Countdown to Halloween #7: Slugs (1988)

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One from the re-watch pile…
Slugs (1988)

Arrow Films’ Slugs: awesome art by Wes Benscoter


Film: I am an unabashed total fan of director Juan Piquer (J. P.) Simon, even though, to my knowledge I have only seen three of his films: Satan’s Blood, Pieces and this film, Slugs.

Slugs was something I first discovered as a book by Shaun Hutson when I was going through my ‘read everything by Shaun Hutson’ phase as a teenager. Still today I have no problem, on a sleepless night, sitting in a comfortable chair, a warm milk, a tray of biscuits and a well molested copy of Slugs in my hands.

Somewhere along the line I stopped reading Hutson’s books, but the appearance of Simon’s Slugs film excited me more that a grown man would care to admit, and finding it was directed by the guy who gave me my beloved slasher/ giallo Pieces? Well, hook me up to an IV of THAT!

Slugs: Michael Garfield and Kim Terry as Mike and Kim Brady


Slugs has us follow the events in a small town that is being invaded by a plague of flesh-eating slugs, and the only people who can save it are health inspector Mike Brady… yep, ‘Mike Brady’ (Mike Garfield), his friend, sanitation engineer, Don Palmer (Philip MacHale), and a local high school science teacher/ scientist, John Foley (Santiago Álvarez), who was introduced by Mike’s wife, Kim (Kim Terry). 

Can they save the town before the inhabitants are completely consumed? Well, let’s hope now before at least a bunch are chewed up in all sorts of gory ways!

There are two horror fans that live inside me, one who likes slow burn horror films like The Wicker Man and early Hammer films, and another who loves balls-to-the-wall, blood-drenched splatters films, and it’s that latter fan who digs this particular film.

The fact that is is an American/ Spanish production means that there are some of the cast speaking English, and other dubbed, sometimes quite hilariously. The film has some continuity inconsistencies and some totally weird cast choices… Don’s wife looks old enough to be his mother (!) and there’s just some flat out bad acting, but the joy from this film comes from both the gore, and the fact that slugs are just so damned disgusting!!

It’s amazing to think in a world of CGI in even low-budget films that all the flesh and blood in this film is practical effects. Even though I am not a detractor from CGI effects, I do miss films that do everything with good ol’ buckets of red paint and pig skin.

Slugs: Juan Maján needs a hand as Harold Morris


I have to give a word to the soundtrack as well. The title score is classic moody horror stuff, but then as scene changes happen, it’s like music that an 80s cop TV show might have when it comes back from an ad break.

It’s one of my favourite films of all time, even though it’s hokey and perhaps a little bit stupid, but it’s for those reasons that I love Pieces too, so why the Hell not?

Score: *****

Arrow Films’ Slugs bluray menu screen


Format: This UK Arrow Films, region B bluray release runs for approximately 89 minutes and is presented in a really nice, which is expectedly slightly grainy due to its age, 1.85:1 presentation, with a very rare artefact, with an excellent mono audio track.

Score: ****

Extras: Extras? Extras? Boy, have we got extras! First up, and in Arrow tradition, we have a reversible cover, one side with brand new artwork by Wes Benscoter and the original art on the flip side.

Inside the case there is a booklet featuring an informative article by Michael Gingold, American journalist probably best known to horror fans as 26 year veteran (he finished there this year) of Fangoria magazine, about the film.

On the disc we have:

Here’s Slugs in your Eye: an interview with Emilio Linder, who played David Watson, where he talks about his career and his experiences on the film. He has some great anecdotes, and a pretty cool vinyl collection in the background.

They Slime, They Ooze, They Kill: an interview with special effects artist, Carlo De Marchis, who briefly talks about his career before concentrating on the effects of Slugs, breaking them down by how the effect was done with some amazing behind the scenes photos of giant slugs built to bite fingers and miniature houses to blow up. He also reflects on the 1989 Goya award for special effects that the film won.

Invasion USA : an interview with art director Gonzalo Gonzalo, who talks about Simon and his work in cinema, and his admiration for his work. He also talks about his own contributions to the film.

The Lyons Den: this is a pretty cool locations tour of Lyons, New York and interview with production manager Larry Ann Evans, who actually grew up in the town. She has some pretty funny recollections of the making of the film, and some more delightful memories of Simon. Actually, one thing all these interviews have in common is the respect for J. P. Simon which makes me dig his work even more! 

We also have a trailer for the film, and then two commentaries:

The first commentary is one I was very excited for, as it is with author Shaun Hutson, with Michael Felsher from Red Shirt Pictures (who produced all the featurettes on this disc). It’s an awesome commentary and hearing Hutson talk about his career and his, quite low, opinions of the film. As a horror fan there’s nothing more disheartening hearing a favourite author coming down on a favourite film, but I’ll get over it, as the commentary is totally engaging!

The second commentary is by Chris Alexander, filmmaker, musician and former editor in chief of Fangoria, and is much more a fan, love letter to both the film and the book. Listening to this commentary after the Hutson/ Felsher one is great as the opinions of the creator compared to the fan are amusing.

Score: *****

WISIA: I’ve watched this film, and read the book on which it’s based, more times than I care to admit. I’ve probably already watched it twice this year already before I watched it the three times to review it (the film and then two commentaries) and it still hasn’t gotten old. I’ll probably watch it again before the end of the year… so the answer is yes, I’ll watch it again.

Slugs: Emilio Linder’s David Watson’s seen better days…

Happy Halloween Week!!!

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN WEEK!!
For those of us who love horror movies, Halloween isn’t one night. For some of us, it’s the whole month, for others: the entire year! I love it when Halloween decorations hit the store as it means I can decorate my house in the fashion that I wish it were decorated for the entire year: zombie decals in the window, grave stones in the front yard, a ‘Caution: Zombies’ sign on the gate and a carved pumpkin grinning it’s candle-illuminated grin on the front step.

It’s truly a wonderful time.

Usually in October, I would watch a horror movie a day and they would always be favourites and the closer to Halloween it got, the more ‘Halloween-y’ the viewing became. 

Almost always the franchises would get a look in, be it the Friday the 13ths, or the Nightmare on Elm Streets, the Saws; one of them would at the very least get a full series view, but always, without fail, I’d endeavour to make my way through all the Halloween movies… I mean the Michael Myers ones, obviously, though Halloween III: The Season of the Witch would make an out-of-order appearance!

This year though I didn’t get to do this as, quite simply, not only have I been working on content for this site, but my alter ego started a new job, which means my life has been in a strange, constantly fluctuating place, so instead, I have managed to make my way through 7 reviews, all which have a Halloween slant in it… or at the very least a suggestion that the film takes place around this wonderful time.

So I hope you all enjoy my week of Halloween tricks and treats, and come back every day for the next 7 days to see what movie is going to pop up next!

R.I.P. Steve Dillon

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Truly this year is seeing an absolute glut of creative people being taken from us.

Steven Dillon passed away on the 22nd of October at his home in New York.

Dillon gave comic fans so many amazing pieces of visual entertainment, starting on UK comics Hulk Weekly, before working on many titles such as Doctor Who Monthly (where he created Abslom Daak), to most fans though he was best known for his work on The Punisher, Hellblazer and the astounding Preacher. Along with artist Brett Ewins, he started the comic Deadline, which ran for 7 years.

His passing leaves an unfullable hole in comic art.

Rest in Peace, Mr Dillon.

Scream of Fear (1961) Review

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One from the re-watch pile…
Scream of Fear aka Taste of Fear (1961)

Madman’s release of Scream of Fear on Bluray


Film: I have mentioned regularly, not just here (such as in my review of The Nanny) but also in other websites I have reviewed horror films for, that I am a big fan of Hammer films, and that I love some of these earlier, less gory and more psychologically driven thrillers.

This film initially caught my attention for the same reason the aforementioned The Nanny did, it is written by Jimmy Sangster, who did a great job of adapting the book that The Nanny was based upon, but also gave us the Hammer versions of Dracula (in The Horror of Dracula) and The Mummy. It’s directed wonderfully by Seth Holt, who directed The Nanny, but also is responsible for my favourite Hammer film, Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb, which stars the stunning Valerie Leon.

Scream of Fear: Susan Strasberg as Penny


Speaking of stunning, this film stars Susan Strasberg as Penny Appleby, a woman who has an unreasonable fear of everything, and is bound to a wheelchair after an accident where a horse fell on her a broke two of her vertebrae. She is returning home to her estranged father’s (Fred Johnson) house in the French Riviera after not being in too much contact with him for 9 or 10 years, based on an invitation he sent to her.

Upon returning she is picked up from the airport by kindly chauffeur, Robert (Ronald Lewis) who takes her to her father’s house only to find that he has gone away, and she is left in the arms of her step-mother, whom she has never met, Jane (Ann Todd).

The two bond quickly, but Penny starts to suspect something is amiss when she finds what appears to be her father’s corpse sitting in one of the rooms. When she tells Jane and Robert though, the corpse mysteriously has disappeared.

Penny quickly suspects that something is going on, and enlists Robert in her quest for the truth, even though her step-mother, and her father’s friend, Dr Gerrad (Christopher Lee) suggest that maybe she is having flights of fancy… or do they have a more sinister plan in mind…

Scream of Fear: Christopher Lee as Dr Gerrad


Filmed in glorious black and white, Scream of Fear is a wonderful example of a thriller. It unfortunately didn’t find much success in the USA but was a hit in Europe and had several imitators, according to Marcus Hearn in his book The Hammer Vault (if you are a Hammer fan, this MUST be in your collection). 

The performances are melodramatic as one would expect from a film of this vintage, and Christopher Lee’s French accent is of dubious pedigree, but it really adds to the atmosphere of the film.

More twists than a strand of DNA, this film is a wonderful watch, and will keep everyone guessing almost to the very end. 

Score: ****

Madman’s Scream of Fear menu screen: no extras here!


Format: The version of this film reviewed was the Australian, region B bluray which runs for approximately 82 minutes. The film is presented in a grainy, and occasionally blurry 1.85:1 image with a Dolby Digital mono soundtrack which sounds pretty good. One can’t expect a film of this age to look perfect, but there are many films from this time and earlier which look much better due to various restoration processes.

Score: **1/2

Extras: None, which is a shame, though considering pretty much well everyone who worked on the film is no longer with us, not surprising. A film of this quality at least deserves some kind of commentary or featurette from Hammer enthusiasts, film critics or other directors who champion it.

Score: 0

WISIA: A beautifully shot film with a stunning lead, not to mention Christopher Lee, but as with a lot of these sorts of films, once the secret is out, the impact of the film is lessened. That, however, doesn’t make it an occasional rewatch pile contender as it is entertaining.

Scream of Fear: father’s locked piano!

Ted V. Mikels R.I.P.

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Seriously, 2016, what did we do to you?!


Low budget/ grindhouse director Ted V. Mikels has passed away on the 16th October 2016.

Probably not well known to your average cinema fan, Mikels, born in 1929 as Theodore Mikacevich, gave us such films as The Doll Squad, The Corpse Grinders and The Astro-Zombies.  Mikels worked on many aspects of his films, from director to writer to actor to cinematographer,and he started his career in filmmaking in 1963 and worked even to this year when he wrote and directed Ten Violent Women: Part Two, a sequel to his 1982 film Ten Violent Women.

Whilst his films may not necessarily been technically brilliant, they showed  a passion for the art form, which is far more impressive than any big-budget blockbuster that has just as much money spent on its advertising to make sure everyone gets their butts into cinemas.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Mikels.

The Gorgon (1964) Review

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One from the to watch pile…
The Gorgon (1964)

The cover of the Australian Bluray of The Gorgon


Film: Hammer horror films are some of my favourite horror films, and I have been a champion of them for many years, even to the point I once had a letter published in an early issue of Kitbuilders Magazine wondering why there were hundreds of Universal Horror characters available in model kit form, but Hammer horror characters didn’t seem to get much respect from those in the ‘kitbashing’ and resin model kit hobby.

Thankfully those days are gone and those still in that hobby, of which I am no longer one (due mainly to time restraints), have many Hammer characters to choose from.. and perhaps I like to think I may have had a small part in that.

The Gorgon: Peter Cushing as Dr. Namaroff


These films have had us see heaps of exposure to wonderful actors like Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Michael Ripper and their female counterparts, the so-called Hammer Glamour set, such as Caroline Monroe, Stephanie Beacham and Madeline Smith. The most famous of their films were about Dracula, or Frankenstein, but their forays into other creatures, like zombies, in The Plague of Zombies, or lizard-women, like in The Reptile were also occasionally incredibly entertaining.

Which leads us to this film, The Gorgon.

Paul Heinz (Richard Pasco) has travelled to a small village to investigate the death of his father, Professor Jules Heinz (Michael Goodliffe) and his brother, Bruno (Jeremy Longhurst), who apparently killed himself after murdering his pregnant girlfriend.

The doctor who pronounced them both dead, Dr. Namaroff (Peter Cushing) seems to be hiding something from Paul’s investigation though, which may or may not involve his assistant, Carla (Barbara Shelley), and legends of the mythical Gorgon, Megaera, keep turning up in conversation.

Thankfully, Paul’s mentor, Professor Karl Meister (Christopher Lee) turns up to assist, but can they solve the mystery before either one of them get… ahem… stoned?

The Gorgon: Patrick Troighton and Christopher Lee


Immediately this film is notable as it has Lee and Cushing in it, so Hammer fans should sit up and take notice, and the performances of all concerned are melodramatic, as one would expect. Special note should be made that this film also features second Doctor Who Patrick Troughton as the chief of police, and Prudence Hyman, who starred in other Hammer films like The Witches and Rasputin The Mad Monk. Hammer direction stalwart Terrance Fischer uses his talent to create some great sequences, but the joy stops there.

The story was written by one time movie writer, J. Llewellyn Devine, and developed into a screenplay by yet another Hammer regular, John Gilling, a writer/ director who is possibly best known for another Hammer film, The Mummy’s Shroud. This film, from a story point of view, unfortunately, is little more than a derivative of a werewolf film, with the big mystery being WHO is the normal person who changes, and that is telegraphed so early you could turn off the film at the 20 minute mark and know the result.

That would be a shame though, as the Gorgon make-up is magnificently cheesy.

In effect, it’s not that is a bad film but from a story point of view, it’s just disastrously generic, and bereft of surprises.

Score: ***

The Gorgon Madman Bluray menu screen: no extras for you!


Format: The reviewed copy is the Australian region B bluray, which runs for approximately 1 hour and 24 minutes, and is presented in a quite clear 1.75:1 image with a decent Dolby Digital Mono audio 

Score: ***

Extras: Nothing!

Score: 0

WISIA: Tragically, this is probably a Hammer film I won’t revisit just because the story is done so much better by so many other werewolf films, even though this isn’t a werewolf film.

The Gorgon: Barbara Shelley as Carla

X-Men Apocalypse (2016) Review

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One from the to watch pile…
X-men: Apocalypse (2016)

X-Men Australian Bluray Steelbook


Film: I got my first X-men comic in 1983. I remember it clearly as I received, like I did every Sunday, two comics when I went with my step-dad to the newsagency to get the Sunday paper. It must have been May or June in that year, and I remember it clearly as I got New Mutants issue 1 and The Uncanny X-men issue 167 and this started a decade long love of the mutant characters until the early nineties when Marvel decided that after being innovators of comics for so long, they now had to copy the ultra-violent stupidity of the first generation of Image comics after those artists and writers jumped ship.

Thankfully Marvel eventually mostly abandoned these imitations and went back to what they do best: solid stories with great art and innovation (though recently best Marvel and DC seem to have lost their ways again, what with Marvel re-living past glories with new versions of Secret Wars and Civil War, and DC with their constant 5 years cycle of rebooting their entire universe).

Aside from all that I do have to admit to loving most of the X-men films. I loved the first two, thought the first was overblown and overdone, then loved the First Class and Days of Future Past films, but how do I feel about X-men Apocalypse? I must prologue this review but pointing out I was never a fan of the character of Apocalypse…

Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse


Which leads us to the plot synopsis for X-Men Apocalypse.

We start in ancient Egypt, where En Sabah Nur (Oscar Isaac), an ancient mutant, is engaging in a body transference to extend his life when two traitorous members of his group cause the temple he is in to collapse around him. En Sabah Nur absorbs the strength and powers of any mutants he body transfers into, and has with his four henchmen, ‘horsemen’ if you will, to help him on his quest for power. All of whom are destroyed by the collapsing temple.

Several centuries later, another group resurrect him and he sees this new world of 1983 to be full of power that he can tap into…

Meanwhile, Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) has turned his family home into a school for mutants so they can learn how to use their powers. Hank McCoy (Nicolas Hoult) help him at his school also. He has several new students, Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) and Kurt Wagner (Kodi Smit-McPhee) to add to his others that he is already teaching, but when Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) turns up to tell him that Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) has gone bad again after the murder of his family that he formed whilst hiding from the law after the events of the previous film.

Michael Fassbender as Magneto


Not only has he turned bad, though, he has also joined El Sabah Nur along with Psylocke (Olivia Mann), Ororo (Alexandra Shipp) and Angel (Ben Hardy) in his quest for domination.

If you’ve got so much happening, you may as well throw fan favourites Quicksilver (Evan Peters, in a sequence that is quite possibly the most fun ever had with super powers in a film), Alex (Lucas Till) and a certain clawed mutant that some people kind of like too.

Will all these good mutants be able to defeat these four horsemen and Apocalypse?

One would assume so, but how will they do it?!?

As you can immediately see by my synopsis, the movie has a LOT of cast and a LOT of stuff happening, and it almost requires the superpower of ‘ultimate attention span’ to keep up with it. Fan service is good in comic to movie situations, but this is ridiculous.

The key to the X-men films, and I guess all comic-to-film adaptations, is that your comic fandom has to be checked at the door, and X-Men Apocalypse is no exception. The movie history and the comic history follow different paths, but one still gets a thrill when one sees favourite heroes pop up, even if their comic history is in a different context.

Outside of those criticisms, the story isn’t bad though, it’s just plot and character heavy. Bryan Singer’s direction is as good as it ever was, and honestly I wish he would do more science fiction outside of the X-men scope.

The key to how clever these post X-men: First Class (2011) X-men films is though is how they still sit in with the other films, even though the timeline has been changed. It was an incredibly clever deus ex machina that was able to relaunch the series from the first trilogy to this one, and realistically, Apocalypse is another one to relaunch the series yet again.

X-Men Apocalypse is a pretty good film for sure, but there is constantly a hell of a lot happening, so don’t turn your back for a second. Thankfully due to their resets, the X-men movie universe doesn’t suffer from the entire weight of, say, the other Marvel Avengers films, in which the viewer has an obligation to see every film across multiple franchises to get the full story. Here at least one only has to watch the ‘X-men’ series, and the Wolverine and Deadpool films are merely garnishes.

Score: ****

X-Men Apocalypse Bluray Menu Screen


Format: This Australian bluray (steelbook) release of X-Men Apocalypse runs for approximately 143 minutes and is presented in an immaculate 2.40:1 aspect ratio with an amazing DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 Master Audio.

Score: *****

Extras: A nice bunch of extras on this disc:

Deleted and Extended Scenes with Optional Introductions by Bryan Singer. There is a great tribute to John Hughes films in the scene titled ‘The Safety Dance’, these can be watched either with or without introductions by Singer.

Gag Reel is what it says it is, not the greatest of its type but certainly has a couple of funny moments. It’s not an all-day guffaw fest though!

Wrap Party Video is a series of behind the scenes clips put together to music. The title would suggest it was shown at the wrap party. 

X-men Apocalypse Unearthed is a series of 6 mini features which go together to make a complete ‘making of’. I don’t know why this had to be made into 6 smaller features when it could have been one total one, that’s not to say they aren’t interesting though! I have to say one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen is Bryan Singer face timing Patrick Stewart so he could watch James McAvoy get his head shaved so he could be a ‘proper’ Professor X. Is that meta or surreal? I can never tell.

Audio Commentary by Bryan Singer and Screenwriter Simon Kinberg is pretty good, but they get caught up in watching the film and there are a few breaks in the commentary.

Photo Galleries are something I normally hate if it’s just movie stills, but this is an amazing series of pre-production paintings and on-set photographs, so i’ll belay my normal complaints.

There are also a bunch of trailers of the film.

Easter Egg is just a hidden bit that could have been stuck in the gag reel that goes for about 5 seconds. Yawn.

This bluray edition also came with a digital download of the film.

Score: ****1/2

WISIA: Being an old comic fan means I love watching comic movies, over and over again, this won’t be any different.