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Howl

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Howl is a forthcoming British horror film about a werewolf on a train directed by Paul Hyett (The Descent (special effects),The Seasoning House) from a screenplay by Mark Huckerby and Nick Ostler. It stars Shauna MacDonald, Ross Mullan, Calvina Dean, Rosie Day, Ryan Oliva, Sam Gittins, Anian Marson.

Plot teaser:

When passengers on a train are attacked by a creature, they must band together in order to survive until morning.

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Midnight Mutants (computer game)

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Midnight Mutants is a computer game for the Atari 7800 ProSystem, developed by Radioactive Software and published by Atari Corporation in 1990. It features a likeness of Al Lewis, dressed as Grandpa Munster, playing the role of “Grampa.” The game was one of the last releases for the Atari 7800. As with similar games of that era, Midnight Mutants features a large in-game environment with many locations, a background musical soundtrack, battles against boss enemies and an animated introduction. Despite its limited distribution, the game remains popular among Atari 7800 fans. Critical reaction has been fairly positive with praise being paid to the game’s graphics, gameplay and quirky sense of humour.

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Game plot:

On Halloween night in 1992 young Jimmy Harkman’s grandfather (known as “Grampa”) has been imprisoned inside of a pumpkin by a resurrected villain named Dr. Evil, who is taking revenge for being burned at the stake as a witch by their ancestor Johnathon Harkman on Halloween night in 1747.

Jimmy then heads on a Halloween quest to free his grandfather. With Doctor Evil on the loose, Jimmy finds the countryside has become inhabited by scary creatures such as zombies and werewolves that can injure him physically and also make his blood impure. Fortunately, even though Grampa is trapped in pumpkin form, he is available to give Jimmy advice on occasion with the push of a button. Along the way, Jimmy can collect weapons and items that will help him in his quest to defeat evil creatures, giant bosses and ultimately Dr. Evil himself…

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Review:

It’s a wonderful isometric adventure game that harks back to the days of the ZX Spectrum and Ultimate Play The Game. You are on a mission to rescue Grandpa himself who has been captured and trapped in a haunted mansion … The graphics throughout Midnight Mutants are fantastic and the cut scenes where Grandpa actually talks to you and gives you tips are particularly nice. The game is massive and the gameplay is very deep too, you will be wishing at times that it had a save option!” Retro Video Gamer

Wikipedia | Image sources: Moby Games

Related: Burn, Witch, Burn! (article) | The Munsters


Hemlock Grove (TV series) [updated with Season 2 trailer]

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Hemlock Grove is an American, Netflix Original, horror thriller television series. The show is executive produced by Eli Roth (Cabin Fever; Hostel; The Green Inferno), developed by Brian McGreevy and Lee Shipman. It is based on McGreevy’s novel Hemlock Grove (2012).

The show premiered April 19, 2013, with all thirteen episodes made immediately available for online viewing. On June 19, 2013, Netflix renewed Hemlock Grove for a second season.

Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania. The town is a mixture of extreme wealth and poverty, as the closing of the town’s steel mill many years earlier caused many to lose their jobs. The town’s main sources of employment are now the Hemlock Acres Hospital and Godfrey Institute for Biomedical Technologies. Run by the powerful Godfrey family, the Institute is rumored to conduct sinister experiments on a daily basis.

The town’s rumor mill turns even more twisted when two teenage girls are brutally killed and their bodies left for unsuspecting people to find the next day. Peter Rumancek, a 17-year-old gypsy, is suspected of the crimes by some of the townsfolk; he is also rumored to be a werewolf. While secretly he is a werewolf, he is not the killer, and, along with the heir to the Godfrey estate, Roman, he sets out to solve the mystery…

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Main cast:

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Reviews:

“If the underlying formula is as old as Dark Shadows, there’s still a need for more narrative momentum than the 13-episode series initially delivers. So while one can understand why Netflix would augment its original slate with this mix of talent, “Hemlock Grove” remains a mere niche confection, one likely to play best among those genre fans who can’t see the forest for the trees.” Brian Lowry, Variety

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“Actually, embarrassing is a good way to describe everything about this show. It’s cringeworthy. You can tell that the creators thought they were being edgy, because they threw swear words into every other line and included lots of sex scenes, but it comes off as impossibly juvenile. There’s not a single character that acts like a real person would. They just do things, because the script says so. It’s hard to shake the impression that the whole thing was written by a child, just guessing at how the adult world works.” Sarah Dobbs, Den of Geek!

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Hemlock Grove takes its time with story lines, ensuring that each one has plenty of room to ripen. It carries out every dastardly deed with gusto, but still offers enough moments of levity … And though the sordid world is captivating, I’m still grappling with aspects of the conclusion, which oozes with old-school misogyny that savagely punishes every girl and woman who dares to own her sexuality.” Jessica Shaw, Entertainment Weekly

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Wikipedia | IMDb | Facebook


Creature Feature (2010)

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‘A monster legacy comes to life!’

Creature Feature (promoted as Creature Feature!) is a 2010 American ‘adult’ horror film. Produced by and featuring Tom Byron (This Ain’t Dracula XXXBuffy the Vampire Slayer XXXThe Human Sexipede), it was directed by Lizzy Borden aka Janet Romano. The latter also directed Cannibalism, a similar sex/horror crossover movie, in 2002. It stars Sunny Lake, Mark Zane, Anthony Rosano, Evan Stone, Tommy GunnJennifer White, Andy San Dimas.

A surprising number of porn parodies are a lot of fun to watch, including Jonathan Morgan’s Double Feature (1999) which appears to have been the overall role model for this incompetent poverty-row portmanteau video, with Sunny Lane as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark introducing five hardcore vignettes (“The Bride of Fuckenstein”; “The Mummy – It Will Leave You Speechless”; “Count Dracula”; “The Wolfman”; “Night of the Fucking Dead Zombie!”) produced in what looks like one or two days with approximately $200 worth of Halloween props and costumes. You will find yourself fast-forwarding through most of it to end your misery.

Sunny Lane as the Hostess with the Mostess:

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Evan Stone apparently doing a Rotwang-impersonation, though it may be coincidental, with Jennifer White as The Bride of Fuckenstein:

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Gracie Glam as a Lara Croft-lookalike, with the mummy behind the cobweb though you can’t tell it’s there untill she kneels down to unwrap its member. You should have seen his face, but we don’t, as the camera never leaves the crotch area:

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Anthony Rosano as Count Dracula in vampire cinema’s smallest cape:

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Tommy Gunn as the Wolfman:

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Mark Zane as Johnny and Andy San Dimas as Barbara. With a graveyard set consisting of one plastic gravestone leaned against a tree, this actually manages to make Plan 9 from Outer Space” look big-budget!

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Look, there cums one of them now: The film’s producer Tom Byron as The Zombie:

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Nicolas Barbano, Horrorpedia Guest Reviewer

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Frankenstein and Vasaria – The Fictional Locations of the Early Universal Horror Films (location)

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Although the continuity is a little wayward, the events of many of the Golden Age of Universal horror films actually take place in one of two fictional locales – the village of Frankenstein and that of Vasaria (sometimes spelled Visaria). In turn, these were generally filmed in the same place too, the sprawling Universal back-lot, nicknamed ‘Little Europe’.

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Frankenstein Village is home, naturally enough, to the famed Frankenstein family who resided in the area for 700 years. Taking elements of the setting of Mary Shelley’s novel, Ingolstadt in Bavaria, it is referred to in House of Frankenstein as being located near the fictional town of Reigelberg in Switzerland (the country is also referred to in a 1930 shooting script for Frankenstein).

Notable places of interest in the village include a castle on the edge of the village, the ancestral dwelling of the Frankenstein family, latter inhabitants being the Baron and his son, Henry. Located behind the castle was an old watchtower where Henry Frankenstein drew notoriety for his attempts to grant life to cadavers. The building also had a crypt and a windmill is to be found nearby. Overseen by a burgomaster, the locals partake in many traditional trades and much of their economy appears to be based on the large forested area at the edge of their community.

Universal Classic Monsters 30-Film Collection

Buy Universal Classic Monsters 30-Film Collection on DVD from Amazon.com

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Generally assumed to be in Switzerland, Vasaria is nestled in the mountains of Eastern Europe, rather isolated from the outside world and approximately a three-day journey from the nearest hamlet – Frankenstein. Vasaria was also home to men of medicine – Dr. Gustav Neimann (played by Boris Karloff in the film House of Frankenstein), and the youngest son of Henry Frankenstein, Ludwig (Cedric Hardwicke in Ghost of Frankenstein). Vasaria also became the residence of Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr), better known in furry mode as The Wolfman.

For the narrative to make any sense at all, the events of the films should take place in roughly this order:

Frankenstein (Frankenstein Village)

Bride of Frankenstein (Frankenstein Village)

Dracula

Dracula’s Daughter

Son of Frankenstein (Frankenstein Village)

Ghost of Frankenstein (Vasaria)

The Wolf Man

Son of Dracula

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Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein (ironically the one film which attempts to put all the monsters in a ‘believable’ real world where they could cross paths). Both towns have a surprisingly high quota of hunchbacks and hanged criminals.

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Buy Universal Monsters: The Essential Collection on Blu-ray from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk

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Stage 12 at Universal Studios was built in 1928, covers 29,500 square feet and was originally created for the 1929 film, Broadway. The sprawling nature of the set meant that in leant itself to epic productions where entire communities had to be housed – these included Dracula, Frankenstein ( both 1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Alas, a devastating fire in 1967 means that the current replica of a town available to visit is not the original.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

With thanks to Universal Monster Army website and Monster Kid Classic Horror Forum

Universal Studios Monsters A legacy of Horror book

Buy Universal Studios Monsters: A Horror Legacy book from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk

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Cry of the Werewolf

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Cry of the Werewolf, also known as Daughter of the Werewolf, is a 1944 film starring Nina Foch, based on a story by Griffin Jay and directed by Henry Levin. Following The Return of the Vampire, it was Columbia studio’s second broadside-attack on Universal’s stranglehold of the horror market.

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Plummy-toned tour guide, Peter Althius (John Abbott, the voice of the wolf in Jungle Book) enthrals a captive audience with tales of the strange goings-on in the stately home of the deceased Marie LaTour, rumoured to have been a werewolf.

Cry of the Werewolf John Abbott: "We will now proceed to the Voodoo Room..."

John Abbott as the guide

To cover all bases, voodoo and vampirism are thrown into the talk as well, though we are informed that being a werewolf is the worst of the lot, a fact proven by the evil quotient being so high that the being cannot help but transform into a bestial form to conduct its killings.

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Dr Charles Morris (Fritz Lieber, previously glimpsed in Charles Laughton’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame) , the museum’s director, believes he has discovered the sinister secret about the lupine history of the house, prompting the museum’s janitor to warn LaTour’s daughter/gypsy princess, Celeste (the film’s biggest acting draw, Dutch-born Nina Foch, also seen in the aforementioned The Return of the Vampire and later in epics such as Spartacus and The Ten Commandments).

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Celeste acts (at least in the movement sense) and burns the offending evidence and we are introduced to a secret series of rooms accessed by a secret panel in the mantlepiece. Morris is also found dead and his son Bob (Stephen Crane, barely acted again, if you count his appearance in this as acting – he went back to being Lana Turner’s husband – briefly) and future Transylvanian wife, Elsa (Danish-born Osa Massen, later seen in Rocketship X-M) try to piece together the evidence to solve the mystery of the house, past and present.

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Also along to fight crime is hard-boiled Lt. Barry Lane (Barton MacLane, The Mummy’s Ghost, 1941’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) who starts as he means to go on, barking (or howling) up the wrong tree and ignoring the supernatural elements and pointing fingers at more obvious suspects. Amidst the perpetual long shadows, Celeste and Elsa face-off to hide/uncover the wolfy goings-on, whilst the men of the picture wander around haplessly spending more time preening and checking legal paperwork than stopping marauding monsters.

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Is this the worst werewolf film ever made? Well, latter-day shot-on-video or CGI efforts would definitely take that crown but this is a genuine contender, made worse by the fact that Columbia were making a concerted effort to erase all Universal’s efforts in the process. Their previous horror outing, The Return of the Vampire had been well-received in many quarters but had the added attraction of Bela Lugosi and a thinly veiled (and copyright-dodging) storyline which expanded on 1931’s Dracula, in all but name. Cry of the Werewolf has none of this; Foch is definitely alluring but unbelievable as either a werewolf or gypsy royalty; MacClane is fun but clearly hasn’t been told he’s in a horror film and turns the whole film into a plodding noir crime yarn – elsewhere, some of the acting is excruciating, Crane, it goes without saying but also Abbott who sounds like jumper-wearing comic-folk minstrel Jake Thackray.

c15In pre-production, film was intended to build on their previous success and be titled Bride of the Vampire, elements of this evidently remaining in the plot, but the success of 1942’s Cat People and the opportunity to exploit a more tragic angle proved too enticing and by the time of filming, vampires has taken more of a back seat. The frantic re-write by Griffin Jay who had, it must be said, more of an affinity with bandages (The Mummy’s Ghost, The Mummy’s Hand and The Mummy’s Tomb were all his) lacks any threat whatsoever, has far too many irrelevant characters and still wasn’t entirely sure where it was going – even at filming stage, it was due to be titled Daughter of the Werewolf. The film marks the debut of director Henry Levin who had a long career, fortunately avoiding further horror films – his most famous effort is probably Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

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Perhaps inevitably, given that World War Two was raging, the budget was meagre… and it shows. There is a distinct lack of music in the film, what there is being recycled stock cues. The ferocious werewolf is actually just an alsatian, the remedy for the poor hound’s lack of terror being an elastic band wrapped around his muzzle so that it permanently exposes its teeth. Of course, this is also visible to the audience. Inevitably, even War-weary audiences failed to warm to the film and it was hastily repackaged as a double-bill with The Soul of a Monster, at least offering twice the value if not twice the quality.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Thanks to Horrorfind.com for some of the pics.

 

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Cast:

Wikipedia | IMDb


Wolf

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Wolf is a 1994 American horror film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Jim Harrison, Wesley Strick, and an uncredited Elaine May, with music by Ennio Morricone and cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno (The Stendhal Syndrome).

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The film features Jack Nicholson (The Raven; The Terror; The Shining) and Michelle Pfeiffer in the lead roles, alongside James Spader (The WatcherAlien Hunter), Kate Nelligan (Dracula – 1979; Thérèse Raquin - BBC TV; Fatal Instinct), Richard Jenkins, Christopher Plummer (The Pyx; Murder by Decree; Vampire in Venice) Eileen Atkins, David Hyde Pierce, and Om Puri.

Plot teaser:

Will Randall is bitten by a wolf while driving home through Vermont after it was seemingly hit by his car. Soon after, he is demoted from editor-in-chief of a publishing house during a takeover by ruthless tycoon Raymond Alden, who replaces him with Will’s ambitious protégé Stewart Swinton. Will begins experiencing physiological changes ranging from increased appetites and libido to hair regrowth and sharper-than-human sensory perceptions. Catching an unfamiliar scent on the clothing of his wife Charlotte, Will rushes over to Stewart’s house, bites Stewart during a brief physical altercation, and rushes upstairs to the bedroom where he finds evidence of Charlotte’s infidelity. Will leaves his wife, takes up residence at the Mayflower Hotel, and as the moon ripens, takes on increasingly bestial aggressive characteristics.

With the help of Alden’s rebellious daughter Laura, Will tries to adapt to his new existence. His first nocturnal escapade as a werewolf takes place at Laura’s guesthouse on the Alden estate where he partially transforms and hunts down a deer by moonlight. In the morning, Will finds himself on the bank of a stream, with blood all over his face and hands, and, fearing notice, hurriedly departs in his Volvo…

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Reviews:

“Quite frankly, it’s hard to fathom why exactly anyone would have wanted to make this slick, glossy, but utterly redundant werewolf movie… Overall, this is needlessly polished nonsense: not awful; just toothless, gutless and bloodless … Nichols makes it clear that directing a horror movie was the last thing on his mind. Even make-up wiz Rick Baker is stymied by the air of restraint.” Time Out

“a decidedly upscale horror film, a tony werewolf movie in which a full roster of talents tries to mate with unavoidably hoary material. Offspring of this union is less ungainly than might have been feared, but is also less than entirely convincing, an intriguing thriller more enjoyable for its humor than for its scare quotient.” Todd McCarthy, Variety

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“No one puts more wicked zest into playing yuppie scum than the gifted Spader – he’s a roguish delight… Nichols is a master of the telling detail, and his vision of the New York publishing world as an urban jungle is elegantly stylized and bitingly funny… Nicholson is amazing, finding humor and poignancy in a role that could have slid into caricature. His scenes with Pfeiffer, who gives a luminous performance, have a welcome edge, aided by some uncredited scripting from Nichols’ former comedy partner Elaine May… a rapturous romantic thriller with a darkly comic subtext about what kills human values.” Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

“In its own delightfully peculiar way, the film is the only one of its kind ever made – a horror film about office politics… The movie isn’t wholly great; it starts to unravel just after the midway point. Still, there are charms enough all the way through to make it the most seductive, most enjoyable film of the summer… The main attraction, though, is Nicholson – first, last and always – and it’s his modulated suavity and wit that make the film so sublimely entertaining… Though Randall becomes more formidable as the movie progresses, Nicholson sustains his low-key, self-effacing style, and somehow the more he keeps his natural dynamism in check, the more his charisma increases…” Hal Hinson, Washington Post

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“The tone of the movie is steadfastly smart and literate; even in the midst of his transformation, the Nicholson character is capable of sardonic asides and a certain ironic detachment… What is a little amazing is that this movie allegedly cost $70 million. It is impossible to figure where the money all went, even given the no-doubt substantial above-the-line salaries. The special effects are efficient but not sensational, the makeup by Rick Baker is convincing but wisely limited, and the movie looks great, but that doesn’t cost a lot of money. What emerges is an effective attempt to place a werewolf story in an incongruous setting, with the closely observed details of that setting used to make the story seem more believable.” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

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Egyptian poster for Wolf

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Wikipedia | IMDb

 


Wer (film)

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Wer (also known as Kurt) is a 2013 American horror film directed by William Brent Bell (Stay Alive; The Devil Inside) from a screenplay co-written with Matthew Peterman. It stars A.J. Cook (Wishmaster 3; Ripper; Final Destination 2), Brian Scott O’Connor, Simon Quarterman, Sebastian Roché (SupernaturalThe Vampire Diaries), Vik Sahay.

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A US release on DVD is slated for September 23, 2014.

Plot teaser:

Defense attorney Kate (A.J. Cook) is called to defend the creepy, yet gentle, Talan (Brian Scott O’Connor) after he is charged with the murders of a vacationing family. She soon learns that he is a werewolf and that he may have been all too capable of the slayings. Things take a turn for the worse when Talan escapes from his imprisonment and runs loose through the city of Paris…

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Wer 2013

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Filming location:

Bucharest, Romania

Wikipedia | IMDb



Werewolf Rising

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‘Out of the darkness comes a new kind of blood lust’

Werewolf Rising is a 2014 American horror film written and directed by BC Furtney (New Terminal Hotel; Do Not Disturb) and starring Bill Oberst Jr. (Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies; Krampus: The Christmas Devil; Circus of the Dead), Brian Berry (Razorteeth; Monster Movie; HalloweeNight), Melissa Carnell (Boggy Creek; Humans versus Zombies), Matt Copko (Devil’s Prey; Harvest Moon), Irena Murphy, Danielle Lozeau (The Black Water Vampire; Tales of the Wicked Unseen) and Taylor Horneman.

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Plot teaser:

Emma is a country girl who left for the big city only to return years later with big problems. And when she returns to her childhood home deep in the Arkansas mountains for some well needed rest, relaxation, and soul searching, her problems have only just begun. A bloodthirsty werewolf emerges from the woods to lay siege to the area, ravaging anything in its path and revealing a sinister underworld that most never knew existed. With a full moon hanging over the area, Emma is plunged into a fight not only for her life, but for her very soul…

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Buy Werewolf Rising on DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews

“The annoying thing about all this is that as you watch the film, you can see moments of potential. The odd atmospheric shot hints at what might have been, while the central concept, tying werewolves, family dysfunction and addiction together has potential to go somewhere. But frankly, Furtney needs another writer on board, because this film feels very much like a series of undeveloped ideas. As it is, this is rather dull stuff that I can’t in all honesty suggest that even the committed werewolf movie fan should bother with.” David Flint, Strange Things Are Happening

“Briskly paced, cerebrally unchallenging and unafraid of revelling in its merging of cheap effects with grisly splatter, Werewolf Rising turned out to be much more fun than I’d anticipated.” Sex Gore Mutants

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“So yeah, this film is a turd. If it’s not the boring-ass drama part with werewolves thrown in as an afterthought, it’s the crappy werewolf effects, the rip-off score, or the crappier acting.” Bloody Disgusting

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Bad Moon

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Bad Moon is a 1996 American horror film written and directed by Eric Red and produced by James G. Robinson. It stars Michael Paré, Mariel Hemingway and Mason Gamble. The film is based on the novel Thor by Wayne Smith, which mainly tells the story from the dog’s viewpoint.
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A few seconds of sex and gore was cut from the opening scene in order to avoid an NC-17. The film was a box office flop but has since built up a decent following. It grossed just over $1 million on a $7 million budget.

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Plot Teaser

While on assignment in the jungles of Nepal, photojournalist Ted Harrison (Michael Pare) and his girlfriend are savagely attacked by a hideous beast which tears the woman to shreds and leaves Ted badly mauled. He later returns to the States to live near his sister Janet (Mariel Hemingway), nephew Brett (Mason Gamble) and their German shepherd Thor, hoping the presence of family will dispel the horrific memories… until the inevitable effects of a werewolf curse begin to surface. As his humanity begins slipping away, only the family dog begins to suspect something is wrong — but poor Thor ends up being the chief suspect in a string of recent mutilation murders…

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 Buy Bad Moon on DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews

Bad Moon doesn’t have what one would call a complicated story. The wayward brother becomes a werewolf and moves in with his sister. That’s it. But the werewolf makeup was great and the kills were fantastic. The hot babe who gets it at the beginning was appropriately bloody and, of course, the big climax scene with Thor was great. As werewolf movies go, it was a good one. I wish the powers that be had shown it a little more love in releasing it. It needed it.” Dr Gore’s Movie Reviews

“This movie was so unbearable that I would have preferred a literal translation of the title. Two hours of looking up at Marlon Brando’s butt cheeks squashed flat against a glass tabletop would have been a preferable to this werewolf masterpiece — and probably more hairy.” Mr Cranky

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“While it is constantly dragged down by the complete lack of logic and shoddy performances, there are two distinct features that make this a hit amongst fans: Christopher Allen Nelson’s gory effects and one of the most convincing costume designs ever conceived. Ted becomes a werewolf in the literal sense of the word, more wolf than man with gaping jowls, gnashing teeth, and bushy tail. The film would be otherwise unremarkable were it not for the terrifying creature effects, but they are impressive enough to make this one of the better werewolf entries out of the 90’s.” I Like Horror Movies

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Wikipedia | IMDb

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War Wolves

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‘They say war changes you… they have no idea.’

War Wolves is a 2009 television movie that originally aired on the Syfy network on March 8, 2009. The film stars Michael Worth, who also serves as the film’s director and genre favourites, John Saxon (Blood Beach, A Nightmare On Elm Street) and Adrianne Barbeau (The Fog, Creepshow) .

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A skirmish is taking place in the Middle East, the American soldiers attacked from all angles by an unseen enemy. Some brief glimpses tell us enough to gather they are hybrids of some kind and the action flips forward to a post-duty America and the soldiers adapting to their changed lives. Among them is Jake Gabriel (Worth), who has adopted the forehead-slappingly obvious alias, ‘Lawrence Talbot’ (Larry Talbot being Lon Chaney Jr’s character in 1941’s The Wolfman) and has taken a job in the local supermarket. Doing whatever he can to resist changing into his lupine self, he is taken under the wing of counsellor, Gail (Barbeau), who treats him for supposed post-traumatic stress, as well as gabbling on about Bigfoot and Yetis – elsewhere, some impressively upholstered female Werepersons and some scowling Manwolves are keen to reintegrate him into the pack. A third collective comprises of Tony Ford (Saxon) and Frank Bergman (Tim Thomerson, Trancers, Near Dark), bickering best friends and on the hunt for the renegade wolves.

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Welcome then to a werewolf movie that never shows you a werewolf. Not once. Many a film has hinted and teased with their monsters but when successful, this can be incredibly powerful – not so here. It merely highlights the lack of budget (a great deal of the $500,00 budget must have been to lure in the likes of Saxon and Barbeau, not to mention Martin Kove (the deputy from Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left) and Art LaFleur (again from Trancers) – certainly it didn’t go on the script (also by Worth, who should at this stage be under house arrest) which is truly jaw-dropping. There are moments when Saxon is ruminating on the twists and turns of his life when you wish your ears would heal over. As such, it’s difficult to judge the acting, it would be impossible to make any kind of a purse out of such a farm animal’s ear, in fact, no-one absolutely disgraces themselves, again, a terrible sign that the problem is fundamental rather than cosmetic, as it were.

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Beyond some wet-nose make-up, some Christmas cracker fangs and an attempt at some ears, there is nothing to hint that this is a horror film. The plot as it is is acceptable, given that it isn’t a million miles away from the immeasurably superior Dog Soldiers and the desert locale offers numerous (inevitably mostly unexplored) opportunities. Saxon literally limps his way through the film, it’s unclear whether this is delayed Enter the Dragon-knee related or simply old age, but it adds to the anguish at seeing such a reliable performer given such toothless material. Barbeau is given little to do with her superfluous character during the early scenes which suggest the film is meant to be an allegory for the struggles of post-war soldiers but abandons this in favour of some painfully hobbled shoot-outs and some clothes-on, glamorous romancing with not-a-hair-out-of-place model-types.To conclude we are blessed with some grim Matrix-style floaty fight sequences and an ending which couldn’t make the experience any less worthwhile.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

War Wolves 2009 DVD

Buy War Wolves on DVD from Amazon.co.uk

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Late Phases

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Late Phases is a 2014 American horror drama film directed by Adrián García Bogliano (Here Comes the Devil) and is his first feature film in the English language. The film stars Nick DamiciEthan Embry and Lance Guest. It was shown at FrightFest 2014.

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Plot teaser

Ambrose (Nick Damici) is a blind Vietnam War veteran that moves into a retirement community with his seeing eye dog upon the prompting of his son Will (Ethan Embry). He’s shocked when he narrowly survives an attack by what he believes to be a werewolf. The community has been the focus of several brutal dog attacks that have killed several residents, but Ambrose now believes that it is werewolves and not dogs that have been doing the slaughtering. Now Ambrose is preparing himself for the next full moon, when he will make his strike against his lupine would-be aggressors…

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Reviews

“Late Phases is a tale of hardcore werewolf violence, a tangible father/son relationship, redemption, and a whole lotta heart. It’s funny, brash, and exciting, but knows when to pull back and let the emotion sink in. Simply put, it’s a masterpiece of the werewolf genre because of what it accomplishes on top of the scares, which is deliver a truly emotional, heartfelt story of a father and son.” Dread Central

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“While there are moments in the film that make it a genuinely interesting and oftentimes humorous watch, the film’s third act leaves a lot to be desired. Damici’s commanding performance notwithstanding, Late Phases winds up doing the werewolf film a disservice. The direction is admirable and the approach deserves a modicum of praise, but the positives can’t overcome the negatives that beleaguer the film throughout.” Dread Central

Wikipedia | IMDb

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Wolves

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Wolves is an upcoming 2014 American horror film written and directed by David Haytner (writer of X-Men; X-Men 2; Watchmen). It stars Jason Momoa, Lucas Till (Dance of the Dead; The Curse of Downers Grove), Merritt Patterson, John Pyper-Ferguson (Grimm), Stephen McHattie (Haunter; Hellmouth; The Dark Stranger), Kaitlyn Leeb (Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings; Grave Halloween; Bitten), Jennifer Hale (What’s New, Scooby-Doo?, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated).

The film is due for release in the US on Thursday, October 16th on Video on Demand and Friday, November 14th, in selected cities.

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Plot teaser:

The coming-of-age story of Cayden Richards: Forced to hit the road after the murder of his parents, Cayden wanders, lost, without purpose… Until he meets a certifiable lunatic named Wild Joe, who sets him on a path to the ominous town of Lupine Ridge, to hunt down the truths of his history. But in the end, who’s really hunting whom?

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IMDb

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Blood Moon

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Blood Moon is a 2014 British horror film directed by James Wooding (comedy TV series Peep Show) from a screenplay by Alan Wightman (whose TV credits include Noel’s House Party and The Joe Pasquale Show… aah). It stars George Blagden, Tom Cotcher and Barrington De La Roche.

Plot teaser:

1887, Colorado: A deserted town lit by the glow of a reddish full moon. A stagecoach full of passengers and an enigmatic gunslinger find themselves prisoners of two outlaws on the run. As the travellers attempt to outwit the outlaws it becomes apparent that a bigger menace lurks outside; a beast that only appears on the night of a blood red moon…

IMDb


Paul Naschy: actor and director

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Paul Naschy (born Jacinto Molina Álvarez, September 6, 1934 – November 30, 2009) was a Spanish movie actor, screenwriter, and director working primarily in horror films. His portrayals of numerous classic horror figures—the Wolfman, Frankenstein’s Monster, Count Dracula, the Hunchback, and the Mummy – have earned him recognition as the Spanish Lon Chaney.

His signature role was that of the werewolf, Waldemar Daninsky, whom he played a staggering twelve times. He had one of the most recognizable faces in Spanish horror film, though his long filmography reveals Naschy also starred in dozens of action films, historical dramas, crime movies, TV shows and documentaries.. In addition to acting, Naschy also wrote the screenplays for most of his films and directed a number of them as well. King Juan Carlos I presented Naschy with Spain’s Gold Medal Award for Fine Arts in 2001 in honour of his work, the Spanish equivalent of being knighted.

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Jacinto Molina Álvarez was born on September 6th 1934 to an artistic family – his father, Enrique, was a renowned fur and leather craftsman, his grandfather, Emilio, a celebrated sculptor of religious iconography. His family members’ success in their respective fields allowed Jacinto a relatively comfortable upbringing. The tranquillity of his childhood in Madrid was dramatically punctuated by the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, an event, along with the rise of the dictator General Franco, staining his view of the world and inevitably influencing his later career. Despite his young age, Molina’s mind was etched with images of spiralling aircraft, a disembodied soldier staggering for a few brief seconds before collapsing in a twitching heap, rows of executed traitors, as well as the tales from his father who served on the frontline.

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As the Civil War gave way to the Second World War, further horrors revealed themselves, not least the German school Molina attended, bedecked with Nazi paraphernalia and a mourning assembly when news of Hitler’s death filtered through. At home, comics occupied his mind with more fantastical thoughts, though his uncle’s gory tales of sights he’d witnessed at local bull fights continued to draw Molina back to the death and the brutality of both life and death.

Cinema soon became a big attraction, initially the weekly serials which demanded you return to learn the resolution of the cliffhanger – particular favourites were The Drums of Fu Manchu and Mysterious Dr Satan. The real revelation was a screening of a reissued Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, Lon Chaney Jr’s portrayal of the doomed Larry Talbot changing Molina’s life forever. When asked by his mother what he wanted to be when he grew up, Jacinto replied, “a werewolf”. After briefly befriending the ‘spree killer’, José María Jarabo Pérez Morris, a man with such a muscular neck his eventual execution by garrotting took over twenty minutes, Molina’s first obsession away from cinema was weightlifting, another passion which stayed with him throughout his life.

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By his twenties, Molina concentrated on both weightlifting and acting, the first presenting him with almost immediate success, decorating him with an array of titles and accolades, the latter proving significantly more difficult to break into. Molina had an uncredited bit part in the classic 1961 Biblical epic King of Kings and a few other films of that period, and the experience drew him further into film-making.

While appearing as an extra in an episode of the American TV show I Spy that was being filmed in Spain in 1966, Naschy met horror icon Boris Karloff on the set, a thrill he never forgot. Karloff, in poor health, having difficulty walking and suffering with cold, broke down in tears one day, the frustration and pain just too much. The sight of his hero displaying emotion in this way, despite his history of terrorising and killing on the Big Screen was also to have a profound effect on Molina’s future acting career.

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Tired of waiting for success to find him, in 1968 Molina penned the screenplay to what would eventually become the film The Mark of the Wolfman (La Marca del Hombre Lobo) a film following the Polish Count, Waldemar Daninsky, who, afflicted with lycanthropy, battles both other werewolves and vampires in a bells and whistles fest of the gory and the Gothic. The screenplay was picked up by German producers who, when finding their first choice for the role of Daninsky, Lon Chaney Jr, was far too ill with throat cancer to take the part at the age of 62, offered it to Molina. Though not his intention, Molina gratefully accepted but was required by the financiers of the film to adopt a more Teutonic-sounding name. Thus Paul Naschy was born, ‘Paul’ after the then Pope, Paul VI, ‘Naschy’ after the Hungarian weightlifter, Imre Nagy. A Spanish name would simply have been too uncommercial for worldwide distribution – at the time, Spain was churning out endless dismal ‘comedies’ and little else, apart from providing many of the settings for Italian-made Westerns.

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The success of the film was enough to allow Naschy the comfort of continuing to develop his own projects – regrettably, a swift return outing for Daninsky in Las Noches del Homo Lobo, is now considered a lost film, though it was only two years later when his most famous creation was to reappear, in both 1970’s Dracula Versus Frankenstein (Los Monstruos dos Terror) and 1971’s The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman (La Noche de Walpurgis). Over the course of the twelve films Naschy made featuring Waldemar Daninsky there is little narrative connection, the wolfman existing essentially only as a recognisable and well-loved monster, the tenuous links between films either ham-fistedly managed or non-existent.

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Naschy’s ‘straightforward’ horror career was punctuated by many notable films outside of the cobweb-strewn fang-baring type. 1971 saw him star in the Tito Carpi-penned giallo Seven Murders for Scotland Yard, as well as perhaps Spain’s most famous entry into the cycle of usually resolutely Italian thrillers, The Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (1973), though purists may argue convincingly for the same year’s A Dragonfly for Each Corpse.

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Also of note around this period are Naschy’s turns as the warlock Alaric De Marnac in Horror Rises from the Tomb (El Espanto Surge de la Tumba, 1973), the eyebrow-raising Vengeance of the Zombies (1973), the role of the priest in the Spanish Exorcist take-off, Exorcismo (1975), the witchfinder of his directorial debut, Inquisition (1976),  and the effective, gloomy apocalyptic vision of The People Who Own the Dark (1976).

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Buy Horror Rises from the Tomb on DVD from Amazon.com

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Despite, this, it was his more direct horror films which continued to make him such a star, especially in his home country where he had affectionately come to be known as  “El Hombre Lobo”. Many of his most successful films were directed by the Argentine, León Klimovsky, who forever yearned to make blockbusting mainstream films but had to settle for a career making horror, exploitation and schlocky westerns – he needn’t have worried, his films are rarely anything less than excellent entertainment.

Paul Naschy El Ultimo Kamikaze : La Bestia y la Espada Magica : La Venganza de la Momia : Inquisicion DVD

Having now played all the major monster roles, including The Mummy in Vengeance of the Mummy (La Veganza de la Momia (1971), Count Dracula in 1973’s Count Dracula’s Great Love, the hunchback in the terrific The Hunchback of the Morgue (1973) and an attempt to do all of them at once in 1987’s Howl of the Devil, by the mid-80’s he was spreading himself a little too thinly and making several curious decisions.

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1983’s Beast and the Magic Sword (La Bestia y la Espada Mágica) was just one of several projects Naschy produced either in Japan or with Japanese involvement. They proved surprisingly popular in Japan but less so back in Europe – Naschy’s eagerness to please the Asian market with films of Samurai and warriors simply proving impossible to satiate both markets’ demands and tastes. Even more upsetting was 1982’s Spanish-made Buenas Noches, Señor Monstruo (Goodnight Mr Monster), which, although made for children, upset horror fans with its musical japes involving the classic monsters Naschy had done so much to revive in the post-Universal wastelands.

On June 20, 1984, Naschy’s father, Enrique Molina, died of a heart attack while fishing alone on the shores of a lake. Some boys playing in the woods discovered his body, too late to revive him. The unexpected sudden loss of his father (with whom he had always been very close), coinciding with the bankruptcy of his production company, plunged Naschy into a lengthy period of depression, only returning to filmmaking in 1987 with his cult classic El Aullido del Diablo. Naschy’s son Sergio starred in the film, along with famed horror icons Howard Vernon and Caroline Munro (the film was very poorly distributed unfortunately, and is still not available on DVD).

Fear Without Frontiers Jay Schneider FAB Press

There is a chapter about Paul Naschy in Fear Without Frontiers
Buy from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk

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Brief film roles followed in the late 80’s and early 90’s but it was a return to weightlifting which occupied his time; despite his advancing years, he was still in enviable shape and was still both entering and winning many competitive events. Sadly, he suffered a near-fatal heart attack himself on Aug. 27, 1991, triggered by weightlifting in a local gym. He was hospitalised for more than a week, then had major heart surgery performed on September 5th. A rumour circulated throughout horror film fandom that Naschy had died, since he disappeared from the film scene for a while after his operation. He had to later contact a number of fanzine publishers in various countries to inform them that he was still very much alive – he also appeared at film festivals and conventions such as Eurofest in 1994.

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This virtual rebirth revitalised both the actor and his audience but his efforts lacked the imagination and vitality of his earlier roles and they were largely critical and commercial disasters. Even in this relatively short time, the Spanish film industry had become, in his words, “corrupt” and his efforts were on miniscule budgets and Naschy’s attempts to invest his own money into them left him on the verge of bankruptcy (his Japanese-based production company, Aconito Films, had already gone bust a decade earlier).

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 Buy Paul Naschy: Memoirs of a Wolfman from Amazon.co.ukAmazon.com

After penning his autobiography, Memoirs of a Wolfman, in 1997 and further filmic misfires, he fled to Hollywood in what would be a distinctly lacklustre final hurrah working for directors who certainly revered Naschy but had no vehicle suitable for him; both Brian Yuzna’s Rottweiler (2004) and Fred Olen Ray’s straight-to-video Tomb of the Werewolf, were a poor reflection of an actor who once could have claimed to be one of the biggest horror stars in the world. Fortunately, he managed to make one final classic, 2004’s Rojo Sangre, directed by the unrelated Christian Molina.

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Naschy died of pancreatic cancer on November 30, 2009 in Madrid, aged seventy-five. Although he ended his life in poor financial straits, Naschy always received a tremendous outpouring of love from his many fans and died knowing he would always be regarded as a major horror film icon.

Naschy was married only once, on October 24, 1969, to a woman named Elvira Primavera, the daughter of an Italian diplomat living in Spain. They were still happily married 40 years later at the time of his death. He was survived by his widow Elvira and his two sons, Bruno and Sergio Molina.

Naschy’s legacy is one which reflects his passion and understanding of horror film. His evil characters often have a very human side, a sympathetic and anguished counterpoint to the fury and violence of the monster. His best work often had magnificently evocative Gothic backdrops and, equally regularly, voluptuous, disrobed ladies, eager to fall at Naschy’s feet.

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He can be credited with perpetuating the popularity of characters largely already abandoned by Hollywood, if his later choices were sometimes a little wayward, it wasn’t for lack of enthusiasm. Perhaps more often forgotten is that Naschy at his best could be a superb actor, the most athletic of wolfmen, a believable romantic lead and a hypnotically-eyed icon. In 2010 a documentary about Naschy called The Man Who Saw Frankenstein Cry was released.

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Selected Filmography:

A much truncated overview of his huge output. Collecting Naschy films can be a frustrating task, the numerous re-titlings almost inevitably leading to duplicate purchases.

1968 Mark of the Wolfman (La Marca del Hombre Lobo) aka Hell’s Creatures/Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror –  the first outing for Waldemar Daninsky

1968 Night of the Wolfman (Las noches del Hombre Lobo) – now lost

1970 Dracula Versus Frankenstein aka Assignment Terror - Daninsky again

1971 The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman aka Shadow of the Werewolf – Daninsky

1971 Seven Murders for Scotland Yard 

1972 Fury of the Wolfman – Daninsky

1972 Dr. Jekyll vs. the Werewolf (Doctor Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo) – both Daninsky and Mr Hyde

1973 The Man With the Severed Head (Las Ratas No Duermen de Noche)

1973 Curse of the Devil (El Retorno de Walpurgis) – Daninsky

1973 Hunchback of the Morgue (El Jorobado de la Morgue)

1973 Count Dracula’s Great Love (El Gran Amor del Conde Drácula) aka Cemetery Tramps

1973 Horror Rises From the Tomb (El Espanto Surge de la Tumba) – a first outing for Alaric de Marnac, based on Gilles de Rais

1973 Vengeance of the Zombies 

1973 Bracula, the Terror of the Living Dead (La Orgía de los Muertos) aka The Hanging Woman

1973 The Mummy’s Revenge (La Venganza de la Momia)

1973 The Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (Los Ojos Azules de la Muñeca Rota) aka House of Psychotic Women

1974 A Dragonfly for Each Corpse (Una Libélula Para Cada Muerto)

1974 Devil’s Possessed (El Mariscal del Infierno) – a second outing for the Knight of Marnac under his more familiar Gilles de Rais moniker

1975 The Werewolf and the Yeti (La Maldición de la Bestia) aka Night of the Howling Beast. Daninsky. Possibly his best recognised title due to it falling foul of the DPP and becoming labelled as a video nasty. It’s actually one of Naschy’s dullest during his prime period

1975 Exorcism (Exorcismo)

1975 Los Pasajeros – Rarely seen, it is based on the urban myth of snuff films

1976 Inquisition (Inquisición)

1976 The People Who Own the Dark (Último Deseo)

1978 El Huerto del Francés – much overlooked but highly lauded serial killer film

1980 Human Beasts (El Carnaval de las Bestias) aka The Beasts’ Carnival – his first Spanish/Japanese co-production

1981 Night of the Werewolf (El Retorno del Hombre-Lobo) aka Return of the WolfmanDaninsky

1982 Buenas noches, Señor Monstruo (Goodnight, Mr Monster)

1983 Panic Beats (Latidos de Pánico) aka Cries of Terror - a final outing for Alaric de Marnac

1983 The Beast and the Magic Sword (La Bestia y la Espada Mágica) – Daninsky

1987 Howl of the Devil (El Aullido del Diablo)

1989 Shadows of Blood – more serial killer action

1989 Aquí Huele a Muerto – abysmal Dracula spoof which was inexplicably a Spanish box office hit

1993 The Night of the Executioner (La Noche del Ejecutor)

1996 Hambre Mortal (Mortal Hunger)

1996 Lycantropus: The Moonlight Murders (Licántropo: El Asesino de la Luna llena) – Daninsky

2001 School Killer (The Vigilante)

2004 Tomb of the Werewolf  – Daninsky’s final appearance

2004 Countess Dracula’s Orgy of Blood

2004 Rottweiler

2004 Rojo Sangre

2010 La Herencia Valdema (The Valdemar Legacy)

2010 The Valdemar Legacy II: The Forbidden Shadow (La Herencia Valdemar II: La Sombra Prohibida)

2010 Empusa 

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

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Stretch Screamers – toys

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Stretch Screamers is a series of electronic toys manufactured by Games Quest/Manley Toys Limited of Hong Kong.

As their name implies, Stretch Screamers could be stretched, causing them to apparently scream (they were battery operated). The figures could also to be squeezed and balls of coloured liquid would pop out the top of their head or eyeball.

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At one point in the early 2000s, the toys were quite popular, so much so that they had their own McDonald’s Happy Meal mini version toy line in 2003. However, they have since been discontinued and have been known to fetch high prices online.

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Characters: 

“Mummy” – “Wolfman” – “Angry Alien” – “Ghoul” – “Frankenstein” – “Scary Cyclops” -“Gross Gargoyle” – “Creature Screamer” – “Blister Beast” – “Dracula” – Bugz series (“Oozers” – “Mad Scientist” (Happy Meal)

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Buy Stretch Screamers Ghoul from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk

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Buy Stretch Screamers Mummy from Amazon.co.uk

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Stretch Screamers Creature

Buy Stretch Screamers Creature from Amazon.com

Stretch Screamers Dracula

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Stretch Screamers McDonalds Happy Meal Mummy

Buy Stretch Screamers Happy Meal Mummy from Amazon.com

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Wikipedia | Thanks to Tony Clarke from Psychotronic Movies for inspiring this post


Ulula – Italian erotic horror comic book

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Ulula (“Howl”) is an Italian erotic horror comic book, known as fumetti, launched in October 1981 by Milan-based Edifumetto, with a print run that ran to 76 issues. Two 228 page special editions were issued in 1983 and the Ulula character also appeared in a fumetto named 40 Grandi. Some of the cover artwork was by celebrated comic artist Emanuele Taglietti.

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The lurid stories in Ulula involve model Ulula Von Hagen who becomes a werewolf when the moon is full, having been given the blood of a wolf in a transfusion by her mad doctor uncle! she travels all over the globe having sexual adventures and fighting other monsters, like an Italian lupine version of Vampirella. Only her gay male friend Jo (later Joe) knows her dark secret…

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Ulula stories were also issued in Spain, often using the same cover artwork, as part of the Hembras Peligrosas (“Dangerous Females”) comic book series.

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Molto grazie to Comic Vine for images and to Fumetti Etruschi and HorrorCrime.com for some background info.

Related: Vampirella


Female Werewolf

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Female Werewolf is a 2015 American horror film written, edited, scored and directed by Fangoria/Gorezone Magazine’s editor Chris Alexander (Blood for IrinaQueen of Blood). It is being produced by TLA Entertainment Group’s Derek Curl via their offshoot Artsploitation Films.

Press release:

The film tells the story of a woman on the brink of madness, marginalized and isolated, whose fevered dreams are causing radical changes to her mind and body. As she further loses touch with reality, she slowly, surely, morphs into a monster…

Chris Alexander: “Female Werewolf falls in line with my interest in stories about women in extreme situations, realized in deliberately abstract ways while trading in well-worn genre iconography,” says Alexander. “The film is inspired in part by Rino Di Silvestro’s exploitation classic Legend of the Werewolf Woman, a film I greatly admire, as well as Jess Franco’s Female Vampire, a picture I reference often and of course, Polanski’s Repulsion. But Female Werewolf’s style, dreamy tone and sensualized violence are something different, something unique to my personal vision. I’m excited to bring this one to life.”

Source: Fangoria


Monsters Crash the Pajama Party

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Monsters Crash the Pajama Party is a short 1965 US horror movie co-written, produced and directed by David L. Hewitt (Gallery of Horror; The Mighty Gorga). It stars Vic McGee (The Wizard of Mars), James Reason, Clara Nadel, Pauline Hillkurt.

During its original theatrical release, actors would venture out into the seats in costumes as though they were the monsters coming out of the movie screen, similar to The Tingler.

Monsters Crash the Pajama Party was released on DVD by Something Weird Video in September of 2007. The DVD was positively received due to its visually-interesting cover, extensive menus, and abundance of short horror films and clips.

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Buy Monsters Crash the Pajama Party + Asylum of the Insane from Amazon.co.ukAmazon.com

Plot teaser:

A group of teenage girls spends the night in an old dark mansion as an initiation into a college sorority. The girls all agree to the initiation due to them all not believing in ghosts. Their boyfriends begin to play spooky pranks on them with store-bought masks, which fails to frighten the girls since they had been expecting these pranks.

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However, unbeknownst to the teenagers, the building is actually the headquarters for a mad scientist and his hunchbacked assistant, who are experimenting with turning humans into gorillas. The mad doctor abducts the girls, who are later rescued by the boys. The boyfriends then fight off the doctor’s henchmen, a gorilla, a werewolf, and a creature of some sort. Incensed by his monsters’ failure to re-capture any of the girls, he instructs them to blast a hole through the movie screen with a laser gun and venture out into the audience!

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It is at this point during the original theatrical run of the film that actors dressed as the monsters from the movie would wander about the theatre seats to scare people, however lightly. The actors often wanted to seem comically spooky rather than actually scary.

Related: Ghost in the Invisible Bikini

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Wikipedia | IMDb


The Boy Who Cried Werewolf

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The Boy Who Cried Werewolf is a 1973 American horror film. It was released as the bottom half of a double bill with SSSSSSS – notably the last double bill released in the United States by Universal Pictures. It’s been strangely neglected since – although once a television staple, it has never had a DVD or Blu-ray release, and remains moistly unseen outside America – it never played theatrically in the UK and has never been shown on TV, or had a home video release.

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This is a pity, as it’s a fascinating example of the PG-era of horror films in America, being somewhere between a straight horror movie and a children’s film. Perhaps this is the reason why it is currently in limbo – just who do you market the film to?

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The film wastes no time introducing the werewolf – we see him in the opening credits, looking like a dog with swept back hair, possibly more cute than terrifying. The werewolf attacks father and son Robert and Ritchie Bridgestone (Kerwin Mathews and Scott Sealey), finally ending up impaled on a wooden fence, transforming back into a human at the point of death. While Ritchie knows that their attacker was a werewolf, his father refuses to believe him, claiming that it was too dark to see who their attacker was. Likewise, the police, his mother and his psychiatrist all assume that Ritchie’s story is a result of the trauma of seeing his father kill their attacker.

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In an attempt to prove that there is nothing to fear, Bridgestone takes the boy back up to their cabin in the woods. Unfortunately, he was bitten during the struggle with the werewolf, and we all know what that means. Before long, he has transformed into a werewolf himself and is roaming the woods attacking drivers and stealing their heads, which he buries in the shed beside the cabin! Will anyone believe Ritchie before his transformed father kills him?

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Despite its inherent ludicrousness (the polo-neck clad werewolf, the nonsense with the severed heads), The Boy Who Cried Werewolf tells its story with a straight face. It’s efficiently, unflashily shot and while a little slow moving, is surprisingly good fun. It keeps the gore off-screen for the most part, and tells the story through the eyes of the child hero, making this a good entry-level horror film for kids. It is, of course, very much of its time, which ironically makes it a fascinating historical time capsule, featuring as it does a band of ‘Jesus Freaks’ – a religiously driven variant of the hippy cult / commune, which had a brief spurt of popularity in the early 1970s. The film also works as an allegory – Ritchie’s parents are going through a difficult separation (because his mother wants to have a career!) and the film can easily be seen as being about childhood fears of the family unit being torn apart.

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The film marks the last teaming of Mathews with director Nathan Juran, after the pair had made The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad and Jack the Giant Killer, and of course is rather less ambitious than either of those films. Juran died shortly after making this, while Mathews would retire soon afterwards, his only further credit being a cameo in 1978 film Nightmare in Blood.

It has no connection to the 2010 TV movie of the same name.

David Flint, Horrorpedia

Watch the full film online:

 

 


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