Category: Horror films

Really Awful Movies: Ep 81 – Cannibal Ferox

~ reallyawfulmovies

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:39 — 29.4MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

Did you hear about the cannibal who arrived late for the potluck? They gave him the cold shoulder.

On this week’s episode, machetes in tow, we hack through the deepest, darkest jungles and take our first look at the infamous cannibal genre and one of its most notorious flicks, Cannibal Ferox.

This is the second Umberto Lenzi film we’ve discussed on the show, the first being City of the Living Dead. That was a lot more fun. Ferox is not unlike others from the genre in that it’s mostly dull and interspersed with incredibly gruesome and unforgettable images. Upon its release, the US distributor claimed it was “the most violent film ever made” and it was banned in numerous countries. Strange thing is there are way more violent films than this one.

What happens when a grad student gets lost in the wilds of Paraguay with her two assistants? The title is pretty self-explanatory.

And don’t forget to check out www.reallyawfulmovies.com

 

 

Really Awful Movies: Ep 79 – The Cabinet of Dr Caligari

~ reallyawfulmovies

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:42 — 30.9MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

We dip into German expressionism on the podcast this week, and we take a look at the classic, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari.

It’s a 1920 German silent horror film, directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. The Cabinet of Dr Caligari is frequently considered the quintessential work of German Expressionist cinema. And who are we to argue?

The film tells the story of an insane hypnotist (Werner Krauss) who uses a somnambulist (Conrad Veidt) to commit murders. Caligari features a dark and sinister visual style, with pointed forms, oblique and curving lines, structures and landscapes that lean and twist in odd angles, and shadows and streaks of light painted directly onto the sets.

The 1920 silent movie is outside our primary mandate of covering horror and genre film “from the 1960s to today,” as the tagline of the Really Awful Movies Podcast says. However, it’s vital to understand the current context of horror by casting our gaze back at this marvel. Its influence has carried on through the work of Tim Burton, Bergman and countless others.

The tale of the oddball hypnotist (or somnambulist) is just as eerie and vital today as it was in its day.

For more, check out: www.reallyawfulmovies.com

Really Awful Movies: Ep 75 – Howling 2

~ reallyawfulmovies

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:35 — 30.5MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

There are few sequels that managed to instantly erode/negate the goodwill generated by their superior, classic predecessors. Howling 2 is one such film. However it’s an interesting and unintentionally hilarious failure.

Featuring the unlikely bizarro casting of the legendary Christopher Lee alongside bumbleheaded naif Reb Brown, Howling 2 asks the question, where’s Joe Dante when you need him? The original director didn’t want anything to do with this one and rightly so.

The subtitle is Your Sister is a Werewolf and that comes into play as Ben (Brown) loses his sister to one of the savage beasts, and she becomes one. He seeks the help of the awesome Stefan Crosscoe (Lee) to explain the lycanthrope mystery.

Reel Film says this about the sequel: “virtually nothing here works, and it does become increasingly difficult to sustain any interest in the protagonists’ tedious exploits…”

C’mon!

There’s much to be said about Howling 2 and said exploits. There’s a hairy menage-a-trois (luckily not involving the aforementioned stars), and a glorious exploitation strip tease involving the incredibly hot Sybil Danning, who plays Stirba, Queen of the Werewolves. There’s a hunchback Romanian innkeeper, some switchblade-wielding punks and a terrific score.

So while this isn’t Godfather 2 territory sequel wise, it’s at times a hoot. Join us.

Find more reviews www.reallyawfulmovies.com, and be sure and subscribe to weekly episodes of the Really Awful Movies Podcast.