The Florida gore film has a long, rich history. Created in the early 60's by Herschell Gordon Lewis, and continued on by others with such epics as Blood Freak and Blood Stalkers. It wasn't until the mid-80's until a bright young filmmaker by the name of Tim Ritter would try his hand at the gore film. I mean, it's more of a slasher, I guess, but it is really gory, and shot in Florida, so, just go with it. Tim Ritter already had a few movies under his belt. One of which being a poor man's Halloween called Truth or Dare?: A Critical Madness. Quality wise, a better movie than the one we're going to discuss. Ritter's fourth film, Killing Spree, was to be a fun, stupid gorefest. A movie which epitomizes the 80's B-Horror flick. And one of my all-time personal favorites.
https://www.stomptokyo.com/otf/Killing-Spree/Spree3.JPG Killing Spree revolves around a subject that would linger on in Tim Ritter's films for years to come. Cheating wives, and the damage it does. Namely, the damage it can do to a man's mental state. Tom Russo, a scrawny, scruffy airplane repairman, keeps his wife on a short leash. It's not that he doesn't trust Leeza, but his last marriage ended badly, as his wife made a fool of him with her cheating ways. So, he's just being cautions by not letting the wife work. It's really all those men out there he doesn't trust. But Leeza has picked up a little hobbie in her spare time that Tom is about to discover. Writing. Leeza writes about a woman who cheats on her husband with anyone and everyone she can. Leaving out no details. One details Tom probably wished he hadn't picked up on is that the woman in these stories is Leeza herself. Tom's been reading her diary. Made a fool of once again, Tom goes off and has a nervous breakdown and hangs out at the beach for a while where he kicks some guy's ass for no reason. But then decides to go on home and carry on, and act as if nothing has happened. But doing a very bad job at it. Not unlike Asbestos Felt's performance
As Tom sneaks a peak at the wife's stories from time to time, he finds out Leeza has spread her legs for the TV repairman, for the delivery man, and even for the lawn man. Tom is now boiling, and soon tracks them all down, and makes them all his victims, with some of the most creative and gruesome kills in Florida gore film history. Tom doesn't look all that bright, but when he puts his mind to it, he can really make shit happen. We witness scenes of retribution such as Tom lifting a guy up into fan blades which have been replaced with machetes, and he even managed to kill his elderly best friend by throwing the severed head of his teenage girlfriend at him. I have no idea how that works, but it sure was funny. Tom kills and kills, seemingly with no real game plan. Things soon take an unexpected turn which might just make Tom rethink everything. Or not. Tom has pretty much lost his mind at this point. And the movie itself seems to be going in a similar direction.
Killing Spree is 80's camp at its finest. A movie up there with the likes of Return Of The Living Dead, as far as fun 80's Horror goes. Good enough to be taken seriously, but really stupid at the same time. In all the best ways, of course. One thing I've always said about Tim Ritter is that the man is way too talented to limit himself to such low-budget movies. Especially the micro-budget stuff that was to come. It works out great for me, because low-budget movies is what I love. But it's still a shame the man never had much money to throw around, because even the lower budgeted ones he did are all really damn good. But no money, no noteriey. That's just the way it goes in the movie biz. The highlight of course, is the now legendary Asbestos Felt. With his hysterical performance as a jealous husband on a rampage. A performance seemingly taken less and less seriously as the movie goes on. And I have no idea how true this is, but when listening to the Sub Rosa dvd commentary for this, Asbestos Felt did confess to co-star, Joel D. Wynkoop, that he was pretty drunk in just about every scene he appeared in. So, keep that little tidbit inThis would end up being Tim Ritter's last film using actual film. And as the 90's rolled arouund, he would descend into the already dying world of shot on vhs Horror, which does say something about his love for the genre. Ritter would go on to make sequels to his earlier film, Truth Or Dare?, another slasher called Creep, and a hilarious dark comedy/mockumentary called Dirty Cop No Donut, a mean-spirited parody of the tv show, Cops. So, in 1987, Tim Ritter was just getting started. It took a while for Killing Spree to aquire an audience, and even longer to aquire the cult following it eventually gained. But someday, when Tim Ritter's fans look back on his career with fondness, I have no doubt it will be the this cheesy gorefest they think of first. 7/10
#Review #Slasher
The day Blood Lake was made, the slasher genre bottomed out. I'm pretty sure it never got any worse than this. The storyline is a big reason why. We got two fun loving teenage couples and a tag-a-long pre-teen couple, heading down to the lake house of one of the girlfriends. Everyone's got thick Oklahoma accents, the guys got their short shorts, and everybody is ready for some sweet 80's partying. One character, which is usually the first thing someone mentions about this movie, is li'l Tony. A loud mouth little blonde cocksucker who constantly tries to impress the big kids by bragging about how hard he's going to stick it to his little friend. An obnoxious pre-teen that would no doubt make things a tad awkward if this were real life. But this is definitely not real life. Everyone laughs off the little virgin's attempt at coolness, as we witness some very incoherent dialogue between the characters, which come off very improvised. Atleast I hope it is. The first 20 minutes is mostly mumbled banter and horsing around between the teens, until we get to the good shit. Water skiing! Gosh, that looks like fun!
Not all that fun watching these tools do it in a movie for ten minutes at a time, when it's clearly meant for filler. But in real life, sure. The gang make friends with a couple of guys and invites them over that night for some beers and countless games of quarters. After leaving late at night, they are slaughtered by a prowler, which leads to what is by far the most incoherent and mindblowing scene in the movie. The next day, a deputy stops by and has one of the guys come outside with him, where he shows him the bodies of the victims, and asks if he has any information about what happened. And you would think they were talking about what they had for breakfast, going by their mannerisms. Plus, the music was just loud enough that you could barely hear alot they were saying. A portion of the conversation could very well have been about breakfast for all we know. Yet, they were pointing at corpses. so, that's probably it.
I get that he didn't know his new friends very well, but Christ! Atleast one of you try and appear as though you're looking at something bad. I get no indication that the bad acting in this is anything but unintentional, which to this day, is amazing to me. The brutal murders which couldn't be seen due to no lighting has surprisingly put very little damper on the weekend festivities. It's not even clear who knows about this tragedy and who doesn't. Instead of leaving immediately, everyone continues with their beer drinking, fucking and kidding around with li'l Tony, until one of the couples randomly goes for a wallk late at night, and of course gets it. I forgot which couple it was. Like I said. Terrible lighting in this movie. I hope their deaths were gory. I like gore.
It wasn't until the late 90's when I rented Redneck Zombies that I would finally watch my second shot-on-video Horror. That of course was a more enjoyable experience, so, I finally warmed up to the idea that there might be something to these awful little home movies. But it wasn't until 2010, when I bought Cannibal Campout on dvd, that I knew I had to get every single one of these. So, I started with the first one I ever saw. About 17 years had passed since I had seen it, and couldn't really remember what it was about it that I hated so much. So, I bought a rather pricey vhs tape off Amazon, and as it would turn out, the very qualities I once despised were the same qualities which would finally win me over as an adult. Though, I'm not sure what that says about my own mental development.
Crazy, fat Ethel done some bad shit, and got put away for a while. She's getting out soon, and is being taken in by her grandmother, but being free, Ethel is not in a good mood. Having to put up with Jew doctors and a normal eating habit has taken its toll on her. And the electro-shock therapy wasn't exactly a picnic either. But now that she's living with her sweet Granny, it's all good. Time to eat! As we watch Ethel eat her breakfast which consists of about 8 eggs, 10 pieces of bacon, and 6 pieces of toast, her grandmother expresses her disapproval. "A woman's gotta watch her figure", says granny. Just a suggestion. Soon thereafter, Ethel is informed that she has no choice but to cool it with the constant eating because there just isn't enough money to maintain her addiction. After trying her best to reason with Ethel, Granny gets stabbed to death by her ornery hog of a granddaughter. Now free to eat anything she wants, Ethel does just that. But soon realizes that her now dead grandmother was on to something about the money thing.
Directed by Mick Millard, Criminally Insane is by far the best movie he ever made. I say that only after seeing a small fraction of his filmography, but I stand by my claim. If that wasn't true, I'd probably know it by now. Criminally Insane a movie which was probably never meant to be anything special, as it reeks of deliberate half assness. From the blood that is obviously red paint, to the shitty little score, to the running time that is just under an hour. Milliard didn't even bother sticking any filler in. Criminally Insane gets straight to the point. And for such a movie, that's definitely a good thing. But I'm pretty sure there's also some self aware schlock going on here. which was almost unheard of in 1975. But again, Ethel made this movie what it became. Unlike the boisterous Chris Farley, or the big likeable oaf, John Candy, Ethel's humor is a little more subtle. She's careless and oblivious. A typical fat person with a bad attitude and no will power. she's also pretty delusional on top of it. And not all that bright either. Like a big, overgrown baby who wants her way and knows nothing else, Ethel kills and kills with no thought of the future any time she feels her constant eating is threatened.
Ten years after Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer, director, Chuck Parello took a chance and made a sequel to the legendary 80's chiller. And the result would be a bit surprising. Here's the deal. We begin at some point after the original. I'm guessing a couple years, give or take. Henry is still at it. He's nearly a foot shorter, but he's still Henry, kinda. Henry has nothing. Henry is homeless, and is staying in a shelter. He eventually gets work cleaning out porta-potties, and makes friends with a co-worker and his wife, who let him stay with them for a while, just until he gets back on his feet. Kai and Cricket are a normal married couple. A bit on the white trash side, but nice people, going by how they're treating this stranger. Henry seems grateful, and doesn't seem like he's into starting any shit at the moment, but things get complicated once Henry finds out how Kai makes a little extra cash on the side. As it would turn out, it's a little more than a a little. But Kai gets paid to burn down buildings for various reasons. Henry is offered a cut for his help, and gladly accepts. Eventually, they're accidentally caught by a couple tresspassers, and Henry knows exactly what to do. He kills one of them, and makes Kai kill the other.
"Henry 2" does not have a nice ring to it. Nor does the unfortunate fact that it's directed by someone else, and even stars a different actor portraying Henry. And a midget, no less. Sounds pretty pointless, at first. Pointless enough to just pass on it with without even reading about. I get it. We've been burned enough times by these sequels with different actors playing the same role, while taking place in space and shit. But if you go into it without comparing it to the original, it's not so bad. It's actually better if looked at as a stand along film. Henry 2 could even pass as a reboot, as the story is different enough, yet similar enough.
We cut to the always shirtless, scrawny ranch hand, Daniel, as he picks up rocks and rakes dirt and stuff. A couple of little girls are playing nearby, and you can already tell Daniel is about to get testy as he explains that they need to stay away from the nearby shack. Later on, in an awkwardly acted scene, some ornery chick shows up with a couple of dudes. They stand around and joke about spending the night in the haunted Blood Shack that everyone talks about. The chick suddenly gets serious about it, and turns into a confrontational twat when the dudes aren't into it. So, they take off and leave her there to spend the night. But the equally ornery Daniel ain't having it. He immediately starts screaming at her to stayout of there. "The Chooper'll gitcha". But hequickly gives up when she argues with him, claiming that if she's stupid enough to sleep in there, then she deserves to die. This won't be the last time Daniel will go from being frantic to indifferent.
As people come and go on the ranch, several of them end up in the shack for one reaosn or another. Or no reason at all, in some cases. And every time, Daniel freaks out on them, quickly accepts what's going to happen, and then gets this self righteous, "I told you so" attitude with the corpses whilst burying them. Always making sure to get their money. Carol is oblivious to all of this, as she's got her hands full with the abrasive Tim Foster and his constant offers which are starting to sound more like demands at this point. But there's just something up with Daniel. Or atleast that's what we're (unintentionally?) led to believe for most of the movie. He's just too wrapped up in this shack that's on a ranch that's not even his. He's not so much concerned about saving lives from the deadly Chooper, but rather protecting the chooper from itself. Daniel's undying devotion to this thing is completely random and serves no purpose to the story regardless of how much it seems like it is.
Well, whatever the hell it is, it's really just a guy in a black body stocking, running around with a sword and roaring. The most primitive slasher villain of all time. The Chooper may not have proved to be Daniel, but I suspect it was played by the same actor, as the roars sound alot like Daniel's voice that we hear yelling at people throughout the movie. So many scenes involving Chooper killings are seemingly meant to build up tension, which fails miserably each time. And on to Carolyn Brandt. For whatever reason, 95% of her lines are done in voiceover. Even in the one or two scenes she uses live sound, this is still one of the most disconnected performances I've ever witnessed. It almost seems as though Carolyn is in an entirely different movie. Never reacting, never showing the least bit of emotion. She doesn't act so much as she just exists.
We begin with co-director, Brad Grinter, acting as nararator, who shows up and adds his two cents between every other scene. The chain smoking maker of bad movies offers his thoughts on fate and stuff, leading up to his introduction of the cleverly named Herschell, as we see the big guy heading down the Florida Turnpike on his motorcycle. The "pretty girl with a problem", as our narrarator just pointed out, is having car trouble. And the good Samaritan quickly pulls on over to help out. We hear not one bit of dialogue during whatever exchange they may have had, but we're led to believe they hit it off nicely. After fixing her car, Herschell is invited back to Angel's house, which she refers to as a mad house due to the 5 or 6 of her drugged-out, trampy sister's friends who are quietly sitting around chatting and getting stoned.
The drugged-out trampy Ann already seems like alot more fun than Angel, who has now admitted to being a straight-laced Jesus freak, and is already nagging her sister about being high on the pot as well as requesting Herschell to not partake in the fun while he hangs with them. Herschell has no problem with that. But isn't overly fond of Ann's flirtatious nature due to being a gentleman. We then cut to a scene which I'm guessing is later that day where Herschell is sitting around with Angel and some old man, discussing their faith, all leading up to Herschell getting offered a job at a poultry farm.. The God stuff doesn't seem to make much sense to Herschell. But he seems open to it all. But that's not all he's open to, as we find out later. We cut to a scene which may be anywhere from a day later to a week later, where Herschell is cleaning Ann's And Angel's pool, and Ann comes over and offers him some of her joint, and gets turned down flat. She tries convincing him and gets turned down flat. She calls him a coward, and seconds later, the man is high as a kite, laughing his ass off at nothing. This of course leads to Ann easily leading the big guy into her bedroom for a hot fuck session on the dope.
At this point, the movie seems to be going in a certain direction. But the next day, we're thrown a bit of a curve ball as the scientists Herschell is working with use him as a guinea pig and gives him some chemically enhanced, experimental turkey to try out. After inhaling the entire turkey no problem, the big guy passes out, and wakes up later that night a changed man. As he creeps back in Ann's bedroom, she freaks out and screams at the sight of his face and head which resembles a paper mache' turkey. As the now mute Herschell grabs a pen and paper and explains best he can, Ann seems to immediately get it and calms down. Damn, that was easy. And in an odd twist, Ann shows a massive amount of loyalty to this guy whom she just recently met, and lets him know that she'll stick with him forever, while expressing concern over what their children may look like.
Ann's love isn't enough to stop Herschell from going on nightly bloody rampages. Searching for dope addicts, this is a thirst which cannot be quenched. One of the many funny things about these killings is that most of the victims give off the same scream/yell. We go back and forth between WTF killings and scenes involving Ann confiding in her friends about Herschell. Scenes which almost seem like their from another movie, at times. When discussing Herschell, it seems as if they're discussing someone who merely gets high too much, as opposed to a bloodthirsty turkey-monster. At one point, one of Ann's stoner pals makes a comment that "He's not Herschell anymore. He's changing". First of all, No shit! Secondly, Ann has known the big guy for a week, tops. How is it that her friend knows Herschell well enough to make such a comment. They couldn't have had any more than a couple conversations. A minor detail, but one of many which make Blood Freak the enigma that it is. Can Herschell overcome his drug addiction? Or does this new dope-blood addiction cancel that out? Either way, Herschell needs help. But from who? You know who! Time to get on your knees and pray, big guy!
If there was ever a movie meant to be a part of the Something Weird label, this here's it, friends. I would highly recommend the special edition dvd which is packed with extras, yet with not nearly enough information for my taste. I'm not even sure how much info about Blood Freak there even is, to be honest. But I do hope for a blu-ray release someday which includes a commentary track. This Miami-shot abomination fits in nicely with the other gore films made in the same period and area. It is a little light on the gore, but far more entertaining than anything H.G ever did. whether it was meant to be or not. Possibly the most inept pre-80's Horror film in existence. It's hard to imagine what exactly Brad Grinter was going for, here. Or who this film was targeted at for that matter. Possibly a good natured attempt to help set the youth of the day on the right track, using their own language.
In this gloriously un-PC tale, Perry King playes L.T. Not only a dick, but a dick with no conscience. A small time hitman-for-hire. L.T. recently got hooked up with a woman named Hazel. A seemingly normal suburban housewife who runs an Electrolysis business out of her house, which is nothing more than a cover for her real source of income. Hazel provides ruthless hit women to her clients who need certain jobs done that they don't necessarily have the guts for. Usually murder. Sometimes a kid or a baby. L.T. recently got a sweet job where all he has to do is murder an autistic kid whose ashamed mother has basically ordered a very late abortion for her little disappointment. That's fine. L.T. is up for just about anything as long as he's getting paid. Unfortunately, in an age before cell phones, L.T. has to stick around Hazel's crib all week and wait for her call. And Hazel's a much bigger dick than he is. Constantly nagging him, and being flat out cruel at times. At one point, Hazel even stoops to injuring the man just because she's tired of looking at his stupid face. A bit harsh, but who cares? L.T. sucks.
I Mary is hopeless because she is surrounded by evil people who hate her and probably her baby. Meanwhile, we get to sit in on some of these hits. One chick cuts a guy's thumb off in a fairly bloody scene. A couple of other chicks stabs some old guy's dog on the orders from a paranoid woman named Ethel, who thought the guy made fun of her fatness the other day. And later on, a baby gets thrown from a tall building in what is no doubt the most memorable scene in the movie. With the exception of Mary Everyone in Bad is cold and ruthless. Even those who aren't complete dicks are still somewhat fucked up. When it comes to money, these people will do anything. Even the cop, who has been breathing down Hazel's neck, is willing to look the other way if the price is right.
I tend to think of Bad as the black sheep of the Warhol movies. In fact, it's not really even one of the Warhol movies at all. Atleast not the ones I saw years later. I'm not sure if the man even had anything to do with this one. Or any of them for that matter. But the original "Andy Warhol films" did star Joe Dallesandro, and were directed by a guy named Paul Morrissey, who often casted his regular group of weirdos and misfits in some very raw, highly improvised films, far more low-budget than this one, and usually offering far less story, which also had a bit of a gay vibe to them. Not entirely unlike an old John Waters epic. Just less interesting. Bad, however, has none of these qualities. Besides being directed by the guy who edted a couple of Morrissey's films, the only thing Bad has in common with any of the past Warhol films is Stefania Casini (Andy Warhol's Dracula) who plays one sick bitch in this one. And a hot one, I might add. Bad is farmore entertaining than any of those other films, yet lacks the specific flavor that made them unique.
Joe heads back home, and tries getting some shut eye on the floor next to the bed where Holly is fucking itself with an empty bottle. He promises that he'll be able to get it up soon. And the very next day, he does, when Holly's pregnant sister visits and seduces him when Holly's out hunting for garbage. They are of course caught in the act by a very offended Holly who probably still has dried jizz on her mouth from the day before. Will this fuck up Holly and Joe's plans for moving up in the world and getting on welfare, or will Holly keep it all "bottled in" and forget about it like she probably should? I see her point that it's offensive that he can never get it up for her, but has no problem sticking it to her sister, who Holly herself has fucked in the past. Yet, Holly is a hideous dicksucker with an Adam's Apple, who deserves to be cheated on, and even shat upon in my opinion. But Joe sadly never does that.
Poultrygeist could easily be seen as the ultimate Kaufman directed Troma film. And I'm sure it is by many. All the satire, gore, boobies and silliness is present and shoved right down your throat. This film is one long running joke about how shitty the fast food industry is, and corporate greed in general. It's also a musical. Our main character is Arbie. A dim-witted little pussy with a face perfect for a Troma movie. He's mad at his girlfriend Wendy for going all "liberal dyke" on him, and leaving him for a scary muff diver after promising him she'd never leave him ever. So, I guess that'd make her his ex-girlfriend. Anyway, Arbie breaks into song like a dumb ass, and then decided to get a job at the new chicken restaurant where Wendy and other liberals are outside protesting. Revenge, I guess. Personally, I would have at least tried to find someone else in order to make her jealous, but whatever works.
This one just goes too far for me. Too much silly, too many attempts at humor, too many attempts at offensive. Just too many attempts, period. The first word that comes to mind when I think of Poultrygeist is "desperate". It's a movie that seems like it was made by a desperate man. I've heard Troma wasn't doing great financially at the time, and this was their big chance to turn things around. And I guess it worked, which is great, but I just wasn't feeling this one. Of course, there was some crazy shit now and then that forced a laugh out of me, like the very end for example, but I just found Poultrygeist to be a bit too constant. There's an old saying, "less is more". Well, a little less here and there might have made a huge difference, in my humble opinion.
