Slugs

Don't expect anything serious out of this movie. That would be your first mistake. With a title like Slugs: The Movie, you cant really expect to much. If you are as big of a fan of nature gone awry films as i am, you'll definitely have fun with this movie. I grew up as a kid with cheesy novels written under various psuedonyms such as The Pack, The Nest, and of course Slime. This film brought back great memories of impossible situations taking place with hilarious results.


The plot follows a small town being invaded by killer mutant slugs. Our hero is Mike Brady, the towns health inspector. Lucky for him, he might actually get to do some work this week. The characters in this film do not seem to have a personal life except for the occasional sex request. Besides from spending time with his wife, he follows the sheriff around while checking up on eviction notices. The certain notice is for a drunken fool who has a dog. He hides in his house with no electricity and throws all his garbage in the basement. Severe health hazard there.


When they walk in, they see nothing until Mike points out the gore soaked skeleton withs its eyes eaten out laying on the couch in a position that is just screaming Vogue. After noticing slime trails, the sheriff dismisses it as wild dogs. So while this is happening you are marauded with close ups of slugs using a lens trick to make them look gigantic. I guess they were trying to get under peoples skin with the creepy crawly factor.

Afterwards, many more town people are getting picked off by these carnivorous slugs. An old man who is tending his garden doesn't realize a giant slug crawling in his work glove. When he puts them on, it instantly starts biting him. Him being in a panic, he begins to hit it with a hammer and try using hedge clippers with one hand but never tries to pull it off. After a couple of minutes he decides to grab a rusty hatchet and lop off his hand Berserk style. His wife comes in and watches in horror as sulfiric acid starts a flame trail that leads to a bucket of gas and BOOM. Whole house blows up.


Back at the Brady residence, his beautiful wife notices these huge slugs and points them out. Putting two and two together, he decides that they are dangerous. In a hilarious scene, we watch him get bitten by a slug with teeth. Quite an awkward moment indeed. He then captures it and takes it to a scientist at a school who has an extraordinarily fake britsh accent. He then comes up with some solution that may put a stop to these menacing creatures.


The film was led up to its conclusion in an awkward manner. First of all, we have all these high school kids setting up to go to a huge halloween party. The average horror film fanatic thinks, "Hey, the slugs are going to show up there!". Wrong. That scene is dead. One of the girls does die after trying to be raped, which i thought was a hilarious turn of events, but sadly there is no high school massacre.

With the effects dating back to 1988, we are treated to a lot of blood but little sex. A teenage chick sneaks her asshole Heath Ledger look-alike boyfriend in after her parents leave to have pre-marital sex. All goes well until he gets off the bed drunken and a slug bites his foot. We then notice the nice wood floor is covered completely covered with this slimy suckers. She panics and falls off and we witness a bizarre scene in which a naked girl is crawling in a puddle of slugs screaming and we get the hint this is supposed to be sexy. This goes on for at least a minute.


Then we have the ending which is pretty normal for a film of this type. Nothing to argue about, but nothing to really boast about either. The acting, of course, is really corny and the dialogue is not interesting but we are treated to a fantastic score which doesnt seem to fit the film in retrospect.

An interesting yet dodgy 80's horror film. If you have the chance, it deserves a viewing.

-Maq

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans is German auteur F.W. Murnau’s silent masterpiece. The film was Murnau’s first American production and it shows. Sunrise has more in common with German expressionist films than it does with American films of that time period(the film was released in 1927). Sunrise was also the only film to receive the Unique and Artistic Production at the first ever Oscar ceremony in 1929. American’s were quite baffled by the film’s artistry as American cinema had primarily been used as a business appealing to the working class. This has been true even before the start of the Hollywood studios(American films were first screened in traveling vaudeville acts in the early 1900s).

Sunrise has some of the most beautiful scenes ever committed to celluloid. When I first saw the early swamp scene I was pulled into a world that engulfed all of my emotions. Much like Herk Harvey’s Carnival of Souls, Sunrise put me in a trance from beginning to end. These are the only two films to effect me in this very particular way. Both directors meticulously constructed lucid dreams on film. This is amazing considering Sunrise’s fairly straightforward plot. F.W. Murnau, being one of the early pioneers of film, was more influenced by paintings than his own medium. This is quite obvious and prevalent when viewing Murnau’s lexicon of films(Nosferatu, Faust, The Last Laugh, etc).

The utilization of sound in Sunrise is also quite effective in adding to its dreamlike feel. It was also one of the first films with a soundtrack of music and sound effects recorded in then-new Fox Movietone sound-on-film system. Quite an abstract way to derive emotion through sound and image collaboration. The horns in the score also become startling. Not something I expect from a film of any particular era.

Sunrise’s story also is quite touching. I am not one for romance films, but Murnau knew how to get it done right. Writer Carl Mayer’s dichotomy between country and city is something I truly appreciated. The mistress from the city represents everything immoral and corrupt of the manmade prison. The wife represents the essence of beauty and nature. The husband realizes the error of his way in being seduced into something that seems to offer progression and happiness, but in reality destroys the human soul. So quickly did the husband forget his fundamental reason for living, but so soon he remembered.

F.W. Murnau died in an automobile accident in Santa Barbara, California on March 11, 1931. According to pioneering filmmaker/gossip sleaze bag Kenneth Anger, the crash was a result of Murnau giving a blowjob to his fourteen-year old Filipino valet driver Garcia Stevenson while he was driving. Murnau had potential in future projects and his death was a serious blow to film innovation and history.

F. W. Murnau
28 December 1888 - 11 March 1931

-Ty E

Murder-Set-Pieces

Nick Palumbo’s Murder-Set-Pieces is a refreshing new take on the slasher film. So refreshing that I forgot that it was a slasher film. Director Palumbo was able to simultaneously piss off veteran horror fans and Jews. This is an accomplishment in itself. Last House on a Dead End Street director Roger Watkins(RIP) has championed the film. Murder-Set-Pieces obviously did something right.

The film’s serial killer is a German prince and descendent of a high ranking Nazi officer. His mother was a whore and he has complete contempt for women. This Teutonic psycho killer energetically kills Las Vegas whores when he’s not driving around in his muscle car. Henry Lee Lucas wishes that he had this much style.

Chocolate candyman Tony Todd gives an amazing performance as a sex shop clerk. I have on more than one occasion rewinded and rewatched this ACTION PACKED scene. Belligerent and fat Fred Vogel of August Underground fame also appears in the scene as a robber. In fact, the entire Toe Tag Pictures team is featured(they also did the special FX for Murder-Set-Pieces). I much prefer Murder-Set-Pieces to any of films in the Toe Tag library.

Murder-Set-Pieces is complimented by its soundtrack. Stupid metal makes you want to join in on the killing. Most Hollywood horror films feature music of this nature but Murder-Set-Pieces utilizes it properly. The film also contains a speech by the fuehrer himself(from Triumph of the Will) while the Aryan killer does some sit-ups. What a great way to workout.

Shock poetry is the best way to describe Murder-Set-Pieces. For all its stupidity, it has much more character and routine playability than the majority of “underground” horror films. Nick Palumbo has potential as a director. Stock footage of the 9/11 world trader center attack was his boldest move. The only thing missing is a thumbs up from Steven Spielberg.

-Ty E

August Underground Trilogy

When you search for “The most disgusting movie”, chances are the name August Underground has come into play more than once. That is how I found of about this trilogy of depravity, sadism, and punishment. The series is so notorious because it takes a simple serial killer sketchboard and transforms it into something so realistic, and so extreme, that it is almost incomprehensive.

Imagine walking down a road, to the nearest 7-Eleven. You stumble upon a VHS tape that isn’t labeled. Your curiosity gets the best of you and you decide to take it home. You are walking down the street with this tape. As you enter your apartment, you set the tape on your coffee table and take care of some odd jobs. When you finally get a chance, you sit down and pop it in. Static graces the screen with a strangely illuminated presence.

You watch as an almost amateur home video pops up onto the screen. You sit amused while watching two normal guys just drink and chat. They then walk into the house and open the basement door. You don’t realize that every step they take, is a step closer to the real hell. This is just the first step in the exploits of these unnamed killers. Every action seems to go unnoticed by the general public.



This film angers, disgusts, horrifies, and condemns you to join the ranks of fellow SICKO’s. All three of these films link up in an almost perfect way. August Underground is the considered to be the birth of these killers. We do not know if they have killed before, nor do we think about it as we watch through their eyes. In the first AU, we are subjected to two killers.

Well, one actually. The cameraman never physically kills someone, but he nevertheless torments and imposes it upon him or her. This film is almost too real. From the camerawork to the static, this film will shock you when you watch it. These films have the best special effects thanks to Jerami Cruise, FX Artist for Toe Tag Pictures. The only scene i really had a problem with was the blowjob scene. When he started punching her, i was laughing at how bad it looked.


You get the feeling of hopelessness head on. What Fred Vogel created is the most realistic and seedy film on serial killers ever filmed. He doesn’t try to glamorize serial killers like most other movies. He shows what it is, gritty, horrifying, and unpleasant.

At the end if the film, it doesn’t have credits, It just cuts off. You sit on your couch and just think about what you just subjected yourself to. This film rips your metaphorical jugular out and shits on it. If you want the real deal screw CSI, get August Underground. The second of the films is entitled August Underground Mordum.

This one takes what you thought to be the worst, most prolific serial killer movie, and vomits all over you. This one is more focused on sexual extremes as a whole. They take everything you thought was hardcore and blew your expectations away. The only real problem with Mordum is that it seems so uninvolved with everything.

It’s too over the top, one might say. They take Fred Vogel’s character and introduce 2 new killers, Crusty and Maggot. They are brothers and sisters and they fuck around. While this just not only confuses the hell out of everyone, it also makes the film seem less realistic in a sense but for every disadvantage there is an advantage.

In this film, there is the most graphic castration scene that has ever been committed to celluloid. There are scenes that are so brutal and unmerciful that its amazing that this film isn’t all over the news. This film thrives at its core on the sheer brutality that it portrays. There is a scene involving a little girl and a bathtub, which is beyond offensive and degrading. The whole argument over Mordum is which version is better.

The co-star Maggot released this film cut and extended the way he wanted it to be looked upon. It is simply dubbed “The Maggot Cut”. Copies can still be found on eBay occasionally. Near the horrifying climax of this film, our favorite killers meet up with Killjoy, Member of Necrophagia, and discover he has some “skeletons” in his closet also.

After the release of Mordum, Toe Tag Pictures garnered some credibility as being the new face of horror. To quote Fred Vogel himself, “The future of horror is bright fucking red”. That quote has stuck with me ever since my initial viewing because the man is right. Horror is going downhill fast. They make film like they see it, not so people of a younger age can watch it.

These films can be personally described as a “No holds barred descent into hell on earth”. When this film got released, it exploded all over forums. Fans and newcomers were amazed and confounded. No way in hell could he ever top the original but he did.

August Underground Penance was the most amazing film I have ever seen. When the name was released, I immediately went to a dictionary and looked it up. It has to do with atonement for sins. The name and theme could not be anymore perfect. When it was released and I got my copy. I sat down and was just fucking amazed. The only thing that I hated about these films was that the characters seemed so invincible.

They would kill, they would laugh, and they would fuck. It seemed like it would never stop or never feel for their actions but in Penance all that changed. The emotions from the killers just amazed me so much. I cried in this film. It is so brutally beautiful. There is so much to this film that isn’t even noticed right away. This movie had been under speculation from fans and critics alike because there appeared to be no way they could top Mordum but they ultimately did.

A great trilogy which is severly overrated at times, but still a classic in underground horror. These films should be viewed but take heed to the warnings you read on the internet.

-Maq

Mother and Son

Mother and Son (1997) directed by Aleksandr Sokurov is now on my list of favorite Russian dreamlike films (is this all Russian films?). The back of the Kino DVD has written, “Visuals that make Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven look like a home movie.” This is what made me decide to watch Mother and Son. I was thrown out of the class I originally saw Days of Heaven in. If they had screened Mother and Son, the philistine teacher would have screamed “revolution.”

Russia proves they are one of few nations producing their own cultural films. Maybe its their new sense of nationalism. I doubt that’s true though. Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Mirror was doing more interesting things in 1975. But whereas The Mirror is a poem of the stream of consciousness, Mother and Son is a collage of beautiful paintings. But this beauty is distorted.

Mother and Son is honestly one of the most disturbing films I have seen recently. The film is like Oedipus Rex from hell. The relationship between Mother and Son is quite intimate throughout. The son carries his dying Mother around the outdoors. They sporadically talk of the Mother’s inevitable death. The images follow the gloomy tone of the film. Mother and Son wasn’t the easiest to digest. But that is a good thing.

Director Aleksandr Sokuroy brought up life questions and philosophies that even became darker than the most misanthropic films of Ingmar Bergman. Mother and Son is not misanthropic however. It just takes you to a experience that most wouldn’t dare look into. Too bad its inevitable.

Mother and Son derives much of its emotion through its utilization of special camera lenses , stained glasses, and mirror effects. Don’t expect much plot. The film is rich in artistry. You’ll feel from beginning to end. Watch Mother and Son before World War III happens! Putin approves.

-Ty E

Awakening Of The Beast

To call this film an acid trip on celluloid would be to to undermine the nature of this film. José Mojica Marins developed the character Coffin Joe and carried him through two sequels, This being the last. This film views upon drug use and urban violence in his beloved hometown. Upon release of this film the Brazilian dictatorship outright banned this film. Never before has it done such a thing. It sat in a vault for 20 years and only until 1989 was it finally released.

To understand the importance of this film, one must know of the history of Coffin Joe. Coffin Joe first appeared in "At Midnight, I'll Take Your Soul", Brazils first horror movie. It was an atmospheric horror film and paved way for new standards. From that day forward, Coffin Joe is considered Brazil's national boogeyman. His prospect on life is that their is no god. We were based on contiunity of our blood line.

I really got to hand it to Marins for making this film. He used negatives from other film directors at the time. It was ragdoll composed and was even arrested during the filming due to a rumor there was real drugs involved. Funny part is that cop that arrests him plays the sleazy film producer.

The plot is a psuedo documentary showing the effects of drugs on teenagers and adults. A group of psychiatrists experiment with four volunteers depicting the effects of LSD when mixed with the ideas of Coffin Joe. What begins as a mild trip on black and white film turns into a Kafkaesque funhouse of horrors in color. Frenzied and hypnotized, the hapless volunteers are stuck in purgatory but what is to blame for these happenings?


Is it the drugs or perhaps Coffin Joe? The film is composed of vignettes which resembles parts of Der Todesking. From seduction, to drug abuse, and to the perversion of modern youth. Coffin Joe might be the creepiest guy around. Sporting his Black Top Hat, Talon like fingernails and is a cold-blooded philosopher. From a casual cinemagoers perspective, this movie is as deep rooted as they come in terms of culture and drug awareness. For such a dated film, it doesn't lose any of its power and has stood the test of time.

-Maq

Island Of Death

A perverse exploitation masterpiece loaded with so much violence and sex it seems unreal. This film is directed by Nico Mastorakis and shatters just about every taboo. We have incest, bestiality, rape, and of course murder. This film was recently released with cover art that grabs just about any gorehounds eyes. Words like BANNED or UNCENSORED are plastered all over the blood red front.


The synoposis is about two lovers that escaped to a small island in Greece. They were being chased by a negro detective named Foster. Of course, he sports a 70's afro. They seem like a normal couple at first but you soon realize they are actually brother and sister. While first arriving, they seem to be a normal couple. The next morning, he wakes up and wants sex. She says no so what does any normal man do? Certainly not go outside and rape a goat and kill it no less.


What starts of as a trip into a macabre vacation soon turns much worse. The brother seems to be out of control. Spiting perversion and delving into an unknown layer of hypocrisy. Once killing a few of the sinful residents, the heat begins to build up. This film in few ways reminds me of Frailty. Christopher sees himself as the carrier of gods swift justice. The angel of death in some ways.


The key point of this film is to address violence as crude as possible. One of the best scenes in this film is the bulldozer decapitation. This film depicts sex in such a calm manner but with such perverse angles. This film wouldn't have been so great if it wasn't lead by such great acting performances. My favorite character was the painter. He really brought character to his role.

This film has more artistic merit than most movies portraying a similar subject matter. Rape is seen as a civil instinct and a primal action, leaving the viewer questioning ethics. This film, while not being made for anyone, is a film for everyone. It is a mix of every major genre. This film is not as disturbing as it is advertised but it is definitely unsettling.

Sporting an amazing soundtrack that roots back to the era when exploitation was great, it uses weird reverberations and key sound effects through out the film. With an ending that is as original as they come, Island of Death should not be missed.

-Maq