Sharks N Da Hood (Tubi) – This bootleg of a bootleg ‘Sharknado’ from Dustin Ferguson comes ten years too late as a bad storm rolls through Compton, California as the ocean rises flooding the streets with sharks attacking people. An idea that could have been fun if done a different way or to be precise could have been a rehash of ‘Leprechaun in Da Hood’ with sharks? Instead and I hate to say this but this project is just plain emotionless and a stock footage filled borefest. The scene that describes it all is a character driving in a convertible with no storm and the sun out as throughout the film and scene there is radio and television reports about the storms and rising waters as she drives down the road with nothing happening in Compton so yeah this gets 0 out of 4 stars.

Clown Motel (DVD) – In 2016 Joseph Kelly unleashed a short film that brought this quite unusual landmark in Nevada to the cinema world. A group of people driving in the desert of Nevada breakdown and are forced to walk their way for help. They believe they have found it in a creepy and mysterious “Clown Motel” that has to be seen too believe. (Nevermind what looks like a Super 8 in the background in one scene? Could have been a mistake during a reshoot?) When the group arrives with no one working there the group grabs a key to a room to get some rest. Within sometime after that is a knock at the door and free cookies so of course since the people are white and dumb they eat the cookies. They pass out from the cookies and an evil clown takes advantage and murders them as I enjoy the corny hamster in a bucket death scene for one of the characters. Overall getting past some of the sound issues there is a slight paranormal feel to the short film as the real highlight is the motel itself as I give the project 2 out of 4 stars.

Clown Motel (DVD) – Three years later Joseph Kelly turns his idea into a full feature with a couple big horror names attached to the project. The plot of the film revolves around so-called ghost hunters and a bachelorette party converging onto the motel and having a party together. Unbeknownst to these future victims of the motel is the clowns that did live there used to be nice until they were burned alive because of greed for gold. (Nevermind, someone came along and fix the motel exactly the way it was?) Once the party gets going that is when the two groups don’t see the clowns wandering out of the graveyard next door to visit them. As the two groups fight for their lives to escape they find an old journal of someone that was trapped there in the 70s in hopes of finding answers. This full feature leans much more into the paranormal which just gives the film a weird vibe throughout as I give it 2 out of 4 stars.

Clown Motel: 2 Death Do Us Part (DVD) – The evil clowns have returned and the sequel rehashes what happened in the first film to open this sequel as the lone survivor Brooke is still trapped in a motel room trying to decide what she can do? So for this feature for whatever crazy ass idea the military gets involved as Brooke’s soon-to-be husband is recruited for a covert mission to find the creepy ‘Clown Motel’ and enter the clown’s realm. Meanwhile the clowns wait patiently around the door of the trapped Brooke waiting for her to make a run to somewhere with no success. As the savage clowns wait to capture Brooke’s soul they have the soldiers show up that allows them to continue their search for souls they need for some convoluted ritual in a cave where the clowns are hanging out this time around. Way too much slow motion action goes on in this film as its main purpose is to set up a third film as I can only give the expanding project 2 out of 4 stars.

Amityvillenado (Fawesome) – Welcome children as entry #78 has been unleashed onto the world in the form of a horror comedy that is worth watching! It begins with the infamous house in Amityville being destroyed by a freak tornado. The next day, Trey who is a former resident of Amityville and his best friend Jib roll into town to stay at his sister’s house for the weekend. With the house destroyed Trey still wants to check out the site maybe even brag to his best friend about all the weird shit that has happened over the years. The two go check it out and find a $2 bill and an Ouija board in the dirt of where the old DeFeo house stood. As the two argue what else can be done with their weekend a freak storm keeps showing up causing chaos among residents as apparently the storm has latched with the evil spirits of the DeFeo home. As the freak storm keeps sucking the souls of Amityville residents Trey, Jib, an old friend in meteorologist June Weathers, and Officer Lipshits must find a way stop the evil tornado’s evil reign of terror in Amityville. A lot of good fun here with one big hang up is it runs a way too long 111 minutes! When you think about it after watching as fun as it is there are certain scenes that could have been cut down or removed for a better running time as I give this latest entry into the Amityville series 3 out of 4 stars. P.S. these folks deserve your support of this feature they have watched many entries like me because of the references they throw out along the way.

Cape Cod Cthulhu (Fawesome) – This recent Mark Polonia film deals with Lovecraft and Poe as the feature is introduced by none other Craig Muckler of ‘Microwave Massacre’ fame! The movie opens with a person dying in a cemetery that leads into a young woman jumping into a car to tell a story to the famous Mark Polonia. Mark is so famous he even gets pitched the idea of directing ‘Spookies 2’ by Frank Farel himself! The young woman tells Mark the story of how her and two friends head to Cape Cod during spring break for the discounts but also to rehearse together. Have no clue of why there is this so-called ‘Cake Boss’ rap song in the film but it all leads up to this young woman explaining the spirits of Poe and Lovecraft having a boxing match in the living room of the cottage they rented in Cape Cod. In the end of all this weirdness I came away feeling like Mark might have made a film to just poke fun at his recent movies as I give this project 2 ½ out of 4 stars.

Ebola Syndrome (4K/Ultra HD) – This 1996 film is unlike anything most horror film fans have ever seen and for the first time as a couple years ago Vinegar Syndrome restored this film unrated to the states where you usually seen some kind of bootleg of the project. The story of Kai begins in 1986 where being involved with a married woman he needs to murder his way out the situation. Immediately Kai is on the run as the story moves to South Africa ten years later where Kai works cheap for a Chinese restaurant. Looking for cheaper priced meat for the business Kai heads out into the jungle of South Africa with his boss to buy pigs. While there Kai attacks a woman only to contract the deadly Ebola virus from her and bring it back to the restaurant. Kai sick at first but then becomes immune to the virus is tired of having his balls busted by the boss’ wife as Kai brutally slaughters them and takes their money to travel back to Hong Kong. There Kai continues his contamination of everyone around him as he kills again with an ending that is just completely wild and something I have never forgotten after first seeing this film in Incredible Strange Video in Dormont, Pa., around 1998 for the first time. The film gets 4 stars for sure but this is a thing of beauty for collectors besides the slipcase, there is the great 4K scan of the original negative, interview with director Herman Yau, featurette of Yau trying to explain how hard it was to get the project translated into English, interviews with lead actor Anthony Wong, a couple of commentary tracks, and a 20-page booklet on Herman Yau’s career and about this legendary project. More than anything this movie is something for horror fans that are tired of hearing their friends complain about liking “gory movies but can never find them?” Just tell your friends “hold my beer” and hand them this feature.  

The Benefactress: An Exposure of Cinematic Freedom (Google) – Now full heads up the person that sent me this screener warned me it’s “not my cup of tea” but that hasn’t ever stopped me from at least giving the film a watch as I do watch lots of stuff outside of monsters, slashers, and Amityville entries. The independent film comes out of the UK that goes to great lengths to be different as it centers on a character named “Juicy X” and her relationship with a certain filmmaker. They take quite a ride into underground cinema that could be seen as the dark side of film, or as an extreme sexual exploration, or as a disturbing art form that isn’t for the mainstream audience to understand. Point is Juicy X goes to the extreme with an unknown person in her residence while being filmed doing it by Guerilla Metropolitana who eventually gets in on the act also. The project isn’t my cup of tea and I knew that going in but sometimes me watching a project like this can help the right audience find it in what could also be viewed as a small part of ‘Faces of Death’ from the art world for those who are not exposed to such cinema? Honestly giving this project a rating would do it injustice in my opinion. Giving it exposure to find the audience that appreciates what it is sometimes is more of the goal of me reviewing and in hopes of finding them.

Any comments please send to grossmoviereview@verizon.net or www.facebook.com/grossmoviereviews .

Plus you can always go to the greatest T-shirt place online or if you are in Texas visit the store of “Fast Custom Shirts” where T-shirt Joe is the only place you should purchase your horror T-shirts: Go to www.fastcustomshirts.com and support!