Behind the Couch

When Max is murdered by a mysterious demon-worshipping cult, his partner Jay (Zarif) and best friend Aria (Cassie Hamilton) set out to avenge his death. Directed by prolific Aussie filmmaker Alice Maio Mackay, and co-written by Mackay, Cassie Hamilton and Benjamin Pahl Robinson, Satranic Panic is a low-budget, character-driven, comedy-horror road movie. Quite similar in tone to Mackay’s previous feature, T-Blockers , Satranic Panic also unfurls as a love letter to schlocky b-movie horrors and features transgender characters who make a defiant stand against intolerance. And demons. Retaining most of the crew from T-Blockers , including cinematographer/editor Aaron Schuppan, composer Alex Taylor and sound designer Roisin Gleeson, Mackay’s approach is as bold as it was on her earlier film, but with slightly higher production values. While Satranic Panic is still a very low budget affair, it’s just as much a labour of love and exhibits an equally off-kilter yet exuberant tone. The low b...

The feature directorial debut from Irish filmmaker Zoe Kavanagh, Demon Hunter (2016) tells of Taryn (Niamh Hogan), a young woman whose sister is kidnapped and ritualistically sacrificed by members of a creepy demonic sect. Taryn joins forces with a gang of demon hunters to rid Dublin of the diabolical fiends, but when she is arrested for murder, the covert operation is at risk of exposure and she must convince a cynical cop of the existence of real evil before it is too late. Head over to Exquisite Terror to read my full review . 

1996 Dir. Alan Smithee 2127. A scientist onboard a space station attempts to complete the task began by his ancestor centuries ago; to destroy the puzzle box that, when solved and opened, allows the demonic entities known as Cenobites to enter our world and cause havoc and untold suffering in the name of pleasure. Written by Peter Atkins, with Clive Barker serving as executive producer, Bloodline is the centuries-spanning origin story of the puzzle box that featured throughout all the Hellraiser films up until this point - and the sequels which followed. Acting as a doorway to hell itself, the box, an amalgamation of alchemy and science, grants demons access to our world. Director Kevin Yagher disowned the film when the studio began re-editing it, ordering re-writes and re-shoots, and generally interfering with his grand vision. And what a vision this could have been. The tale of a family plagued for generations by demons who wish to create a permanent doorway into our world;...

With its blushless exploration of adult themes such as sado-masochism, pain and pleasure, and its searing imagery of grisly body-modification and skinless resurrections, Hellraiser marked writer/director Clive Barker as an extraordinarily singular voice in horror. Based upon his novella The Hellbound Heart , it tells of individuals who seek the most extreme forms of self-gratifying pleasure before losing their lives (and souls) to a group of sinister, self-mutilating figures from another dimension. To say bloodshed ensues is a vast understatement. While the film boasts a deliciously gothic score courtesy of Christopher Young, Barker had originally commissioned British industrial outfit Coil to score the film. The ‘bowel-churning’ soundscape they delivered wasn’t considered commercial enough by the studio, though the band later released it in various collections of their work. Head over to Paracinema to read about the unused Hellraiser score and listen to a couple of tracks. ...

2009 Dir. Chad Ferrin A group of young medical students experiment with bizarre pharmaceutical research drugs while listening to therapy session tapes from the Seventies. On the tapes are interviews with homicidal couple John and Wilma Hopper (Ezra Buzzington and Elina Madison) - psychotic sexual deviants who claimed to be possessed by demons. Soon the group of students are pursued and essentially raped to death by the shape-shifting Hoppers and their monstrous genitalia. If the above synopsis sounds pretty fucked up to you, you’re not alone! Someone’s Knocking at the Door is part of a breed of horror flicks in which the source of the horror stems from the human body: monstrous, warped and shockingly mutated bodies featuring all manner of grotesque orifices and ghoulish appendages. Troma graduate Ferrins' ups the absurd factor and the ludicrous, comedic tone, riffing on the likes of Frank Henenlotter's Bad Biology and, well, most of David Cronenberg's back catalogue....