Movie Review: Scorned (2013; Anchor Bay/Horse Head Pictures)

...crazy-insane femme fatales in the movies...ya' just gotta love 'em. Yep...they be oh-so batshit crazy, though often quite clever, intelligent, cunning and resourceful...their world, skewed in the matters of right and wrong...perhaps not even caring about such petty and trivial things. You know them quite well, as well as their infamous and horrifically reciprocative acts. Hey, how about that silver platter of rat tartar, dished out to the invalid? Eh, perhaps a little diversionary touchie-feelie in the tub, followed by a quick underwater flick of the blade, on those oh-so sensitive parts? Or maybe a tasty pot of bunny stew, as a gruesome and shocking reminder of a spurned one-night stand? And let's not forget about a certain deftly applied sledgehammer to the ankles, all because...well naturally, that's what one does, when one is another's 'number one fan'. Yes, we all know them, as well as their brand of vengeance...perhaps a bit too well; after all, such unflinching scenes in films like "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane", "I Spit on Your Grave", "Fatal Attraction" and "Misery", amongst others, have long since become the stuff of movie thriller legend...often emulated and parodied...quite literally to the point of being cliché, these days. So, when the 'new kid...or rather, new psycho on the block' come along...such as the mentally twisted and diabolical, albeit beautiful protagonist of director Mark Jones' latest film, "Scorned"...and purports to pull the same tricks out of the hat, not unlike her famed 'femme fatale' predecessors...well, as much as 'beating a dead horse' could conceivably drag a relatively good thriller concept down, it most assuredly does, in this case...

Movie Review: The Hot Nights of Linda (1975; Eurocine/Severin)

...back in the good ol' grindhouse theater days of the early '70's, to mid '80's, this viewer remembers having mentally...at least, unconsciously...latched onto the production studio name of 'Eurocine', as well as the occasional smattering of films, put forth by this guy, Jesus Franco...or Jess Franco, as he was alternately coined. Of course, once home video became a standard norm, and the local video store...if they were respectably savvy, as far as cult and genre films...began to stock and shelve many of these European imports, the names 'Eurocine' and 'Jess Franco'...once flickered on the viewing screen...were fondly brought back to mind, once again. And having already partaken of some of these cult film classics in the stale, musty darkness of grindhouse venues, this ardent viewer salivatingly knew quite well that with a 'Eurocine' film...the studio which by now, well recognized and revered sleaze master Jess Franco, often favored...now available in the privacy of of one's abode, what was in store for this eagerly anticipating viewer, was nothing short of raw and unbridled sleaze, at it's very finest. Oh, those titles, though..."Female Vampire"..."Kiss Me, Killer"..."Women Behind Bars"..."Devil Hunter"..."Zombie Lake"..."White Cannibal Queen"..."Oasis of the Zombies"...as well as this review's 'flavor-of-the-moment'...a moody and tempered bit of obscure and underappreciated Eurocine/Jess Franco sleaze, which features Jess' often-used sexy darling, actress Lina Romay, has escaped even the most ardent of cult film aficionados, and has finally seen the mirrored sheen of digital home video, thanks to the astute film acquisitioners, over at Severin...1975's "Hot Nights of Linda". Is it as 'hot' as the title...as well as the erotically alluring artist's rendering on the DVD/Blu-Ray cover...implies?? Let's find out, shall we??

Movie Review: Hemel (2012, Artsploitation Films)

Reviewed By: John Beutler

A strange thing happened, on route to my critique on this very sexually charged and compelling character study...wrought from an exploitively intimate and carnal genre, which I had little direct exposure to, despite my embrace of just about all other facets of the exploitation genres. Sort of headlong into uncharted territory, so to speak, going into this film...though surprising, pleasantly quite affecting and thought-provoking. Despite my able-readied ability, I found myself hard-pressed to wretch an immediate review of Hemel from my mind...not so much in finding the words to express. Indeed, the words were there, but they were rampantly disjointed in my head, as it took longer than norm, to process the film, both mentally and emotionally...trying to relate to the subject matter...applicable words and phases swimming about...my attempt to join those phrases...like trying to blindly mate mismatched couplings...to find the connections, and the sense in those connections, amidst the unconventional and intimate character interactions, which I had just been privy of. 

Later that evening, I spoke to a fellow associate of mine, regarding Hemel... explaining the carnal nuances of the plot... an inner-lonely woman who hides an underlining desire for intimacy, despite a number of forgettably by-the-way and coldly disregarded sexual couplings with a wide spectrum of men, with their own individual nuances, as far as sex...like the old song says, '...looking for love, in all the wrong places'...a woman clearly in search of something, which she cannot seem to find...an itch, which she cannot scratch.