Gross Movie Reviews #546

The Manson Family Massacre (DVD) – Or as I would to call this film “crap we already knew”… Anyway the film is set in 1992 after reacting the beginning of ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ with the Manson Family murders we are introduced to a young female musician who is looking to go darker with her music. Of course she lives in the place where the murders took place and it gets a little paranormal from there as the film does flashbacks of the Manson Family dealing with their drug deals and the fallout from them. Blah, blah blah, yinz all know the stories by now. There isn’t anything knew other than the short film about the musician that doesn’t know she is dreaming with most of the film being a reenactment like it was on the ID channel or something. I hate to say it folks but this crap can eat donkey shit as I give 0 stars.

Swim (Tubi) – Joey Lawrence and family are heading to their favorite rental property on the coast for a month of vacation. When they arrive the family quickly realizes their property manager dude sucks at his job and fixed nothing! And oh yeah there is a shark randomly stalking their vacation home but what else would you expect from a cheap boring Asylum flick. Yes kids a storm begins and soon the horrible stalker, the shark jumps into the home where the family is trapped and is forced to fend off the fiend until help comes since they didn’t know to leave during a horrible storm? As the water rises I’d hope for people to be eaten by this ridiculous shark but the body count is super low and boring. This is prime example of why I get more excited for random shark films ‘Shark Exorcist’ and ‘Ouija Shark’ as I give this 0 stars.

Bats the Awakening (DVD) – Apparently this UK film couldn’t afford Lou Diamond Phillips and went ahead anyway to establish a killer bat film with two guys sharing a girl in an abandoned home… Wait, what did PornHub make a horror movie? No fellow yinzers they did not but I will give kudos for one of the weirdest openings to a horror movie I have seen in quite some time as it made me question if I had the right film on. Anyhow a family returns to the family home (this wasn’t fully explained in the film plot but IMDB claimed there was a toxic spill, but there wasn’t anyone else in this village, Chernobyl???) They quickly figure out they must battle it out with the bat creature that lives in the attic or they should of just called Lou Diamond Phillips anyway as I give the film 1 star.

Black Friday (DVD) – An interesting thriller for oldie but goodie movie fans that stars Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. A gangster has his brain transplanted into another man’s body to save a doctor’s friend. Of course there are side effects and the gangster has some debts to settle. Not a horror movie at all but this dynamitic duo is well worth the effort to seek out and enjoy as I give it 3 stars.

Naked Girl Murdered in the Park (DVD) – A supposedly long lost giallo from 1972 that recently got a release from Full Moon of all places. An older fellow has just taken out a huge ass insurance policy and within hours is found dead on an amusement ride. The insurance company is super curious and does not wanna pay out the dough as they begin their own investigation aside from the local authorities. The daughter of the man who seems to benefit the most from this death keeps getting strange phone calls and just wants to why her father was even at an amusement park. As the insurance investigator gets in deep with the family including the daughter and her sister (again is this another plot from PornHub or was this film already predicting the future of internet porn?!) he proceeds to finds answers but the bodies are also dropping. Giallos are not my usual cup of tea but I kind of liked this one as I gotta give it 2 ½ stars.

Blood Red Sky (DVD) – Think ’30 Days of Night’ on an airplane as the wife described it which I agree with her and that does not happen often. A plane lands in Scotland because the threat of terrorists and authorities has the plane surrounded with a boy coming out of the cargo hold area and no one else. Then the movie back tracks several hours to show how we got to this point. The plane leaves its destination with no issues as the film centers around a boy and his mother. The mother is heading to America with her child for a treatment that could help her with the rare condition she has… being a vampire! Anyhow Dominic Purcell and other hijackers have a different plan as they take over the plane once over the ocean and plan to blow it up once they have gotten what they came for. The mother is shot during the fracas trying to protect the boy and believes to be dead but her vampire powers kick in and you would have thought Dominic Purcell would have seen this coming? ‘Blade III’ folks he should know better?  Once the vampire powers kick in the mother is all about kicking ass or eating hijackers to protect the boy. One problem she spread her virus to a complete psycho hijacker who turns some of his crew into immortals which led to me screaming at the TV a couple times, “we got to get these mother fucking vampires off the mother fucking plane”! Great story, lots of gore, the film runs a little long but another under the radar horror film out there that horror fans should be more than happy to eat up as I give it 3 stars.

Santo: The Fist of Death (DVD) – An early 80s Santo flick that was super boring as sisters fight over something cosmic called “The Almighty Star” and they talk to a C-3PO head that is their god. Meanwhile, Santo or man with no face comes to fulfill the prophecy but must ride a boat for what seemed 75% of the film before he faces off with the Gold Power Ranger which lasts a whole 30 seconds. This was super lame compared to past Santo films where he is suplexing werewolves in caves as I can only give this a ½ star.

A Dark Song (DVD) – Before all the ‘Hereditary’ bullshit there was this lesser known Irish horror film that made a splash at the festivals a few years ago. A woman who recently lost her child which we do not learn how exactly until later in the film is renting a home to set up a ritual. But not just any ritual, but something that deals with angels and demons and shit where she must set up everything perfectly and hires a man who has claimed to do three of these so-called rituals. This is all so this woman can see and talk to her son again as it has been beyond devastating loss she cannot get over. Sophia must painfully follow the procedure to go through each stage and follow instructions without question since this process can take months? As the torture becomes unbearable she is about to bail but quickly learns she must finish the ritual. If looking for crazy creatures and gore you will be watching this for the wrong reasons. Looking for a story driven horror film that literally focuses in on two characters to carry it for over 90 minutes this will the film you have been looking for as I give it 2 ½ stars.    

The Last Mercenary (On Demand) – JCVD does it again in this action/comedy where he plays an old school mercenary named Richard who after 25 years comes out of hiding because a local dunce of a Paris police officer has made a clerical error on purpose. He stops monthly payments to a guy named Archie who just happens to be Richard’s son but doesn’t know it and has lost immunity from everything that he didn’t know he had. See a gangster who has watched ‘Scarface’ way too many times as stolen his identity so he can stay in France and sell drugs and the Paris police and government are involved also. Once Richard is back, he must save his son and stop the government or one dude that is still upset Richard plowed his wife 25 years ago before they all die! A hilarious French action/comedy that I could not stop laughing from beginning to end as I give JCVD’s latest venture 3 stars.

Lost in Cleveland (YouTube) – Steve Rudzinski’s latest short film about Ben and Blake who are “business partners” that travel to Cleveland for a movie gig? Ben is the actor and Blake is the partner that wanted to come along but bored as his partner can be out for long hours or days at a time during these movie shoots. Blake meets Steve the filmmaker while lurking around sadly around the hotel. The two hit it off immediately and discuss how they are very similar in how they view their relationships right now and decide to spend lots of time together. This 19 minute short is brilliant and for Indy fans who have not seen any of Steve’s past work this would be a great introduction to Steve Rudzinski and BPO films project libraries as they are some of the best talent the Indy film world has to offer as I give this 4 out of 4 stars! This and more can be found at www.silverspotlightfilms.com .

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