The Lords Of Salem (2013)

"And out of the darkness, the Zombie did call
True pain and suffering he brought to them all
Away ran the children to hide in their beds,
for fear that the devil would chop off their heads"

 Hellbilly Deluxe - Call of The Zombie

During my time in history class in both high school and college, I was always quite fascinated with the Salem Witch Trials. Although briefly coved in both venues, they seemed to stick with me even after my time in the educational establishments. The thought that people where being prosecuted and killed for something so outlandish seemed to resonate deep in my subconscious. These events caused a mass hysteria, and as a result women who didn’t fit the preverbal mold of the 1690’s God-Fearing Massachusetts woman were subsequently targeted.

Written & Directed by Rob Zombie, The Lords of Salem uses the events of The Salem Witch Trails as a catalyst for its story. Set in present time Salem, a local Radio DJ receives a mysterious Edison vinyl record from The Lords. Thinking this record is nothing more than some local band, the DJ plays the record on the air while coining the name The Lords of Salem for the group. The strange musical score on the record awakens something evil and the women of Salem start acting strange

The film stars Sherry Moon Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, Devils Rejects, Halloween), Bruce Davison (X-Men, Harry & The Henderson’s), Jeff Daniel Phillips (Faster), Ken Foree (Dawn of The Dead, Devils Rejects, Halloween, From Beyond)  Meg Foster (They Live, Leviathan, Masters Of The Universe), Judy Geeson, Patricia Quinn (Rocky Horror Picture Show), and Dee Wallace (The Howling, Cujo, E.T., Critters).

The Acting is very good, Sherry does an excellent job as Heidi, The film is predominantly revolving around her and her mental transition. The supporting cast all do a great job as well, all putting forth solid performances and making the film very entertaining.

The film is a relatively slow burning film with the final 15 – 20 minutes being like a psychotic acid trip, and generally creeping you out with extreme imagery that undoubtedly will stick in your head for a couple days after you watch the film. While the images of the finale are great I feel the story was completely lost at that point. They did such a good job crafting this creepy story and the conclusion, while visually awesome, was quite lackluster. So much so that it took me out of the film.

The film is decently light on gore and red stuff until the finally. You get some burnings, C-section births, demon baby, and a bludgeoning. The film is also full of nudity, full frontal nudity from many women, and some women that should not have been nude. Sherry shows off her booty yet again as well.

I really like Zombie’s films, this one was not an acceptation. I do feel the films finale was cool but didn’t really resolve. This actually took the wind out of the sails for the film. I felt that it was leading to something more, and it never really did. GLP give the effort a 3.5 stabs out of 5. Zombies movies are always very entertaining, and I like that his love for early 70’s and 80’s cinema show through in his shooting style. The find out more about The Lords of Salem visit the Official Website, Facebook, or Twitter pages. This film is currently still in theaters with a VERY Limited release, but if you have a all region DVD or Blu-ray player you can import the DVD from Amazon UK for about $16. View the trailer below.

GLP Rating:

 

Kill Theory (2009)

If you were in a situation that required you to kill in order to survive, would you do it? What if the people you had to kill were your best friends? It’s an interesting concept to think of, I would like to think that I wouldn’t kill my friends, but unfortunately humans are primal creatures deep at our core. When were a backed in to a corner and its life or death we all would react differently.

Kill Theory is a story about just that, If you were put in a situation where it was kill or be killed… would you do it? Basically a group of college kids go out to a cottage for one last hurrah before graduation. When one of them is brutally killed, they find out they are not alone, and they all have life or death decisions to make.

The film stars Ryanne Duzich (Friday Night Lights), Teddy Dunn, Daniel Franzese (I Spit On Your Grave Mean Girls, Party Monster), Agnes Bruckner (The Pact, Blood & Chocolate), Patrick Flueger (Brothers, Mother’s Day, Footloose), Steffi Wickens, Theo Rossi (Sons of Anarchy), and Taryn Manning (Hustle & Flow, 8-Mile, SoA, Hawaii 5-0). While it did not possess the greatest acting, it was still good. At times I felt Daniel Franzese frantic crying and screaming was a little much but his delivery was still good. Taryn is fantastic as always while she doesn’t have many lines she still shows why she is successful. Ryanne Duzich, Agnes Bruckner, Theo Rossi, and Patrick Flueger did great jobs as well. Ryanne is very good as Amber, I am surprised I haven’t seen her in more stuff. She’s talented and very beautiful. I hope to see her back in action soon.

Written by Kelly C. Palmer, Kill Theory’s biggest strength is its script. The dialog is fluid and natural. The overall premise is the most captivating part of the film. It makes you think and put yourself in the same position. That along, makes this film successful. While some areas of the film hit a bit of a wall, the overall arch of the films story is great. There is a lot of red stuff in the film, fans get some shootings, sliced throats, shovel smashes, human traps, eye puncturing, & stabbings. While there was a lot of red stuff, the setting is so dark its hard to tell if a lot of it was effective. It looked good, but hard to tell.

Basically, Kill Theory is a great movie to watch if you want to kill some time with a good movie. The story and premise are great, the acting is ok, and the gore is alright. GLP gives this effort a 3 out of 5 stabs. The film was released on DVD as part of the After Dark Horrorfest Series 4. View the trailer below.

GLP Rating:

Presidents Day (2013)

In the 80’s, horror fans were treated to a very commonslasher theme. Holiday Slasher films became very popular and as a result tonsof titles were subsequently released. Titles like Silent Night, Deadly Night, My Bloody Valentine, April Fools Day, New Years Evil, Halloween were flying offof home video shelves and filling theaters alike. However as the genre died sodid the amount of holiday-based slasher movies. Sure some still trickled intovideo stores but, those really didn’t do anything for seasoned fans. Its hasn’tbeen until recently that holiday slasher films have started making a slight comeback,Granted most are in the form of remakes like My Bloody Valentine 3D, Rob Zombie’sHalloween 1 & 2, Silent Night, but I’m also seeing some upcoming originalfilms like Easter Sunday... and the yet to be made Eli Roth fake trailerThanksgiving! Presidents Day is no exception to this group!

Written by Jimmy George & Chris LaMartina Presidents Dayis basically about a slack named Berry, he gets a hard on for the new girl andnotices she’s running for student council president. As a way to get to knowher more, Berry also runs for President. Little do they know another Presidentis in the running, and this time he’s killing the competition.

Being that the film was shot in 2009 and just now released,gave me worries but Presidents Day is a really good new slasher film.Everything is good about this film. Acting, Practical Effects, Story, Editing,and Directing are all just pieces of what makes this film so successful. Thefilm notably stars Bennie Mack McCoy IV as Berry, Lizzy Denning as Joanna,Nicolette le Faye as Chelsea, fellow film reviewer Shawn C. Phillips as Dennisand Ryan Thomas as Officer Kennedy. All the actors, even the ones I didn’t namedid great jobs with their respective roles. I felt that every character wasbelievable and seemed like they were all around the age of high schoolstudents. Bennie was the stand out for me, he did some subtle thing inreactions and mannerisms that really helped bring a fluid & natural feel tohis character.

The gore in the film was done very well, and the body countis very high. Practical effects took the lead in the effects department offeringup some choppings, decaps, slices, dices, burnings, hangings, suffocation,smashing, some comical dismembering, and more. This film is not without thered stuff and gorehounds should be satisfied. Also the film boasts some skinfor the guys including two breast shots, and a lingerie shot. The ladies areout of luck on this one, sorry girls better luck next time.

The story is fluid and there were no big plot holes orcontinuity errors. My only disappointment is I knew who the killer was rightoff the bat. It doesn’t take anything away from the film as the reveal was stillgood, I just had my suspicions. Editing of the film was also very well done, noharsh cuts or terrible dialogue levels, I believe this can be attributed to thedirection of Chris LaMartina, nothing was out of place or weird. We got somefairly straight forward shots and as a result the film is easily watchable.

Obviously, GLP loved Presidents Day and we thing you willto, It does everything a slasher film is supposed to do. Independent films aretaking the for front of Horror and I am not complaining. GLP gives Presidentsday a solid 4 out of 5 stabs for great story, gore, acting, and behind thescenes work. I highly suggest hunting down this film and grabbing your copy. It’sa great flick and has classic written all over it. The film is currentlyavailable on DVD through Amazon. For more information and the film and cast youcan visit the films Facebook page. View the trailer below.

GLP Rating:

 

Waxwork (1988)

In the video store days, I would roam the isles of the multiple stores my mother ran. As an impressionable kid I would be immediately drawn to the vilest, nasty, and violent covers I saw. In the process of this ritualistic exchange, I somehow missed this gem of an 80’s horror flick.

Waxwork was released to the home video marked in 1988 by Vestron Pictures (Now Lionsgate) with two versions of the film. One version carried the R rating and the other was Unrated. I can’t tell you why I passed up this movie for so long, but I unfortunately did. I just recently sat down and watched in on Fear Net through Comcast.

Basically the film is about a group of yuppie college kids that are almost as annoying as nails on a chalk board. The group is invited to a private walk-through of the new wax museum in town called Waxworks. Soon their friends start disappearing and one of them suspects the creepy museum has something to do with it.

I was really surprised with this movie. I thought the story was well written and even though the yuppie kids in the movie were hard to handle, they acted their parts very well. Waxwork starts Zach Galligan (Grimlins, Grimlins 2), Deborah Foreman (April Fools Day, Valley Girl), Michele Johnson (Death Becomes Her, Dr. Giggles) Dana Ashbrook (Return of The Living Dead: Part II, Ghost Dad) and the great David Warner ( The Omen, Tron, Titanic, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze).

Not only was the acting good and comical, but the stories concept was very cool as well. Its unique, and off the wall but when you think about it in concept it would be really cool to actually be thrown into the scene the wax sculptures are depicting. I do think some of the creatures/monster/killers were misused though. It would have been really cool to see more of the scenes instead of just 5 of them.

Gore in the film was surprisingly good. There is not a lot but when it is used it’s over the top and ridiculously fun. You get a biting, some gets ripped apart, some blood feasting, a blood bath. and some gun shots and other stuff. There is no nudity in the film either which I though was weird considering the time period of the film but it didn’t suffer without it.

All in all Waxwork is a fantastic little horror/comedy and is defiantly going to be added to my collection very soon. GLP gives this 80’s gem a solid 4 out of 5 stabs for creative story, humor, and cool ass special effects. You can currently get the film in a 2 pack DVD with its sequel Waxwork II: Lost in Time. View the trailer below.

GLP Rating: