Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals

Emanuelle is a recurring character in several Italian sexploitation films. I've only seen one of these movies before, and that was Women's Prison Massacre, which was to be the end of the Emanuelle series, and I didn't even know it was a thing at the time.

Basically, Emanuelle is a gorgeous slutty reporter played by Laura Gemser, and the first half of this movie is basically a soft-core porno. After a nurse gets her nipple bitten off by a cannibal patient, Emanuelle questions her whilst fingering her and gets news of a cannibal clan in the Amazon. Since she's a journalist, she doesn't need a good reason to snooping around anywhere she pleases so long as there's a story involved, and this story leads her to the jungles of the Amazon, because she isn't interested in African jungles or cannibals. Just the Amazon ones.

Before she goes, she needs to bang some dude first, just because. Then she gets there with her studly professor and assembles a team of explorers, who are there for a bodycount. Also, she bangs her professor while another girl masterbates to it.

At one point, she decides to bath near a waterfall with that same tramp from earlier and a monkey sneaks into their bags and smoke their cigarettes.

One of the ladies in the group lusts after a black man and sneaks away from her husband in the middle of the night to suck the guy's dick. The husband is mad jelly about this, but it doesn't seem to have any repercussions after the fact. Just more erotica for the hell of it.

About halfway through the movie, the cannibal plot kicks in and people are taken, sacrificed, gutted, and raped by those jungle knuckleheads and the gratuity is definitely there. However, Emanuelle's journalism endeavor takes a back seat to all the fun cannibal shennanigans until she outwits them all and the survivors live happily ever after... until the next movie.


Now, the idea of this as a series is pretty interesting. A sexy journalist gets herself into all sorts of taboos in each and every movie? Count me in. The series seems to go like this:

https://junkepics.com/film/?category=1&tags=emanuelle

Black Emanuelle (1975)
Emanuelle in Bangkok (1976)
Emanuelle in America (1977)
Emanuelle Across the World (1977)
Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (1977)
Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade (1978)
Violence in a Women's Prison (1982)
Women's Prison Massacre (1983)

Notice how three of these movies came out in 1977? I wonder how many people she fucked that year. 🤔 Anybody got anything to say about this movie or any of the others?

Bloody Mallory (2002 - France)

When I watched this, my first thought was "What the hell is going on here?" After about ten minutes, I decided I was just going to believe what they are showing me. It's all true.
And it actually turned out to be not that bad, really. I still only gave it a 4, but that's at least two points better than I would have.

They could/should have been classics.

Do you ever wonder coming across an old horror movie which looks like original for the its time but you'll find out is is generally unknown? A movie that predates the better known classics by some years. usually they are obscure as they didn't really got much advertising or they got a limited release in theatre (perhaps not screening at all in the mainstream ones).


The ones that spring to mind:

Spider Baby (1967): Well it is said the filming started in 1964 which probably explains why it is rather tame for the time it was released. Possibly the first deranged family going with cannibalistic desires predating the Texas Chainsaw Massacre by quite a few years.

Olga's Girls: a series of movies in 1964-1965 starring Audrey Campbell as the warden of the bordello. It's comparable to the later WIP movies; There is quite a bit of torture around predating the Ilsa movies also by a good amount of years.

Flesh Eaters (1964): Of course there has been lots of sci-fi horror flicks and all kind of monster movies however this kind of flesh eating creatures devouring humans to the bone was at that point quite new. Add to this there is a few graphic scenes which could pass for gore. Not sure where I have read it but it might have been a finished product in 1962 so in that case it would predate Blood Feast of HG Lewis.

The Defilers (1965): It wasn't the first roughie as there was Scum of The Earth from HG Lewis 2 years earlier. Scum was tame on the sexual violence and had IIRC no nudity. Defilers on the other hand must have been the first where a couple of guys kidnap a girl and use her as sex slave. Another 5 years before we got to see Wes Craven's last house on the left and in the 60s there had been plenty of roughies who didn't really hold back on the sexual violence.

A Bay of Blood (1971): Well maybe not that obscure and there certainly where movies before that could be defines as slashers. However it did add some elements of the modern slashers like for example body count is more important than a profound story or character development, gratuitous nudity and of course POV kills.



Any others?

Best horror movies that are not part of a series

What is your top 10? The criteria is no remakes, no separate adaptations, no sequels, no prequel, not a prequel or sequel, etc.

1. The Man Whi Changed His Mind (1936)
2. Day of Wrath (1943)
3. The Unknown (1927)
4. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
5. The Face Behind the Mask (1941)
6. Horror Hotel (1960)
7. The Witch's Mirror (1962)
8. Onibana (1964)
9. The Beast with Five Fingers (1946)
10. Cat Girl (1957)

Fag Hag - A 1998 Tromasterpiece

Granted, I was pretty drunk when I was watching this, but it got me right from the beginning. While it was made in 1998, it looks like it was made in the 70s. Very stylistically influenced by John Waters, what with the LGBT prominent trash themes.

This movie is mostly just stupid dialogue between a dull girl striving to be a bigshot in a pageant and some gay dude who started the movie as some actor playing Jesus. They'll just ramble on about how to be successful for about an hour until they go into the pageant thingy and the movie ends with her singing a song about how she needs to take a piss. I laughed a lot at this shit.

Demons 2

Does anybody here think maybe the baker/confectionery guy at the beginning of Demons 2 might really have been intended to be a demon, for the movie? I don't think we ever see his face, but right at the beginning there is a scene with what appears to be blood dripping, and a sharp knife... it gets the audience all freaked out, but then it just turns out to be a guy preparing a cake. So, the audience laughs at itself, and says "Chuckle chuckle chuckle, ohhhhh what a silly audience we are, for getting all bent out of shape about a cake baker."

But, I keep thinking, maybe he really was supposed to be an evil character. Maybe he's supposed to be someone from the original Demons movie? Not sure about that, but it's possible. He moves in a strange, slow way, like he has been crippled or is deformed somehow. And, the cake seems to be a significant step in completing Sally's transformation into the first demon of the movie! There are several significant-looking shots of the cake, perhaps intended to provoke a sense of foreboding and dread in the audience. And, it is only when Sally puts her face up close to the cake and blows out the candles (not all the candles, she misses one... bad luck for Sally!) that she finally totally demons out.

I might be missing something here, or maybe reading too much into it. Does anybody here have this on DVD, with some DVD extras where someone involved with the movie might have talked about this stuff?? Or, does anyone know of an interview with any cast members, director, etc where someone might have discussed this idea? Just wondering.

2019 October Challenge Progress Thread

It is that time of the year again!

Third challenge hosted here at Trash Epics, I believe, first by me.

Previous years challenges

https://trashepics.com/post/9/160/
https://trashepics.com/post/9/218/

Rules:


1. 31 Horror films must be watched during the month of October.
2. 16 of which must be first time viewings.
3. The challenge will begin as soon as October begins in your time zone.
4. In regards to runtime, historically, it is 45 minute minimum.
5. Again historically, documentaries and tv shows were not accepted.

6. To keep it simple, if there is any question as to whether a film is Horror, or not, just use your own judgement.
7. Also, please if it is possible to list the number of movies/FTVs you have seen during the month, that would be great.



FYI. Unlike other challenges, this is based solely on movies watched rather than a points system.



I think this pretty much covers it. If you have any questions or suggestions for the challenge, the discussion thread will be up soon.

The most important thing is to have fun, after all, it is October!

So, make your spot!

Halloween III: Season of the Witch!

The original Halloween is cemented in horror history as a classic slasher film. An "immortal classic" if you will... Nothing can top it, and even part 2 is a solid follow-up, albeit ignored in modern continuity. But that anthology idea took things to a new direction... Halloween could have been a totally different series if Season of the Witch took off in the way that the creators intended.

I remember when I was a kid and I saw VHS copies of Halloween 3, and I absolutely did NOT understand how that movie existed. I feel that most people still don't understand how H3 exists in any continuity, but I was always fascinated by the artwork. Just look at it... Some weird looking witch whose hair turns into the logo, with those classic pumpkin/skeleton/witch masks...

Somehow, this flick channeled the spirit of Halloween more than a lot of movies did, even the Myers series. This one had trick or treaters across the country, Tom Atkins, Stacy Nelkin, robots, Dick Warlock, actual warlocks, Dan O'Herlihy, masks, and an Irish influences throughout.

A prominent influence of the movie was Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and I'm talking the original 1956 version with the city of Santa Mira. I love the vibe of it. I view it as an essential Halloween film for the season, but I can't quite pinpoint why.

In a sense, I expect that I might love it so much because of its misfit status. It has a cult following because of its different nature, and people never quite understood it when it came out. However, in recent years, the internet has proved that it's reputation has grown somewhat significantly. I suspect that this might be due to John Carpenter fanboyisms and the general sense that older movies gain more notoriety as they age, but I was always fascinated by this movie's approach. It has an interesting history, if you're one to read the trivia behind it and the themes it proposes.

I remember first seeing this movie circa '98, when H20 was on its way. The series was gaining a reputation as a never-ending horror epic, and this bastard played on TV. I didn't get it, but I was still fascinated to ponder on its relevance in the series. Obviously, it seemed to have NO relevance, but a fan could dream, and somehow, this movie lingered in my brain for years to come, because somehow, it technically DID exist in the Halloween continuity at that point, so it would always be canon in some way or another.

Like many, I was plenty surprised to see the 2018 movie at least acknowledge this movie by including the masks in a particular scene, and I even got James Jude Courtney to sign an 8x10 of him with the shamrock kids. That was a wet dream come true.

There's so much to ponder about this movie, like what came next? Did Dan Challis stop the commercial? Did it destroy society? I've even read on a message board that someone approached director Tommy Lee Wallace about their proposed sequel, and he was quite intrigued about their take on it. A sequel probably wouldn't work though. And if Rob Zombie did a Halloween 3, would he rip off this movie? Who fucking knows!

October Challenge: A Month in review

So with the 31st fastly approaching, I thought it was apt to look back on some of my most enjoyable FTVs of the month.

I am pleased with the turnout for this years challenge, and the overall upsurge of activity recently..

I will briefly list a few of the best views I have seen for this years challenge:

Ju-on (2000): the first installment in the Ju-on franchise, following two short films. With a runtime of 70 mins, it is super creepy. This is a film of slowly building dread and unease more than jump out of your seat scares, very effective! 8/10


Circle (2015): Wow, one of the most orginal horror movies I have seen in recent memory. At first glance this film seems like pretty typical Saw-esque horror fare, but it becomes a study in sociology, psychology, morality and Darwinism. I won't give away any spoliers, but wow, I was impressed. 9/10


Let Me In (2010): I know, it divides quite a few, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.


Terrified (2017): Now, this is one scary South-American horror. Magnificent movie.


Those were the two best for me, but here is a few others that impressed me (7/10s):

Await Further Instructions (2018): very good Black Mirror-esque. Indie production, very unique, has great characterization and cinematography.


Voices (1974): Another one of these obscure horror that I really dig. "Voices" is from a class of thriller in that it achieves its shocks through the use of story and character interaction.


Veronica (2017): I am a sucker for "this film is based on true events"!


What were some of your best views of the challenge? Any thoughts on this years challenge?

Has anyone seen any of the movies based on the La Llorona legend?

There seems to be a lot of them, old and new, and it's hard to tell one from another without having seen them because the titles are all so similar and they have mostly unknown actors in them.

I've only seen one of them and I can't recall the exact title. It's the one with Dee Wallace in it, and it wasn't great.

Are any of the others worth seeing?