Horror Movie Reviews

If you like bad movies/B movies you will love this movie, and if you don't well I think you shouldn't even waste your time reading this review.

Horrible acting, very obvious fake gore, laugh out loud monster, weird dialog, unbelievable characters, and a "twist ending". This movie has everthing that makes a movie so bad its good.

the dvd is packed with extras noted above. If you are a bad movie fan you must see this film!!!

I willingly spent 30 of my hard-earned dollars to own a copy of this film when you only could get it on VHS. so all I own is the film itself, a film that brought me and ten of my friends into full-blown MST3K mode when we saw it once (complete with rewinding and watching a couple scenes over and over because they were so bad). A friend of mine had thought to bring PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE because he thought it was bad, but quickly yielded. This was worse. Obviously. And therein lies its beauty.

The fact that the DVD contains something entitled "Brad Grinter: Nudist" puts it into the realm of the sublime.

I've seen a lot of bad movies in my day, but frame for frame, nothing measures up to Blood Freak. The plot involves a Vietnam vet who assists a girl with car trouble, meets her evil skank of a sister, gets hooked on drugs, works for the girls' father, eats a drugged turkey, and becomes a turkey headed monster craving junky blood! This movie is delightfully tacky and inept in every possible way. Also, look out for the best line ever uttered in a movie, "You're just a dumb bastard who doesn't know where it's at anyway!" Thankfully, Something Weird Video has lovingly released this title on DVD with tons of extras! The short films are so campy and ridiculous; they are worth the price of the DVD themselves. This is a must for any serious fan of camp, sleaze, and just plain awful movies.

The movie was one of the worst I had seen in my life. I did not have high hope for the animated series but I was very much surprised. The dialogue and, bizzarly enough, the acting are a hundred times as good as the film and the plot and characters are also much more intriguing.

This is the second season of Spawn and it is crammed full of plot developments and great characters. Sam and Twitch get more room here. But since this has stopped airing as of 1999 there has been no fourth season. It's a shame since the one thing I can be sure ofis that the story could have had one hell of a send-off when it finally climaxes.

It's more than likely in syndication somewhere so I'd start watching this if I were you. But be prepared. The violence is quite graphic and the overall tone of the stories ranges from kiddie fiddlers to satanic demons. Needless to say, it's not a cartoon for kids. It's an animated series for adults.

The DVD is in full screen format, as originally drawn and is in Dolby 5.1 surround. Todd McFarlane says in his commentary that he was working on a darker sequel for the movie. It has since not happened. But I'd keep my fingers crossed, because the toys sell like crazy and the audience is definitely there.

I remember watching this series when it aired on HBO. I was in shock at how dark and perfectly executed the mood of the "cartoon" was. This wasn't re-using frame after frame like Hanna-Barbara, it wasn't happy kiddie-fare from Disney, and it wasn't some strange art style inspired from Europe like Heavy Metal. Spawn was truly an animated series for adults, and people who could think. Don't let the spelling of other reviewers (words like "phat" and the excessive use of the letter z, e.g.) fool you into thinking this for the current MTV generation only. This is for anyone who wants to see an intelligent, dark series that probably gets away with more grim acts than many R-rated movies. Exceptional and eye-opening. You owe it to yourself to see this work of art.

This video is great, in fact, i liked spawn so much, i went out and bought myself the entire series (not all at once, of course) i even have both of the live one's, i've even got the edited animates! but, why doesn't todd ever show Melbulgia. It stinks that there is no edited Spawn 3. But you have to see this, lots of suspense, and weirdness! spawn even gets the power to change forms, is that awesome or what! And you might even fall asleep, not becuzz it's boring, but becuzz it's 2 and 1/2 hours. Almost long enough to put on two tapes, anyway, protect the cover good, because the cover is like a holographic pokemon card, the cover is pure shiney foil, even the top, sides and back. What's really awesom is that it features videos by KID ROCK and LIL' CEASE! Buy this movie, you'd have to be crazy not to.

As a fan of Debbie Reynolds as a child (via her t.v. show in 1969), my mother's interest was jarred when "What's The Matter With Helen?" was released in 1971. I knew of Shelley Winters, but only from her older films played on t.v.
So, me, at age 9, went with mom to see a double-feature. "Wait Until Dark", and "What's The Matter With Helen?". Seems "Helen" didn't play well in my area so the theater double billed it. "Wait Until Dark" was in my eyes a well-acted thriller that after watching the finale HAD to be seen in a theater to get the most impact.
"Helen" on the other hand started out as a black and white newsreel, that suddenly came to life in color. I asked mom if we were seeing the right film. As the film progressed, i came to realize why Shelley and Debbie were acting legends. Why the critics hated the film at the time puzzled me, but the climax of the film was first rate (scared me half to death for a 9 year old), and the subdued violence kept the film from being too exploitative, as the story was more important.
Like Harrington's comment on the publicity of the film, the poster killed the film's success, as the so-called surprise ending was revealed.
To the film buffs, "Helen" was nominated for an Academy Award for best Costume Design. As a time period film, the re-creation of the 1930's was dead-on. Tho I agree this film includes Shelley's best performance, who can deny that there were no stiff actors, as each character was fully explained, rare for a horror film.
"Whoever Slew Auntie Roo" was a film i didn't get to see in the theaters. It came and went to quickly at the local drive-in. I did finally see it on video, and tho Shelley's performance was over the top, the story had too many loose ends. Considering the publicity of the film, you would think Shelley was a child killer, when in fact, she is not. Troubled yes, killer, no. It's a well-acted film, and again, another time-piece setting, but you HAVE to like Shelley to enjoy this one.
I rate the dvd package 5 out of 5, only for the fact that the quality of the films are gorgeous, and hoping new fans will appreciate these films as much as i have.

The wonderful WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN is an overlooked movie in the WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE genre. Basically the genre that gives you a chance to see aging stars go crazy. In WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN Shelley Winters is a repressed lesbian with fundamentalist mores. She lives with her best friend Adelle who is a dance teacher for little girls with hopes of child stardom. After receiving threatening phone calls from an unknown man Helen goes off the deep end and kills a man who comes to her door on an errand. Adelle helps Helen hide the body and well, it is all downhill for Helen and Adelle from there. Agnes Moorehead is quite believable and demented as the radioevangelist Sister Alma.

WHOEVER SLEW AUNTIE ROO is subtley deranged take on the story Hansel and Gretel. Auntie Roo is a film that would never be made today. It's horror is way to undertoned and portraying children as killers would never go over in a PG film these days.
Mark Lester sums it all up when after trapping Shelley Winters in a fire that kills her he says, "Bloody good fire!"
Twisted. Auntie Roo is a wonderful old time flick that played all the time on the afternoon movie when I was a kid, it would never be played these days. It is too old fashioned and probably moves to slow for todays mentally challenged viewers.

I haven't seen this SHOCKER since I was a kid. A truely terrifying character study about a dowdy religious woman who goes psycho. I remember seeing this when I was 11 years old with my cousin. We'd go to the Saturday Afternoon Double Feature and if the first film was good we'd sit through it twice. Needless to say we sat through this ONE twice and then went to see it again then the following week. Shelley Winters scared the BEEJEEZUS out of us. Ahhh, the good ol' days. Good Horror Movies should give little kids nightmares and I can tell you I had them for weeks after seeing this GREAT MOVIE. I agree with a previous reviewer. This one stands alone. I haven't seen WHO SLEW so I can't comment on it.

I also remember staying up late as a kid to watch this by myself. Alone. So Midnite Movie is a great title. Does anyone still show old movies late at night? I don't have cable. God, I miss the LATE SHOW. Where did they find this? MGM IS THE BEST!! They put out great old catalog stuff that probably doesn't make them much money. That's refreshing. At least someone is preserving some great old cult favorites.

I haven't seen this in probably 25 years. Can anyone tell me if the scene with the plow that graphically runs over Shelley Winter's father's face is still in this flick? That scene was horrifying!! I GOTTA GET THIS!!

One of the all-time great scare anthologies, DEAD OF NIGHT (Anchor Bay) is a classic collection of freaky supernatural stories told by strangers at a remote estate. The topper is Sir Michael Redgrave as a renowned ventriloquist who tells his tale of madness and murder when his dummy exhibits a mind of his own. The uncut, restored UK version is coupled with the wonderfully macabre QUEEN OF SPADES.

About ten years ago, I screened THE QUEEN OF SPADES at New York's Museum of Modern Art film library. I had heard that they had, in their collection, an old 16 mm print of this almost-lost treasure. I sat with a Russian stage/film director friend, as well as actress Rosemary Harris (late of Aunt May in SPIDERMAN); the three of us were transfixed as we discovered, and Rosie re-discovered (she had seen the premiere in England), this astonishing piece of film alchemy.

Anton Walbrook's talent, like Vivien Leigh's, was ineffable. His choices, as an actor, are so outlandish sometimes that you think he will never pull off the moment - then he stops right at the edge and leaves you gasping at the utter uniqueness and danger of his choice. Dame Edith Evans, in her film debut, playing a woman forty years her senior, is all remarkable, twisted, bitter, frightened restraint. (Rosie mentioned that Edith Evan's key moment of reaction, in the film, had so frightened the audience at the time that everyone screamed out loud. Not difficult to understand, even today...)

The lighting and camera direction are at once solid and ethereal; dreamy like Cocteau's LA BELLE ET LA BETE, and brutally unforgiving like Welles' CITIZEN KANE.

Much has been said about DEAD OF NIGHT and deservedly so. This genuinely is the grandfather of all psychological horror films. What seems so innocuous, almost gentle at first, develops into a disturbingly laden freight train barrelling straight towards you. There will be no way to escape. You will be knocked squarely off your tracks. Completely and utterly disorienting. Warning: do not watch this film alone at night. Don't even watch this film alone on a sunny day.

The picture and sound on each are very good and rich. The liner notes and artwork accompanying the DVD are of great interest, and are a wonderful starting-off point for the viewer.

Would that more DVD-producing companies were like Anchor Bay. Could they be poised to take over the position that Criterion, up until recently (with misleading claims of restoration and a chronicity of poor quality releases), enjoyed? One can only hope.

I won't say much about DEAD OF NIGHT, as any one who will be buying this set knows how extraordinary & ahead of it's time that film is. Needless to say, the Michael Redgrave segment is the best of a good bunch, with even the 'lighter' stories offering excellent viewing.
It's the QUEEN OF SPADES that proved the surprise to me - I had never seen this film, relagating it to 'second fiddle' after DEAD OF NIGHT, when it does in fact hold it's own remarkably well.
Slow moving, but to it's benefit, the story see's Anton Walbrook, a German engineer in the Russian army, envious of the wealth & title that are automatically bestowed upon his comrades. After learning that a Russian noblewoman posesses the secret of winning at cards, he manipulates her lady-in-waiting to gain access to this secret. things go slightly awray and although he gains the secret, the aged noblewoman dies of fright.
This part of the story takes up most of the film, with the 'haunting' of the engineer forming the final act.
Although lacking any actual 'horror', this film has a definate atmosphere of unease and of meddling with things that should be left alone. Superb performances again, with the key being the utter conviction of the cast.
A film like this could not be made today, which makes it all the more important that productions like this and DEAD OF NIGHT should be cherished by fans of what the term 'horror film' really means as opposed to what it was eventually twisted into in the '80's & '90's.

Do any of you remember when all that bull that came out in the 80's about playing records backwards and how they had subliminal messages? Well that little controversy is main point of this film. When a teenage metal head plays a demo record of his favorite dead heavy metal singer backwards, he resurrects him as a demonic force. Why this hasn't become an even bigger cult classic than it already is is beyond me. This film is a definate product of the times. I am a huge 80's heavy metal fan, and I really enjoyed all my favorite bands making an appearance in this film in some way or another. The lead characters mom is going through his record collection with a shocked look on here face, and one of the records she comes across is Megadeth - Killing Is My Business. That just made me smile because Megadeth is one of my favorite groups. This film is a must watch for 80's horror film fans and heavy metal fanatics. It may have a silly premesis, but its played straight, and it has great results.

This film is a fairly good comedy horror film with some interesting cameos by Gene Simmons of KISS playing a DJ, and Ozzy Osbourne, playing, and are you ready for this? A televangelist. It also features a great hard rock soundtrack by Fastway. The title track of Trick or Treat is excellent.

The film follows the story of a misfit teen named Eddie "Ragman" Weinbauer who idolizes a rock star named Sammi Curr that used to go to his high school. Sammi dies in a mysterious hotel fire but is resurrected by Eddie playing Sammi's last album backwards. Sammi helps Eddie get revenge on the popular kids, but soon, the revenge game turns deadly, and Sammi has more of a hidden agenda up his undead sleeve.

Even though this is a cheesey movie.
It's still a great movie with a killer soundtrack.
This is kind of a true story to.
Back in the 80's kid's were playing their
record's backward's.
But the record's did not talk back to them.

The soundtrack is awesome.
Even the song's that the bad guy sang were excellent.
If you like horror's this movie is for you.
Most of the film is not scary but it is cheesey.
It's still a classic 80's movie that everyone should own.
The film features Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne in it.

A classic soundtrack and a classic horror.

Like others, I had read about this film for years, and seen the clips in The Blob, but never actually saw the whole movie until buying this DVD. It's such an anachronism, coming from the early 1950s, that it took a couple of viewings for me to be able to be objective about it. Compared to 99% of movies of its time it's quite avant-garde, from it's lurid content to its circular, dreamlike story structure, its complete lack of dialogue, expressionist use of photography and locations, Freudian symbolism, etc. There are moments of brilliance, and comparisons to Bunuel, Cocteau, Lynch, and Welles are not wholly unwarranted. (Is it possible that David Lynch never saw the 'chicken eating' scene?) On the downside, it suffers in some of the same ways that other low-budget indies of the time do, particularly in the pacing and the acting. The female lead in particular (the director's neice) just doesn't have any charisma whatsoever, and she and others mug broadly at times, attempting to convey emotion and plot without words. This could have been a landmark film with a capable actress in the lead. As it is, it's an extremely interesting experiment that also holds up to multiple viewings. John Parker definitely gets an A for effort, daring, and vision. The execution's just a little uneven.
Kino's DVD presents both the silent, unedited Dementia and the minimally narrated, edited Daughter of Horror. I found the narrated version not necessarily much worse (except of course for the cuts) but just different in tone, more 'campy.' Purists will probably stick with the original cut. The supplements include a trailer (for Daughter of Horror), still gallery, and detailed production history. The prints show some light speckling, but otherwise exhibit very good tonal values, sharpness, and detail. This movie is not for everyone, but if you're into avant-garde, film noir, B&W 50s indies, exploitation, or offbeat horror you'll probably find it rewarding.

The film stands as the somewhat illegitimate heir of the Avant Garde movement, picking up near where Maya Deren's hallucinatory "Meshes in the Afternoon" leaves off. The connection is strengthened by the incredible score by Avant Garde composer Georges Anthiel. Though some of the heavier handed scenes falter a bit (the graveyard scene reminds me of the nightmare sequence in Glen or Glenda . . . and not simply because of the cinematographer) there are many sequences which are as brilliant and sharp as the gamin's switchblade. Who can forget, for example, the sudden shattering of the mother's image in the mirror, or the scene when Bruno VeSota tumbles from the window into the darkness, his money a comet's tail in the night, or, in one of the several night-club scenes, he ogles the dancer in a series of ever-closer cuts reminiscent of the best of Hitchcock's editing style. The late-night chicken supper scene is horrifying in ways simply Not Done in the 50's.

The way to view this disk is to watch "Dementia" first (sans the hokey narration by Ed McMahon) just for the sheer pleasure of experiencing this rambling, troubled dream. Then, for completeness sake, watch "Daughter of Horror" the slightly different version with the narration added. It's like the difference between Tod Browning's "Dracula" as originally filmed and as alternatively scored by modern composer, Philip Glass. It's the same, but different! Each version brings out different values and points of view, and each is valid . . . in it's own way.

The background material about the film's legal battles was really fascinating, and added much to my appreciation of the disk. For fans of the unusual, Dementia delivers the goods. It is a midnight-flavored jelly bean, a licorice-whip for the soul which can be enjoyed again and again. Not one word is spoken - not one terror left untold!!!

Watch With: Films of Maya Deren, films of Kenneth Anger (especially Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome), Glen or Glenda, D.O.A. (Edmond O'Brien vers.), Touch of Evil, The Blob (original) or Mother Riley Meets The Vampire (aka My Son, The Vampire), it's original midnight-movie co-feature per the scene in The Blob. In The Blob, the Daughter of Horror clip is, strangely enough, presented with right and left reversed, so seeing that section in it's original context for the first time is a little disorienting, but there again -- it's the same, but different.

I first encountered this film many years ago, as part of the "midnight spook-show" sequence in the original "The Blob". Later, in Re-Search's "Incredibly Strange Films", I was finally able to put a title with the images. Years and several cheesy VHS copies later, I was thrilled to discover this film on DVD! Imagine . . . Daughter of Horror (a.k.a. Dementia) on DVD in a plush and plummy collector's edition!

The film stands as the somewhat illegitimate heir of the Avant Garde movement, picking up near where Maya Deren's hallucinatory "Meshes in the Afternoon" leaves off. The connection is strengthened by the incredible score by Avant Garde composer Georges Anthiel. Though some of the heavier handed scenes falter a bit (the graveyard scene reminds me of the nightmare sequence in Glen or Glenda . . . and not simply because of the cinematographer) there are many sequences which are as brilliant and sharp as the gamin's switchblade. Who can forget, for example, the sudden shattering of the mother's image in the mirror, or the scene when Bruno VeSota tumbles from the window into the darkness, his money a comet's tail in the night, or, in one of the several night-club scenes, he ogles the dancer in a series of ever-closer cuts reminiscent of the best of Hitchcock's editing style. The late-night chicken supper scene is horrifying in ways simply Not Done in the 50's.

The way to view this disk is to watch "Dementia" first (sans the hokey narration by Ed McMahon) just for the sheer pleasure of experiencing this rambling, troubled dream. Then, for completeness sake, watch "Daughter of Horror" the slightly different version with the narration added. It's like the difference between Tod Browning's "Dracula" as originally filmed and as alternatively scored by modern composer, Philip Glass. It's the same, but different! Each version brings out different values and points of view, and each is valid . . . in it's own way.

The background material about the film's legal battles was really fascinating, and added much to my appreciation of the disk.

For fans of the unusual, Dementia delivers the goods. It is a midnight-flavored jelly bean, a licorice-whip for the soul which can be enjoyed again and again. Not one word is spoken - not one terror left untold!!!

Watch With: Films of Maya Deren, films of Kenneth Anger (especially Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome), Glen or Glenda, D.O.A. (Edmond O'Brien vers.), Touch of Evil, The Blob (original) or Mother Riley Meets The Vampire (aka My Son, The Vampire), it's original midnight-movie co-feature per the scene in The Blob. In The Blob, the Daughter of Horror clip is, strangely enough, presented with right and left reversed, so seeing that section in it's original context for the first time is a little disorienting, but there again -- it's the same, but different.

If you were a kid in the 60's then you might have gone and seen some double features at your local drive in that will remind you of the trashy fun on this dvd.They are a lot of fun to watch especially sting of death.The scene with the glad bag jellyfish cracked me up.The quality is excellent on these movies, and if you want to have some fun, pop up some popcorn, crack up a couple root beers and prepare to be entertained, just leave your brain behind and youll have a great time.

Another quality jam-packed disc from the happy folk at Something Weird. Both movies here are 'the pits'. The oft seen "Tartu" is the best print I've come across and "Sting Of Death" is even better. I admire Mike Vraney and his gang for the ingenius way they market this crud and make like they are 'lost' classics. "Lost?"...perhaps! "Classics?"....perhaps not!The reason they are "lost" is because they were junk then and they are junk now. Worth watching once, but there is nothing here that Roger Corman hasn't done better. The saving grace on this DVD, as on most SWV product, is the BONUS stuff. An inspired 27-minute gore flick called "Love Goddesses Of Blood Island" takes us into 'Blood Feast' territory and a 12-minute short they call "Miami Or Bust" starts off as an amateaur travelogue of Miami Beach in the 60s for the first couple of minutes, and then we go to some guys back yard to see a babe, who looks a bit like 'Devine,' strip off and dance by the swimming pool. The director's commentaries are, as usual, more interesting than the movies themselves and there are a number of trailers as well. Overall quality and value for money....excellent. The 5 Star rating is for the DVD quality and content. The movies themselves get 1 star. I'm sorry gang....but the Seawasp tells it like it is!!

Fans of 60's horror will eat this one up. Something Weird dishes up two William Grefe "classics", one of them not seen in decades. This is one of the best Something Weird DVD's yet and I've seen a lot of them. Great fun!

First up is DEATH CURSE OF TARTU about a mummy who wreaks vengeance on people who have invaded his Everglades territory. Tartu mostly just lies in his tomb and instead transforms into varous animals (snake, gator, etc.) to eat and attack his victims. Great location color photography, amusing characters and real animals make this one a real hoot. There's a fun and informative commentary track with Grefe and Frank Henelotter as well which is highly recommended. Grefe comments that he told one terrified actress to go into the snake-infested water for a scene by telling her "Don't worry. We scared all the snakes away." Hahahaha!

The second flick on the DVD is Grefe's first and rare horror film, "STING OF DEATH" which is about a jellyfish man that attacks a bunch of stupid people in the Everglades. The creature just wears a scuba diving suit with flippers and a giant inflated trash bag on his head. You will not believe your eyes - trust me! You ain't seen anything like it. One great highlight is an attack on a sinking boat where all the passengers fall into the water and are "attacked" by jellyfish (floating inflated baggies). There's also a Neil Sedaka song played at a poolside dance where all the girls can shake their bootys at the camera. Meanwhile, the jellyfish man is swimming in the pool, but no one sees him! This hilarious 1965 epic was never sold to television and was thought lost for years. Another great commentary track by Grefe and Henelotter - both have fun and joke about the ineptness of some scenes, but always in reverance - and they also go into how the negative of the film was almost completely molded away before SW got ahold of it in the nick of time. It's truly fascinating to hear about how these older films could be lost, destroyed and gone forever --- there's no big "negative library" out there for these low-budget gems. Many are out there just rotting away - negatives missing ---- surviving prints in awful shape. Even Grefe pleads with listeners to help find one of his "lost" films, "Devil Sisters", since no print seems to have survived. Thank Something Weird for preserving this kind of horror history.

There's some great extras on this DVD as well - other Grefe trailers including "Mako Jaws of Death" and "Stanley", a 30 minute reel of scenes from a gory exploitation adventure called "Love Goddesses of Blood Island", and a hilarious short called "Miami or Bust" which starts off as a travelogue but ends up as a riotous poolside dance/striptease by one of the ugliest women I've seen on one of these things in a long time. Man, when she pouts her lips and tries to look seductive, you may want to have a puke bucket handy. Great stuff!!!

If you are into trashy horror pictures from the 60's/70's, you'll love this duo DVD. Both films look great, very colorful. On one commentary track, Henenlotter and Grefe talk about going to 42nd Street in the 60's and 70's to see countless movies like this every day. It was a great time for exploitation, horror and sleaze fans - triple features and more, changing daily. And as Henenlotter says "Unlike today where there's nothing out there I want to see." How true! If you agree with this statement, then make a date with Tartu and the jellyfish man! "Jilla jalla jella!"

I loved this movie. Talia Shire was awesome!

i have to give this movie a 5 for the great acting and the great writing thi movie is def. a classic in waiting in other words,it's worth every penny you spend to buy it.
so i say just stay out of ms. dades and patricks way or you too me become,just another victim......

Finally an intelligent, well made adult (for grown ups, not soft porn) thriller. No juvenile excess, just excellent acting and writing. Talia Shire is one resourceful little woman. The Marines may be looking for a few good men but I'd go anywhere with a squad of Talias for backup. Jump back!

Unrelated to the 1936 Tod Browning movie of the same name; DEVIL DOLL has a similar story to the (later) famed segment of DEAD OF NIGHT and also to William Goldman's later novel MAGIC, which was filmed in 1978 with Anthony Hopkins.
Scripted by George Barclay and Lance Z. Hargreaves, and based on a story by Frederick Escreet Smith; DEVIL DOLL is a compact but enjoyable little chiller.
The Great Vorelli (Bryant Halliday) is a charismatic hypnotist/ ventriloquist who arrives in London to do his famed show, in which his dummy Hugo can walk and talk by himself- but there's one hitch: This is no trick.But the audience don't realize that. Of course no magic show would be the same without audience participation; and co-incidentally one of the chosen patrons is Marian Hore (Yvonne Romain), the attractive daughter of one of England's richest men. Vorelli uses this opportunity to offer to do a charity performance for her.
But during the act Hugo gets carried away and he reveals his homicidal tendencies. Would it have anything to do with his "Master" locking him in a cage and goading him into committing murder? There's an amusing bit at this performance where Vorelli makes Hugo drink wine, saying to him: "Don't drink too much, Hugo. It might make the sawdust in your stomach swell".
DEVIL DOLL is more funny today than frightening, but Halliday is perfect as Vorelli; helping make a silly idea into a fairly good chiller, albeit one with a wholly predictable resolution.

Although less well known than a lot of it's contemporary horror films, DEVIL DOLL is a remarkable effective production that deserves a place in any afficianado of the 'golden age' of British horror.
The title is slightly misleading, as the doll of the title is not the evil protaganist - That role falls to the dummy's 'master', the Great Vorelli. The story is fairly routine - A journalist (William Sylvester) wants to debunk noted stage hypnotist/ventriloquist Vorelli so eggs his girlfriend into going on stage to take part in the act. Vorelli then plots to place the woman in his thrall (and as played by the stunning Yvonne Romain, who can blame him?), but help comes from unexpected quarters.
It's the stylish direction of the film that makes it so amazing - Director Lyndsay Shonteff was young & inexperienced when fellow Canadian Sidney Furie had to step aside, but it certainly doesn't show on screen. The use of freeze frames, negative images & accelerated motion are all experimental for a film of this type and they add enormous atmosphere to the prceedings. The stock music is very appropriate and the sound effects are genuinely unsettling - The tension between Vorelli & 'Hugo' is palpable thanks to the conviction of the actors - There isn't a single bad performance in this film, with Bryant Halliday's extraordinary voice lending his potentially on-dimensional character great gravitas. The immediately recognisableWilliam Sylvester is also excellent, moving from sceptisism to belief throuhout the film.
Produced by the legendary Richard Gordon for around £50,000 (!), this film stands proudly alongside his more famous films like FIEND WITHOUT A FACE & GRIP OF THE STRANGLER - Highly recommended!

Two versions of the movie "Devil Doll" are available on the DVD; the American version and the alternate Continental version of the film. For some reason, the Continental version includes a striptease number in place of a key scene between the Great Vorelli and his assistant. As presented, what's left of the scene immediately following the striptease makes no sense. The makers of this DVD should have taken the Continental striptease scene and added it to the American version of the movie, creating a longer and better movie.

The Great Vorelli is a master hypnotist as well as a ventriloquist, whose dummy Hugo acts more like a real person than a puppet. Whoever designed the dummy did a great job. Hugo's smirking face is both amusing and threatening at the same time. Instead of engaging in comic banter, Hugo argues with Vorelli on stage. When Hugo insists that the audience's applause is for him, Vorelli instructs him to walk to the front of the stage to properly thank the audience. Hugo gets up off Vorelli's lap and walks under his own power, amazing the audience. Reporter Mark English, who is assigned to report on Vorelli, is determined to expose him as a fraud. He is sure that Hugo is a mechanical puppet or a small person disguised as a ventriloquist's dummy. Mark convinces his girlfriend Marianne to volunteer to be hypnotized by Vorelli on stage. Vorelli is clearly smitten by her. Marianne later asks Vorelli to perform at her aunt's charity dinner party. During that performance, Hugo is surly and disobedient. He grabs a knife off the table and brandishes it at Vorelli. I guess you could call Vorelli's act, theater of the absurd for dummies!

While previous reviewers did not discuss the extent of Vorelli's amazing powers, describe the secret of Hugo's true nature, or reveal the twist ending of the movie, I will now divulge all of the details. What's that noise? Is that you, Hugo? Vorelli?? Whoever you are, put down the knife! Aaaaaaauuuugh!!!

This is simply the best horror movie ever created.

At the end of all analysis and accolades, the rawness and invetiveness is nothing short of remarkable.

Highly recommended and a must have for true horror fans of all ages.

I'm usually not too big on horror films, but I thought that is movie if from 1968, "how scary can it be?" It doesn't have the big cinematic effects that movies have today, which I think made me uneasy. And it just got more terrifying from there.

Being the over-analytical person that I am, I wondered how were the zombies able to break the door. I mean, c'mon, its a solid wood door on an old farmhouse, but like I said, I'm over-analytical.

When everyone was turning on each other, it reminded me of the Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street".

I definately didn't expect the ending.

George A. Romero directed this masterpiece back in the late 60s and it defined a new type of filmmaking, a whole new genre and a new type of horror film. In many ways this film is a landmark piece of work that pushed the whole boundaries of filmmaking outwards and gave the system a run for its money. The violence is graphic and gory. Good guys die. A black man is in a lead role. A child murders her mother. A totally untypical Hollywood ending. It had all the hallmarks of a film that should have tanked in the box office, but it did not and the overall reaction was extremely positive. People had never seen anything like it before and quickly a whole barrage of copycat horror films started to appear on the scene.

Basically the story has been rehashed by a million horror films that followed in its wake. Virus takes over the planet, the dead rise, survivors barricade themselves into a house and fight off the monsters and fight between themselves. By todays standards everything in this movie is cheesy from the hamming acting to bad special effects and the stupid "Dont go there" type maneuvers that some of the cast make and it is very slow in parts. Aside from all its misgivings it also has lots of surprises in store and the ending still manages to shock.

The "Citizen Kane" of horror movies is right here and any fan of the horror genre should not be without a copy. A critical part of anyones collection.

[By the way - you may have noticed that a number of competitive dealers are trying to sell their own brand of this movie. Just get the one that has been not been re-edited and make sure that it is really grainy and the transfer looks crap. If you have a color edition, just tune your television to black and white. The worse it looks the better. Just forget the "extra-stuff" hogwash. What you want is the gritty original feel.]