For Gore Lovers: vintage x 3

So I've been watching scary movies again and there's some great badness that I'd like to share with you!

I: Summer Of Fear (1978)
This one stars good kid gone posessed; Linda Blair. She lives a carefree life with her parents, brothers and horse untill all is disturbed by a new house guest; niece Julia. At first she is very happy with her brand new ‘sister’, until strange things start happening around the house. Soon she discovers that there’s something very scary and disturbing about Julia and that she’s not who she says she is....


Apart from the huge perms, and the scary high-wasted pants there’s nothing really frightning about this film. The make up was quite bad and the plot was not that surprising. But I really enjoyed watching it anyway. Was it the cozy family that gets torn apart but eventually makes it because they stick together? Or was it that yellow seventies sauce? Or the tiny role of Fran Fine? I don't know, it’s just my favorite era for films and Wes Craven is still a hero. If you’re into vintage horror and don't have the need for that sadistic new skool gore.. definately one to watch!

II Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
The film starts as a bad mix of Prom Night, Halloween and Teen Wolf with girls in a shower, picking on the new girl who turns out to be pretty cool after all. So she gets invited to a Slumber Party at the popular girl’s house, which off course turns out to be a bad idea. In the mean time, we see a dude with a van that has some suspicious things going on. When the night falls all elements come together and the killing begins. Leaving very little to the imagination (meaning: wearing no mask or whatever), the ‘driller killer’ comes to business drilling holes in all the girls and the walls and also some furniture. A shame to see 100 hours of aerobics go to waste? Neeh, very entertaining!


III: Slumber Party Massacre II (1987)
Terrible but crazy cool, they had me within the first 5 minutes. It’s about 4 girls that are in a band together (a cheezy version of The Runaways). The girl that plays lead guitar is a survivor of the first massacre and we can tell she’s still slightly confused. As they get together in an empty house to practise for the next show, the trouble begins. Lead guitar girl starts having horrible nightmares starring a killer that sings, dances and carries a bad ass guitar with a screw drill on the neck while he chops of hands and drills holes in everyone. Leaving the spectator with questions: is the director pulling a freddy Krueger?? Why does this guy look like John Travolta? Are these people really dead?? Why do I even like this?


Apparently there is a sixpack of Massacre films, that show us 2 films in 3 different subgroups: Slumber Parties, Sorority Row and Cheerleaders. All of them packed with a typical B-movie visual spectacle and crazy plot twists. The interesting thing about the 1982 Slumber Party Massacre part I is that it was written by feminist activist Rita Mae Brown. Who obviously got so wrapped up in the story of a dude sticking his screw drill in all these innocent half naked teenage girls, that she forgot all about her beliefs.

For Gore Lovers

It's the happiest time of the year, and I'm watching horrormovies as if my life were depending on it. For fellow genre-lovers; here are some of the highlights of this month. For people that are not into guts, weirdo's, unneccesary nudity and wild chases with or without chainsaws; scroll baby scroll.... all the way down!

I: Haute Tension (2003)
A french horrormovie by Alexandre Aja. This one had it all; gay love, a guy that looks like a ranger, but does nasty things with chopped off heads... lots of suspence, great acting and an unexpected brilliant twist in the plot. A definite keeper, and it ended up in the top 25 scariest movies of all time!


II: Body Bags (1993)
Nice 'vintage' horror triptych of genius John Carpenter (Halloween, The Fog, The Thing) and Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist). This one came to me in a package with a note enclosed: "this is the movie we talked about last week, hope you enjoy it". That was the nicest thing ever, especially because I really enjoyed it. These three short films (The Gass Station, Hair, Eye) were all very different, one was really funny and another gave me sweaty palms, but I saw things in all three of them that I saw in movies that are much younger than these. Really worthwhile if you like orang-y blood.


III: Devil (2010)
I was told that this one was superscary and I must say that the concept seemed kind of appealing to me. A bunch of people getting stuck in an elevator is nasty to begin with (I know this from personal experience) but when people start dying every time the light turns off (electricity malfunction?) it gets even nastier. I thought of Cube immediately and hoped for a nice psychological game with some nice gore added to it. Nevertheless, I should have remembered that it was directed by M. Night Shyamalan. He likes religion and stories that are full circle. I'm not into that, it's not what I look for in a horrormovie. I like bad endings and even more.. the unexpected. Not a keeper, but at least there was no Haley Joel Osment to overact this movie to death.


IV: The Human Centipede (2010)
Last but REALLY NOT least: a dutch horrormovie that kept me nauseous for quite some time. Director Tom Six and his wife apparently wrote the movie and also came up with the rather sick idea of having a MAD german doctor (Dieter Laser, awesome name huh) sew together three people and give them only one digestive system. After some experiments on dogs, he does it for real. Just try to picture what this human centipede looks like and one can only imagine what happens with the second and the last person, when the first one eats. Not for weak stomachs, but really original and well made. And oooh, the mad doctor... love his looks!


Here's some of the sound that goes with all that terror:

Goblin - Sleepwalking get it here (YSI)



Goblin - Suspiria get it here (YSI)

Jah man!

Ras Kwame, one of my favourite Radio 1 DJ's, recommended the film Babylon on one of his shows. Now I know this man has good taste, and he was spot on about this one as well.

Set in South London during the early eighties Babylon tells us about the trials and tribulations of Blue, a 'toaster' (= an MC) for a soundsystem. After its screening in 1980 it was released on VHS, but copies were limited. Thus it was virtually unavailable, but it gained a cult following thanks to people making copies of copies of copies. Now 28 years later the movie has been completely restored, remastered and re-released on DVD! Not only the improved sound and picture quality should be a major leap forward compared to the (bootleg) VHS, also the subtitle option in the DVD menu is very welcome addition. At least, for people like me who find Jamaican Patois a little hard to follow.

I bought the DVD last week and I finally got around watching it last night. I thought it was a good. Grim and pretty depressing, but good. And it was great to catch a glimpse of the dancehall culture in London in the 80's...



It reminded me about another movie I watched a couple of months ago: This Is England. Also about troubled youth in the eighties and the way music played an important role in their lives...



The two movies kind of tell two sides of the same story, and the soundtracks have the same roots (reggae and the 2nd wave of ska). They're definitely not feel-good-movies, except maybe for the fact they make you happy the 80's are over. They also show music can be a source of consolation and hope. Thank JAH for music! SELAH!