Behind the Couch

A group of carnival sideshow workers are abducted and forced to fight for their lives against a gang of killer clowns as mysterious, bewigged oligarchs in aristocratic period garb wager bets on who will survive. 31 is a film about violence as entertainment and death as spectacle. It’s a film about the depths of human depravity. It’s also about survival and the things rational, sane and civilised people will do when they are backed into a corner and forced to fight for their lives. While it riffs on the likes of similarly themed films such as The Most Dangerous Game (1932), The Running Man (1987) and Death Race (1975), it is all, obviously, presented in Rob Zombie’s inimitable and furiously violent style. Like so much of Zombie’s film work, 31 has strong echoes of Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), though more so of its sequel (1986), both stylistically and in its fiendishly warped sense of humour. Film scholar Robin Wood once said The Texas Chain Saw Massa...

2014 Dir. Lowell Dean When small town, alcoholic cop Lou Garrou is cursed by a mysterious cult beneath a full moon, he transforms into a werewolf. Director Lowell Dean subsequently has a lot of fun with traditional werewolf film conventions while creating some interesting and original lore of his own. An energetic and highly entertaining romp, Dean's sophomore offering features a surprising amount of character development and back-story behind all the B-movie bravado and, in case you were in any doubt, WolfCop is as much fun as it sounds. And then some. Head over to Exquisite Terror to read my full review.

1970 Dir. Jess Franco 17th Century England is in the grip of Satanic Panic, and amongst those seeking to rid the land of traitors to the throne and anyone 'in league with the devil’, is Judge George Jeffreys, whose unreasonable sentences and excessively violent tortures are dished out with puritanical abandon. He soon becomes obsessed with Mary, a young women whose sister he accused of witchcraft and whose lover is a rebel against King James II. When the rebels are defeated, Mary tries to save her beau by surrendering herself to the Judge’s cruel lust. Betrayal, bloody torture and murder ensue. Believe it or not, The Bloody Judge marks the first time I’ve reviewed a Jess Franco film for this blog. Despite his insanely prolific career - spanning decades and genres alike - this humble scribbler has seen but a mere scrap of Franco’s films, which, not including my recent indulgence in The Bloody Judge , includes his kitsch classic Vampyros Lesbos and his more recent not so...

2010 Dirs. Jen & Sylvia Soska Four friends set out on an errand and end up in a fight for their lives when they discover the body of a prostitute in the trunk of their car. The ragtag group must put aside their differences to dispose of the body and evade attempts on their lives by shadowy underworld figures, corrupt police, a sleazy motel manager, chainsaw wielding triads, and a brutal serial killer. Energetic, oddball and effortlessly cool, the luridly titled Dead Hooker In A Trunk is one of a few current films boasting exploitative monikers that hark back to sleazy grindhouse flicks of the past. Unfolding as a love letter to exploitation movies, the feature debut from Canadian twin sisters Jen and Sylvia Soska is an anarchic and eccentric road movie that subverts expectations and doesn’t stop for breath until its surprisingly poignant ending. That it has an unexpectedly big heart, and is a statement about the dynamics and importance of friendship, is an added bonus. A...

2010 Dir. Steven R. Monroe While staying at a secluded cabin to finish her novel, a young writer is brutally raped and left for dead by a group of local men. Some time later, she systematically hunts down the men to extract merciless and gruesome revenge.  The original I Spit on Your Grave  is a notorious rape-revenge film produced in the 1970s. Written and directed by Meir Zarchi, it generated controversy upon its release for its graphic violence and depiction of the brutal gang rape of the main character (novelist Jennifer Hills, portrayed by Camille Keaton) which lasts about half an hour. It was branded a Video Nasty and subsequently banned. Some critics over the years have suggested the film is ‘pro-feminist’, that Zarchi was exploring 'feminist wish-fulfilment', and that revenge narratives can subvert traditional power dynamics, ultimately empowering the victim. Others have said it can't possibly be a feminist work because rape-revenge films are inherently miso...

2010 Dir. Declan O’Brien An eeevviiiil, egotistical bio-geneticist, along with his reluctant daughter, develops a hybrid half-shark/half-octopus for the US military (!). Code-named S11, the creature has been designed as the ultimate weapon in aquatic attack and defence. But when its control unit malfunctions during a test run, the S11 is accidentally unleashed and sets off in the direction of a popular tourist resort. Oh noes! Can our intrepid heroes - egotistical bio-geneticist’s daughter and a hunky ex-employee-turned slacker-mercenary - track down and capture the mutant killing machine before it snacks on a buffet of oiled-up, dressed-down holidaymakers?! Can they heck!  Half Shark. Half Octopus. All Killer. With a title like Sharktopus , let’s face it, one really ought to know what to expect. A goofy, tongue-in-cheek monster-movie romp, the film has already been garnering a sizable cult following for its deliberately trashy, B-movie campiness. Add to this the fact tha...

2010 Dan Garcia When bickering couple Don and Nancy’s car is forced off the road when they pass through a small, rural Louisiana town, they are taken to stay at a nearby motel by the somewhat inhospitable sheriff. They soon discover that the motel is used by a gang of twisted individuals to produce snuff movies. And Don and Nancy are to be the unwitting stars of their latest film... Beginning suspensefully with a menacing scene in which a young woman is stopped by a surly sheriff in the middle of nowhere, hauled out of her car, has her keys confiscated and told she must either spend the night in a jail cell or a nearby hotel because she’s in ‘no fit state to drive’, Terror Trap sadly goes down hill from here on in. The taut uneasiness created in this scene, depicting a helpless individual powerless to do anything when a corrupt authority figure abuses his power, could have lent the film real suspense had writer/director Garcia incorporated more instances like it throughout. Wh...

When I began to flesh out my thoughts and hastily scribbled notes on The Black Cat , I ended up spewing forth a tangent about why I find Lucio Fulci’s film work so disturbing, horrifying and repellent. Below is said tangent, and the review of The Black Cat (tangent free) can be found here .  Of the countless schlocky, ultra-violent, exploitation-laden fare this writer has watched over the years - and the plethora of disturbing, mind-numbingly deplorable and brain-botheringly wretched imagery I’ve witnessed as a result of watching such fare - one filmmaker and his work stands apart from the others when it comes to creating genuinely upsetting, avert-your-gaze-from-the-screen-in-disgust moments. Lucio Fulci is a director most fans of horror cinema will be familiar with. Heck, many of them will even own some of his work on DVD or something called VHS. My own experience of watching Fulci’s work is quite limited. I find his films to be disturbing, disgusting and weirdly depressing...

1975 Dir. Andrea Bianchi When a fashion model dies during surgery to perform an abortion, a slew of violent murders ensue, starting with that of the doctor who tried to cover up her death. The killer’s victims are all connected to a fashion modelling agency where the dead woman worked. As the body count rises, a couple of scantily clad amateur sleuths try to discover the killer’s identity before they too are struck off. “ I feel too hot to be a corpse, baby .” To describe Strip Nude For Your Killer as trashy and exploitative would really be a fantastically obvious understatement. Hey, with a title like that, one should really know what to expect. Of course, there are films with truly exploitative, titillating titles that can never hope to live up to the lurid promise their monikers suggest – Strip Nude is not one of those films. It does exactly what it says on the tin. The surprising thing is that it is actually pretty enjoyable, in a trashy, campy, exploitative and deliri...

1973 Dir. Sergio Martino AKA The Bodies Bear Traces of Carnal Violence The brutal murders of several college students plunge the campus into paranoia and terror. Four friends (including Suzy Kendall - The Bird with the Crystal Plumage ) decide to leave town for a few days until the killer is apprehended. They head for the safety of a secluded mountain-top villa - little do they realise though, that the crazed maniac has followed them to the retreat and fully intends to off them one by one. “ Death is the best keeper of secrets .” Director  Sergio Martino was never content to limit his output to just one genre and since the Sixties he dabbled in projects ranging from horror to westerns, action to sci-fi. His best work though is without a doubt his lurid gialli – works that are often criminally overlooked - such as The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key and All the Colours of the Dark . Torso , one of his later giallo flicks,...

2009 Dir. Ron Carlson AKA Pear Blossom New Year’s Eve, 1969. Brooke (Sophie Monk) and her girlfriend Rhea (Anya Lahiri) are at a totally swinging party in LA. The evening’s glitter ball-bedazzled festivities are cut short when Brooke stumbles into the bathroom and interrupts Hollywood A-lister Warren James (Justin Shilton) attempting to assault a young fan (Scout Taylor-Compton – Halloween, Halloween II ). Brooke stabs the would-be rapist in the throat. Escaping to the desert in their car (“I just wish I could let the top down and let this warm desert air cleanse my body”), Brooke and Rhea then encounter God herself (Angela Lindvall), who offers to turn the pair into immortal, vampiric angels of death, destined to sexily wander the earth destroying evil wherever they find it. Cut to forty years later. Brooke and Rhea are resurrected from their desert tomb to begin their divine mission. This naturally involves a shot of them strutting along a moonlit desert highway in ling...

1978 Dir. Joe D’Amato A team of geologists attempt to remove an indigenous, allegedly cannibalistic population from their island home in order to set up a power station and perform atomic research. The islanders' leader has other plans though, and she sets about disposing of the the pesky geologists one by one, utilising the art of seduction to aid her quest. Papaya (Melissa) is just your average voodoo priestess, eco-activist and blood crazed cannibal, willing to do whatever it takes to keep her tropical island home from being exploited by nuclear scientists hell-bent on building a nuclear reactor on it. And if that means stripping off her clothes every five minutes and seducing them one by one, then killing them by castrating them - so be it!  The film opens with Papaya emerging from the sea, strutting across the beach, entering a palm-hut, smearing fruit over a man before biting off his penis and watching as her henchmen (who look like they’d be equally at home on the ...

The prolific and versatile career of Sergio Martino spans many movie genres; sci-fi, horror, action, documentary, comedy, war and westerns. With titles such as The Mountain of the Cannibal God, The River of the Great Alligator, The Bodies Bear Traces of Carnal Violence, Naked and Violent, A Man Called Blade and Vendetta from the Future , it’s obvious Martino had a penchant for exploitative fare laden with copious amounts of sex and violence. It therefore comes as no surprise, given that Martino was most prolific in the Seventies and Eighties and not afraid to experiment or dabble with different genres, that he is perhaps most famed for his work in the horror/thriller arena; specifically his violent and stylish gialli. Produced throughout the Seventies – arguably the Golden Era of the exclusively Italian genre - several of these films featured memorable collaborations with prolific actress, Edwige Fenech. Perhaps because of Martino’s willingness to experiment and work in different g...