Movie Review: Motel Hell (1980, Blu-ray)

...ya' know?? For years, "Motel Hell" was a sort of a flavor-of-the-moment 'holy grail' film, for this ardent fright film fan. It was 1980...the year that this viewer 'crossed over', having just turned 17, and now able to, at least legally, partake in 'R' rated film fare, all by my butt-squirmin', horror-movie-lovin' lonesome. That year, of course, was overwhelmingly dominated by the splatter classic, "Friday the 13th", which was hacking and slashing it's way through enormously huge box office bank, much to the dismay of countless distractor critic reviews. For this undiscriminating genre lover, who had always kept a constant finger on the pulse of horror films, via magazines and TV snippets, even at a young age (...uh, without the aid of internet, might I add), this little upcoming, mad-looking oddity, called "Motel Hell", seemed right up my alley. Articles in Famous Monsters of Filmland and Fangoria, whetted my appetite for the film...a panning review of the film, offer by stuck-up critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, on their then-relegated-to-PBS 'Sneak Previews' show, only goaded me on, as far as seeking the film out...and a lovingly displayed movie poster of the film, hung up on the wall in my bedroom...scrounged up by my dad, who serviced a number of the local L.A.-based movie distributors at the time, only served to stir my imagination, as to what I might expect from the film, and at the same time, agitated my fearful sense of anticipation, whereby I would daringly ask myself, "...do I really want to see this??" Uh, dumb question...

......it's late, and Vincent Smith...a middle-aged farmer, juggling a renowned and successful smoked meat business, along with a roadside hotel... is restless. Finally, he gets up out of the rocker, seated on the hotel manager's porch, and giving the neon hotel sign the stinkeye (..."...damn flickering second 'O', in 'Motel Hello's got a dang short...gonna have to fix that...people liable ta' think that..."...), Vincent shrugs his shoulders, goes inside the office, grabs his hunting rifle, fires up the pick-up truck, and barrels down the road. Pulling off to the side, turning off the truck lights, and finding a hidden, inconspicuous spot, he looks across the dark fields, barely lit by the moonlight, and...Wait!! What's that, up ahead?? Taking careful aim, Vincent fires off a couple shots...

Movie Review: Evil Head (2012, Burning Angel Entertainment)

Directed by Doug Sakmann
Starring Tommy Pistol, Joanna Angel and Kleio
Run Time: 147 minutes

Okay, quick, without thinking about it too hard... what are your two favorite genre’s of movies? Okay, time's up... now if you said, “Horror & Porn” I’m here to tell you that you're not alone on this (and we’re probably the only ones who aren't lying to ourselves about it). These are two genre’s that allow us to indulge our inner-beast. To vicariously partake in the spilling of blood and... well, other bodily fluids.

Burning Angel’s Evil Head is the porn parody of one of our all-time favorite horror classic’s, Evil Dead, so it is first and foremost a porn flick, but manages to do something that nearly every other porno fails to do, and that's tell a cool and familiar story in a truly funny and entertaining way.

Cinema Head Cheese: The Podcast! #119 - Road Head

As Kevin drove from Phoenix to Vegas, he decided to record a podcast into his phone. He talked about some of his favorite road movies, and a few favorites that involve Las Vegas.

Click here to listen or right click and choose "Save Link As..." to download.

You can always email us at cinemaheadcheese@yahoo.com or tweet us @CinHeadCheese.

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Paul Schrader's "CAT PEOPLE" Collector's Edition Blu-ray and Daniel Haller's DIE MONSTER DIE Blu-ray - coming this Jan 21, 2014

SCREAM FACTORY™ PRESENTS

A Film by Paul Schrader

CAT PEOPLE

Starring Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell, John Heard, Annette O’Toole

COLLECTOR’S EDITION BLU-RAY™

&

DIE MONSTER DIE BLU-RAY

Starring Boris Karloff, Nick Adams and Suzan Farmer

Directed by Daniel Haller

Leaps Onto Home Entertainment Shelves Everywhere on January 21, 2014

Pre-Order These SCREAM FACTORY Home Entertainment Collections Today!

It’s time to unleash our primal animal nature and succumb to the unbridled cravings for generous dose of suspense, unspeakable desires and good old-fashioned horror storytelling! On January 21, 2014, SCREAM FACTORY™ is proud to present the provocative 1982 thriller CAT PEOPLE Collector’s Edition Blu-ray™. Directed by Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull), this memorable cult hit is a remake of 1942 Jacque Tourneur horror noir classic. The all-star cast includes Nastassja Kinski (Tess, Savior), Malcolm McDowell ( A Clockwork Orange), John Heard (Prison Break, The Sopranos), Annette O’Toole (48 hrs), and features music by Giorgio Morotor (Top Gun, Flash Dance) with “Cat People” theme sung by legendary artist David Bowie. 

Movie Review: Sexcula (1974, DVD)

Review By: Rob Sibley

"She'll suck more then your blood!" reads the tagline in this little seen Canadian produced porn flick. Let me state up front I'm a sucker for these genre mash-up vintage porno's. The cover promises a lot, does it live up to it? Yeah... it kind of does. But the actual back story to the making of the film is much more interesting.

See this film has always been a sort of myth, not because of it's over the top sexual content (It's tame for retro porn). But it was a rare little title that nobody ever really saw. Sure they knew the name but few ever saw the flick.

The film was financed by a very slick producers basically took advantage of a little tax loophole were after investing in a picture they'd get back anywhere from 40-100% of their investment.

Movie Review: Female Teacher Hunting (1982, Nikkatsu/Impulse Pictures)

 ...despite having ventured overseas, visiting several of the more exotic Asian cities...Thailand, Singapore, The Philipines, Japan, and what-not...and as such, had a chance to e-e-e-eagerly partake of...to put it mildly, some pretty 'wild, edgy, unbridled and over-the-top' cinema and live-stage erotica, promiscuously accented with a most decisively Asian flavor (...i.e., you haven't seen anything, until you've been to Phuket and Pataya Beach, in Thailand), this seasoned viewer must admit to a bit of a 'what the...?' feeling, when afforded the opportunity to check out one of the classic steamy Nikkatsu pieces, offered by distributor Impulse Pictures (...an offshoot of Synapse Films)...some of who's tantalizing offerings have been reviewed previously, in this venue. After all, Impulse's opening logo montage of archival Nikkatsu productions...flashing quick shots of sexual savagery, rape and fetish-tool accented debauchery...as is the supposed 'norm' for this genre...viewed in the comfort's of one's safe, domestic abode...especially as far as one who favors an age of erotica, more keyed to the domestic classic '70's...well, might tend to unnerve one, and make one wonder, '...man, what the heck have I gotten myself into?' However, in engaging one of the latest Impulse Pictures releases...namely the 1982 Nikkatsu-produced 'arouser', "Female Teacher Hunting"...it seems that with my very first foray into this genre, I was let off easy, with a relatively contrived and emulative, though a bit putting off, 'pink' excursion (...whew!! That was close...!!)...

Cinema Head Cheese: The Podcast! #118 - It's All Good

Kevin works solo yet again, but he brings a pile of goodies to the show. In fact, he only brings good things.

He talks about getting over the Breaking Bad hangover with Boardwalk Empire, the loveable sweetness of Derek, the retooled Dredd, living through The Purge and two football themed phone apps that get you into the NFL spirit: Madden 25 and NFL Runner.

Click here to listen or right click and choose "Save Link As..." to download.

You can always email us at cinemaheadcheese@yahoo.com or tweet us @CinHeadCheese.

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Movie Review: The Millennium Bug (2012)

Reviewed By: James Byron

The Millennium Bug takes place on December 31st 1999, when we were all worried about everything crashing and the world in chaos. The Haskin family is seeking refuge from the Y2K chaos by taking the family in a jeep to the mountains. Just so happens that Roger Patterson has been hiking through the forest in search of a species that is spawned once every 1000 years. Soon they will all meet a crazy hillbilly clan that lives within the woods.

You have to salute the heart of this film. Part The Hills Have Eyes and part the 50′s monster films. This film was done by a first time director and he did not use any CGI. The film starts off with Byron and Joany Haskin taking a trip to escape the world and the Y2K with his daughter Clarissa (played by VH1 Scream Queen contender…Christine Haeberman). Things go awry when they are going to bed in their tents and they are abducted, the whole while we get bits and pieces from Roger who is looking for this creature that is underground.

Movie Review: Night Train to Terror (1985, Vinegar Syndrome)

...getting right down to the nitty gritty, when discussing a rather unconventional genre film, like the 1985 horror anthology flick, "Night Train to Terror", this viewer cannot help but recall a poignantly applicable line in the 1987 Steve Martin-starring comedy, "Roxanne", where at one point, the Cyrano de Bergerac-inspired character Steve plays, crudely describes his character's rather large nose, and says something like, "...it's not the size of the nose that's important; it's what's in it, that's matters". A fitting metaphor, to be sure, considering that "Night Train to Terror"...this totally batshit crazy insane 'trilogy of terror' is basically culled from keenly edited (...ha!!), easier to digest (...double 'ha'!!), Reader's Digest versions of longer and, for the most part, wholly negligible horror-themed feature films (...well, actually...two feature films, and the footage of one unfinished film), including "Scream Your Head Off", "Cataclysm" (...aka "The Nightmare Never Stops") and "The Death Wish Club" (...aka "Gretta"). Horror anthologies are typically a mixed bag, anyways, but in this case, throw in some whacked-looking stop-motion animation...a rather striking and respectable amount of gore...humorously irreverent and irrepressible character actor Richard Moll (...1986's "House", 1982's "Sword and the Sorcerer"), here, doing the 'Karen Black/Trilogy of Terror' thing, by having unrelated multiple roles in the film...some rather arcane, cross-banter, 'good versus evil' dialog, bridging the stories together...not to mention some of the most cheesiest, brainless and tortuously infectious '80's style music video sequences, and you've got an off-the-charts and over-the-top excursion into horror anthology insanity, which tosses in everything, including the kitchen sink...and you know something?? Well, I'll be damned...how about that?? In a weird way, this actually works!!!

Nekromantik Coming to Blu-ray from Cult Epics!! Plus a Jorg Buttgereit Appearance For a Rare Screening of the Class-ick!

JORG BUTTGEREIT IN PERSON, OCT. 24TH
FOR A SPECIAL 35MM SCREENING OF HIS HORROR CLASSIC

NEKROMANTIK

AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE EGYPTIAN THEATER, THURS, OCT 24,
AND IGNITES KICKSTARTER FOR FIRST HORROR FILM IN TWENTY YEARS!

GERMAN ANGST

GERMAN DIRECTOR JORG BUTTGEREIT CELEBRATES THE 2014 SPECIAL EDITION DVD AND BLU-RAY RELEASES OF HIS CLASSIC HORROR FILM NEKROMANTIK WITH A SPECIAL 35MM PRINT SCREENING AT THE EGYPTIAN THEATER, AND LAUNCH OF KICKSTARTER TO PRODUCE FIRST HORROR FILM PROJECT IN TWENTY YEARS,
GERMAN ANGST!

*JORG BUTTGEREIT IN ATTENDANCE OCT. 24!*

Cult Epics celebrates a special October 24th 35mm print screening of Jörg Buttgereit's classic NEKROMANTIK at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles in anticipation of their new transfer of NEKROMANTIKin a Special Edition feature his first short film HOT LOVE, The Making of NEKROMANTIK, Jörg Buttgereit film trailers, featurette, and the isolated soundtrack from the film.

Jörg Buttgereit will appear at the Oct. 24th screening of NEKROMANTIK, bringing other short films along with him, during BeyondFest at the Egyptian Theatre, and also appear Saturday, October 26th at the Housecore Horror Film Festival in Austin, TX, in conjunction with the fundraising for GERMAN ANGST, an extreme horror film collaboration of Jörg Buttgereit (Nekromantik, Der Todesking) with Andreas Marschall (Tears of Kali, Masks), and Michael Kosakowski (Zero Killed). A long, hard walk down the dark alleyways of contemporary Berlin in stories of love, sex, and death, beginning production in January 2014.

Movie Review: "20ft Below: The Darkness Descending" (2014; Blue Dragon/Vertical Entertainment)

...yeah, yeah...I know; go ahead and say it..."...sheesh!! Another Danny Trejo flick??" Well, far be it for this viewer to diss ol' Danny...clearly the hardest working character actor, working today, as well as the most formidable, reputable and dynamic...even in his most minimal presence, in some of his films. And yet, far be it for this viewer, in beating a dead horse, with repeated commentary about that very thing; in brief, just check out Danny's work to date, over at the IMDB website...what he has done, what he is presently doing, and what still waits in the wings (...your jaw will assuredly drop). Anyways, 'nuff said about that, right??...

...speaking of 'wings', this viewer cannot help but appreciate having initially viewed a screener of Danny's latest direct-to-video entry, "20ft Below: The Darkness Descending"...once again, he's headlining, but making minimal presence, here; the advance screener comprised of just the disc, bearing the cover art, as depicted here, and did not include anything else...and for anyone out there, haunting the dollar-rental obelisk, just outside their local convenience store, 'anything else' might well be manipulatively deceptive, as "20ft Below..." is most assuredly something different...dare I say, something perhaps better, on a genre or exploitation film level, than what is seemingly promised in the sensationalist synopsis, on the DVD cover, which this viewer was later privy of (...yep, bought this one outright, myself). In short, there's no denying that this Trejo entry has bite, but at the same time, it also has something important to say...and to the fine advertising folks, who scribbled the synopsis, this viewer cannot help but say, "...hey, let the film stand on it's own merit, OK?? A respectable force unto itself, the film didn't need any help from the sensationalist peanut gallery..."...

Blue Underground Presents Limited Theatrical Release of William Lustig’s MANIAC COP 2

You Have the Right to Remain Silent…FOREVER!

Blue Underground is bringing a 2013 DCP Restoration of director William Lustig’s MANIAC COP 2 to theaters this fall in advance of its upcoming Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Combo Pack release. Featuring a brand-new 4K High Definition transfer from the original camera negative and new Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, this MANIAC COP 2 DCP is the definitive presentation of the action-packed cult-horror favorite!

Movie Review: Octaman (1971)

Movie Review by Greg Goodsell

Directed By Harry Essex

A group of cynical, drunk marine biologists (of which include such old Hollywood standbys such as Pier Angeli, Kerwin Matthews, Jeff Morrow and Buck Kartalian) stumble about the Mexican countryside investigating a new amphibious mutation, which is the result of radiation “leaking all over the world.” The life-size mutation is the dreaded Octaman, a part octopus, part human monster that walks on land. An early Rick Baker creation, the Octaman has a perpetually frozen face and sounds like someone sucking soup through a straw. There a re a series of haphazard encounters with the creature until our fearless scientists get sick of his ugly ass, whip out their trusty 45s and plug him full of lead. The poor, pathetic (and unarmed) Octaman stumbles and keels over dead, landing face first in a shallow, stagnant pond. Two seconds pass and then the words THE END flash on the screen.

Movie Review: Halloween XXX (Smash Pictures, 2011)

Reviewed by: James DePaolo

Jim Powers is to porn what Alfred Hitchcock is to suspense. When you think of the porn industry, you see directors that are on the cutting edge of how to take their fan base into this fantasy land that we watch on screen our deepest fantasies and perverted thoughts are acted out for us. You had to know it was a matter of time that the porn parodies would start to target horror films. While back in the day, we had films like a porn version of Re-Animator and Exorcist, I always felt that those were so lame and just uninspired. Last year, Evil Head showed mainstream horror fans that they should be more open to porn, and a ton of mainstream sites (ours included) had that film in their top films of 2012.

Now, the mad genius behind The Babysitter series and countless other series jumps into a porn parody of Halloween. I think this film could also get non-porn fans to warm up to porn. Like all Jim Power films, I feel porn and the fantasy world he creates takes a back door to the comedy element. This film has an odd sense of humor that you just know the people behind the film are fans of this film and loving doing this parody. Sort of like the original film, Michael Myers kills his slutty older sister, and like the film 15 years later he escapes the hospital and comes home. Now, comes the twist, Laurie this time around is a schoolgirl that Michael seems to be lusting after.

Movie Review: Snuff (Blu-ray)

It's quite possible that I'm in a small minority, but at the oh-so tender age of eleven years-old I discovered a synopsis in the Encyclopedia of Horror Movies for Roberta and Michael Findlay's notorious Snuff --in of all places, the public library. Here is where the exploitatively sleazy allure of Snuff peaked my interest the most as it appeared to be one of the most shocking films ever produced with some absolutely golden taglines that include: "A film that could only be made in South America, where life is CHEAP!" or this one "The Bloodiest thing that ever happened in front of a camera!!!" and finally " The picture they said could NEVER be shown!".

Blue Underground debuted Snuff (Slaughter, American Cannibal) on DVD several years back in barebones fashion with some very interesting packaging that made the DVD look like they didn't put it out and someone else had taken it upon themselves to. Amazingly, Snuff is now on Blu-ray from the folks at Blue Underground. The companies’ name is now on the cover; it has a high-def upgrade and is loaded with some neato extra features that might add some explanation to the history of Snuff.

Movie Review: 4 Dead Girls (aka 4 Dead Girls: Soul Taker, 2012)

Directed by  Mike Campbell and Todd Johnson

Movie Review by  Greg Goodsell

Hi everyone! It has been brought to my attention that horror film fandom is definitely missing a feminine voice, what with Lianne Spiderbaby and Michelle Clifford in hiding – and for very good reasons – and to this end, I have offered my good friend BAMBI HERSHBERGER to review the new, female-oriented horror film 4 DEAD GIRLS, aka 4 DEAD GIRLS: SOUL TAKER. Take it away, Bambi!

Okay, so like there are these four girls, these four college students, they luck into buying this really cool three-bedroom house for cheap off campus. They are: insufferable goody two-shoes Lily (Katherine Browning), her sleep-around friend Bianca (Tiffany S. Walker), Lily's lesbian sister Lori (Ashley Love) and Lori's lesbian lover Pam (Leah Verrill). It's a really cute house – they have a candelabra from Bed, Bath & Beyond that costs a cool $59.99 in the living room – and they move in. Oh, yeah, there's this guy (Mike Campbell) who is the landlord, a real, creepy guy who probably hangs out at parks and pays little boys to pull their pants down –  yeah, he's that creepy, who is this “Soul Taker,” a Naluso Chito – who really is a figure in Choctaw mythology, I looked it up on Google so it must be true – who has lured girls to the house before and has taken their souls. He wears this Grim Reaper outfit that you can get at Partytime! Stores with the skull cut out that you can get for $40. He says stuff, “I must have your soul,” and stuff like that and then he sucks them out of the poor girls with video effects.

Movie Review: Halloween III - Season of the Witch (Blu-ray)

I'm that guy. Seriously. There are only a couple of us out there, but I really enjoyed Halloween III: Season of the Witch. If you don't agree, you can take a hike.

The most substantive argument against this film is the fact that Michael Meyers did not appear and the storyline went in a completely different direction. As a little history, Golan and Globus, who owned the rights to the Halloween franchise, decided to depart from the Michael Meyers goodness because they felt that the slasher theme had become played out. They felt there wasn't much left to do with the sub-genre and would just be another tired 'killer with a knife' film. You have to admit, by 1983 the slasher genre had become repetitive and derivative and other types of -ive words. The Mutilator, the lesser Friday the 13th sequels (until, sadly, Corey Feldman revived it), New Year's Evil, the Silent Night, Deadly Night sequels... the list is endless. Until filmmakers like Wes Craven hit the scene in, the slasher was tired. You can imagine what tirelessly killing co-ed after co-ed would do to one's ambition. It's tiring. And those masks? Stuffy.

TV Review: American Horror Story: Asylum (Blu-ray, 2012)

Genre based Television shows really seemed to make a push for audiences wanting horror, sci-fi and fantasy in the comfort of their own homes during the late 50's with shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Outer Limits, Night Gallery and of course Rod Serling's masterful series The Twilight Zone. Presently some of of the top shows on TV are - at least for this horror fan - are well produced, acted and written genre shows. Along with The Walking Dead, one of the best more recent shows is FX's superb American Horror Story.

Much like The Walking Dead,  American Horror Story stretches newtork censors to the the limit with it's very adult horror that would put even pay networks on their heels. Could we have it any other way?? No way! Now with the third season on the horizon, the second season will be making it's debut on Blu-ray, and while it changes things up a bit by getting away from the story of the Harmon family, something creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk wanted to do from the beginning American Horror Story: Asylum loses none its power to disturb and frighten.

Cinema Head Cheese: The Podcast! #117 - Jason vs. Kevin

Kevin goes it alone this week, but he brings plenty to the table. After completing the second half of Crystal Lake Memories, he decides to go in depth on the latter films in the Jason Voorhees saga. He talks about Kane Hodder's involvement in the series and why replacing him in later movies is part of tradition, the good and bad of the franchise and why he's decided to finally watch the reboot.

Kevin also explains why you can't watch a movie with a kid who has already seen it and why you should watch the BBC/Netflix series Derek to see a different side of Ricky Gervais.

Click here to listen or right click and choose "Save Link As..." to download.

You can always email us at cinemaheadcheese@yahoo.com or tweet us @CinHeadCheese.

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TV Review: Femme Fatales: The Complete Second Season (2013, DVD)

Review By: Rob Sibley

It's 2 in the morning, you can't sleep, your getting tired of infomercials for the George Forman Grill, The Shammy, Joel Osteen won't shut his religious yap so what do you do? You need a midnight snack for the brain so you flip to cinemax and what might you find? The incredibly sexy, pulpy second season of Femme Fatales. A guilty pleasure by all means, it's pure junk food for the brain and it's damn entertaining.

Femme Fatales is an anthology TV series, each episode usually features a hot chick in over her head. All this leads to her usually sleeping with 1 or more partners, popping the top whenever she can and she usually ends up with a gun in her hands. This is pulp at it's finest. This is a show that knows what it is, it's purpose is to entertain... not to enlighten. I previously reviewed season 1 of the show and found it to be satisfying but it was a little to bi-polar for my tastes. The season season is more focused and what's nice is they brought in many favorite B-movie actors for cameos. Some of these B-movie gods include Eric Roberts (an A-movie actor in my books), the infinitely handsome Casper Van Dien (Still trying hard to regain his Starship Trooper days of glory) and fuck even the Stuntman himself Steve Railsback shows up. This time though he's not dealing with soul sucking vampires or the tyrant known as Peter O Tool. Oh yeah and Vivica A. Fox shows up to class things up a bit.