BOUGHT ON DVD AND BLU-RAY: a trio of obscurities

Posted on June 4, 2026 by Daniel

I’m always up for lesser-known horror flicks that star veteran actors from the old days, and these three feature appearances by George Kennedy and Cameron Mitchell. I don’t regret adding two out of three of these blind buys to my collection. Let’s find out why.

INTENSIVE CARE (1991)



Here’s another one that passed me by in my video store clerk heyday, so I’m thrilled that it got a Blu-ray release. Shockingly, the reviews on IMDb are absolutely terrible, but for me, this is classic direct-to-VHS era goodness. What I especially love about it is that while it’s a 1991 slasher, it looks and feels more like a 1981 slasher.

Although it’s not about Christmas and no one mentions the season, I am going to put it on the holiday horror page, because there are Christmas decorations in both the hospital where the horror starts and in the neighboring houses where it ends, including Christmas trees.

George Kennedy briefly plays a scientist who loses a grant because of his unorthodox experiments on coma patients. He gets into a car accident and, ironically, ends up in a coma.

Seven years later, the main guy in the movie, who is either an intern or an orderly (I’m not sure), goofs around with the scientist’s burned, comatose body. A little while later, the scientist wakes up, grabs a scalpel, and heads off to kill. I have no idea how he realizes he should go directly to the main dude’s house for revenge…or how he knows exactly how to get there.

Anyway, the parents of both the main guy and the main girl, who lives next door, go out together for the night. Maybe to a Christmas party? No idea.

We get killer POV and heavy breathing as the killer roams around the houses peering in windows. While the main guy tries to get with the main girl next door, her boyfriend shows up, making for some good old cheesy slasher drama. We also get some good old slasher boobs.

There aren’t a lot of kills, but they are satisfying and gory, plus we get jump scares, a gnarly killer face (he doesn’t wear a mask and isn’t played by George Kennedy!), a body reveal chase scene, and the main girl and her little brother having some tense moments with the killer. But it’s the final takedown of the killer, which involves big ass bottle rockets, that brings the best laugh of the movie. Classic.

ISLAND OF THE DOOMED (1967)



At some point, I realized that I own a load of horror movies starring veteran actor Cameron Mitchell dating back to the 60s, and me being me, I decided I must own every horror movie he was ever in. Yeah, I basically elevated this dude to Vincent Price or Christopher Lee status in my mind. So here we are. I picked up this recently released flick starring Mitchell.

The animated, horror-themed opening credits sequence was a pleasant surprise, and the movie itself has some classic atmosphere and a traditional plot.

Tourists come to the island of a scientist (Mitchell) to see the amazing plant life he has cultivated. Turns out it’s more than that. He’s been crossbreeding plants to make a new carnivorous species. Eek!

If only the movie had leaned into the human-eating plants. As we get to know the quirky cast of characters and realize things are kind of eerie on the island, we occasionally witness someone being attacked by something in cutaway kills.

Eventually, those already killed are discovered, and based on the condition of the bodies, those still alive become convinced there are vampires on the island. The movie gets kind of trippy at this point, complete with a goon who seems to be working for Cameron Mitchell…until he isn’t.

The leading man is sizzling hot, so the eye-candy definitely kept my eyes glued to the screen until we at last get giant killer plant action in the final act, which is definitely the highlight, complete with a stormy night, nasty plant parts, and people being devoured. Plus, the final frame is perfectly macabre.

DEMON COP (1990)



It’s another purchase for my Cameron Mitchell pile, but it turns out he basically serves as a horror host telling the tale of Demon Cop. This one is a German DVD release with picture quality that makes you feel like you’re watching it on VHS back in the day.

A Black dude wrote, directed, and stars as Demon Cop in this absolutely awful shot-on-video movie (there’s even a bad edit where he’s supposed to be inside, but when it cuts to him, he’s outside). He’s an ex-cop who escapes from a mental institution after being tainted by blood that was meant for researching an AIDS cure.

Turns out this infection transforms him into a demon that is brought out by the full moon, much like a werewolf. And yet he always goes out killing in broad daylight, because good lighting is expensive when you’re making an indie film.

And get this. While cops are working on the case and trying to find him, this Black dude is basically killing Black gang members! What an asshole.

It’s terrible, I’m shocked Cameron Mitchell agreed to film an opening and closing scene for it, and I wouldn’t have even bought it if I’d known it was going to be this bad. However, the score is 80s synth score perfection, and this dude is such a 1990 vibe.

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They’re dripping and drooling and have wild eyes

Posted on June 3, 2026 by Daniel

It’s a trio of flicks about zombies, infected crazies, and demonic creatures, and they all have spittle spilling off their lips and freaky eyes. Sounds good. Right? But is it?

THE SILENCE AFTER (2025)



Despite its flaws, this was my kind of indie horror in terms of the zombie visuals and gut-munching action.

Its first flaw is opening with a scene that comes later in the movie. I get that they want to draw you in with some early zombie action, but right after this preview/spoiler scene, there’s a news report montage about unethical medicinal experiments, followed by a massive breakout scene! We didn’t even need to wait long for this even better zombie moment. This could have been the opener.

The zombies’ look appears to be a combination of makeup and CGI effects, but it’s nasty good. A couple of them even ham it up for the camera, one of them delivering major Busta Rhymes mouth for the lens.

We meet a handful of main characters, but the problem is that as we bounce back and forth between them, it kind of feels like they and their stories are meandering and going nowhere fast in between the intense zombie moments. In other words, watch this one for the zombie moments, which are a blast.

Brace yourself for one of a nasty scene of a pregnant zombie giving birth, watch out for the one white dude in the movie that comes in and fucks up everything for a Black family, and stick around for the awesome final frame.

DEAD BLOOM (2026)



Ooh. This is a tense little creeper. Some might find it slow, but I actually liked the ominous atmosphere created by the lack of action for a while after the gruesome opening sequence.

A family living in a rural area finds a mysterious plant bearing fruit (or vegetable) in their field. So, like any dumb country folk (yes, it appears even Black people can be dumb hicks), they begin eating the untested fruit (or vegetable). WTF?

Doesn’t take long for a gross, drool-inducing infection to kick in…and it takes even less time for one of the daughters to behead her mom at the first sign of spit hanging from her mouth. No concerned, “Mom? Are you okay?” She goes straight into kill the bitch mode. Awesome. Let that be a warning to any of my family members to never come near me when they are sick and look like death.

Next, we meet a pregnant woman, her adult daughter with MS, and her white husband. The woman discovers she has inherited a house. How do people always inherit shit from unknown relatives in these movies? Why did all the dead relatives I never knew let me down? Clearly, this is why I’d go right into kill the bitch mode.

Anyway, the family travels to the house, because nothing makes more sense than an interracial family with another kid on the way moving into the middle of bum fuck.

Soon, the husband’s white trash sister (played by horror queen Sadie Katz) and her grown douchey son show up. Maybe the family should have given them the house since they’re much more at home in hillbilly land.

Slowly but surely, the plant is discovered by them, and everyone begins looking not so well…except daddy. Damn. I love when an unassuming father in a movie suddenly appears shirtless to give us all this hidden treasure.

The gore and action don’t kick in again until the final act, when it all comes fast and furious…and complete with a nasty mutant dick scene and a gnarly birthing scene. So satisfying.

THE DEAD OF NIGHT (2004)



This one is so a product of its time, with monster makeup effects on par with early seasons of Buffy, and a cheesy hybrid rock/techno score setting the tone for stuttering action sequences straight out of the opening credits sequence of Charmed.

That bad upbeat music and choppy editing kick right in at the beginning, with patients escaping a mental institution. I honestly don’t know how this part is relevant to the rest of the movie, so I’m hoping I just wasn’t paying close enough attention.

Next, we meet a bunch of high school kids that bully two dudes, but them to go party in a cemetery. Of course, the assholes have an ulterior motive. They tie up the two dudes, dump them in an open grave, bury them in a bit of dirt, and leave.

And then…demons appear out of nowhere. They possess some of the kids by drooling in their mouths, then the rest of the action moves to the kids beginning to act weird at school.

It’s pretty bad, and you can’t see much of the monsters for a majority of the film because of the quirky, disorienting editing style, but eventually we get to see full demon masks where the actors’ necks aren’t even painted to match the color of the mask. The teeth look cool though, and the drooling aspect is kind of icky.

Weird things is there’s absolutely no mention of it being Halloween time, but all of a sudden near the end of the movie, there’s a scene of a guy standing in a classroom doorway, and there are old school cardboard Halloween pictures taped to the walls and door. Weird.

Anyway, this is pretty much on the level of bad SyFy originals, so if you’re looking for some nostalgia and haven’t seen it, that might be the only reason to bother to check it out.

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Pig people, a looping backwoods stalker flick, and killer gators

Posted on May 26, 2026 by Daniel

This trio delivered horror, blood, gore and even some extreme scenarios, but only one of them was the kind of easy entertainment I need right now. Let’s find out which one.

PIG HILL (2025)



This one really threw me for a loop. At the beginning of the movie, I was totally feeling the rural town tale of a young woman obsessed with missing persons cases and the legend of hybrid pig people living in the hills. The movie has this unnerving and eerily atmospheric tone, and there are some seriously brutal scenes each time a pig person kills a victim. Pig people or goons in pig masks are so damn freaky. I prefer cute little oinking piggies with curly tails. Or big, cuddly, hairy bears who are also pigs.

The main girl has a tragic history with the husband who deserted her, along with an overprotective brother, so things get tense when a new guy comes into town and gets close to her.

Together, the main girl and the new guy begin to investigate the stories of the pig people, hoping to solve the latest missing person case.

And then…things move into a pig man’s lair and this shit gets really messed up.

There’s sodomy, rape, murder, abortion, childhood sex abuse, grooming, incest, satanism, and the pig people becoming a metaphor for everything fucked up in society, which shifts this one from horror territory to horrific territory. Eek.

DRIVE BACK (2024)



This is one of those films in which a long drive turns into an unescapable loop of horror that builds on itself each time the journey circles back to where it began. If you’re a fan of this kind of mind trip movie, you’ll find plenty to like here, from the bloody scares to the relentless stalker.

For me, the main issue was with the newly engaged straight couple. I’m so tired of movies about couples in volatile relationships. It’s always the same. Either they’re going to have to find a way to get along to survive, the horror is going to turn them against each other, or all their dirty secrets are going to be revealed…which will inevitably lead to them either forgiving each other or turning on each other.

As for this main couple, after leaving their engagement party at a house in the middle of nowhere, they begin to experience weird shit while on the road—creepy general store owner, manic hitchhiker, a roadblock, something preying on them in the woods, etc.

As the pair bickers, they both begin to experience disturbing hallucinations. Eventually they realize that they keep passing the same locations, but they never seem to have the same memories of what has already transpired. These straighties can’t agree on anything.

The events start to fold in on themselves, and the couple is forced to look into a metaphorical mirror…

That’s when a masked figure shows up and begins to terrorize them. The final act is definitely the most thrilling part, but this is absolutely one of those films in which nothing is truly what it seems. Kind of like Pig Hill. Dammit, I just need some tangible horror at this point in my life.

THE BAYOU (2025)



Aaaaand…that’s why I made this my third selection for this triple feature. The hubby and I so needed this kind of rainy Sunday afternoon killer animal flick. Especially since it has a totally mid-00s throwback vibe. Ah, the nostalgia of it all.

In a very cool visual presentation, the opener shows us exactly how the gators in the Everglades become bloodthirsty predators. Not as if gators don’t already have reason enough to eat stupid humans that enter their territory.

Next, we meet our main girl and her group of college friends. They’re heading to the swamps on a charter plane. The plane crashes into the water in a pretty intense scene, and soon after, the group discovers they are being hunted by crazed alligators.

So, why does one of the girls pull a Jurassic Park 3 and steal the eggs when she finds a gator nest? Does she have no maternal instincts? Sigh.

The movie is all about the group trying to survive in the wild while being hunted by the gators. The kill scenes are a blast, and the gators look pretty damn good. The level of dumb character decisions is perfect for keeping this movie moving, including a moment when they find an abandoned building and someone literally says “We should split up”, plus one character’s decision to just sacrifice herself as they’re getting away because—get this—she lost her foot to one of the gators and apparently can’t fathom going through life without it.

For a pretty basic killer gator action thriller, there’s actually an amazing moment that delivers a double dose of character development. One character figures out that another character is the type that will throw you under the bus—or into the gator’s mouth in this case—to save themselves and decides to do something to put a stop to that shit. It proves to be quite an educational experience for both characters.

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Vampires, a haunted hearse, and a shed of the dead

Posted on May 19, 2026 by Daniel

It’s a mish-mosh of subgenres within the horror comedy subgenre, but did any of these flicks deliver on the horror and the humor? Let’s find out.

BLOODSUCKERS AND THE GRIMOIRE (2024)



This quirky film is part humorous and part somber. It’s about a dude who finds out the dad he thought was dead actually wasn’t dead but now is dead and has left a house in the woods to him. Are you following?

Anyway, the main dude and his three friends head to the house. It’s a fricking awesome house.

They find a shed full of crucifixes, they find a grimoire, and that’s way past the point where I would have checked out. Actually, I’d still be at home completely dumbfounded that my friends really decided to go through with the trip they invited me on. They aren’t me, so…they read from the book, and things don’t go well.

Meanwhile, a couple is attacked by a vampire out in the woods and turned into his minions. He sends them to the house to get the grimoire.

As the friends are enjoying a campfire dance montage, Evil Dead shaky cam approaches. The friends soon discover they’re dealing with vampires, which inevitably leads to another montage of the main cast preparing for a vampire battle.

There’s a little more to it than all that, but this is a pretty low-key film with just a few good, kind of campy vampire moments. It also ends with a cliffhanger, so don’t expect any closure…especially if there’s no sequel made.

CURSED HEARSE (2026)



This horror comedy, which lacks both, is pretty much Christine with a twist. It goes on the holiday horror pageholiday horror page because it is set partially at a Halloween store, the home of the main guy is decorated for the holiday, and his love interest works at a haunted attraction. However, the season is mostly a backdrop and not detrimental to the plot in any way.

Our main guy lives with his grandma, and her sex life with a younger man is supposed to be a comedic highlight, but it simply feels cliché. It does, however, accomplish what it’s going for–it’s icky.

The main dude decides to buy a hearse from a weird old man. But first, there’s lots of talk about doing so with his friends. Even they seem bored by the dialogue.

Once he buys the car, the radio begins speaking to him demonically and he becomes possessed. There are kills, but nothing much in the way of horror eye candy. The plot twist at the end is the only thing that makes it more than just a bland rip-off of Christine.

SHED OF THE DEAD (2019)



This zomcom gets compared to Shaun of the Dead for obvious reasons.

It’s definitely not as fun, and the characters aren’t as likable, but it does have its moments.

The biggest downside for me is the decision to include daydream sequences in which the main character finds inspiration in medieval fantasies. These goofy scene seriously killed the pacing and the tone for me.

The main guy hangs out in the shed in his garden to get time away from his wife. Kane Hodder shows up to tell him his neighbors are all unhappy with the way he’s tending to his piece of land. Hodder accidentally dies on his property, and his best friend convinces him to bury the body instead of reporting what happened. Talk about anti-heroes.

Meanwhile, Bill Moseley has a cameo that includes a nasty joke at the expense of “lady parts”, and Michael Berryman has a cameo as a mistress’s bitch boy.

The action really doesn’t kick in until Hodder comes back from the dead while the main guy is trying to dispose of the body. The main guy has to team up with his wife, his buddy, and the wife’s best friend to fight a sudden onslaught of zombies at about the 40-minute mark.

It’s not exactly a laugh fest or horror fest, but it’s entertaining enough and has some good, classic nighttime zombie scenes in the final act.

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Took a trip to some creature feature fun

Posted on May 15, 2026 by Daniel

This was a mostly satisfying marathon of movies loaded with big teeth and wild monster eyes. Just turn off your brain and enjoy the bites and blood.

FRENZY MOON (2025)



The current state of everything—from how it’s affecting everyone’s existence in general to how it has affected my personal life—is so tumultuous these days that I’m living for this kind of hokey horror throwback with monster suits, buckets of blood, and rubber body parts.

We meet a werewolf immediately in an opening kill scene, plus we get a fake severed hand. Yay!

 

Another series of kills introduces us to a hunter dude in the woods trying to warn anyone he can of a creature that awaits them if they don’t turn back. Unfortunately, he is hit by a car belonging to a couple on their way to a cabin in the woods to meet some friends.

So, yeah. They don’t get the message, and they don’t turn back. Instead, they take the wounded, unconscious guy with them to the cabin, and while he takes his time waking up to warn them of what’s going on, more werewolf attacks ensue. Awesome.

This one delivers all the werewolf action, 80s creature feature vibes, and misty woods atmosphere I could ask for.

THE FIANCE (2016)



This little indie definitely offers a unique take on the Bigfoot legend—Bigfoot is basically a lycanthrope, because when it bites you, you become infected and start transforming. The issue with the film is the narrative flow.

We begin with a barrage of radio, television, and internet reports and shows letting us know there have been multiple Bigfoot reports. We also meet a rich dude and learn he has had some sort of shady dealings with a Russian crime syndicate.

He puts that aside to travel to a cabin in the woods, where he plans to propose to his girlfriend. Unfortunately, they take the trip separately. When the girlfriend arrives at night, she is immediately attacked by Bigfoot (who looks cool in silhouette), transforms into a feral creature herself, and enters the cabin and attacks her boyfriend.

The horror action and the girlfriend’s monstrous look are quite satisfying. Problem is, the movie is ridiculously repetitive. She busts into the cabin, bites some part of the boyfriend, he fights her off, and she runs back out. Over and over and over. Question is, why did she transform immediately and he doesn’t? And why doesn’t he just create a blockade in front of the door she keeps coming through?

Also filling the time are flashback scenes of both the couple’s relationship and the trouble the rich guy got in with the Russians. None of it is interesting enough to entertain considering we’ve been presented with the major horror right from the start.

There are a few more characters in the woods, but they don’t raise the body count that much, because it’s all about the girlfriend attacking the boyfriend. The film goes so hard on the horror elements that it simply needed to mix things up and deliver different action, more suspenseful segments, and more kills. Definitely sit through the credits, because there are a few more scenes sprinkled throughout it.

BAIT (2025)



This is one you watch when you need comfort horror—the most basic premise filled with familiar creature feature scenarios. My only complaint here is that the opening kill scene is like a snapshot of the whole premise of the movie, giving away everything, including a full view of the creature.

Next, we meet a dad, mom, son, and daughter on a road trip to visit extended family. They get into a really bad car accident…and wake up chained up in a basement.

Also chained up in the basement is the creature. A guy in a gas mask comes in occasionally to bring in other victims to feed it. He also gives the family a difficult ultimatum.

Meanwhile, the extended family is concerned that the main family hasn’t arrived yet, so one of them goes searching for them. Not a totally necessary side story, and it doesn’t add much to the plot, but it does break up the monster moments in the basement so we don’t get burnout.


It’s never a good sign when there are signs…

The actors rise to the performance levels necessary for people trapped in their situation, the monster is awesome, the attack scenes are gruesome, and the gore is all practical effects. The final battle is pretty hardcore as well. This is a fun popcorn movie and a good one to play if you want to add some background screaming ambience to a Halloween party.

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SLASHERS: Killer cat man, house sitter horror, and another killer Mickey

Posted on May 11, 2026 by Daniel

This triple feature was sometimes horrific, sometimes humorous, and sometimes boring for me. Let’s get right into it.

CAT SICK BLUES (2015)



In this day and age, this movie is basically one big trigger warning, so only go into it if nothing really bothers you and you like fucked up movies with psychotic killers doing depraved things to victims.

That’s mostly all that happens in this nasty flick, although the movie does seem to be trying to present two different extremes on how people cope with grief—in this case, the loss of a cat.

The opener introduces us to our killer, who wears a cat mask when he strangles and hacks up victims.

Then we meet our main girl. She has a beloved cat that is an internet sensation. A mentally challenged fan unexpectedly comes to see the cat live at her home…before unaliving it and then raping the main girl, which is all caught on camera. Footage that ends up on the internet.

Yeah. This movie indulges in cruelty. Continuously.

We then get to know our killer better. He is totally sexually messed up. He has a terrifying, huge, spiked strap-on. As much as this movie indulges in terrorizing women, it really could have been worse, because we never actually see the killer using this thing on any victims.

We do get plenty of scenes of him killing women though. In between all that, he joins a grief support group the main girl is in, and we learn he also lost a cat. As a result, he begins to bond with the main girl.

It’s weird. It’s uncomfortable. It’s disturbing. What it isn’t is scary, so unless you’re a fan of twisted cinema, you’re probably best off skipping this one.

HOUSE SITTER (2026)

 

There are some fun moments in the last half hour of this occult/slasher/home invasion hybrid flick, but there’s a lot of bland, chill downtime with the three main characters for a majority of the runtime.

A young woman takes a job house sitting for a wealthy dude. She invites along her best friend and her boyfriend, who can’t stand each other and bicker a lot. There’s plenty of exploration of the house—yet nothing interesting or ominous is discovered. They lounge by the pool, which at least gives us the boyfriend shirtless.

They also order pizza, and we’re subjected to unnecessary footage of the delivery guy trying to find the place. He is then killed in a cutaway scene.

When weird stuff finally starts happening, the trio begins panicking, but they decide to just relax and watch a movie. This is when the best friend and boyfriend discover they both love horror, and they get into a detailed convo about their favorite scenes from different horror movies.

An hour in, we finally get a chase scene with a masked figure wearing a hoodie. But…it’s only a dream sequence. And yet, as soon as the best friend wakes up from this nightmare, the same killer is actually outside the house. So…is she psychic?

There’s something rather funny about the way the trio acts in response to the killer’s appearance, but this final act is the best part of the movie. There aren’t many kills considering the small cast, but there are several surprises along the way, and the film tries to keep us entertained by piling one twist on top of another to make up for the low body count. The highlight for me is a very close-up eye shot that feels like something out of an Argento movie.

SCREAMBOAT (2025)



The tone of this film is refreshingly fun, and with its dash of playful humor, it brought to mind the slashers of the early 2000s.

Although not as blatantly based on Disney cartoon properties as some of the other films released in this subgenre lately, it does make meta references to various Disney animated classics if you pay attention.

Unlike the other killer Mickey movies I’ve seen recently, this take on Steamboat Willie—in this case, Screamboat Willie–doesn’t resemble Mickey Mouse at all. Actually, he’s the worst part of the movie. The mouse makeup is really goofy, but drag out the old green screen, because he’s not human size. He’s only two feet tall! He is, however, played by none other than Art the Clown.

The opener is a goodie, and demonstrates the kind of gore and cheesy practical effects we’re going to get, and that perhaps is the highlight.

Teen Wolf Tyler Posey is shamefully relegated to a short cameo. Would have preferred him as the leading man, although the leading man is just as cute.

Passengers board a ferry in New York City, and pretty soon they’re being killed by Screamboat Willie. That’s it. That’s the plot.

The humor and gore carry the movie for quite a while, but this boat does begin to…um…lose steam after a while, I think due to the fact that the 24-inch Screamboat Willie simply isn’t menacing. There are some camptastic kills, including death by ferry propeller and double death by forklift, as well as an old school boobs and sex scene, which leads to a severed wiener in mouth mid-BJ. Screamboat wiener….

After some lag, the film picks back up for the final battle. I think maybe it just needed to be edited down somewhere in the middle to fix the pacing issue.

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Eek! Evil entities!

Posted on May 7, 2026 by Daniel

The ghostly ghouls in these three flicks are awesome, but do the movies do them justice? Let’s find out.

AMOROSA (2025)

This is another take on the Bloody Mary/Candyman concept, only in this case it’s updated—you summon Amorosa (no, not the reality show villain) by standing in a dark room, telling her how many followers you have, and then asking her to take a selfie with you.

If you ask me, this actually could have been a satisfying, cheesy throwback to early 2000s supernatural slashers, with Amorosa hacking up obnoxious influencers left and right. Unfortunately, it takes a mostly dull route instead.

A woman calls a psychic in to help her learn what happened to her daughter. The psychic works alone, so she’s not happy when she arrives at the woman’s house to find four ghost hunters have been invited as well.

There’s a lot of walking around and feeling out the ghostly vibes, with the psychic getting some impressions here and there, but none of it is thrilling. I know. Throw in a scary doll. That will fix it!

Someone is finally killed 54 minutes in, but we don’t see Amorosa yet. We also don’t see her when someone else is killed 69 minutes in. Or at 82 minutes in.

Don’t ask me why they chose to only show Amorosa in the last few minutes of the movie, because she’s a creeptastic mix of witchy and possessed.

Sadly, she gets little screen time, and the battle with her is anticlimactic. However, I was really feeling the autumnal vibe outside the house as the survivors leave at the end.

GHOSTS OF WAR (2020)



Even though I hate period pieces, especially war flicks, I checked this one out because it has a cool cast, including hottie Alan Ritchson of Reacher, Skylar Astin of Pitch Perfect, Kyle Gallner of Jennifer’s Body, and Billy Zane.

This one really threw me for a loop. For a majority of its runtime, it reminded me of the lost 80s military flick The Supernaturals (which seriously needs a physical media release). Just like that film, most of this movie is slow.

It builds atmosphere, and there are some creepy moments, but it doesn’t feel like it’s going anywhere. Fact is, even if you pay attention to the details of what is happening, much of it won’t make sense during the first watch….

American soldiers in France during World War II take cover in a large, abandoned building, and little by little, they experience supernatural situations that suggest that they are not alone.

Things do eventually pick up somewhat (I’m talking 52 minutes into the movie), and there are some ghostly attacks, but both the hubby and I were losing interest. But then…something happens. Something so unexpected that we were both totally invested all of a sudden. We were both like, “This is fricking awesome.” We were both like, “Shit, we have to watch this movie again to better appreciate it.”

And that’s all I’m going to say.

NFT: CURSED IMAGES (2026)

This was just the kind of low budget, cheap scares, early 2000s digital entity effects bonanza I needed in my life right now. It’s a basic throwback to J-horror (and their remakes) ghost curse era, and aside from a slow start, it is nonstop, spooky silliness.

Updating the premise, the film focuses on a group of friends that deals in one of those crypto scams—NFTs, those supposedly rare, expensive digital image files people are gaga over, while my Gen X ass won’t even buy music or a movie unless it’s a tangible hard copy to add to my cherished media collection.

Anyway, these suckers—I mean—brilliant business people end up scoring what is supposed to be a cursed NFT. It’s a creepy demon face, and pretty soon (well, as soon as they’re done with a loooong scene in which they explain NFTs to a friend), they begin encountering digital demons in reality.

It’s pure popcorn movie fun as we are bombarded by shadowy forms in dark rooms, scary, flickering NFTs come to life (with faces that all look like they were borrowed from early 2000s horror movie digital effects), and disjointed, contorting, crawling ghosts. Awesome. We also get some shirtless man action. BONUS!

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BOUGHT ON DVD: 3 purchases so worth it that I wish they were on Blu-ray

Posted on May 5, 2026 by Daniel

I don’t buy many DVDs anymore thanks to Blu-rays and 4k UHDs, but when I do, it’s because I really want the movie, and DVD is the only format on which it is available. As was the case with these three that I recently added to my movie collection.

METAMORPHOSIS: THE ALIEN FACTOR (1990)



Unfathomable that I missed this one at a time when I had HBO and was working at a mom-and-pop video store, but here we are. But after catching it on cable on a snowy Saturday afternoon this past winter like it was 1990 all over again, I had to add it to my movie collection.

This is a sci-fi/horror flick with gore and creature practical effects. While totally formulaic based on its era of origin (mutant creature gets loose in some sort of contained scientific environment), it is a treat for those looking for something to bring on the nostalgia feels.

Experiments with alien matter from space go horribly wrong in a lab. You’d think the scientists would learn to be more careful once they have cages full of mutant animals, but no. One of the researchers is bitten and begins a gruesome good metamorphosis into a nasty creature.

Meanwhile, his grown daughter comes looking for him since he never came home the night before. Little does she know her younger sister has followed her there. Little do any of them know that monster daddy has escaped and is killing lab faculty left and right.

There’s a classic chest burst, attack tentacles, spitball leech thingies, smaller mutant creatures running around, research baddies thwarting the main girls, hilarious fights, both between humans and between monster and humans, and a final battle to get the creature into a machine of some sort to give it a good jolt, with perfectly cheesy electrical effects.

To top it all off, we get to see the dad naked when he’s not in monster form, and the closing credits song, “Baby You’ve Changed” by Peter M. Stoller, is possibly one of the best unknown, unreleased 80s soundtrack songs ever.

OFFICE UPRISING (2018)



I accidentally learned this movie exists because the hubby and I are on an Alan Ritchson kick and trying to check out as many of his action flicks as we can. He isn’t as beefy here as he is in his show Reacher, and he’s also not in the film much, but I wish he was, because he nails his office dude bro role.

Anyway, the movie has several familiar faces, was nowhere to be found streaming, and is only available on DVD, so I blind bought it due to the fact that it’s probably going to become a rare film to find. Glad I own it, because it fricking rocks.

Our main dude works at a weapons factory, so there are plenty of jabs at gun nuts and conservative nationalism mindsets. There are also plenty of guns around to use as defense when an energy drink the company sells begins turning all the office employees into crazies. Awesome!

For starters, we get some typical office movie shtick and banter. Then, poking fun at corporate culture, we see our main dude not even noticing that there are dead coworkers all around him as he makes his way to his cubicle in the morning.

However, he very quickly discovers that those still alive have become running, jumping, infected crazies! The film delivers just the kind of fun characters, comedy, action, and violence needed to keep the pace moving at a fast clip.

Jane Levy of the Evil Dead remake appears as the main guy’s love interest, and Zachary Levi is his asshole boss. Kind of sux, because Levi is really good in the role, probably because he’s an asshole in real life.

Along with all the excitement, action, and kick-ass fight scenes as the main characters try to escape the office building alive, there are even clashing teams of crazies within the company, showing how vowing loyalty to a corporation is psychotic.

This is definitely a goodie for a watch party…especially if you invite your coworkers and serve energy drinks.

ICK (2024)



In the tradition of movies like Slither, The Faculty, and Night of the Creeps, Ick is fricking awesome! I accidentally stumbled on the trailer on YouTube, and since it’s not available to stream anywhere, I had to buy the Canadian DVD release because it wasn’t released anywhere else on any format. What the hell?

Ick gives us what’s been missing in movies these days—nostalgia for 20 years ago. It begins in “2000 something”, but you will be catapulted back to the exact time by the awesome soundtrack, which includes the likes of The All-American Rejects, Good Charlotte, The Killers, Hoobastank, Yellowcard, Fountains of Wayne, Paramore, Creed, Blink-182, and Plain White T’s. This is the new millennium throwback wave we haven’t gotten to ride in film.

It also stars Brandon Routh of Dylan Dog. The high school opener has him and Mena Suvari de-aged and dressed in early 2000s style. Here is the film’s one big flaw. The two are dating, and he’s a high school football star…until a small “ick” tentacle pops out of the ground during a game, which ends up leaving Brandon in a leg brace for life, ruining his chances of getting out of his town.

The backstory could have just had him breaking his leg simply from playing the game, because introducing the ick so early is just weird. When we flash forward to modern times, the town has actually been infiltrated by ick, which is an ugly, invasive plant the locals have just come to live with. Why would they be so surprised when the ick finally begins turning on them and possessing them, transforming them into zombies? This same thing could have happened if a meteor had landed on earth and released the ick in classic sci-fi creature feature fashion, making its sudden appearance an actual surprise to the town.’

Instead, Brandon, whose high school sweetheart dumped him after his football career ended, has been studying the ick, and is the one who suspects it’s taking over. His motive for the rest of the movie becomes to convince everyone the ick is dangerous and to rescue his ex’s teen daughter when the ick crashes a pool party.

The film is pure creature feature fun, with zombified people and ick tentacles growing everywhere. There’s a funny queer jab at JK Rowling, along with some jabs at small town conservative conspiracy theories. Best of all, when the military rolls into town to save the day (which always ruins a horror movie for me), the locals force them to leave so the prom won’t be canceled. Awesome.

Naturally, the prom is where the boss battle with the quickly growing ick kicks off. The final act is a total blast as Brandon teams up with some teens to kill the ick once and for all.

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BOUGHT ON BLU: a lost 80s anthology and two Fulci flix from the early 90s

Posted on May 1, 2026 by Daniel

80s completist that I am, I had to purchase the Blu-ray release of super indie anthology The Basement. And Fulci completist that I am, I had to purchase two of his films that I didn’t yet have on disc. All three were blind buys because I’d never seen any of them. Let’s find out how that turned out for me.

THE BASEMENT (1989)



This low budget anthology is only 69 minutes long, and the reason I’d never seen it back in the day is because apparently no one had. It seems it was never completed back then, but someone dug it up, restored it, and created a completed audio track with a score and sound effects as well as all the dialogue. The original audio is included as a bonus on the Blu-ray, and there are no embellishments—just white noise between actors’ lines.

Not surprisingly, it’s a sloppy feature, but it sure is gritty, and it perfectly serves as a time capsule reflecting how shot-on-video movies looked and felt back then.

The wraparound has a foursome of people in a basement with no idea how they got there. A ghoul in a robe appears and tells them they must pay…for sins they haven’t committed yet! I guess the four stories are supposed to show us what their sins will be….

1st story – A woman sitting by a pool keeps luring people she has a beef with into the water, where something with tentacles kills them…including a silver daddy in a Speedo.

2nd story – One of my favorite tales here, this one has a “Halloween Scrooge” being visited by creeps and monsters on Halloween night, including the kind of awesome witch that was so rare in 80s horror movies.

3rd story – While filming a hard rock zombie movie in the wilderness, the cast and crew is attacked by real zombies. This has a classic, 1970s zombie movie vibe and has embellished with rock music to enhance the retro vibe.

4th story – A young dude buys an allegedly possessed house and soon discovers there definitely are killer creeps haunting the place.

The writing might be weak, but the 80s nostalgia is through the roof, and the practical special effects are fantastic.

VOICES FROM BEYOND (1991)



This Fulci film was released during my days of working at the video store, but we didn’t carry it, so I’d never seen it before. In true throwback fashion, cheesy is the only way to describe it.

The opener promises so much. We see a man and wife in bed together before he gets up and goes to stab a crying kid to death. Awesome.

Next, we witness that man hemorrhage to death in a hospital. After that the plot becomes a classic trope. His family descends on his home because there’s money involved.

And here’s where we get the extra cheese spread. His daughter returns home, and his ghost visits her to tell her she must figure out the mystery of who hated him enough to kill him before his body rots in the ground.

There are ghostly voice overdubs as he keeps urging her to solve the mystery, and we even get a few shots of his body starting to deteriorate in his grave.

The horror is relegated to nightmare sequences his hateful family members have, including a mortuary zombie scene and an eyeball cake scene. It’s nowhere near the level of Fulci horror you’d expect, and in the end the daughter uncovers the truth and then walks off while smiling at the camera. Groan.

A CAT IN THE BRAIN (1990)

This is Lucio Fulci being totally meta about his own movies. He plays himself, and we follow his “character” as he directs scenes from some of the films he’s directed or produced—meaning, a good chunk of the gore and sex in this flick come from actual movie clips inserted into the plot as if they are being created at that moment.

Fulci begins to see the horrors from his movies in real life, and fearing that his mind is being warped by his own sick imagination, he goes to a psychiatrist. Here’s the sneaky part. While Fulci thinks he’s starting to go crazy, it turns out his psychiatrist is a fricking psycho killer.

Almost awesome, but the film is so over-the-top campy that the whole concept gets bogged down by the movie clip scenes, which mostly serve as ads for other Fulci films more than anything else. The psychiatrist plays a giddy psycho perfectly, and his kill scenes deliver classic, cheap-looking Fulci practical effects gore, but I just wish his terror tour had been the focus of the film.

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TUBI TERRORS: indie slashers that deliver something different

Posted on April 29, 2026 by Daniel

This trio of movies offers up a variety of styles, tones, and production quality, which I found quite satisfying. Things never got boring, and I found something to like about each of them.

THIS WAY TO HELL (2023)



This odd, 78-minute indie flick feels like a mob/revenge/supernatural hybrid horror. The initial hit man scene is actually kind of funny, as a dude comes to kill an older lady and they get into a gun fight. You’d think a hit man would know when he walks into a house and all the floors are covered in plastic that things might not go his way.

The guy heads home wounded after the shootout, only to be murdered by an ominous masked dude, who then chases his pregnant wife in a gritty, slow-motion scene. She’s killed, but as she’s dying, a devil in a plague doctor mask comes to offer her life in exchange for her soul.

She accepts, then goes on a rampage, taking out all kinds of lowlife criminals in her search for the guy who killed her man. What’s weird is that it feels like this film takes place in a rural, small town, so how did it become a haven for so many baddies?

The main woman’s vengeance kills aren’t all that interesting, but she does get visited by yet another demonic dude at one point. She then learns the identity of the killer. He’s known as The Butcher, and apparently, he’s also supernatural. He has a great onscreen presence, I just wish the focus had been on him slashing more than on her going around killing people.

BLUE MURDER (2026)

 

Despite the weakly branded title, this one lands on the holiday horror page because it’s a festive and fun Halloween comedy slasher! It also gives off a total early 2000s era, direct-to-DVD vibe with some nods to the 80s as well. The soundtrack even consists of retro synthpop tracks by Blaklight, a band I often play on my Future Flashbacks show.

It opens with a young woman going on a murderous rampage, killing what I assume are sorority girls.

Next, we meet a nurse who decides to dress as a sexy nurse at her hospital’s Halloween party. The killer from the opening scene has been captured, and she’s wounded, so she’s admitted to the hospital. Lightning strikes when the nurse is tending to the psycho patient, causing her to become possessed by the killer.

That’s the gist of it. The sexy killer nurse goes around using conventional means to kill anyone she comes across, including the most deserving victims of all, a couple that celebrates Christmas on October 31st because they think Halloween is Satan’s holiday.

The film unfolds more like a bunch of mini skits, jumping around between silly scenes of sorority girls, trick or treaters, an adorable, comedic cop investigating each murder scene, and a bunch of bro dudes, who are the ones that eventually have to battle the sexy killer nurse.

It’s hokey Halloween fun and humor, with some playful kills (including a crotch attack), so it’s definitely a good one to put on to set a tone at your Halloween party. The only part that didn’t really work for me consisted of occasional sequences inside the sexy killer nurse’s mind as she communicates with the killer possessing her.

NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU SCREAM (2025)

This one delivers some brutal kill scenes, has a cool premise, and perfectly celebrates the late 1980s lag that carried us into the 90s, with arcade games, mixtapes, hair band music, and a synth score.

During the 1990 World Cup in Buenos Aires, someone in a dark mask and hoodie appears to be using the distraction of the games to violently kill people, often by bludgeoning them to death. Shit gets bloody and gnarly at times.

Our main girl works at a record store, and she soon discovers another killer connection. She makes and sells mixtapes to customers, and it turns out that each of the victims has bought one of them. Eek!

Needless to say, our main girl has to take a deeper dive into why her taste in music might be triggering a psycho slasher, and if it means she will become a target herself. She also has to ensure her friends don’t become casualties of the killer in the process.

I wanted to be in Smile.

Along with the well-executed kill sequences, the main girl’s final fight with the killer at the record store rocks, and the final act takes an uncommon turn that promises—actually, demands—a sequel.

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