Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals (1978)
Directed by Joe D’Amato
Written by Roberto Gandus and Renzo Maietto
Starring Melissa Chimenti, Sirpa Lane, Maurice Poli, and Dakar
“Caribbean Papaya” is the best translation of the title, but “Die of Pleasure” would be my favorite version if not for the provocative “Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals”.
To me, Joe D’Amato (the main pseudonym of Aristide Massaccesi) is the schlocky director of the barbarian adventure Ator, the Fighting Eagle and the cannibalism horror Anthropophagous. I dearly love these movies, while admitting that they’re fairly terrible. What I knew about but had never sampled was his extensive pornographic catalog. I have now filled that hole in my viewing.
Out of the Dark (2014)
Directed by Lluís Quílez
Written by Javier Gullón, David Pastor, and Àlex Pastor
Starring Julia Stiles, Scott Speedman, Stephen Rea, Vanesa Tamayo, and Pixie Davies
It took two viewings for me to realize why the titles are underwater.
We’ve somehow gotten to a place where we expect ghosts to be justified in their actions. There has to be a sympathetic reason that they cause havoc, especially if they kill people. One of the things I love so much about The Legend of Hell House is that the entire motivation for the ghost’s actions is that he was a vicious bastard in life. You can’t reason with sheer malice. That’s not the case in the more standard supernatural thriller Out of the Dark, which features not one but two groups of dead children.
Night of the Creeps (1986)
Written and directed by Fred Dekker
Starring Jason Lively, Steve Marshall, Jill Whitlow, Tom Atkins, and Dick Miller
I have a suspicion that the title didn’t help.
Fame can be elusive, and one talent it got away from is Fred Dekker. In a career spanning four decades, he hasn’t written or directed very much. Among his limited output, however, he’s created a good number of cult classics. He wrote the story for House (the American horror-comedy), co-wrote and directed The Monster Squad, and wrote four episodes of Tales From the Crypt (directing two of them). Not everything was great, of course. There was Robocop 3 and his involvement in the regrettable series Star Trek: Enterprise, but what kind of fan would turn down work in either of those franchises? And make no mistake, Dekker is a big fan of monsters and science fiction. It’s not an abusive love, like you get from J.J. Abrams, either. It’s a genuine affection for what came before, which Dekker uses as the foundation for his work. Never is this more visible than in his writing and directing debut, Night of the Creeps. Even the name is a callback to the progenitor of modern zombie movies, Night of the Living Dead. Heck, there’s a Dick Miller cameo, so you know it’s an authentic genre film!
The Monster Squad (1987)
Directed by Fred Dekker
Written by Shane Black and Fred Dekker
Starring Andre Gower, Robby Kiger, Stephen Macht, Duncan Regehr, and Tom Noonan
The monsters are in a squad but the Monster Squad has no monsters.
In the 1940s, Universal was desperate to keep raking in that sweet monster movie cash but only had a few new monsters in their roster. Sequels weren’t quite doing it, so someone hit on the idea of having a few of them meet. After Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man met with success, Dracula was tossed into the mix (almost literally) for House of Frankenstein and then House of Dracula. The Mummy was supposed to be worked in somewhere, but that plan never came to fruition. Fortunately, The Monster Squad corrects this oversight.
The Long Hair of Death (1964)
aka I Lunghi Capelli Della Morte
Directed by Antonio Margheriti as Anthony Dawson
Written by Ernesto Gastaldi (as Julian Berry), Tonino Valerii (as Robert Bohr), and Antonio Margheriti
Starring Barbara Steele, George Ardisson, Halina Zalewska, Umberto Raho, and Laura Nucci
In Italian horror movies, crazy titles are a design feature.
Black Sunday catapulted actress Barbara Steele and director Mario Bava to international attention. The story of a vengeful witch returned from the dead made a lasting impression with its stylish sets and star’s gaunt beauty. It was so popular that it established the “Barbara Steele” role, which in The Long Hair of Death is conveniently played by Barbara Steele herself.
Krampus (2015)
Directed by Michael Dougherty
Written by Todd Casey, Michael Dougherty, and Zachary Shields
Starring Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner, Allison Tolman, Krista Stadler, and Emjay Anthony
Nothing like a festive mob scene.
THIS REVIEW GIVES AWAY THE ENDING OF THE FILM
Families can be a pain, especially when everyone gets together solely from a sense of obligation. What should be a time of joyful reunion becomes an endurance test, as everybody picks at each other’s emotional scabs. Good times. The consolation is that every now and then it can be the basis for a really good satire like the Christmas horror film Krampus. You’ve seen the heartwarming dysfunctional-family Christmas comedies. Everyone hates each other and yells, but at the end the “True Spirit of Christmas” prevails and harmony is restored. Even the most bitter or transgressive holiday film follows this pattern. Krampus does as well, but in a way that undermines the genre’s theme of hope and reconciliation.
Jessabelle (2014)
Directed by Kevin Greutert
Written by Robert Ben Garant
Starring Sarah Snook, Mark Webber, Joel Carter, David Andrews, and Ana de la Reguera
The title blurs a lot, so it’s difficult to capture in a single image.
Intruder (1989)
Directed by Scott Spiegel
Written by Scott Spiegel and Lawrence Bender
Starring Elizabeth Cox, Renée Estevez, Dan Hicks, David Byrnes, Sam Raimi, Eugene Robert Glazer, Ted Raimi, and Bruce Campbell
The entire movie takes place during one night.
If you’ve watched a lot of horror movies, or a few specific block-busters, you’ve seen Scott Spiegel. He shemped in Evil Dead and Evil Dead II and had cameos in several other Sam Raimi films, including Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2. What’s more interesting about him is his work behind the scenes. Co-writer of Evil Dead II; executive producer of Hostel; and writer, director, or producer of a dozen other genre films. The one we’re looking at today he directed and co-wrote, and it’s decent little slasher.
The House in Nightmare Park (1973)
Directed by Peter Sykes
Written by Clive Exton and Terry Nation
Starring Frankie Howerd, Ray Milland, Hugh Burden, Kenneth Griffith, and Rosalie Crutchley
The Legend of the House on the Left at the End of the Lane in Nightmare Park.
There are times in which I believe that I don’t understand humor. Watching Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler rise to fame, I nearly became convinced that I didn’t. I do enjoy comedies, but I tend not to risk watching them unless I’ve heard good things from people I trust. A bad action or horror film can be fun in their own ways, but I find bad comedies excruciating. Being funny is the whole point, so when I can’t laugh with one I can’t enjoy it at all. To be honest, there are two exceptions to that general rule, and both are due to my affection for the soundtracks. The scores by The Kinks and Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass make the movies Percy and Casino Royale, respectively, worthwhile for me. For the “old, dark house” spoof The House in Nightmare Park I clung desperately to my adoration of Ray Milland, and that mostly saw me through.
The Grapes of Death (1978)
aka Les raisins de la mort
Directed by Jean Rollin
Written by Jean Rollin, Jean-Pierre Bouyxou, and Christian Meunier
Starring Marie-Georges Pascal, Félix Marten, Serge Marquand, and Mirella Rancelot
Administering the experimental pesticide.
The word “zombie” has been applied to so many things that it’s all but meaningless as a descriptor. Some are brought back from death, some are still alive. They could be under mental domination, operating on instinct, or possessed of full intellectual faculties. It may be spread as an infection, be the result of contamination, or achieved through hypnosis. Ravenous ghouls, mindless slaves, enraged masses: all zombies. About the only certainty in the term is that it implies a removal from normal society.
Web of the Big Damn Spider 
