Posts Tagged ‘Eco-horror’


Humanoids From the Deep

July 17th, 2010 | article by | No Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
film rating:
disc rating:
company: New World Pictures
year: 1980
runtime: 79′
director: Barbara Peeters
and James Sbardellati
cast: Doug McClure, Ann Turkel,
Vic Morrow, Cindy Weintraub,
Anthony Pena, Denise Galik
writers: William Martin,
Frank Arnold and Martin B. Cohen
cinematographer: Daniel Lacambre
music: James Horner
Order this film from Amazon.com:
DVD | Blu-ray

Plot: A race of humanoid coelacanths, mutated by a nefarious canning company’s genetic experiments on salmon, rise from the depths of the ocean to mate with human women, causing all manner of trouble in a small fishing village.

One of the seediest and sleaziest little numbers in the New World catalog, Humanoids From the Deep courted controversy upon release not only for its trashy, monster-rape content, but for the fact that it was all added in post-production, without the knowledge of its cast. Made under the working title Beneath the Darkness, the finished Humanoids…, complete with additional gore and scenes of graphic sexual violence, bore little resemblance to what the main cast had signed up for. Actress Ann Turkel was so perturbed by the circumstances that she tried to get her name removed from the credits and, refused that by producer Roger Corman, went so far as to petition the Screen Actors Guild to force Corman to pull Humanoids… from distribution. With SAG having never prepared for such eventualities, Corman prevailed and Humanoids… charged on.

Continue Reading »


Birdemic: Shock and Terror

May 21st, 2010 | article by | No Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
rating:
company: Moviehead Pictures
year: 2008
runtime: 95′
director: James Nguyen
cast: Alan Bagh, Whitney Moore,
Janae Caster, Colton Osborne,
Catherine Batcha, Rick Camp,
Damien Carter, Laura Cassidy
writer: James Nguyen
cinematography: Dainel Mai
music: Andrew Seger
not on home video in the USA (yet . . .)

Birdemic: Shock and Terror is currently out in limited theatrical release through Severin Films, and will be playing the Landmark Uptown Theatre here in Minneapolis tonight and Saturday at Midnight.  Originally self-released by Moviehead Pictures, Birdemic is currently OOP, but a special edition DVD will be coming from Severin Films in the near future.

There are good movies and there are bad movies, and then there is Birdemic: Shock and Terror, the feature debut of the undeniably enthusiastic if entirely talentless 40-something James Nguyen.  One part travelogue, two parts romantic drama and three parts effects so dreadful they’d make The Asylum blush, Birdemic isn’t the sort of thing that will ever be confused with good horror, but the title does get things at least half right – it is shockingly terrible.

Continue Reading »


The Flesh Eaters

June 16th, 2009 | article by | No Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Vulcan Productions [1964] 87′
country: United States
director: JACK CURTIS
cast: MARTIN KOSLECK, BYRON SANDERS,
cast: BARBARA WILKIN, RITA MORLEY
Order this film from AMAZON.COM

Here’s an under-seen and under-appreciated little independent gem from the heyday of 60′s science fiction horrors. By the middle fifties Sci-fi and horror themed exploitationers were thrilling young audiences with their increasing levels of on-screen violence. While imports like X THE UNKNOWN [1956, US release 1957] featured a few brief effects shocks, it was Mario Bava’s CALTIKI THE IMMORTAL MONSTER [1959, released State-side in September of 1960] introduced Americans to their first real taste of modern gore by showing the gruesome physical effects of people devoured alive by its titular menace. Other films, domestic and otherwise, would soon be following suit, with H. G. Lewis’ BLOOD FEAST setting the high watermark for early 60′s carnogarphy in 1963.

THE FLESH EATERS never approaches the delirious excesses of Lewis’ creation, but it’s a fine example of truth in advertising. Produced in 1962 and released theatrically in 1964 [the ad campaigns famously promised that audiences would be "sterilized" with fear], the film is rather extreme given the time in which it was produced and has no shortage of effects payoffs relating to its namesake.

Continue Reading »


Les Raisens de la Mort

May 19th, 2009 | article by | No Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , ,

a.k.a. THE GRAPES OF DEATH / PESTICIDE
Rush Productions [1978] 90′
country: France
director: JEAN ROLLIN
cast: MARIE-GEORGES PASCAL, FELIX MARTEN,
cast: SERGE MARQUAND, BRIGITTE LAHAIE
Order this film from AMAZON.COM

There was something of a craze for zombie films after George Romero’s smash success NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and the growing exploitation industry was more than happy to provide. The years immediately following saw the rise and fall of the BLIND DEAD series, Bob ‘A CHRISTMAS STORY’ Clark’s CHILDREN SHOULDN’T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS, and the under-seen Spanish / Italian co-production LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE [recently re-released on disc as THE LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE]. This momentary surge in the popularity of the undead would prove minor in comparison to what was to follow, with Romero’s sequel DAWN OF THE DEAD jump starting a world-wide gore craze that continues to this day.

Sneaking into French cinemas just months before Romero’s second DEAD film saw its first European release was LE RAISENS DE LA MORT, a little-known effort from French director Jean Rollin, who was best known then, as he is now, for directing a number ofBava-inspired Gothic vampire eroticas . Rollin’s film took considerable inspiration from NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, but capitalized on the 1970′s disaster boom and the post-THE BIRDS demand for ecologically-minded horror as well. Though derivative in many ways, RAISENS was hardly deserving of its fate. Lost in the shuffle when DAWN OF THE DEAD exploded onto European cinema screens, it wouldn’t see release of any kind outside of its native France until the early 1980′s. Even then it would remain an obscurity, overshadowed by largely inferior productions [think HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD,ZOMBI HOLOCAUST, and BURIAL GROUND] that had broader appeal due to their high quotient of ‘hard-gore’ effects.

Continue Reading »


The Happening

June 29th, 2008 | article by | No Comments »
Tags: , , , , ,

20th Century Fox [2008] 91′
country: United States
director: M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN
cast: MARK WAHLBERG, ZOOEY DESCHANEL,
cast: JOHN LEQUIZAMO, ASHLYN SANCHEZ

A young woman on a park bench stabs herself in the jugular in Central Park while, nearby, a group of rooftop construction workers willingly plunge to their deaths from tens of stories up. It’s 8:33 in the morning and, with a mass of unexplainable suicides around Central Park, the routing of mankind seems to have begun. Caught up in the mix are Philadelphia science teacher Elliot (Mark Wahlberg) and his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) – as of recently suffering from unnamed marital difficulties. Operating on little more than bad vibes they head, along with math instructor friend Julian (John Leguizamo) and his daughter Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez), out of Philly and into the rural Pennsylvania countryside.

Terrorists? The CIA? Who, if anyone, is responsible for the horrific events going on just to the north? It soon becomes clear that the event is reaching much further than just New York City, with Boston and even Philadelphia being affected as the day wears on. By the time Elliot and his cohorts’ train makes an unexpected final stop in Filbert, PA, the event seems to have spread well beyond human means – as smaller and smaller areas become targets the idea of terrorism and government tinkerings lose favor to the thought that mother nature, herself, may be behind the ever-growing number of self-inflicted atrocities. Julian heads off in search of his wife, last heard to be heading towards Princeton, and leaves his daughter Jess under the watchful eye of “uncle” Elliot and “aunt” Alma.

Continue Reading »


Prophecies of Nostradamus: Catastrophe 1999

April 22nd, 2008 | article by | 4 Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

a.k.a. Nosutoradamusu no Daiyogen / The Last Days of Planet Earth
company: Toho Co. Ltd
year: 1974
runtime: 114′
country: Japan
director: Toshio Masuda
cast: Tetsuro Tamba, Toshio Kurosawa,
KaoriuYumi, Yoko Tsukasa
not on home video

I was in sixth grade when I first saw the film reviewed herein, and it scared the hell out of me. For weeks thence my mind was tormented by absurd visages of weeds pummeling their way through concrete subway tunnels and of mammoth bats swooping out of the skies – drug addled teenagers, volcanic disturbances, and nuclear disaster all followed suit. It was a strange time and the first, I’ll admit, that I began taking environmental concerns seriously.

Even at that age I had realized, perhaps better than most adults viewing the same film today would, that THE LAST DAYS OF PLANET EARTH was a “message” picture. That message was scrawled in bold across its 88 minutes, using scenes of disaster on a global scale as ink, and I read it well. “All of this is your fault,” it said, and I believed it.

THE LAST DAYS OF PLANET EARTH had quite a long and troubled journey to my sixth grade eyes. It began as Toho Studios’ answer to the overwhelming popularity of the superior disaster effort, SUBMERSION OF JAPAN, in 1973. Always quick to make a buck on the next big craze, Toho rushed into production a sequel in theme only – this time the world would be their playground. Taking the resurgance in popularity of supposed-seer Nostradamus into account and bankrolling the talent of GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER director Yoshimitsu Banno as writer and assistant director ensured that the resulting film would be original at the very least.

Continue Reading »