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Ray Van Horn

Film Review: Cruel Restaurant (Zankoku hanten) (2008) – CAT III

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: There’s something strange going on with the filling in those dumplings the town’s raving about… What the hell are they made of? REVIEW: Director: Koji Kowano Cast: Mihiro Taniguchi, Sakae Yamazaki, Katsuya Naruse, Yusuke Iwata, Miho Funatsu The Examination: You truly won’t believe how the dumplings are prepared in this gonzo sex ‘n splat circus. One thing about Asia’s Cat …

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Film Review: Rusted Body: Guts of a Virgin 3 (Gômon kifujin) (1987) – CAT III

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: Oversexed female interrogator with a penchant for sadomasochism and torture plots a scheme with her deviant troupe to extort the considerable fortune of a city embezzler. REVIEW: Director: Kazuo “Gaira” Komizu Cast: Keiko Asano, Saeko Kizuki, Ayu Kiyokawa, Ryota Sakanishi, Hirokazu Yoshihara, Hitomi Kazama The Examination: Sicko exploitation film from 1987 featuring a few disgusting scenes of torture along …

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Film Review: Tales of Terror from Tokyo (2003)

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: Movie anthology inspired by Kaidan, contemporary spins on time-honored Japanese ghost tales, based on the television series Tales of Terror from Tokyo and All Over Japan. REVIEW: Directors: Takashi Shimizu, Norio Tsurata, Shiro Sano, Akio Yoshido, Eiji Arakawa, Keisuke Toyoshima, Ichiro Nakayama, Ryuta Miyake, Ryo Nanba, The Examination: Tame but occasionally effective guerilla filmmaking from the creators of …

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Film Review: Laid to Rest (2009)

SYNOPSIS: Amnesiac wakes up in a coffin and is stalked for fun by a spree killer in a silver-plated skull mask who videotapes his gory adventures. REVIEW: Director: Robert Hall Cast: Bobbie Sue Luther, Kevin Gage, Lena Headey, Thomas Dekker, Johnathon Schaech, Sean Whalen, Richard Lynch, Nick Principe, Anthony Fitzgerald The Examination: The nearly-washed-up stalk ‘n slash motif gets an …

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Film Review: The Haunted Drum (2007)

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: A young Thai musician joins the house of a renowned drama school master in the Panthumthani province and discovers both horror and love focused around an enchanted set of drums harboring a propensity for evil. REVIEW: Directors: Nathapeera Chomsri and Sarunya Noithai Cast: Kate Thunthup, Woranuch Wongsawan, Pisal Akkarasenee, Anusorn Techanpanya, Sonthaya Chitmanee and Chalad Na Songkhla The …

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Film Review: All Night Long (1992) – CAT III

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: Three youths of differing walks-of-life develop an unhinged friendship after witnessing the gory slaying of a young girl and ultimately turn into murderers themselves on a night filled with bad karma. REVIEW: Director: Katsuya Matsumura Cast: Eisuke Tsunoda, Ryosuke Suzuki, Yoji Ietomi, Hiromasa Taguchi, Ryoka Suzuki, Yumi Goto, Yumi Kayama The Examination: Hard-to-find Japanese extreme series makes its way …

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Film Review: Tokyo Zombie (2005)

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: A pair of bumbling wannabe jujitsu masters fight to survive a zombie infestation in Tokyo. REVIEW: Director: Sakichi Sato Cast: Tadanobu Asano, Show Aikawa, Kauzo Umezu, Erika Okuda, Shatoshi Hashimoto, Hina Matsuoka The Examination: Frequently funny zombie romp filled with zen, over-the-top slapstick and of course, nods to Romero. Zombies have never been as popular as they are these …

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Interview: Anthony Masi (His Name is Jason)

Anthony Masi is your average Gen-X fright fan who was there in the theaters of the eighties when profit-turning horror franchises featuring Freddy Kruger, Michael Myers, Leatherface, Pinhead and of course, Jason Voorhees were raking in duckets by the month, much less the entire decade collectively.  What is not average about Masi is the access he’s had to the players …

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Interview: Stevan Mena (Brutal Massacre, Malevolence)

The art of mingling horror and comedy together is more subtle than one might think, despite the slapstick ease of say, Evil Dead II or even Lou Costello and Bud Abbott shambling against a Universal goon squad. Some horror films are inherently dark and serious, though yielding bursts of perfectly-timed humor, as An American Werewolf in London did with glorious pastiche. …

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