You're welcome, nice to see you enjoyed it

Extramuros - because I am nearing the end of my collection and the number of titles which are due to arrive in the mail are getting lower and lower, I recently started watching things which I just hadn't come around to watch, or simply forgot about. One of those was an old download of a Spanish film called "Extramuros", I knew it had nuns so I was assuming it was a nunsploitation like the (in)famous Italian films by Mattei and the like. An extra hurdle to watch this one was that it is in Spanish and the only subtitles I could find were in Spanish too. Moreover, the file was made from a VHS copy in which there were several hiccups in the tape, so the subs got desynced after 20 minutes and then again after 12 minutes, etc etc, so it was rather confusing. About 30 minutes before the final scenes the subs started to repeat themselves: they started over from the beginning so the lines from the lastscenes were missing. Since I know some Spanish I could sort of follow it with the subs and by the time I lost them I was in the story enough to make out where the plot was heading. Actually the story is not so spectacular: a nun in a 16 century cloister cuts herself in the hands so the wounds look like stigmata and she does it because she doesn't want to get relocated to a different cloister. In the one she's in she has an intimate friend among the sisters (they also kiss and fiddle around a bit with their hands but nothing shocking or over the top, almost no skin). Because the doctor suspects foul play the inquisition starts an investigation, which of course is extremely dangerous. Meanwhile the local populace and the other sisters in the cloister think she is a saint and start to worship her accordingly. The film lasts for almost two hours which is a bit long especially if you really need to pay attention in order to understand what's going on. There are some scenes which would totally fit a "normal" nunsploitation, like the one with the flagellants in which possessed people march by in a parade and some of them are jerking off and you can actually see the penises. That was out of the ordinary though, because most of the film is not so explicit at all. There is some subplot about a mother superior who wants her job back after she lost it to the "saint" and some political meddling by the local duke and his wife (or daughter, I missed that part). Unless you can find this with proper subs or a dub in a language which suits you, I'd say avoid this as it is not that special that you really need to go through the hassle of resynching the subs every so many minutes etc. English title is Beyond The Walls so maybe you can find it that way.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - a silent movie from 1920 with very artistic background sets, which give the movie a surreal touch. The story is about two friends going to a fair where there is a strange character called Dr Caligari who has a show with a somnambulist. The somnambulist of course wakes up and then tells the future. People start ending up dead and the police try to find the perpetrator. Is the somnambulist the urdeer or is something else at play? Typical silent movie acting with extreme expressions, the music is sometimes very fitting and other times not so much, there were some scenes with rising tension where the music was fading, didn't understand that. But the story is the best part of this film and the ending is surprising. Recommended!

Earth Star Voyager  - aka Disneyland: Earth Star Voyager Part 1. If this is really part 1, or part 2 or both parts is not really clear to me (when I go on the imdb description it was part 1 although that is supposedly 4 hours long while mine wasn't). What is clear is that I watched a scifi thing from 1988 and it lasted for two hours, and I only watched this part because it used to be an old VHS I bought decades ago and I digitized it in order to watch it someday and that day was last weekend. The story is about a spaceship exploring the universe to find an alternative planet to live on as earth has been polluted and pushed over the brink: humanity is about to be exterminated so the importance of the mission is evident. A group of young cadets is tasked with this mission and when their old hand who is supposed to guide them is lost, they have to fend for themselves. Not alone is the mission rather heavy for such a young crew, there are also some politics at play and they find out the mission is not as straightforward as they thought... Interesting scifi film, not sure whether this was a film or a miniseries now, but it doesn't really matter. This thing can be watched standalone without any trouble. The world is rather limited, most of the film takes place in the spaceship, but the acting is good enough and the story makes sense (already quite a feat in most scifis) so it is rather enjoyable. I had fun but I probably would not watch it again even though the sfx were pretty well done. I guess hardcore scifi fans will have a good time.

The Substance - a friend gave me the tip to watch this and since we have sort of the same taste when it comes to movies I gave it a try, especially after reading that it was a body horror. Well, it is indeed! The story is about Elizabeth Sparkles (Demi Moore) a filmstar and fitness idol, who is turning 50 and therefore being dumped rather bluntly by her boss (Dennis Quaid). Since she refuses to end her career just yet, she thinks about a plan and then she gets interested in "The Substance" after seeing a commercial about it. She then orders, and has to pick up her kit in a strange building. "You activate once, you stabilize every day, you switch every seven days without exception, remember: you are one", the manual says. She activates it and then, yes, a new and younger version of her appears (Margaret Qualley) and she becomes the new star very soon. She of course knows about the manual but when she is about to switch she is having such a great time that she tries to postpone the switch, just for a little while. This is the start of a series of events which include fame, lust, regret and more. The acting is great, the effects are very nicely done (no cgi as far as I could see) and the gore in the final scenes is great! If you like body horror you can't miss this one, I guess Cronenberg has a successor in Coralie Fargeat. Highly recommended!

Sex Is Crazy - the backside of the BR says "a delirious sex comedy that masquerades as a sci-fi farce" and that is actually a good description of what you will see when you are gonna watch this. It is a very strange film, it doesn't really have a story, it's more a string of short stories, with the same actors and actresses over and over again. This gets repetitive, because every time they see each other there is a little talk and then sex. The first time is the weirdest because they are all painted silver and they are portraying aliens coming to earth to procreate: this is a success because earth "pussy" can be fertilized and procreate in 7 seconds. This part of the "plot" drew me in, but it was a let down: all you see is the cast chanting an annoying and repetitive set of lines and silver painted men taking turns hanging over the earth woman imitating the act of sexual intercourse. The other little stories are more meant to be comedic, but like most "sex comedies" from the 60s-80s, this is unfunny at best. This movie will be added to my Jess France collection, but unless you really want to see everything he made I would skip this, as the jokes aren't funny, the sex is unerotic and there is no plot.

Heretic (2024): Saw a review of this on YT and found it interesting. It's about two young girls going around as missionaries advertising their church. They have a list of interested people they cover one by one and end up at the house of an older and very kind Mr. Reed. Since a storm is coming he invites them into his house where they start talking about religion. But soon the tables are turned as Mr. Reed has planned to convince the missionaries that their religion is a fraud. I really liked the first half of the movie and how the suspense is built up. Hugh Grant is great as the bad guy. There is some gore but not much. The concept of the movie was interesting and it even included some twists. I didn't really like the ending which seemed quite unrealistic (the girl suddenly figuring everything out and the other girl coming back for a final blow against the villain). Recommended if you like campy horror flicks.

The Haunted Mansion - I bought this one day thinking that I might use it to introduce horror to the next generation, but I forgot about it and it was gathering dust on the shelf next to The Addams Family Values. I finally gave it a spin yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised: I expected a children's horror, with cartoonish monsters and goofy characters, something along the lines of Ghostbusters and the like. Instead, I got a pretty cool haunted house film with great special effects and Eddy Murphy being funny and Marsha Thomason looking pretty. The story is about the Evers couple (Murphy and Thomason) going on a family weekend but on the way there, they stop by an old mansion of which the owner wants to sell: Jim Evers doesn't want to let this opportunity go by. They [plan to just do a quick visit ("20 minutes tops") but of course this is not gonna work. They find themselves on a wild ride with ghosts, zombies and a lovestory from the past. Acting is great, story is nice and like I said the sfx are good too. Recommended.

Scanners - this film was an enigma for me for a long time. I remembered a scene from it, but I could not remember if I had seen the entire film or not. So I gave it a spin and indeed: the opening scene in the restaurant was very familiar to me. After the scanner was brought to the doctor though, the film didn't seem so familiar to me anymore. The further into the film, the more certain I became that I hadn't seen the film in its entirety. My guess now is that I started watching it at one point, then finding out I could not finish it in one go because of the time of night, stopped watching it and then forgot about it for a while. Glad I did watch it, it's a nice scifi thriller about people with special mindskills, not so much bodyhorror as you might know from Cronenberg, but a good film nonetheless. Michael Ironside is one of my favourite actors and he is great in this one too. The ending was also to my liking, nicely in line with the somewhat tense atmosphere. I know several sequels were made, not sure if I want to see those, but at least this first one was good and I might watch it again someday. Recommended. 

El Bosque Del Lobo - bought a bunch of BluRays recently and in the order was a box with three Spanish horrors from the 1970s, and this one is the earliest of them, made while Franco was still in charge, in 1970. The story is about a travelling salesman in rural Spain around 1900 who has a childhood trauma, and he expresses this trauma through murder. While among people he is the sweetest character though, so when people disappear he simpy, makes up stories about them moving house etc. It takes the villagers a pretty long while to convince themselves of his guilt. Somewhat strange film of which I didn't know what to expect, It has a nice atmosphere and the acting is OK, but the kills were boring and I didn't know what the whole werewolf thing was about. Let's see what the other two will bring, I don't think I'll be watching this again sometime soon.

Rapiña - Mexican film in a box called "Mexican Gothic: the films of Carlos Enrique Taboada". I never heard of this name before but since I really like unknown horrorfilms, I wanted to see these. Gothic horror is not my favourite genre but they usually do a great job on atmosphere and since I had two hours to kill I slipped in the BR of Rapiña, the third film in the box.The story is about Porfirio and Evorio, two lumberjacks with simple but happy lives in a remote village somewhere in Mexico. Overhearing the local doctor saying nasty things about the villagers, Porifiro is hellbent on leaving for the city, but since he is poor he doesn't know how to. When a plane crashes near him while chopping wood in the forest, it seems like a gift from heaven: no survivors and plenty of expensive stuff to take: this is his chance to get him and his pregnant wife to the city! He informs Evorio, but soon things start to take a darker turn when greed is taking over Porfirio's mind. On one hand I was disappointed in this film because it's not horror and I did expect horror reading the cover of the box. On the other hand, this story is a very strong one, showing that you may gain in money but you will lose in invaluable things. Acting is well done, atmosphere is nice, the landscape is a character in this film. So even though I wanted more horror from this one it's still a good movie which I can recommend, just don't expect anything horror and you will be good.

Emma Mae - a pretty unorthodox blaxploitation which evolves around Emma Mae, a country girl from Mississippi who is gonna live with her family in LA. At first the city girls look down upon her, even her own cousins, but slowly she gains some respect by showing her spirit, both in word and in act. She falls in love with the local cool guy but he is also on drugs, dealing and getting in trouble, so when he gets arrested, she tries to bail him out. The bail is pretty high though, so the resourceful Emma Mae starts a car wash to get the money together and with the help of a lot of people she succeeds in doing so, but it seems like her boyfriend doesn't really appreciate the effort... now it's time for Emma Mae to stand up for herself! The usual funky music, Afro hairdo's and jive talk can be heard and seen. There isn't that much action going on but if it is, it sheds a new light on the subgenre. Nice effort by Jamaa Fanaka, of whom I had never seen a film before, but I'll be able to watch some more by his hand soon. If you like the genre you can go for it, if you are new to it, I'd pick a different one because this is different than most, especially plotwise.

The Barn - a 21st century retro 80s style horror about three demons in a barn: a boogeyman, a scarecrow and a pumpkinhead. Back in 1959 they killed a young girl who was daring her trick or treat partner to do trick or treat in the barn. Thirty years later we follow two friends, Sam and Josh, who are faced by a punishment: they need to trick or treat for charity (church) and have their last Halloween that way. Wanting to go out with a bang, they try to do the chore and go to a concert by their favourite metalband. Some other friends are along for the ride to the concert, and they hope to do the trick or treating in a town near it. Problem is the town has disappeared and the only thing left is the barn. Of course they are gonna check if the legend about the three demons is true, and soon enough the first victims are falling. Atmosphere is nice but in some things it is spot on and in others it isn't (like the clothing and the haircuts - they look too modern), acting is OK and the story is a bit chaotic sometimes, the whole concert is never gonna be a thing, for example. Effects are great, the gore is lovely. If you like 80s horror and ran out of originals, this is a good alternative, but if you would have the choice between a real 80s horror and this one I'd go for the real one.

The day before yesterday I watched

Darker Than Night - aka Mas negro que la noche. After her aunt has died, Ofelia receives a message about the inheritance and it turns out it's the big mansion her aunt used to live in. The only condition on which she gets the house, is that she will take care of the cat Becquer. She and her three friends are gonna take a look and decide to live in the house, there is enough space for everyone. Sofia, the old maid, explains about the house and the cat, which is nowhere to be found. Ofelia is worried because she feels responsible for the cat. It appears in the middle of the night in the room she sleeps in, and while she is relieved, two of her friends are not: they hate cats. From that moment on, they start hearing voices and seeing shadows, and while these are all ingredients for a nice and atmospheric Gothic horror, it doesn't really take off. Dead bodies appear eventually but it takes long and it isn't very spectacular. This is the second film by Carlos Enrique Taboada, but so far I'm not really impressed by his horror skills, so my hopes are on the last movie in the box.

Yesterday I went to the cinema to see

Sinners - when going to see Nosferatu earlier this year, we saw the trailer for Sinners and said to each other that this was a film we wanted to see too. Actually the first time in my life where I was going to see a movie in the cinema purely based on seeing the trailer. I had noticed it had a high score on imdb so I had some expectations, but otherwise I went in as blank as possible. AFter seeing the trailer you already know there will be horror stuff happening, and although this is the biggest spoiler you can give about the film, it was a good thing I knew it, or I wouldn't have gone to see it in the first place. The story is set in 19432 Mississippi, where two twin brothers, Smoke and Stack, are returning from their endeavours in Chicago where they worked for Al Capone. They are planning to open a juke joint for the sharecroppers in the area and even though they want to fix it all in one day, that evening the joint opens and a large part of the community is present at the party. But some uninvited guests appear at the door and this will turn the night upside down. I had a great time watching this, it's a long film but it doesn't feel like it. The friend who I was with said he had From Dusk Till Dawn vibes and I can understand that, it has the same kind of twist. Acting is top notch and the setting and atmosphere are historically correct (always a plus in my book). There is also a scene in which one of the lead characters sings a song, and everyone is dancing: this doesn't sound like anything special, but it is one of the best filmscenes I have ever seen. Highly recommended for everyone here, go see it as soon as possible!

Spirits of the Air Gremlins of the Clouds - a while ago I bought a bunch of BluRays, checking out if I could find some gems unknown to me. One of the descriptions which caught my eye was the one of this film, an Australian film set in the future where a brother and a sister live in a remote house in the desert, on the location  where their father, a deeply religious man, had died. When a stranger arrives at their house, their everyday routine is broken up. The sister is afraid of the newcomer and the brother sees an ally in him in his plan to try and build an aeroplane to fly out of there. The setting is strange, with all kinds of crosses around the house, threatening signs and animal skulls on the fence and the veranda. The brother and sister both seem mentally challenged and they accuse each other of being mad. The stranger, while seeming to be a threat at first, turns out to be the most normal of them all. The wind is a crucial factor in the success or failure of the invented flying machines they build. Acting is exaggerated, which adds to the strange atmosphere. While the story in itself is not very interesting, the setting and strangeness of it all has some kind of appeal. So if you like odd films and don't need to see aliens or monsters or gore, then you can pick this one.

Mako: the Jaws of Death - bought this one after I saw an ad for a box containing this film and several others I already own. This sharkfilm is one of the movies which got made after Jaws was a box office hit in 1975. William Grefe, of whom I had already seen Death Curse of Tartuy and STing of Death, bith so bad it's good movies at which I had laughed my ass off, directed this Jaws rip-off but takes a very different angle. Richard Jaeckel, the guy who played in several westerns and warmovies before appearing in this one, is a Vietnam war vet (you don't know this unless you read the plot) who has a special connection to sharks which swim around the coast of Florida, he calls them his friends and takes care of them. He can do this because somewhere in the past he received a shark amulet from some kind of shaman on a SOuth Pacific island. People who fish on sharks, or prey on them otherwise, are his enemies and he doesn't shy away from taking them out. When a showgirl is being attacked by two drunk men, he saves her, and thus she gets to know about his sharks. The sharks end up being part of a show with the girl, but things soon turn sour... The front- and backside of the DVD case scream at you that this film is made without any protective measures against the sharks. When you see the film you will understand why, as the sharks are very tame and they are also pretty small species. Not a single great white can be spotted, most sharks are from the reef shark type of animal. That said, the movie itself is a very nice B-flick with all the ingredientes about man being the real monster and the usual blabla in creature features. If you are into bad movies or sharkfilms, go and see this one.

Beatriz - second film from the Villages of the Damned box with horrorfilms from Spain (first one was El Bosque Del Lobowhich I reviewed a few weeks ago). Again, this is not really a horrorfilm although it has some horror elements in it. The story is about a family consisting of a countess, her daughter Beatriz and her son Juan, his teacher (a student who comes to visit regularly) and their maid. The maid has a baby son who is very ill and she goes to a witch who advises her that her child is possessed and she needs to take the curse and put it on someone else. The maid is desperate and chooses to put the spell on Beatriz. In the meantime, a friar who had been robbed in the woods and defended himself vigorously, killing several of his attackers, has arrived at the countess' house. After Beatriz has received the curse, everyone starts to suspect the friar because her becoming ill coincided with his arrival. While everyone keeps his or her superstitious beliefs, the student sticks to the facts, and while this causes some uproar it is also the solution. Later the surviving members of the gang of robbers invade the home to rape and drink. While the possession part is horrorish, the rest of the film is not. It is very atmospheric though and takes place in the same time and maybe even place asEl Bosque Del Lobo. I liked this one better as it was a tad less weird, it is still very much a 1970s Spanish film though where emphasis is on atmosphere and not so much on making sense.Not sure how to recommend this, fans of Spanish cinema will have a good time for sure.

Wicked World - the BR of this gives you a choice: watch the 1991 original or the 2018 directors cut. Because the original was a tad longer I picked that one. The film is about a mental patient rethinking his homicidal past. We see him kill droves of victims in pretty unspectacular ways, the kills are sort of hidden by fast edited shots and the effects are done poorly (some blood looks ok, other blood veey fake). Sometimes you see the killer wait in the vicinity of his next victim for quite some time, so you start wondering when he is gonna kill. There is a lot of repetition in the movie, both spoken lines and filmed shots are being repeated regularly and the lack of action and the uninteresting scenery made it a bit difficult to keep my focus on the film. I did finish it though, but I'm probably not gonna rewatch this anytime soon. The ending was a bit weird, it felt like themovie was not finished yet for some reason. The endcredits ran for 10 minutes, no e tra scenes though. If you are having a movienight with friends you can pick this for laughs, otherwise I'd skip it.

T-Blockers - this Australian film is being advertised in the opening credits as a trans/queer film, and I didnt have any of these in my collection yet so I was curious as to what would make this film different from any others. The story is about a couple of friends, Spencer and Sophie, who make movies for a living and go out a lot. A big part of the film consists of dialogue between these two characters and they share a lot of thoughts on their existence and their personal issues. This helps in the character building department, but visually it is rather boring to look at the same two persons for a long time. When Sophie has been on a date, it turns out that Adam, the interested guy, was a chaser and after he has been mugged himself by some shady characters, he turns into some kind of a zombie-esque creature who starts to attack queer people. Adam and his gang of course symbolize the conservative/religious groups in society, you can't miss this symbolism. The gore looks very dark, blood is almost black for some reason and it would have been nicer if this was done in a less unrealistic way imo. Overall the story was rather flat and simple, it would have gained more depth with some extra subplots or twists I guess. Interesting little piece of cinema though, dealing with a subject not many films go into.

Las Flores del Vicio - aka The Sky Is Falling, The  Sky Is Falling. Last film in a box called "Villages of the Damned - three horrors from Spain" of which I had watched El Bosque del Lobo and Beatriz before. While those films were already barely horror, this one is even further away from the genre and also the least Spanish: the cast and crew is almost entirely non-Spanish and the language is English. The SPanish villagers barely speak any words and if they do, the subtitles just state "speaking Spanish". My knowledge of the language helped in this case, as I knew they were saying things that made sense but were also not really necessary to follow the plot. The plot itself however, is pretty hard to follow, because there barely is any. Some expats ("I simply live abroad") indulge themselves in decadent lifestyles: a washed up Hollywood starlet, an ex-RAF commander, a gay guy and a heroin addict just drink and do drugs until four strangers arrive and four couples are being made. Then people start to die and while it seems at first this could be the start of a mystery involving the strangers and the villagers, it just turns out the four expats are the drivers of their own undoing, hence the Spanish title translated "The Flowers of Vice". Point of interest is part of the cast featuring Dennis Hopper, who is actually not really acting, but just shooting dope and acting upon that, but this film is overall just being weird. The entire box is a bit of a disappointment, if you are looking for unknown horror, you can easily skip this one.

Death Occurred Last Night - aka La Morte Risale a Ieri Sera. A Duccio Tessari film, the director who also gave us The Bloodstained Butterfly and Puzzle. Knowing this, I went into this one thinking it was another giallo, but this one is more of a poliziottesco. A man who lives alone with his daughter finds out she has disappeared. Not only is this fact a personal drama, but also the fact she is mentally challenged: she is 25 years old but has the mind of a 3-year-old. The man implores the police to do something about the disappearance, but he hits a wall asking around the police station. Finally after a month, a detective feels for him and promises to do everything in his power to find the girl. His search leads him through various whorehouses where he (Frank Wolff) and his partner (Gabriele Tinti) encounter many shady figures and slowly but steadily they come closer to the solution of this puzzle. There aren't many deaths in this film and it's driven by the mystery of what happened to the girl. This keeps you interested enough until the ending which is very climactic and brutal. The ending alone is worth watching the rest of the film, even though the amount of horror is next to nothing and the lack of kills. Recommended, especially for fans of Italo.

Welcome Home Brother Charles - Charles is a pusher and a pimp being surveyed by the police. One day he and his buddy N.D. are being chased and they split up, resulting in Charles getting caught and N.D. getting away. AFter having been in prison for three years, where several strange experiments have been conducted on him, Charles is back on the streets out for revenge. He starts by taking out the racist cop who beat him up after his arrest, then he goes after N.D., who took his girl and his territory. To take out his targets, he makes use of his very large reproductive organ, which has grown to this enormous size as a result of the prison experiments. This makes the film stand out not only as a blaxploitation, but also as a strange horrorish film, where this killer organ comes along almost casually after having seen a "normal" crime film. If this was called "Revenge of the Killer Penis" it would have been a good title as well. Music is funky as it should be, acting is OKish (some cast is, eeh, not so great). But the "creature" in this feature makes up for all of that! Recommended for bad moviefans.