Film Reviews

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: Egyptian caterer busies himself collecting body parts from young maidens in order to bring Ishtar, an ancient goddess of good and evil back to life. When he has prepared enough parts for the ceremony, he hypnotizes a woman giving an engagement party for her daughter, at which he plans to perform the ancient rites of summons, …

Vince D’Amato is what you might call a modern day Renaissance man, a jack of all trades, or just a really busy guy who obviously loves film. He’s a writer, a director, a producer, and an editor, he has run two successful independent film production companies, and he helps run film festivals. He’s working on so many different projects right …

SYNOPSIS: Ida and Albin travel to a cabin in the Swedish woodlands for a holiday with friends, but something waits for them under the floorboards. REVIEW: Let’s get this out of the way right up front: Wither (aka Vittra) has sometimes been written off as simply the Swedish version of Evil Dead. Sure, there are a few similarities, mostly to …

SYNOPSIS: A squad of unsuspecting cops goes through a trapdoor to Hell when they stumble upon a Black Mass in an abandoned building. REVIEW: Five cops sit around a small, empty diner. They talk about sports, they talk about gambling, and they crudely joke about sex. In the kitchen, a guy working the grill starts cooking up some red meat. …

SYNOPSIS: Princess Dragon Mom and her mutant army have arisen, and only Inframan can stop them! REVIEW: Infra-Man debuted in 1975, though my recollection of this film stems sometime in the 80’s when it received a brief afternoon theatre run. I was all too exited to see this mix of martial arts and characters come to my local theatre, but …

SYNOPSIS: A documentary examines the history and scope of all the different types of executions around the world in an attempt to end the “barbaric practice.” REVIEW: Full disclosure: I’m a proponent of the death penalty, at least in general. If that offends you, feel free to stop reading now. That being said, I also am not here to spread …

SYNOPSIS: A woman who runs a meat production business helps a fleeing mental patient escape. He assists in her business, but soon learns that the business is not as clean as it seems. REVIEW: Skare is a low budget British flick that actually got made twice. The director originally filmed it in 2001 on 16mm film, but it got lost in …

SYNOPSIS: A collection of short films about perversion and bizarre sexuality, Hippocampus M 21th pushes the boundaries of fetish and propriety. REVIEW: Have you ever watched Fear Factor and gotten to the really gross challenges and though to yourself, hey, I’d really like to try that completely naked? Yeah, me neither. The ridiculously named Hippocampus M 21th is a series of bizarre vignettes …

SYNOPSIS: Johnny is a successful banker who lives happily in a San Francisco townhouse with his fiancée, Lisa. One day, inexplicably, she gets bored of him and decides to seduce Johnny’s best friend, Mark. From there, nothing will be the same again. REVIEW: Called one of the “worst movies ever made”, the movie “the Room” resides in the arena of …

SYNOPSIS: A psychopathic killer is released from prison after a ten-year term. Unable to restrain himself, he immediately sets out on a path of further mutilation and destruction. After botching an attempt at slaying a taxi driver, he escapes on foot into the woods. Discovering a secluded mansion, he breaks in, proceeding to terrorize the family living there. REVIEW:

SYNOPSIS: Two escaped convicts are on the run, looking to take a hostage to help them escape the country. They stalk a girl that looks like a prime candidate, but one of them has ulterior motives. REVIEW: You generally know what you’re getting into when you sign on to watch a film by a company called Exploitation Pictures. Tortured (subtitled …

SYNOPSIS: A smorgasbord of different vignettes on snuff films, most of them filmed in a found-footage style, combine in this more-than-2-hour epic. REVIEW: The film opens with a guy talking about how he and his friends had found some snuff films in a box outside a video store, mixed in with other “video nasties.” They then decided to make their …

SYNOPSIS: At the end of the Spanish civil war, Fando, a boy of about ten, tries to make sense of war and his father’s arrest. His mother is religious, sympathetic to the Fascists; his father is accused of being a Red. Fando discovers that his mother may have aided in his father’s arrest. Sometimes we witness Fando imagining explanations for …

SYNOPSIS: A couple decides to go on a yachting voyage, and they buy a prostitute to accompany them on their journey. The man is a sadistic killer who enjoys raping and torturing young women, and the young prostitute quickly  learns that she has to fight for her life to survive. REVIEW: There’s a lot to say about this film. Thankfully, …

SYNOPSIS: Michael, a wimpy young executive, is about to get pulverized by a jealous boyfriend in a bar when a handsome, mysterious stranger steps in–and then disappears. Later that night, while jogging, Michael runs into the stranger on a pier. He introduces himself as Alex, and the two go out to an under- ground club. Within a matter of days, …