Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks (1974) / The Mad Butcher (1971) - 1983 BFV Home Video VHS

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It came from eBay! Been pining for this early Best Film & Video clamshell for quite some time!

Insidious is a sign of health in modern horror...

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That's the best way of putting this latest scare tactic from James Wan and Leigh Whannell that repudiates the "torture porn" trend they helped perpetuate with the Saw cycle in favor of PG-13 mood 'n gloom. To put the plot in a nutshell you've probably already heard, the young son of a couple who recently moved is possessed by something insidious while tripping the light fantastic on the astral plane. Now it's up to his parents to first realize the extent of trouble their comatose son is in and then find an answer to guiding him back into our dimension.

Horror fans will quickly realize the bulk of what Insidious, shot as "The Astral", offers isn't new ground. Drips and drabs of such classics like The Exorcist, Poltergeist, and The Changeling are brought into the duo's arsenal along with a sense they're not done mining the creepiness of turn-of-the-century spirits haunting the present as previously seen in their Dead Silence in 2007.

To their credit, the fine line between pandering to hollow chair jumping is straddled extremely well as a genuine build settles. It's still very much a popcorn horror flick, so much of the family drama never fully bakes, the couple's two other young kids just sorta disappear, and pains are taken with explaination, "it's not the house that's haunted" (no shit?), to the destruction of a more subtle nuance that could have seen Insidious busting through that mainstream genre ceiling into something with classic status potential. Job one is to be frightening, and this one succeeds in the short term, but it's not something like, say...David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers. Despite myself being the farthest thing from an affluent, accomplished middle-aged gynecologist with an identical twin, something very unsettling remains for quite sometime after the credits roll. Wan's film only leaves you wondering if the whole out-of-body experience deal is real or not.

The demon gunning for the boy's eternal soul suffers from overexposure. The millisecond fragments witnessed early and illustration from a medium's description are far more effective than seeing what ultimately looks like Darth Maul's shorter brother with hooves in plain view.

The other, slightly more innocuous spirits of the limbo realm dubbed "The Further" are very reminiscent of the waxy figures in Willie Malone's The House on Haunted Hill update (an aspect also picked up in J. Astro's thoughts over at Screen Grab!). Maybe I'm hard to please, but neither spooked me much afterward stumbling around downstairs in the dark. My vision of hell's forever wraith is approximated best by the art of Francis Bacon ("Figure with Meat" detail to the right). Place those visions onto film and CNN would be reporting of thirteen-year-olds having heart attacks in crowded theaters. Some lipstick wearing prick with armor rings from Hot Topic and gothic drag queens? Guys, you could have easily done better. Shit, ever see the drawings in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark?

Still, for all of Insidious's rough patches, sticking to a PG-13 and turning out so well received both critically and financially deserves praise. The flourishes and tangents indulged in the last reel feel more bold, and have a hard-to-place '80s flare, than compensation toward those bored with the bumps in the night. It's another step in showing the mainstream is willing to enjoy a better tonal balance in their date night horror diet over self-imposed limb torture or Milla J. doing gunfire-flavored backflips while killing CG-mouthed zombies...in 3D. If this trend continues, I'm unsure where the end destination is, but we're definitely getting there.

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Need some help identifying this crazy ass action figure...

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What in the hell is this bulging puss creature with a defecating, errr...face? (it's awesome, BTW)

Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988) - 1992 Midnite Movies Hawaiian(?) VHS

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The more I dig around to find details on this VHS of Fred Olen Ray's career masterstroke, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, the odder it becomes. Midnite Movies released tapes in the Netherlands that found their way throughout Europe. The Abomination was catalog #MM01 and Ozone: Attack of the Redneck Zombies was #MM02. This tape is "MM003" (extra zero?); the only problem is there's no dual Dutch/English text on the back (just English), no ratings stickers, and the tape is NTSC (or playable in North American decks).

The large clamshell coverart actually resembles the British Colourbox clamshell art, seen here at VideoCollector.uk, with many subtle differences. The back has the most interesting alterations. The box with the BBFC18 rating instead has Midnite Movies' howling wolf logo. The Colourbox square logo to that box's right is missing. The copyright information in the bottom right hand on the Midnite Movies edition corner lacks Fred Olen Ray's name after "COPYRIGHT © 1988". The Colourbox has a "PACKAGING COPYRIGHT" of 1988 while the MM states 1992.

Otherwise, the MM back is identical save for "Special Uncut Edition" in pink replacing "Colourbox Presents..." across the top edge. Also the UK VHS as well as Camp Motion Picture's 1988 US VHS begin with "Camp Motion Pictures in Association with..."  before "American-Independent Presents" on the front cover's bottom credits. As you can see, the Camp Motion mention is completely absent on this Midnite Movies front cover. Strangely enough the tape opens with their logo just like the official CMP release. I'm only saying this release is Hawaiian because it arrived from an eBay seller based in the sparsely-populated Makawao. Seems funny such a thing would be there of all places to begin with...  

So why no proper scan? The original case had some nasty dried mold which I carefully cleaned from the paper before chucking that case in the trash. The replacement case has a enforced spine making every cover removal risky, it was hard enough inserting, so I'm not going to tempt fate. I have no idea what the deal is on this one's origins, but it's a pretty badass bootleg if that's the case!          

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) - 1991 RCA/Columbia Pictures Promotional VHS

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Found this one this past weekend at a yard sale and almost didn't even pick it up since this sequel is so common. Promotional rental screeners are like the red-headed stepchildren of VHS collecting. Some ascribed rather crazy value to them, but collectors know most are usually just poor quality versions of a final product. This one's not too special and it doesn't help that Freddy's Dead is mostly awful. The last sliver of demented relish in killing from Freddy in The Dream Child totally gives way to a kid tested, mother approved cereal box version of the slasher icon. Played for laughs with the worst "cold lasagna mask" Krueger make-up of the series. The best thing about Freddy's Dead is its truly excellent trailer.

There's a rental marketing segment in front of the film running down the quotes and cast description on the back cover. A buy six, get the seventh free deal is detailed for video stores. Each copy cost a whopping $90, makes you wonder just how many rentals that would take just to break even if buying seven at nearly $550. There's also a trailer for the 1988 Pet Shop Boys musical It Couldn't Happen Here included for some reason.

The version of Freddy's Dead here is identical to the regular theatrical cut with none of the TV scenes or 3D conclusion. Unlike many screeners, the tape is in SP and New Line's "Not For Rent or Resale" screen tag only briefly appears every twenty minutes or so.

Follow-up: The Devils Japanese Bootleg and thoughts on the flick...

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Originally I was going to pop this into the comments section on the initial entry about this shady boot, but since this has garnered healthy attention, a follow-up is in order. Before anything else, thanks must go to Jack J. over at the always informative En lejemorder ser tilbage for spreading the word on his several blogs and video-related forums. Thanks again!

In short, the deception of the outer packaging carries through on the tape. Even when rewinding the VHS all the way to the leader, there is nothing but clean video black before the feature begins. No flickering, rolls, or blue screens that might indicate the starting of a recording from another source (like a DVD player). There's nothing but black, Tokuma Video's logo, Japanese title screen, and then the film starts. There's zero "digitalness" or other anomalies to indicate something is amiss throughout The Devil's ninety minutes. Just like the Japanese VHS, the film is presented in dubbed English, a murky widescreen ratio, and has Japanese subtitles in the bottom black bar with English opening credits. 

After the credits, there's two Japanese text screens and blackness until the end of the cassette. The tape is also a T-105, so there's very little left on the reel after the standard play-recorded film ends. You'd think a sloppier bootlegger might have been lazy and used a lengthier blank or a faster (and poorer) recording speed. Nope, not here, just like the real thing.

As for the Taiwanese The Devils (on-screen title: The Devil), it's in-line with early '80s Hong Kong slimers such as Centipede Horror (1984) and Calamity of Snakes (1983). Basically an excuse to gross out audiences with actors spitting up green bile and real live slithery creatures from their mouths in violent, leeringly shot death sequences. The "other" stuff comprising the ambling plot is mostly a chore, not helped by an annoying boy nicknamed "Ding-Dong" acting as comic relief, to get to the next wormy regurgitation.

A deceivingly suave con artist, dubbed in English with a British accent (?!), weds the daughter of a wealthy Inn owner in order to, well, it's obvious. After the honeymoon bliss ends; the man reveals himself to be a real asshole, steals all the assets, and provokes his wife's father into a fatal coronary amidst a heated confrontation. Now its up to the mystic auntie of the family to place a disastrous hex on the murderer, but she's first visited by the mutilated spectre of a girl that's been haunting the man...

Despite the presence of worms, snakes, and eels as the agents of internal doom, The Devil mostly reminded me of the much more recent Art of the Devil (2004). Like that Thai exercise in gore, the wafer-like exposition is bathed in a sunny, ever-idyllic representation of contemporary living. Upon night fall, things detour into a harsh contrast of grisly body melts, poisonings, and stake burnings. Then we're back to an almost IKEA catalog photo of life, even when the con man is revealed in all his filthy glory. It's not a hidden classic; however, it's an interesting early snapsnot of what scared audiences in the Far East. Gorehounds might be disappointed as the disgusting downfalls only count for four sequences out of the runtime.

I'm awaiting a reply from the U.S.-based eBay seller on the tape, but I might end up keeping it. The amount paid for the tape equals about what one would pay for a DVD-R copy anyway. And of course this is a much cooler bootleg than a simple disc and it's provided a wealth of information that'll hopefully help others as well. Although things would be MUCH different if I paid around the top end of what the real VHS usually commands...

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Necrophagia: Through Eyes of the Dead (Uncut) (1999) - 2002 Red Stream VHS

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Most horror fans are aware of death metal pioneers Necrophagia from their video "...And You Will Live In Terror" on Anchor Bay's DVD of Lucio Fulci's The Beyond. Around that time they hooked up with the fiercely independent maverick Jim Van Bebber (Deadbeat at Dawn, The Manson Family) to craft several certifiably fucked up music videos showcased on this VHS.

Even if one doesn't care for the music, fans of Van Bebber will definitely want to check this out. The clips often have that cheap suburban grit and extreme air of sunny perversion that the man who told off Synapse Films in a prison phone call effortlessly achieves every time he points a camera at something. Both this tape and the DVD from Seasons of Mist are out-of-print.

Attention Online Tape Buyers: Beware of Very Clever Japanese VHS Bootlegs...

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which is real and which fake...?

Well, this is a new one. After randomly popping in on the Horror VHS listings on eBay last week, this sought-after Tokuma Video VHS of The Devils (Xie Mo, 1981) was staring back for $20 shipped as a Buy It Now. That's chump change for this particular tape as its one of those "certain titles" that seems to be on every Japanese VHS collector's priority want list. The stateside big box from Video City Productions, titled simply "Devil", under their Chop 'Em Ups Video line-up is also extremely hard-to-find, easily more so than the Japanese cassette. Too good to be true?

Pretty damn much. It's not only a bootleg, but one hell of a bootleg. If such a copy fell into the hands of a novice, it's a good bet they'd probably not realize they've been had. I'm unsure even the seller knows for sure. The clarity and color of the properly sized and untrimmed cover sleeve is great, the tape has a full color face label, and the black plastic case matches "real" Japanese cases with a rounded spine. The black cassette even has a tan brown flap just the real deal. The color on the spine is faded, but as I've said before this issue is par the course with most Japanese ex-rentals, like postal markings on stamps.

So what gave it away? The quality of the cover's paper. Although that's not to say the paper is your average cheap copy paper. It's almost of the same standard, just a little more "waxy" looking compared to the usual flat glossy appearance of the real paper. It's difficult to see this without slipping the cover out of case and virtually impossible to tell from a picture online. Also if you really look hard, you can see some fine dotting around edges from a high DPI, but not professional, printer. Again, you literally have to place the cover within inches of your eyes to see the difference. That's the danger, many could easily be fooled if they found such quality fakes online.

At least a portion of these dubious tapes appear to be coming out of Japan, if the experience of one reputable eBay dealer is any measure. Ed McHale, a.k.a. terror-fantastic on eBay, relayed a story involving an assortment of tapes purchased from Yahoo Auctions Japan. After beginning to sell them through eBay, he realized all of them were deceivingly well crafted bootlegs, and promptly refunded the buyers of any from this particular lot. So buyer beware, I can only assume more high value Japanese tapes will show up as bootlegs online there and eBay. I'm not going to divulge the eBay seller I bought this from yet because I haven't contacted him about this tape. I'll update the comments section after that's settled and any findings upon actually watching the tape (probably tonight).

FAKE COVER

REAL COVER, from Backyard Asia's entry: THE DEVIL (Taiwan, 1981)

Extremely Damaged, Extremely Rare CANNIBAL FEROX VHS...

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Like I previously detailed in this Blood Sprayer article, Of Gambling and Horror on VHS, many times you just gotta roll the dice when the chance to snag a potentially awesome tape found online comes your way. One of those chances arrived late last Saturday night when I spied an interesting new listing for a copy of Cannibal Ferox on Amazon for thirteen bucks.

"NTSC Canadian release in French. Some wear to box and Le Club International Video label. Plays in US."

The boom was lowered by the time I read the last word and the order was placed with the speed of a cougar with its ass ablaze. Magnetic copies of Umberto Lenzi's fruit roll-up of Italian cannibal delights are a hot commodity that sell like flapjacks after Sunday church. That and I had never heard of a French-Canadian release of Cannibal Ferox before and still can't any mention online of one. And yes, before anyone charges that I'm merely buying out of rarity, I do love the grotty little flick to death, possibly more than the "serious" Deodato classic it parasitically latches onto.

The only question now was the condition the tape would eventually arrive in. "Some wear" unfortunately arrived today in the form of a myriad of damage. Pretty much every example of a harm that can be inflicted upon a defenseless VHS box. It's cut up, unevenly sun faded, water damaged, the pieces glued inside a plastic clamshell, and sports obtrusive rental stickers on its spine. The only company on the box is Compagnie France Film Inc. based in Montreal and a sticker on the cover from Le Club International Video Film (might have been a rental joint?).

But still, I have never heard of a French-Canadian release of Cannibal Ferox before and still can't dig up any mention online before now. Thankfully, the cassette is in very nice shape and plays perfectly. It's dubbed in French, uncut, and runs at 1:32:39 NTSC. The aspect ratio is a dead center full screen crop with some of the French opening credits trimmed off the sides of the screen. Print damage runs wild over you like Hulkamania.

There are no studio screens at the tape's start, just color bars, an unauthorized copying warning in French, and then straight to the opening credits. As stated, it's in French, but strangely the riverside policeman and natives on the boat trip in the beginning speak completely unsubtitled Spanish. The song Gloria and Pat sing while in the pit is in unsubbed English. The often censor sliced animal, penis, and boobie cruelty is intact. The end credits are comprised of simply FIN. Below are a few photos of the tape in action, NSFW naturally! 

Capture Your Favorite Sitcoms, Sports, Family Gatherings, Home Invasions...

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First thing done getting back on eBay after a few months?

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Grabbing a Betamax mate for my Embassy Escape from New York VHS, of course. It arrived today so now I have "matching" format clamshells for Carpenter's lean machine of apocalyptic kickassery and Humongous (detailed here for those for missed it).

You'll notice that instead of what many companies did, placing a Beta sticker over a VHS spine logo, Embassy had separate but otherwise identical covers that denoted each format. I included the Warner and Thorn EMI clams to show the "in-between" size of Embassy's cases. Because of their unique size, it's especially important to get the original case in decent shape.          

Escape from New York (1981) - 1982 Embassy Home Entertainment Clamshell VHS

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Some quick thoughts on Rammbock: Berlin Undead (2010)

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From the DVD: Just when Michael arrives in Berlin to visit his ex-girlfriend Gabi, a terrible virus starts spreading across the city at a rapid pace, turning people into mindless homicidal maniacs. Much to Michael's concern, Gabi's not home; instead, he meets Harper, a teenage plumber's apprentice at work in her apartment block. Together, they manage to barricade themselves when raging hordes of infected people swarm the building. Surrounded by these thirsty zombies, Michael and Harper have their hands full to survive - and it will take all of their ingenuity to make their way out to try and find Gabi.

After long hearing a generally positive consensus regarding Marvin Kren's German zombie import, Rammbock (Siege of the Dead), I feel hesitant to say that it didn't particularly strike me as compelling. Don't get me wrong, you'll enjoy and want to see the film through during its streamline sixty-one minute duration. It's just tough to recommend actually picking up a copy with the experience feeling so one-and-done.

You could say that Rammbock is an example of modern undead horror without the expected chaff. It seems like many filmmakers in the post-Snyder Dawn '04 wave of zombie cinema feel the need to cater to fan service. Or loading up their work with a wet dream of gory attacks, for better-or-worse. Kren, either knowingly rejecting this urge or trying to avoid the ire of Germany's draconian censorship doctrine, focuses almost solely on the living's perils in dire circumstances. There's hardly even any blood to the disappointment of those aware of the extreme doings of German goremeisters Andreas Schnaas and Olaf Ittenbach. This direct precision on human drama echoes what makes us love Romero's work (well, the first three). Still, this aspect doesn't feel strong or deep enough to warrant anything more than a decent single rental if you're in a pinch. If anything, wait to see if more of this comes from the country, there's much untapped potential here.

Vivendi Entertainment's fresh U.S. DVD, under the new Bloody Disgusting Selects line, is a pretty skimpy package. The 1.78:1 widescreen transfer is anamorphic yet interlaced and even exhibits fleeting blocking during rapid action. Strange when the film and extras barely total ninety minutes. The presentation doesn't show any signs of being a botched PAL-to-NTSC conversion. The German 5.1 Dolby (w/ white removable English subs) does a fine job of highlighting the surprisingly effective score. The extras include a fifteen minute subtitled making-of and Stefan Lukacs' Zombiefication, an unrelated short structured as a safety film in case of zombie invasion. Since I picked this up at Wal Mart, just wait a couple months for cheap used copies to pile up on Amazon if you're still interested.

(direct disc captures, saved as .pngs, capture three shows the extent of the combing)

Prevue #66 Dec '87 Article: Trick or Treat (1986) Film Preview

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A nice little discovery was made out of a pile of old Prevue magazines picked up yesterday for pennies. The defunct magazine, formerly known as Mediascene and Comixscene, was mostly geared toward mainstream fare with several page movie previews with large color and b/w stills and a few paragraphs of sizzle selling the featured movies. It's a good source for '80s action fans since the likes of Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Norris, and Bronson seem to pop up in every issue (for example, #62 features Commando followed directly by Death Wish 3, it was a mini-Christmas flipping through those pages).

Horror flicks seem rare in the publication, I guess they figured Fango was the go-to, but Charles Martin Smith's satisfying metal-flavored horror yarn Trick or Treat is buried in the back of #66 (dubbed a "comedy/thriller"?!?). This film still needs a decent DVD presentation, but the likelihood of that was hampered by a glut of shady cheapie discs a few years ago. Fingers-crossed someone will look into this one now that those releases aren't clogging dollar stores anymore. This write-up at least provides some tidbits from the late Tony Fields who played the hair-teased demonic rocker and director. Mayyyyybeeee you'll see,
someone's put a spell on me!

The things I do for stray tapes...

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Found a boxless VEC Deadly Spawn yesterday, so naturally way too much time was spent crafting this...

Unexpected Swap Meet Finds!

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Certainly didn't expect to find Anchor Bay U.K.'s Hellraiser 4-Disc Lament Configuration box set, Second Sight's Brit DVD of Children of the Stones, Videomax's Mexican DVD of the original The Eye, and the Tower Record's exclusive SOTA Darkman action figure variant when I woke up this morning! Badass and it illustrates the importance of dragging your ass to these places at ungodly hours every weekend. 

Creepy Classics from over Forty Classic Horror Films! - 1995 Disguise Inc. VHS

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This is one of the better store-bought Halloween party background noise compilations I've run across. Most of the time, these hodgepodges are a lazy string of the same old public domain horrors organized with no rhyme or reason. Creepy Classics tries to group clips together with themes like loose monsters, mad doctors, skeletons, and paranoia. The segments have their own cheap MIDI score with dialogue and sound effects from the clips sometimes integrated. PD standards like Night of the Living Dead and Dementia 13 are included, but it's fun to see some Hammer throw in the mix.