Horror Movie Reviews

OH THE POWER OF CHEESE!

I love schlock! I can't help it, I just do. I have several of these Killer Creature Double Features and I think that they are great. The whole drive-in motif and the cartoon intermissions are really fabulous.

The Killer Shrews is a good way to see James Best (remember Roscoe P. Coltraine from the Dukes Of Hazzard?) Well, this is Roscoe, only MUCH younger. The Shrews (poor dogs dressed up with fangs and long hair) are a stitch.

I Bury The Living is a surprisingly good movie and not as schlocky as The Killer Shrews.

I like watching films of this nature and these DVD's are a steal! Yes, the quality isn't there, but who..[cares]! The lines and poor sound actually ADD to the whole experience. For those of you who are HARD CORE DVD lovers, this is bad news for you . But I think that the [bad] quality is great. It's like listening to an old LP on a turntable...

To view all of the Killer Creature Double Features, just do a search under : MADACY

They are the distributor of these gems....Keep em' coming Madacy!

"Wa(t)ch ou(t) for the killer shoes!" says the actress who can't pronounce her "r"'s or her "t"'s in this fun packed B fossil. There is much here to enjoy for bad movie lovers: the co-pilot of the boat who is such an offensive African-American stereotype that even racists would roll their eyes, the actress who has so many speech defects that she is sometimes unintelligible ("don' you evah wonduh abou' the many unusual dings around heah? The shews, my accen(t)?"), the absurd shrews who are nothing but dogs with silly masks on them, the studly lead actor with bad skin who has the best line in the movie when the scientist, relieved that the shrews are no longer a danger, states that we still need to worry about overpopulation. Our manly hero grabs the heroine, plants a wet one on her and says, "oh, I don't think I'll worry about overpopulation for a while" (maybe not, but make sure your kids get a good speech therapist if the heroine is going to be their mother!). This is everything a low budget horror movie should be. The disc also contains a Gumby movie, trailers, and another B movie. Lots of fun!

This transfer of I Bury The Living is OK, if a bit dark and contrasty. It is nowhere near archival quality, but there's nothing in this particular transfer to destroy the experience.

The films basic plot involves a man's discovery that people seem to die every time he marks their plot with a black pin on the caretaker's map of a cemetary. Richard Boone is memorable as the inheritor of the position of cemetary caretaker. Boone was notable among actors of the '50s for being able to generate deadpan credibility without being either too Method on the one hand or too Jack Webb on the other. And although it is jarring at first, after a couple of viewings, even Theodore Bikel's thick and near-vaudevillian Scottish brogue may grow on you.

I Bury The Living is really about the ordeal the Boone character undergoes through his encounter with The Unknown. The dis-ease the film achieves with minimal means is impressive. The score suffuses every frame with a subtly eerie mood, and for film history buffs, the fx may at times make the film feel like a flashback, believe it or not, to German Expressionist cinema of the 20s.

Recommended. This is definitely not just another 50s drive-in flick. Director Albert Band made one other thoughtful late 50s moodstudy --usually bundled in TV movie packages as a horror film, too-- entitled Face of Fire, based on a short story Stephen Crane. Find that if you can. (As for The Killer Shrews, which shares this DVD and inexplicably has top of the box billing, it IS pretty much just another 50s drive-in flick. But we won't dwell on it.)

You can't go too wrong with a pair of Vincent Price horror movies, especially based on Poe stories; as this double feature demonstrates, however, you may not do completely well either. This pair of movies is not bad, but is not overly impressive.

The Tomb of Ligeia is a rather standard entry in the Corman/Price/Poe series. Vincent Price is a man whose first wife has died but apparently come back in the form of a cat. Although rather morbid and occasionally violent, he somehow wins the heart of the local beauty and marries her; the spirit of his first wife, however still haunts his home and occasionally controls Price's mind.For a series often filled with good movies (such as the Raven or the Masque of the Red Death), this one only stands out in its averageness.

An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe, however, is more interesting. A showcase for Vincent Price, it has him telling four different Poe stories. Many viewers may be put off by the lack of action; this film is little more than Price on a stage by himself delivering monologues. Price, however, does a great job with his narrations. Reading Poe can often be difficult due to his dated language and style, but Price brings these stories to life.

As stated before, this is not a bad pair of movies, but it is just a high three-star feature at best. You will not be wasting your time watching them, but you will not be rushing to rewatch them either.

"The Tomb of Ligeia" is, I'm sure, the draw of the two. Before I bought this DVD, I didn't know what was to be expected from something called "An Evening with Edgar Allen Poe", and Amazon offered no explanation. Well, get ready. This is a filming of Vincent Price's one-man show that went around the country, featuring his rendition of "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Sphinx", "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Pit and the Pendulum". It's intense and quite wonderful. As hammy as he's been in other films, there is a riveting conviction to present Poe as it should be. It's definitely worth a look. "The Tomb of Ligeia" is Corman's last Poe film, which he considers among his best. I found it to have a bit more center and plot than most of his other Poe adaptations. There's a fine, unsettling performance from Elizabeth Shepperd, playing dual roles. I'm a fan of early Poe films by Corman; here, he's developed style and intelligence. I thought the earlier mindless ones (Matheson script) were more fun. But this is definitely worth a look. Screenplay by Robert Towne ("Chinatown"). I was most impressed with Price's one-man show. It's pretty much of a one mood (crazy) presentation, but I can't really say that it's hammy. Imagine "The Pit and the Pendulum" done alone on stage... (with no props or set). It's quite frightening, and, here, Price was much in tune with his material. A real tour de force. It's a performance that is up there with Rathbone or Olivier.

"The Tomb Of Ligeia" was the last time Roger Corman would direct Vincent Price in a movie adaptation of an Edgar Allan Poe story. Vincent stars as Verden Fell, whose willful wife has just died. Her will to live was so strong that not even death could put an end to her. This moody movie is beautifully filmed, with the details of the decaying abbey and cemetery, as well as the vivid colors of the interior shots, benefiting greatly from the new DVD transfer. However, I found this costume horror film to be heavy on atmosphere and light on scares. The action didn't really pick up until the fiery climax.

"An Evening Of Edgar Allan Poe," originally shot on videotape for television in 1970, is officially released at last. Given the source material, the images are clear and the sound is good. Vincent Price delivers a powerful, one man performance of four Poe stories. "The Tell Tale Heart" starts the evening off on a strong note. Vincent gets more and more animated in relating how he planned to murder the old man he was looking after, how he dismembered the body in a tub to catch all the blood, and how he carefully hid the body parts. Of course, when the police come to investigate the complaint of hearing a scream in the night, Vincent loses his composure and reveals everything, because he hears the incessant beating of the old man's heart! "The Sphinx" is a comical piece, in which Vincent sees a gigantic monster in his telescope, which turns out to be a moth caught in a spider's web. "The Cask Of Amontillado" finds Vincent at his jovial best. He happily relates how he led his drunken friend through the dank catacombs to show him his latest wine purchase. Instead of sharing some drinks, he quickly chains his friend to the wall and then slowly seals him up alive, brick by brick. "The Pit And The Pendulum" features an amazing performance by Vincent Price. In the span of twenty minutes, Vincent relates the terrible tortures inflicted on him by the Spanish Inquisition with chilling detail and fiery conviction. For all fans of Vincent Price, this DVD is an essential purchase.

Beast from Haunted Cave is one of the few Roger Corman-protege pictures that actually comes off better than some of Corman's own films (try watching Creature from the Haunted Sea some time). The plot, though derivative, holds your interest, and the performances are for the most part competent and believable. A few of the dialogue scenes are surprisingly fresh and natural compared to typical low-budget efforts of the time. But what really gives this movie its reputation are the creepy atmosphere and gruesome shocks effected by director Monte Hellman in several 'set-piece' sequences (the tree in the forest bit and all the monster's-cave scenes). No explanation is given for the bizarre, surreal 'beast' and none is needed; it's just there to give you nightmares. Watch this with the lights off for old-fashioned drive-in horror show effect.
Synapse's DVD, if not 'loaded' is still a fine showcase for the film. The movie is presented in both anamorphic widescreen and full frame versions and features the "extended" version with additional scenes (shot by Hellman) that were added for TV airings. The print is in very nice shape with very good to excellent tonal values, sharpness, and shadow/highlight detail; and little evident wear or speckling. Extremely watchable and light-years from most of the other butchered versions available on tape and DVD. Extras are comprised of trailer, chapter stops, and liner notes only (a commentary by Hellman would've made this a five-star disc), but the set is well worth the money for fans of 50s/60s horror cheapies.

I highly recommend this new release over the previous "Killer Creature" double feature version. The quality of the DVD is very good, they give you the option of watching in either widescreen or the old box format and the audio is very clean. This version also has some missing scenes that I have not seen before.I wish this company well and look forward to thier next release.

Tom Phillips

I know this is a low budget quickie, and, as such, would probably be regarded by 'experts' as not having much cinematic merit. But I have to say that, speaking merely as an average cinemagoer, I liked it a lot. I found the storyline to be good, the acting and direction to be more than adequate, and Chris Robinson's spider monster to be genuinely scary. The film moves along at a good pace, and the climactic final ten minutes - in the cave - are very effective. All in all, a cut above the usual horror 'B' movie output of the period.

This is the tragic tale of three children, all born during a solar eclipse. Unfortunatly, saturn is blocked during the eclipse. Saturn, as we all know is responsible for one's moral conscience. What does this mean for our three solar babies? Well, with a title like Bloody Birthday, its not to hard to figure out. Before their 10th birthday, the kids decide to start killing some folks. The town goes in a frenzy as they try to figure out who is killing their citizens.
Overall, this picture looks good considering its age. The DVD doesn't look much different than the vhs. The acting is pretty decent for this type of film with the ringleader of the boys, 'Kurtis' standing out. Mind you, i kind of got tired of kurtis trying over and over to kill the neighbours. Do the job already or move on to someone else! Your bumbling and fumbling lessenned the fear factor considerably! oh well. A solid, if not spectacular disk.

great movie where three kids were all born on the same day and end up a little psychotic, just a little! great 80s film though that most will enjoy. even has some pretty good thrills in it.

I so love this film! I found it on VHS a few years back for $2.99, little did I realize the joy & humor it would bring into my life til this very day! The murder scenes are so over the top & stupendous, that you LOVE them! People getting hung by jump ropes, toy guns that are real, birthday cake poisoning...and all done by 10 year olds! The absolute best scene is the gratutious nudity featuring Julie Brown (the white one). Her lil sister charges a quarter for the other 2 evil boys to watch through a hole in her wall. Blond boys asks, "What is she catches us?" Lil girl: "No way, her brains are in her bra!" What fantastic dialogue! This whole series of events is just too much from the kids innocently eating to cookies with jewelry box music playing til it segues into an incredible schlocky late 70s metal tune that is outrageous! I sooooo love this song & desperately want to get it on CD! Some guy shouting into a mic "you're a woman don't you know" and "there's no need to wonder if your dreams will still be there" with women singing "doo doo dah doo" in the background." Of course Julie gets naked and the lil boys eat it up as seen by how big there pupils grow through the hole in the wall. Nah-na-nah Nah-na-nah! Julie is so funny she even dances naked with a feather boa around her neck! Did I mention she also has posters of Erik Estrada and Van Halen on her wall??? Another great scene is the big birthday party where one boy poisons the cake. Fortunately for the guests and unfortunately for us the teen girl saves everyone but not before shouting "it is poisoned!" really loud and we get a shot of this annoying boy grabs his throat, clutchign & moaning and acting like he is dying! Ha! He so deserved an Oscar!

Ok so it's a lot of money to pay for a film made in 1941 with no extra's but if your a Karloff or Vintage Horror lover it's worth the money.
I thought the picture quality was good..not stunning, but as clear as watching a movie on tv.
As for the film - it's one of the most interesting Karloff made during the 30's and 40's.
But if Columbia want a big seller on their hands they'll release 'The Black Room' & 'The Man They Could Not Hang' on a double bill disc.

Prenial favorite Boris Karloff stars as a scientist who has created a helmet then when placed on the head of a subject can transfer their brainwaves onto a graph. Kind of like a lie detector graph. He discovers that women have stronger waves of brain energy then men. He demonstrates this to a room full of fellow scientists and friends, by using his wife an an example. Her brain waves are indeed stronger and much to the amazement of his skeptical friends the graph on the wall jumps up and down! Later after his wife dies in a car accident, Boris returns to his lab and angrily throws switches and discovers that his wife's energy has returned to the lab! He now joins up with a spiritualist and a bruteing Igor type to further his experiments and try and contact his beloved wife from beyond the grave. Holds up quite well today. The seance table surrounded by corpses, the swirling spirits appearing as a funnel of energy and King Karloff in all his maniacal glory. My only complaint is the short running time of only 65 min. The last 5 minutes look rushed but still the movie wraps up nicely. Now as to the transfer...it is just o.k. Columbia started out great with their brilliant William Castle titles, but seem to care less and less about these more recent releases. The pre-print on Devil Commands could use digital cleaning up. And come on Columbia, not even the trailor!!?? and a 65 min. movie retailing for [money]!!!! It is unfortuante that some people that might have slapped down [money] and took a chance on a movie that has such a cool title will definately think twice before paying over [money]. In closing, Columbia/Tristar Look at the GHOUL released by M.G.M. and see what a great transfer should look like. Still over all recommended.

Karloff fans should probably be happy that this rarity, which never appeared on commercial VHS, has been made available by the original studio in the new format. As it is, this DVD is definitely worth having for the movie alone. But the price should reflect the content. On the outer packaging, we are told the film has been "remastered in high definition". This may be the truth, but in remastering the movie, numerous scratches and other imperfections were certainly not remedied. Fortunately, the best parts of the film (the first 20 or so minutes and the finale) do look rather fine, and there is plenty of clarity in the image along with that silvery quality that some associate with older films.

THE DEVIL COMMANDS is a low-budget production, but director Edward Dmytryk (MURDER, MY SWEET and others) knew how to establish a sinister atmosphere and sustain it for 64 minutes. This is sort of a 'haunted house meets mad scientist movie'. There are elements of science-fiction (very sketchy science) and horror (communication with the dead). The film is short and moves quickly, at less of an expense to plot development than one might think. In its own terms and within its genre, this film is quite plausible, and very enjoyable.

Karloff is extremely good at portraying a well-meaning scientist and loving husband who must gradually transform into an obsessed near-maniac. "Near-maniac" because he does not willfully harm anyone, but only commits "ethical" crimes like grave-robbing. When the doctor's wife is killed in a freak accident, he puts his new theory to work, trying to communicate with her spirit in the afterlife. There are some downright creepy moments, courtesy of Karloff's character, a tragically damaged lab assistant, and the formidable presence of Anne Revere (whose name does not appear on the DVD box cover). An actress who could achieve a facial expession that would have intimidated King Kong AND Godzilla. Revere, as Mrs. Walker, a phony medium, takes charge of Karloff and his experiments, which she sees as the key to ruling the world someday. A number of misfortunes ensue and there is a marvelous climax in the darkly-lit laboratory (involving the housekeeper, well realized by Dorothy Adams who bears an uncanny resemblance to the young Gilda Radner) that is really pretty unique. The supporting cast is fine, apart from the dullards who play Karloff's daughter and her fiancé.

Apart from scene selections, the DVD contains only three trailers from recent Columbia horror films. It does not contain any trailer for THE DEVIL COMMANDS. A must for Karloff enthusiasts. It should appeal to any fan of 30s and 40s horror films.

For only 10 dollars this movie is a must buy. Just to gaze upon the beauty of Tara (Debbie Rochon) is worth {it}.
So the deal is this - Tara is on deathrow awaitng execution. She has penned 3 horror stories that she claims spirits in the prison had told her. She then tells the executioner each of these tales of terror. All three stories are pretty good and funny if you have a slightly twisted sense of humor as I do.
I had never heard of Debbie Rochon before but she certainly cast a spell on me. She seems to be a good actress and is hot as the Texas sun. Her exchange with the executioner between stories 1 and 2 was classic.
The first story is pretty tame but the second has lots of foul language and the third has foul language and some nudity.
Debbie Rochon does NOT show skin but I've got a great imagination.
Bottom line is if you like horror movies this should be in your collection. You will watch it more than once.

This film is a trilogy of tales related by deathrow inmate Debbie Rochon to her executioner Gunnar Hansen (the original LeatherFace. All three stories are excellent, but I especially liked the last one involving a bizarre biker ritual to revive their dead protector played silently by J.J. North. Someone who looks as good as J.J. does not have to speak! The real star is Debbie Rochon. Her character drips violence and the ending will make you say wow. This film was originally shot in 1997. Troma was smart to pick it up. This pic went over big at the annual Chiller Theatre convention in NJ. Joe Bob Briggs loved it, and it will pave the way for Debbie Rochon to climb to the top of the scream queen list.

This anthology of stories feels like a collection of three Tales From The Crypt episodes.

The first story is a 'missing children' one. It revolves around the mother of the lost children and follows her interviews with the police and the time she spends with her boyfriend. After approximately two minutes into the story you pretty well know what the ending will be. It would have been nice if the ending wasn't so blantantly obvious. Pretty descent makeup effects though.

The second story is about a young married couple (stereotypical southern trailer trash). Because of how the characters are played you end up laughing at some of their 'southern' personalities. This one is the best of the trilogy. Heidi Mae is an abused housewife. I found myself cringing watching her husband beat the hell out of her. Man, do you ever sympathise with her character FAST. This one had better twists and turns in the story and just when you are thinking 'ah, this ending is as easy to guess as the last one' it smacks you in the face with something different.

The last story follows a biker gang on it's way to Mexico on a drug run. A superstitious bunch, they stop to pay their respects (in their 'special' way) to a former biker chick (J.J. North) who apparently looks after them from beyond the grave. This one had a larger cast than the others and they are perfect in their roles. The ending is pretty predictable though, but not as easily as the first story. It would have been nice to hear J.J. speak or something, perhaps a bigger role, because she looked hot!

All three of these stories are written by Tara (Debbie Rochon)while on death row. She reads these stories to her prison guard/executioner (Gunnar Hansen) while waiting to get taken away to die. They are basically the 'Cryptkeepers' of this anthology and help it flow from one story to the next. Debbie plays a perfect psychopath. She gets some great lines like 'They remember Poe, Lovecraft, and they'll remember Tara!' Her giggling at the end of the film will spook me for a long time. Gunnar's role was limited, but his line are pretty cool. His name-calling and put downs to Debbie were pretty funny (in sick sort of way I suppose).

The DVD contains a few trailers for Troma films. Other than that, there isn't anything else.

Overall a good anthology for Tales From The Crypt fan types who like indie films. Debbie Rochon fans will like this too.

Ever entertain thoughts of throwing off the shackles of your work a day, hum drum life and pursuing an existence as a cannibalistic, subhuman mole man? Who hasn't? Well, according to this movie, it's possible.

Raw Meat...the title pretty much says it all. Not very subtle, but it does give you an idea of what you're in for, watching this movie. Released in 1972, it predates C.H.U.D. by 12 years (and it's lesser known and more dubious sequel C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud by 17 years).

The movie starts out in a fairly trippy manner, with groovy music and annoying psychedelic visuals, and we see a fairly well to do foppish Englishman in a three piece trolling a very seedy street of London. Eventually he strolls into a mostly deserted underground subway station (the tubes, as referred to by the British), and he makes an indecent proposal to a fairly nasty looking streetwalker. Unable to reach an equitable pricing structure, she knees him in a sensitive area and leaves. As he's recovering, some unknown menace attacks him. This attack is interrupted by the arrival of a train, and some people exit the train, including Alex and Patricia, who we find out later are a young college living together who attend the same college. They see this man lying prone on the stairs and Alex, clearly your typical, jaded American, assumes he's drunk. Patricia, English by her accent, is concerned that he may be hurt, so in an effort to shut her up, Alex agrees that they should seek help. Coming back with a police officer (a bobby), the man is gone. Where did he go?

Turns out this man is some high ranking government type, so pressure is put on the police to find him. Enter Inspector Calhoun, played by Donald Pleasance. Quite easily the best performance in the movie, he plays his role exactly the way you would think it should be played, a curmudgeonly type, who is surprised by very little, but underneath a diligent officer who takes in all the facts and sorts them out appropriately. The investigation, appearing haphazard at first, reveals itself to be much more in depth, focusing on pertinent details, creating an appearance of intelligence and professionalism within the police force, which counters the inept, doofus stereotype we are accustom to in movies of this genre.

We learn that at the turn of the century, a small group of miners (men and women, men doing the digging, while the women removed the dirt to the surface) got trapped due to collapse of the mine. The mining company, going bankrupt, never made an attempt to recover the supposedly deceased, and the people were forgotten. Turns out they survived, living off the flesh of their own as they passed away (yuck), and are now down to the last two surviving descendants, a male and a female. Food being scarce, the male, or Uggo, as I affectionately called him, has started venturing into the subway tunnels, looking for fresh meat. The make up on these two is very realistic, in that they appear as how you'd expect underground dwellers to look, all scabby, covered in lesions, boils, open sores, unkempt, wild hair, and just generally disgusting. Uggo had one feature that really gave me the creeps in that he always seemed to have a foot long length of spittle dangling from his scraggly beard. Every time I saw that, I unconsciously wiped my own chin in hopes that he would get the message.

Anyway, through happenstance, Uggo accosts Patricia, and this sets up for a confrontation between Alex and Uggo, and, eventually, the police. The realism of the scenery, specifically the underground locations were extremely impressive. The dirt, grime, rats, garbage, dankness, mold, the intermittent yet appropriate lighting...it all came through and set the mood proper.

My only qualms with the movie are sometimes the pacing was such that the movie plodded along. Some scenes, especially the one near the beginning showing the underground human larder, were drawn out unnecessarily. I think this was more for setting up the mood, but it felt like padding to me. There are some very visceral scenes within this movie, so if you're easily queasable, you should probably avoid this one. The dating of the movie is evident in the outfits worn by Alex and Patricia. I thought maybe they were escapees from the circus, but then I remembered that's how people dressed in the 70's.

Extras are pretty barebones, but I was truly thankful for English subtitles as the cockney accents by some of the actors made some of the dialogue difficult to discern. By the way, a number of reviewers reference the line 'Mind the doors!' which is what Uggo yells at Patricia when he's trying to communicate with her. He learned this from the conductors, as that's what they tell passengers as they enter and exit the trains. Actually, when he yelled it, it came out more as 'Muuuhind tha dooooooors!'

Here's a lost classic I never thought would see the light of day on DVD. Trapped underground in 1892 by a cave in, 8 men and 4 women survived by eating their dead. Their last decendent, a sore covered, plague infested cannibal and his pregnant dying mate have survived by picking off modern day London subway commuters. That's the premise of Raw Meat, Gary Sherman's directorial debut, which he also wrote. Sherman also went on to direct the Norman Rockwellian zombie film Dead and Buried which has greater reknown than Raw Meat. Although I never warmed up to the American lead actor, the cannibal, played by Hugh Armstrong, gives a performance regarded as both fearsome and tragic, Donald Pleasance as a police inspector is always fun and the make up effects are superb. The larder, stocked with rotting, half consumed corpses and the burial chamber where the cave in survivors have laid their dead to rest are especially impressive. I've had a terrible bootleg copy of this film for many years and it's nice to see it finally get the treatment it deserves.

Interesting, imaginative low budget British horror film from 1972 (once known as "Death Line") that sustains your interest despite flaws. Those flaws being the awful performance of David Ladd as the young American hero, the cheesy porno-style opening music, and a few too many long stretches of police work. Yet, somehow, it's all counterbalanced by great claustrophobic photography in the underground tunnels where a lone survivor of a tunnel disaster years before has survived on human flesh. When building the underground railway system in the 1800's, a tunnel collapsed trapping men and women beneath in the catacombs. They lived on each others flesh to survive. Over the years, they all began to die off---until now, when one "Man" is left after his "Woman" dies with child. The "Man" is a shambling sore-ridden lunatic. He has resorted to kidnapping travelers on the "tube" for meat. A young couple (Ladd and Sharon Gurney) stumble onto a mystery when they find a man unconcious in the railway. He later disappears before help arrives. Donald Pleasance is the police chief who gets onto the case. His performance is somewhere between over-the-top obnoxious and just plain funny. Gurney is kidnapped by the "Man" as a replacement for his "Woman". The "Man", as played by Hugh Armstrong, is pitious and revolting at the same time. Armstrong's performance is remarkable. His only spoken words are "Mind the doors" as he hoarsely calls for his companions who are no longer there but rotting corpses he has kept in reverence with token gifts taken from the victims. These scenes of the "Man"'s world are very effective with panning shots of half-eaten body parts and victim's bodies hanging on hooks as reserve food. The whole grisly scenario is lit by old fashioned lanterns and gas lights. The tracking shots through the tunnels are particularly well done also. There are a couple of surprisingly gory scenes (the "Man" bites a rat's head off in one) but the film is not "extremely gross" as one reviewer put it. It's more grisly than gross. The DVD is a good print but the sound fades here and there. All in all I recommend it for lovers of offbeat horror films. It's different than I thought it would be---which is not a bad thing. Christopher Lee has a bizarre one scene cameo and Peter Frampton is listed as make-up artist!

Alright, I finally got around to this one after hearing so much about it over the past few years, and while it certainly is a spirited (no pun) attempt to make a good horror movie, a good horror movie it is not quite - missed by inches. It starts out well, setting the story up with some great mythology, it falls off quick, abandoning any attempts at characterization, and moving the plot along with a convenient blood transfer that is mentioned only fleetingly. The monsters show up, and things start rolling okay again, with a bit of Night of the Demons/Demons-like fun - but this too ends abruptly when the main badguy shows up, and is killed shortly thereafter by a rose being crushed. ...

What did I expect? I have heard it (unjustly) compared to the Evil Dead, and while chock full Raimi-like shots - as are most low budget flicks - the video look is annoying. The least these guys could have done was a little better lighting. The makeup is great, however, and pretty nauseating.

A good effort, kinda fun, but could have been better. Also, do you think the director is a bit high on himself? He put his name in the credits no less than ten times. I guess if you're responsible, at least have the guts to own up...

I have become addicted to independent horror movies. I am sick of what Hollywood has offered me over the last many years. So I have hunted all over the net looking for something to fill the void that Hollywood has left in me.
SAVAGE HARVEST fills that void. From filmmaker Eric Stanze, Harvest is a brilliantly shot and edited movie. The special effects will satisfy any gore hound looking for the red stuff.
Director Stanze has made quite the name for himself in the independent realm. I had heard of him through numerous websites, magazines, message boards and conventions. So I decided to pick up his first movie on DVD (SAVAGE HARVEST). Since then I have grabbed everything with his name on it. Titles like:
ICE FROM THE SUN directed by Stanze
SCRAPBOOK directed by Stanze
I SPIT ON YOUR CORPSE. I PISS ON YOUR GRAVE. directed by Stanze
THE CHRISTMAS SEASON MASSACRE produced by Stanze
INSANIAC produced by Stanze.

And many more. Search for Eric Stanze on imdb.com and feel safe to grab any of the titles with his name attached.

I am a huge fan of independent cinema and Stanze is the leader of the pack. Be looking for HUGE things from him in the future.

Better than most direct-to-video movies, SAVAGE HARVEST delivers the punches it promises. The story is cool, the camera work is fantastic, and the blood gushes A LOT! Some weak acting and a few rough spots in the script are there. However, most true horror fans will find so much more to love in this stylish, violent, independent fright flick!

Yet again, Madacy has gone out of their way to find the worst prints imaginable to sell to the unsuspecting viewing public.

The first feature, "The Screaming Skull" (a title that's given me a headache for decades!), is exceptionally muddy and dark, obviously an extremely poor dub from a several-generations old video source. The second feature on the tape, "The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman" is pure pan n' scan from a very scuffed and chopped print. Distortions and color blur are obvious on the edges of the picture.

In "The Screaming Skull", young and nervous newy wed is terrorized by a skull, supposedly that of her new hubby's ex, who died from a crushed skull/drowning in a lilly pond. Grade Z acting all around.

While "The Screaming Skull" is a classic low-budget horror flick from the 1950's, "The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman" is of European 1971 vintage.

In this one, two college girls travel to eastern Europe in search of a legendary grave of a lady vampire. They meet up with a spooky guy when the run out of gas. Naturally, he's a werewolf. Well, with at least one of the two college girls, I'd be howling at the moon, too.

Anyway, they stupidly awaken the lady vampire, and after a bunch of killings, the werewolf and vampire have it out. Obviously the "director" was a fan of "The Six Million Dollar Man", because the lady vampires run and jump in slow motion (not as sexy as it sounds). There are hints of breast from time to time, but if there were any naughty scenes originally, they appear to have been cut (European versions have five to six more minutes then the US drive-in release, which this seems to be).

I would strongly urge DVD collectors to avoid any of the horror titles in this Madacy set.

I gave the disc two stars only because of the interactive menus. They are the only part of the disc that was nicely done, and there is a Popeye cartoon added for "intermission".

There wasn't much problems like people,were saying. Sure the quality of these movies were like the quality of VHS, but don't spoil yourself with all of that, just watch the movie, that's what it's for. The only part of this DVD that skipped or really messed up for me was during the Werewolf vs Vampire woman trailer, when they were showing a close-up of the moon it kind of skipped but that wasn't a biggy. This DVD features trailers from the 2 movies on this, and Draculas Daughters. There is also an intermission cartoon when one movie is finished. I found that to be pretty neat, The Screaming Skulls trailer was funny, because it said that if you died when watching this movie that they would pay for burial cost. The only thing you would die of from watching this film is the price you payed to see it! The Werewolf vs Vampire Woman was an interesting movie I had never heard of before owning this DVD. It has alot more blood and gore than I expected (which was none)! This DVD is worth a look, really!

Want to know if you'll either love this or hate it? Okay, here goes:

The "screaming skull" makes it's appearance by being rolled across the floor.

Now, do you A) think that that's funny or B) think that that's stupid. If you chose A, then you're in luck, this double feature is for you. If you chose B, well then why are you even looking at reviews of this schlock?

A pretty much unwatchable smorgasbord of prison camp cliches.

It's clear that someone watched Bridge Over the River Kwai a few dozen times, but managed to do so without learning anything from it. It wouldn't be quite so bad if the abuse of the women POW's by their Japanese captors (while undoubtedly reflecting reality, and probably underplaying it) hadn't been staged in such an exploitative way. Someone has shrewdly cloaked the film in lofty bookends (Susan Sarandon doing dramatized "congressional testimony") and given it an honorable-sounding title, but there's no denying that not far underneath the veneer of disingenuous respectfulness lies a "women-in-prison" movie.

The development of the cardboard characters (Sarandon is the "loyal earth mother" to daughter-figure Kristy McNichol's "sullen rebellious one with a heart of gold") intrudes only as frequently as absolutely necessary to get us as quickly as possible from one rape, beating, or humiliation to the next. (The highlight(?), I guess, being when McNichol and Sarandon are forced by the "evil guard" to repeatedly slap one another across the face -- I'm sure that happened all the time in WWII prison camps.)

Since it was made for TV, we have to get by without the nudity, shower scenes, and lesbian love scene normally found in this sort of adventure; I guess we'll have to wait for the director's cut.

The Japanese are played to caricature as either socially inept, ridiculously "honorable," or insanely and stupidly mean; it's an amalgam of stereotypes.

Both McNichol and Sarandon do the best they can with what they've been given and McNichol, particularly, triumphs repeatedly over the bad dialogue and murky photography; she's worth ten times whatever they paid her.

An awful movie, of interest only to fans of McNichol or Sarandon.

I am am glad she did. Not only should "women everywhere" be inspired by the valor the women potray in this movie, but men should be inspired as well. Based on a true story, this movie will truely entertain, and make you realize that not only men fight wars. (Plus it should get a few "good guy" points from your girlfriend!!)

I disagree on many points with the 1 star reviewer of this noble film about women and their valiant contributions as war nurses during WWII.

I believe this movie had strong performances and that it is a significant one in how few movies portray a women's experience and view of war. For this reason, trashing this movie isn't fair. Sure, it isn't a "great" war film and some of the portrayals of Japanese aren't realistic and even laughable. However, I have to say that this movie clearly stated in the beginning it was a fictional account and was created in order to show how valiant many women acted during war. The one star reviewer was unfair in their assessment of this movie as a result. Acting needs to be considered when making such a review and he did not factor that in fairly in their overall rating.

I treasure this movie, especially Kristy McNichol's performance. This movie is between a 3-5 depending on how one chooses to view it. I give it a 5 because of its unique message and content, and because the acting was superb. Anyone who gives it under 3 stars perhaps is more upset at how men are portrayed in this film -- not a typical depiction in a war movie. Men are sometimes humiliated, but really they only humiliate themselves.