from this era, Cannibal Apocalypse takes place in a urban city setting rather than a jungle.  The opening scenes however, take place in Vietnam. The abundance of American military stock footage used in these scenes are a clear testament to the movie's budget restraints.  Two starved American POW's are found being held captive in a deep hole in the ground, it quickly becomes apparent that these men have resorted to cannibalism.  These men eventually bring the habit home with them and somehow it spreads across the city like some sort of disease.

The responsibility of  unraveling the mystery of the spreading cannibalism fad falls upon Norman, (played by John Saxon)  the soldier who had originally found the POW's. Norman is plagued by nightmares of the war and quite possibly a bad case of PTSD, but his issues cant compare that that of the men he had rescued..

This film has no shortage of action, there are plenty of gunfights and cap bustin', showdowns with the police and fights with thugs on the street, to be honest theres more shooting than there is flesh munching.  Unfortunately, despite all the action this film still manages to drag at parts, as there are lulls of action in the film that don't manage to contribute any significant substance to the plot.  The plot itself starts to get a little strange, characters begin making decision that didn't seem very realistic, and there were a couple of holes in the story too.

Cannibal Apocalypse is overall an entertaining film, but it cant live up the the sheer brutality of other Italian Cannibal films from the era (Cannibal Ferox, Cannibal Holocaust and Jungle Holocaust, even Zombie Holocaust, which strangely enough has more cannibals than zombies in it.)  The gore is there, but there isn't a huge amount of it, and most of it doesn't look too great, which certainly hurts a movie in this type of sub-genre.

In conclusion, the flick is worth a watch if you are a fan of the genre, and I would suggest grabbing a copy of the DVD asap as it recently went out of print and I expect the price will begin to rise.

Plot - 6/10
Blood n' Guts - 6/10
Acting - 6.5/10
Action - 7.5/10
OVERALL - 6.5/10


The POW's in captivity.

A showdown in a shopping center. 

 Thugs looking for a fight.

 A rather lackluster attempt at eye gouge FX.

Burned alive in a sewer.

Buio Omega: Beyond The Darkness

Buio Omega: Beyond The Darkness - 1979 - Italy - Horror/Exploitation

Buio Omega: Beyond The Darkness is a video nasty made by one of the Italian horror heavyweights of the 70's and 80's; Joe D'amato.  D'amato has made around 200 films over the years, from sleazy softcore porn to hardcore exploitation and gore, he's done it all.

Buio Omega's plot revolves around a sick, twisted man who cannot deal with the recent loss of his lover and goes to extreme measures with his equally deranged accomplice Iris to preserve her corpse and to keep his macabre secret under wraps!

Like many Italian horror/exploitation  flicks of this time period, Buio Omega sports copious amount of gore and lengthy drawn out kill scenes, including a cringeworthy autopsy/pseudo mummification and some gruesome deaths including finger nail removal and decapitation via butcher axe.   This flick has its share of effective gross out scenes and demented sexual perversion as well, however a good deal of this malevolence is committed in front of a gorgeous rural Italian landscape. Despite this Buio Omega is certainly not a movie for the faint of heart, and is a video nasty in every sense of the word.

This flick has the nostalgic bad dubbing Italian films of this era are normally accompanied with.  It also has a synthesizer score by the one of the most highly regarded composers of the genre; Goblin.  The score is certainly fun, but unfortunately its nothing compared to the Goblin masterpieces on display in films like Dario Argento's Suspiria and Deep Red or the iconic score to Romero's Dawn Of The Dead.

I've always had a soft spot for Italian horror movies from this era, and Beyond The Darkness fits nicely into the category.  A worthy addition to D'amato's huge body of work and an overall entertaining film, give it a watch!

Plot - 7/10
Blood n' Guts - 7.5/10
Perversion - 7/10
Action - 6/10
Acting - 6/10
OVERALL - 7/10 

Stealthily preparing the corpse for preservation

 Yummy!

 Iris disposing of a body piece by piece

 Decomposing in a tub of acid.

 Being predatory in front of a breath taking landscape.

 Burnt alive in a furnace!

Stacy

 Stacy - 2001 - Japan - Zombie/Splatter

Stacy is a film I have been trying to get my hands on for many years,, either due to botched amazon deliveries or other issues I haven't been able to see it until now.  Stacy revolves around zombie school girls aged 15-17 known as "Stacies" who for some reason experience something called NDH "near death happiness" and turn into raving lunatic zombies.
 Stacy is silly and tongue in cheek, and like many overly gory low budget Japanese movies made as of late it feels like you are watching a live action manga.  Unfortunately when no one is getting mutilated Stacy fills time with lengthy scenes of "quirky" dialogue and situations that wind up just seeming boring. It introduces entirely too may dull and drab characters that I would much prefer to see just get chopped up than tell their life story.
The over the top blood n guts are where Stacy stands out the most.  The majority of the gore FX are delightful and the chainsaw scenes (although few and far between) don't hold back at all, they are shown in all their gory glory.
The camera work in Stacy is occasionally impressive and professional looking considering the budget, however shots are often squandered by flat lighting, a typically seen problem in B-movies.
One thing that is particularly obvious throughout is the abundance of American horror movie references and homages.  The chainsaws in the film are known as "Bruce Campbell's Right Hand 2", a blatant Evil Dead 2 reference, and the zombie killing task force was named Romero.  The makers of this film were clearly smitten with George Romero, as some scenes within the film so closely resembled scenes of Romero's Day Of The Dead that it felt more like a ripoff than a tribute. 
One thing that particularly annoyed me about Stacy was the ending, and how it went on...and on...and on.  The writer clearly didnt know how to wrap the film up and although it only has an 80 minute runtime there were about 5 times towards the last half hour of the film where it could have easily ended, but didn't.  It spent entirely too much time trying to tie in a love themed back-story to the plot, and clearly didn't know how to properly go about doing so.
In conclusion, Stacy has its moments but overall was a bit disappointing...Simply, If you are not a gorehound, chances are you will not find Stacy all that enjoyable.



Blood n' Guts - 8/10
Action - 6.5/10
Plot - 5/10
Acting - 5.5/10 
OVERALL - 6/10

A "stacy" gets liquidated by "romero"

The promotional bunnies showing off "Bruce Cambell's Right Hand 2"

 Exposed brain Stacy

A scene that greatly resembles a scene from Day Of The Dead.

Preparation for a bloody finale

Shaolin Drunkard

Shaolin Drunkard - 1983 - Hong Kong - Kung-Fu/Comedy

Shaolin Drunkard is a downright silly movie.  It feels like an Asian version the The Three Stooges doused in heavy doses of crack and LSD.  The comedic aspects of Shaolin Drunkard are most present through its slapstick style fighting and stunts, as well as its wacky actors and their facial expressions. this flick also uses a wide range of hilarious sound effects, and has monumentally bad and cheesy dubbing.

On top of being silly, this film is equally bizarre.  Shaolin Drunkard is so damn weird that I wouldn't hesitate to say that it gave me a bit of a surrealist vibe.  Many of the stunts, unique weapons and contraptions, and strange monsters are not only hilarious and bizarre but impressive and inspired.  All these great effects and stunts are complimented by vibrant and colorful set design.

I wont delve to deep into the plot, as it isn't all that interesting and often is squandered by several subplots, but I will say it revolves around an evil wizard held prisoner that escapes from the temple he is held in.  Its up to the old drunkard with obnoxiously big buck teeth and his unlikely sidekick to stop his path of destruction.

This particular Kung-Fu flick doesn't have a dull moment.  It moves at an extremely fast pace throughout. The fighting itself doesn't particularly stand out, but when the weapons and magical powers are brought into play, such as the metal rings, (wielded by the evil wizard), things get real interesting and the stunts become quite complex and fun to watch.  The director Woo-Ping Yuen has an impressive resume in stunt and action director work, including films like Drunken Master, Kill Bill Vol. II, and Kung Fu Hustle (which happens to bare a strong resemblance to this film)

Overall Shaolin Drunkard is an extremely entertaining film.  The FX are great, the laughs come often and the cheese level is high.  If you're a fan of Kung-Fu and general silliness give it a watch.

You probably wont have any luck finding the DVD, whole thing is on youtube though! Shaolin Drunkard youtube link
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Plot - 4/10
Action - 9/10
FX - 8/10
Laughs -  8/10
Blood n' Guts - 2/10
OVERALL - 8/10 



The drunkard does some silly nonsensical shit.

The evil wizard prepares his escape!

Getting slapped around by a spinning boxing glove booby trap.

Wielding the power of flame!

A scheming street merchant.

An enormous evil toad lurks behind the drunkard!

Nekromantik

Nekromantik - 1987 - Germany - Horror/Shock/Art-House

Nekromantik is an infamous German video nasty from director Jorg Buttgereit.  Out of print for many years and infinitely hard to find on DVD or VHS without dropping a small fortune, it only built intrigue for years in the minds of those like myself who haven't seen it.

Rob, a morgue attendent, lives with his girlfriend Betty.  Right off the bat it becomes apparent that this couple is a little off, and might have a few screws loose.  Rob keeps jars of preserved body parts sitting on his shelves, and Betty is first shown taking a bath filled with blood.  It isn't long before these two are overtaken by their obsessions with death and succumb to more sinister urges.

It only becomes more apparent of Robs fascination with the macabre as he performs an autopsy.  Intertwined with this scene is stock footage of a real live rabbit being killed and skinned by a farmer, an uneasy scene to sit through particularly for an animal lover like myself.

The weirdness grows exponentially after Rob steals a corpse from his workplace to bring home to show his wife.  In no time a love affair between the rotting corpse, Rob and Betty starts.  Quickly they begin engaging in taboo acts of necrophilia.  These scenes, macabre and gross as they may be, aren't portrayed so in the film, as they are accompanied with a romantic piano score and are artistically shot.

I hesitate to call Nekromantik an art house film, but that's essentially what it is.  Rather than relying on plot points to tell the story, this film jumps from scene to scene rather sporadically and uses symbolism and metaphors to convey its message.

Essentially, Nekromantik is a film about not only accepting the prospect of death, but embracing it.  Embracing it to the point where one can gain sexual arousal from it.  Nekromatik, overall, is a happy film i think.  Despite the dark subject matter and all the blood and guts thrown in, we find our lead character liberated, and finally able to feel happiness through the prospect of dying and death, shown tenfold in the beautifully absurd ending.


Plot - 8/10
Acting - 7.5/10
Blood n' Guts - 7/10
Macabre - 9/10
Action - 4/10
OVERALL - 7.5/10



Rob examines one of his specimens

Dead guy in a wheelbarrow

Getting intimate with a corpse.

Taking a literal bloodbath.

Rob in a hallucinatory state.

Major headache!