Satan's Slave (1976)

After watching some decent movies, it was time to get myself prepared for this weeks episode of American Horror Story (I am bummed, I missed last weeks and that halted my weekly review – but I will catch up Monday). So, I decided to sit back and watch some Satanic / Reincarnation goodness with the 1976 entry Satan’s Slave (AKA Evil Heritage)

Plot/ A young girl is caught up in a devil cult run by her evil uncle and cousin. She can trust no one and even people she thought were dead comes back to haunt her.

This flick was definitely one that I enjoyed. Any time you get bizarre twists with some mind-provoking imagery couples with equal amounts of nudity and bloodshed, you should have a winner. This one had all of that and more. In fact, other than some minor pacing issues and some strange illogical story twists that were a bit confusing, everything else worked. The acting and characterization were solid, atmosphere was creepy, the cinematography was on point and the effects were decent considering the age of the film (love the head smashing and pin to the eye). More importantly, the ending was quite an enjoyable twist that was not expected. In the end, this 1976 film seems to stand as a marker for the tragic end of the Hammer Horror monopoly, demonstrating that society had tired of the Hammer blueprint, and quality gore, horror and supernatural movies could come from other studio's as well. Overall, I would definitely recommend this one to horror fans or fans of the 1970s, and the great thing is, it is available for less than full price on a few Mill Creek Box Sets… A Win-Win for all!  

The Gorehouse Greats Collection

After viewing all 12 movies on this set, it was definitely a great gift from my little brother. Yes, there were some down moments, but in the end, there were more winners than losers. My only major complaint is the overall lack of gore! The best films on the the Gorehouse Great Collection are:

Blood Mania
Satans Slave
Stanley
Terrified
Terror
The Devils Hand
Trip With The Teacher

Stanley (1972)

That’s it, I finished the Gorehouse Greats Collection now that I made it though Stanley. What a day to do it, with the Sci Fi Channel running a marathon of similar modern fare with the likes of Vipers and Hydra. Hell, even Showtime chipped in with Cobra vs. Komodo!

Plot / Returning to a life of racial bigotry after two years of killing in Vietnam, Seminole Indian Tim needs alot of help. The only love and affection he is now capable of expressing is to venomous snakes. Tim‘s fellow human beings respect his serpentine expertise; his affection for snakes is another story. Tim finds others hate, if not misunderstanding, Stanley and his snake friends. If his friends are killed or mistreated, Tim dishes out cruel punishment to the human transgressors. Snakes are his tool for revenge. Snakes, however, are fickle creatures and the final venomous showdown takes place deep within the swamp between the two friends.

If you are a fan of movies on the Sci Fi channel, than this movie is worth a look. The film is at its most creepy with scenes of real snakes crawling all over the home of the snake-man. Besides being quite dated in comparison to the modern snake attack movies (such as Vipers which I watched this morning), the main weakness is in it's running time. I definitely felt like the film plodded along more than need be. In the end, it was a decent note to end this collection with. While it is not scary, if you do not like snakes, you will definitely squirm a little. The acting is solid, and the script made it at least a bit believable. .This movie is no classic, but it does stand tall next to the stuff being forced out of Sci Fi land!

Nightmare in Wax (1969)

One movie down and one flick to go to meet my goal of completing the Gorehouse Greats Collection this weekend. My first selection was the 1969 Cameron Mitchell entry Nightmare in Wax.

Plot/ A former film special effects engineer who is disfigured by Max, a rival for the affections of a woman. Leaving the film industry, Vince opens a wax museum just as popular stars of the screen start to go missing. Those selfsame stars soon feature as wax models in the museum.

This was a fun film, not great or even relatively good, but fun. Cameron Mitchell does a great job in this one, possibly his better performances (especially when hamming it up with his creations). The rest of the acting is mediocre, which makes the scripts flaws even more evident. The scenery, the idea of creating live zombified figures and the wax figures of the Hollywood greats are done really well, but that is about where the good parts of the movie end. In all, an ok film that had its moments, while it is not for everyone, one could do far worse than spending 90 minutes with this flick.

Brain Twisters (1991)

This weekend is it, I am going to finish the Gorehouse Greats Collection! Tonight I watched Brain Twisters from 1991 and tomorrow I will finish the last two flicks Nightmare in Wax and Stanley.

Plot/ College student Laurie Stevens gets a crash course in horror when she discovers that her favorite professor's computer-game research is really a series of mind-control experiments. Pushed by a software company to accelerate his research, the unethical teacher ignores the fact that students become violent after exposure to the game. Soon, Laurie teams with police to investigate a series of seemingly unrelated on-campus murders and suicides.

Again, I am amazed at how this ended up on this box set, because this movie totally lacks any type of gore. In fact, my first thought was this was a made-for-TV flick that ended up on video. In the end, it is just another mediocre movie that is destined to be forgotten (until it ends up on another one of these box sets). For horror fans, there is very little to like and it is missing many of the elements that at least made the low budget movies tolerable. There are very little (if any) blood, no guts, no nudity and only a couple of kills that take place on screen. The acting is OK and the video effects look more late 1970s early 1980s. To be honest, this one is a mess and I cannot recommend it at all.

They Saved Hitler's Brain (1968)

After a few weeks, I decided it was time to venture back into the Gorehouse Greats Collection in hopes of finally finishing that set. With that in mind, I chose They Saved Hitler’s Brain for the evening. Unfortunately, I may have been better off watching a rerun of Warehouse 13, it may have been more interesting the third time around!

Plot/ At the end of World War II, Nazi officials spirited the living head of Adolf Hitler out of Germany to a hiding place in the South American country of Mandoras, in order to revive the Third Reich at a later date. By the 1960s, these men believed the time had come, so they kidnap a top scientist in order to force him to help keep Hitler alive. Several intelligence agencies find out about the plot and send agents to stop it.

I do not know where to begin, this movie is a disjointed mess from start to finish. The scenes are unbalanced, the special effects are laughable and the acting is abysmal. Do not get me wrong, I am a huge fan of B Movies and love some of the cheesiest more than other more popular titles from that era. Those are at least fun, something that this is not other than the few minutes with Hitlers’ Head in the jar, which is hilarious. Other than that this movie has very little to offer and is difficult to watch. Personally, I am unsure of how it was selected to be part of the Gorehouse Greats Collection.

Terror (1978)

As my quiet afternoon continued, I decided to dive back into the Gorehouse Greats Collection for some afternoon entertainment. My choice, the 1978 Norman J.Warren entry, Terror. With no expectations, the afternoon bloodbath continued, with what was definitely an homage to Dario Argento and a nice alternative to Lake Placid 2.

Plot/ Royal ancestors feel the wrath of the curse of the condemned witch Mad Dolly, who spews forth her prophecy while she is burned at the stake. The victims suffer death by having their heads removed in various fashions, getting their limbs caught in animal traps, knife wounds, and other methods of medieval torture.

This movie was a lot better than I expected, the imagery, gore and pace were really good. Even the low light that it seemed to be filmed in made it surprisingly atmospheric. However, with a so-so script, OK acting and a basic storyline, the movie is far from great. I do have to admit the opening sequence of a movie within the movie came off tremendously and made me want to see that movie instead, but I did enjoy what came next with this film. In all, Terror is a nice gory movie and makes for a decent 80 minutes.

The Devil's Hand (1962)

After Night of the Living Dead, I decided to continue with the black and white feel for the evening by selecting The Devil's Hand as my nightcap. This 1962 supernatural film came as part of the Gorehouse Greats Collection, although, I am not quite sure how it fits in.

Plot/ Rick Turner is engaged of Donna Trent and is having nightmares with a beautiful blonde woman dancing in the sky. One night, he is mysteriously driven to a doll shop, and in the next morning he returns to the place with Donna. He finds a doll that resembles his fiancé, but the owner Francis Lamont delivers another doll to him, with the face of the woman of his dreams, Bianca Milan. Rick looks for Bianca and is seduced and convinced by her to join a sect that worships the diabolic Gamba, while the health of Donna is threatened by Francis and Bianca.

The Devil's Hand was a lot better than I expected. Yes, it was short and to the point, but within that movie it took on so many different topics and it worked. There were Supernatural themes, love triangles, voodoo, satanic rituals, beautiful women, and really so much more than I can mention. While I enjoyed it, there were times where it felt predictable once the story started to flow. In all, it was maybe more than the low-budget would allow because the film could have been even better if it were longer. As it is, the storyline, while interesting, does not go into much detail with in the context of the story with many moving parts not being tied together and the acting isn't the greatest. However, between the occasional atmospheric and suspenseful scenes set in the cult's headquarters and the great horrific climax, there are more than enough good points to warrent watching this film again. If you decide not to, the great God Gamba may test you!