THE BRAIN (1988)

It’s as brilliantly awful as you expect.

In searching for last minute and unexpected Christmas gifts for my better half, I came across The Brain on a random internet site. The terrible clip on YouTube told me I had to get it for him, so I bothered the seller till he agreed to send it to me super fast.

Only then did it occur to me that I was probably going to have to watch it too.

With a boyfriend obsessed with Grindhouse, horror independents, Troma and anything Simon Pegg and Nick Frost ever touched, I’ve seen my fair share of low budget, tongue in cheek horror films. I’ve seen tubs of ketchup-covered jelly explode, frighteningly realistic cocks bitten off (see Fathers Day) and know more about the different types of zombie than I care to mention. And yet the moment when you can actually see the legs on the man in the brain costume still tickled me.

This film is unbelievable, lacks coherent plot or narrative, and offers no explanation. It’s fantastic. There’s hypnosis and mind control, mad doctors, giant living brains with faces, bleeding teddy bears and some of the best fake screaming I have ever heard. It all centres around a controlling, malevolent scientist/doctor, and one mans attempt to restrain from its grasp. There are some awesome hallucination scenes, as the brain/doctors grasp takes hold, and, although the film in itself makes no sense, you definitely get behind the protagonist in his quest to save everyone and foil the brains plans, especially as everyone including his family and the police turn against him, poor guy. It hints at ideas of a ‘big brother’ police state, with mind control and conformity a central theme, but never really gets into it, perhaps they were too busy making it look like a giant brain was eating people.

I won’t ruin the ending, that’s not what we do here at Gore Store, but I will tell you it makes absolutely no bloody sense. Watch this film, it’s 80’s low/no-budget horror at its best, the only downside I’d say is that there is little to no blood, (perhaps due to keeping the certificate low?) despite some serious wounds and injury – like being thrown out the window by your own hypnotised mind, controlled through a mad doctor, by a GIANT BRAIN.

V/H/S

07/08/2013 by Dan-e-Gory in Video Cam Horror | Comments Off

This collection is killer.

With the release of V/H/S 2 looming, I thought I’d take a look back at the original V/H/S to scare the bejesus out of myself. V/H/S is the story of a gang of small time criminal who are hired to steal a VHS tape from a house by a mystery employer. The only information they have on the tape is “You’ll know it when you see it.”

They break into the house to find a dead body and a shit load of tapes. They start to sift through the tapes; viewing them, they find some very fucked up home movies. From the creepy and bizarre, to down right gory these mini movies are fantastic in themselves. We get 5 stories with some great concepts:

First up, we have the tale of 3 friends out on a drunken bender. One friend wears a pair of spy glasses in the hope of catching their exploits on film. They bump into a couple of girls and get them back to a hotel room. As its about to get sexy, all hell breaks loose! This story was brilliant, a very simple concept with a great pay off. Excellent effects and some really tense moments.

Next up, we follow a young married couple on their holiday road trip. Everything is peachy until a stranger knocks on their motel door to ask for a ride. This story is very entertaining and very believable. I think that why it freaked me out!

Third, we have a story about 4 teens going for a trip in to the woods. A tried and tested formula that I was worried was going to be just like all the other teen slashers out there. Well, it kind of is, although there are some very cool effects, plus it features Jason Yachanin, one of my favorite Troma actors! I didn’t find this story as entertaining as the others, despite the acting being very good.

Next we have a tale of a couple in a long distance relationship and their communication via webcam. She believes her new apartment is haunted and decides to investigate. The concept and way it is shot is fantastic, just the view of the computer screen showing the chat windows. I really enjoyed this section and it was creepy as fuck! This story is definitely more ‘out there’ than the others, and very, very cool!

Lastly, we have a story where a group of friends are headed a Halloween party. The reason for them even having a video camera with them is well thought out; one of the friends is attending the party as a nanny cam. Very awesome, and possibly my next Halloween costume! They arrive at the house and find it to be completely empty. Or is it…? This story is excellent, a great way to cap off V/H/S. Really chilling and super freaky. Again, the setting and characters are believable and it has some seriously cool effects.

Before I had a chance to watch V/H/S, I thought it was going to be another Blair Witch Project rip off, but I was pleasantly surprised. The only thing I didn’t enjoy so much is the story that ties the movies together. Although well done, I didn’t care either way about the characters. It just felt like filler if I’m honest. If you’re not into ‘Cam films’ I’d give it a miss, but if you like your horror freaky and bloody, then it’s worth a watch.

RISE OF THE ZOMBIES

05/08/2013 by Dan-e-Gory in Zombies | Comments Off

Let me get this straight, Danny Trejo fighting zombies? FUCK YEAH!

Rise of the zombies is a straight to TV zombie flick set in San Francisco. A group of survivors are holed up on Alcatraz Island with doctors trying to find a cure to the zombie plague. As the growing horde seeks fresh flesh, the island is attacked and over run in a suitably gory fashion. The survivors leave the island to track down a brilliant scientist who is close to cracking the genetic code.

As this is a straight to TV movie, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting too much. I was pleasantly surprised to find a gore soaked movie, starring one of my favorite B movie heroes, Danny Trejo. Rise of the zombies has lots of zombie killing, buckets of blood and oodles of guts and gore, just how I like my films! There are a few slow points in this movie, but they’re offset by the brutality of the action scenes. Don’t get me wrong; this is not a Dawn of the Dead quality film, but for a straight to TV movie? It’s pretty good.

I would suggest that Rise of the zombies is a good filler film. It’s certainly not something I’d plan to watch on a Friday night, but it’s definitely a good no brainer hang over movie. Most of the casts are good, with a few bum notes, but don’t worry too much about that, the killing starts pretty much straight away.

Would I recommend Rise of the Zombies? There is a real over saturation of zombie movies currently available, but if you’ve seen all of your favorites over and over, it’s worth a peek.

STREET TRASH

03/08/2013 by Dan-e-Gory in Exploitation | Comments Off

Prepare for a molten hobo holocaust!

Street trash is a gore-fest of a tale of New York tramps and toxic booze. A money grabbing liquor storeowner uncovers a crate of Viper liquor buried deep in his store cellar and without a thought, puts it on sale for a dollar a bottle. Enter the tramps, buying, stealing and drinking as much Viper as they can. The noxious hooch has one ingredient that’s not listed on the bottle…DEATH!

Street Trash follows a bunch of hobos; Fred, a down and out with a good heart; Bill James, a hard as nails cop; Bronson, the deranged king of the hobos (a Vietnam veteran with a knife carved out of a human femur) and Mr. Duran, a local gangster.

Chuck in hookers, bizarre Nam flashbacks and dream sequences, hobo sex, necrophilia, cock keep-away (yes, you did read that right) melting tramps, brutal fist fights, young love, and you’ve got a gore-soaked, truly unhinged story.

If you have a strong stomach and a sick sense of humor, you’ll love Street trash. It everything that is right with low budget gore flicks. Check it out!

THE STORY OF RICKY

16/07/2013 by Dan-e-Gory in Asia Extreme | Comments Off

“We’re human beings! HUUUMAAAAN BEEEEIIIINGS!”

The Story of Ricky is an early 90s Hong Kong cinema movie based on an 80s super violent Manga; Riki-Oh. Super violent, super gory and, well…super violent! The Story of Ricky is everything the fist of the North Star live action movie should have been.

The story revolves around Ricky, a man with super strength and a master of the Chi-gung, who is falsely imprisoned after wrongly being accused of murder. Now plot hole number one is that he did actually clearly kill him…anyway, it’s set in the distant future of 2001, where prisons are owned by private companies and a law unto themselves. The corrupt prison guvnor, and the top prison gang rule the roost and will kill anyone who steps out of line.

Queue head popping, limb severing, punching holes through people, strangulation by intestines and some of the most outlandish deaths I’ve ever seen. A sprinkling of opium growing, a meat grinder and some amazing early 90s haircuts are all thrown in for good measure. Any fan of brutal kung fu films with loads and loads of gore will love the Story of Ricky. A face is planed off and an eyeball is jammed full of nails in the first 5 minutes!

I’ve hardly scratched the surface of the insane deaths in the story of Ricky, and reading this back, I want to watch it again, now! The plot is full of holes, the fight scenes are plentiful and smothered with blood and one of the main bad guys in this all male prison, is played, pretty obviously, by a woman. This to me just adds to the magic of this insane splatter flick. I have to also point out that it is well worth watching the Story of Ricky with the English dub track. The voices are ridiculous and just add to the brilliance of this film. I absolutely adore The Story of Ricky and would suggest you check it out as soon as you can. You won’t be disappointed!

RETURN TO NUKE ‘EM HIGH VOL.1

16/07/2013 by Dan-e-Gory in Troma | Comments Off

I was lucky enough to visit the Prince Charles Cinema in London recently to see the Lloyd Kaufman presented double feature of The Class of Nuke ‘Em High and The London Premier of his new master work; Return to Nuke ‘Em high volume 1. After viewing The Class of Nuke ‘Em high and enjoying a fantastic Q & A from Lloyd Kaufman I was chomping at the bit to get stuck into Return to Nuke ‘Em high…I wasn’t disappointed!

From the slick opening credits right through to the end of the volume, the classic Troma style flows and flows. Now Return to Nuke ‘Em high isn’t a sequel so to speak, or a reboot, but more of an up to date retelling of the fantastic story. A gay couple takes the lead roles in RTNH; it probably helps the appeal with Troma’s fan base that they are a super hot lesbian couple with a super extended sex scene!

Mutated ducks, bodies melting, tits, ultra violence, slap tick gags and lesbianism are all covered in the usual Troma style. How the fuck Troma keep coming up with new insane ways of killing off the cast I do not know! Lactating acid/toxic waste has got to be a bad way to die…

The cast of RTNH is brilliant. The new Cretins are mean, violent and funny as hell. Instead of the honor society, we have the Tromaville high school glee club that sings beautifully as the kill their way through Tromaville. Chrissy (Asta Paredes), Lauren (Catherine Corcoran), Zack (Zac Amico), Principal Westley (Babette Bombshell) and poor Mr. Chips (Adam P. Murphy) shine through for me. Great characters with an obvious love for what they are doing.

Being released in volumes, RTNH moves at a slightly different pace to what I’m used to with current Troma films. Longer sex scenes, (Thanks Lloyd!) and allowance for more gags and violence; exactly what I want from a Troma film.

The move over to digital film also shows through in RTNH, More digital effects and some seriously brutal deaths. It’s a strange feeling at first, but over the course of the film there is still plenty of cool low budget effects and deaths too.

There are some great cameos in RTNH, but I don’t want to spoil it for anyone as I loved the surprises but some great returns from some of the loved faces from Tromaville. I can tell you though; Cigar face (Toxic Avenger) and Professor Holt (Class of Nuke ‘Em high 2: Sub-humanoid meltdown) are both present, plus a few more characters to boot.

I really enjoyed RTNH and can’t wait for volume 2. If you get a chance to see it on the big screen, defiantly do. There’s something magical about watching a Troma film at the cinema and I’d encourage anyone who gets the opportunity to grab it with both hands.

MANBORG

15/07/2013 by Dan-e-Gory in Sci-Fi | Comments Off

Demons, Nazis and Science OH MY!

After the underground success of the fantastic ‘Father’s Day’, Astron-6 had some serious work to do to make a movie half as good. Thankfully they didn’t disappoint! Manborg is an epic journey into the dark arts of science, and the story of a rag-tag band of misfits. The coolest, toughest band of motherfucking misfits you’ve ever seen!

Justice, *1 man, Mina and Manborg are thrown together to rise up against the evil Draculon and his Nazi demon cyborg army and regain the earth for all that is good.

With laser battles, green screens, a dodgy Australian accent, awesome fight scenes and some of the most amazingly cheesy one-liners, direct from the 80s. Manborg embodies all that was magical in years gone by combining B-movie and current special FX to create a masterpiece that I would thoroughly recommend watching with a beer in your hand, and your tongue firmly in your cheek.

P.s, remember to watch past the credits for a trailer of Bio Cop. Fucking awesome!

PIGGY

15/07/2013 by Dan-e-Gory in British Horror | Comments Off

“Revenge…….it feels fucking good”

Piggy, on the shelf is one of those British films that look like it’s going to be all “Hoodies and gangsters”. I can assure you it certainly isn’t. Piggy is a dark violent revenge flick following Joe, a meek loner whose brother is murdered by a gang of thugs; and Piggy, both an old friend of Joe’s brother and an avenging angel with a passion for violence and revenge. What ensues is a methodical and brutal wave of revenge that quickly spirals out of control.

A serious eye for an eye movie that makes you question what’s right and what’s wrong.

I really enjoyed Piggy, Paul Anderson’s portrayal as Piggy is absolutely fantastic. The unhinged vigilante sent shivers down my spine from the first moment he appeared on screen. A believable and creepy performance, that Paul should be proud of. Piggy is definitely worth a watch!

INBRED

15/07/2013 by Dan-e-Gory in British Horror | Comments Off

“Those fucking inbred cunts started it!”

“Ey! We’re not all cunts round here”

Texas has chop top and Leather face. Nevada has Mars, Jupiter and Pluto. Yorkshire has Jim, landlord of the ‘Dirty Hole’.

Inbred is a British horror film by Alex Chandon, which centers around a group of young offenders on a community service weekend trip to the remote village of Mortlake, Yorkshire. After mixing with the locals at the Dirty Hole pub, where we see the inbred inhabitants of the village in all their glory, the four loud mouthed, sex mad youngsters and their two social workers have run in with a group of locals, and all hell breaks loose.

This film could have gone one of two ways: The young offenders are a group of loveable rouges who we route for as they try to make their escape, or they are little bastards who we want to see splattered across the Yorkshire countryside… We get treated to option two, in the most spectacular way! Banjos, shotguns, bear traps, shit pumps, vegetable and animal fetishes, horse stamping and chainsaws are all involved in the brutality, but with the super dark humor and the amazing portrayal of the inbred inhabitants, it’s a sick and twisted piece of comedy gold.

I thought this film was great, a really warped gore ride to the pits of depravity with enough black humor to make you laugh off the dismemberment. With Cameos from the queen of British horror; Emily Booth and Emerdale’s finest (Dominic Brunt as the amazingly inbred Podge) Inbred has raised the bar for the British horror scene.

So grab your self an ale, a packet of hairy scratchings and indulge in some British brutality at its finest. Eee by gum!

BLACK DEVIL DOLL

15/07/2013 by Dan-e-Gory in Exploitation | Comments Off

He’s a lover! He’s a Killer! He’s a muthafuckin’ puppet!

Imagine the scene; you’ve borrowed the VHS of Child’s play that your uncle Ben has taped off ITV on a Wednesday night. You remember the break they used to put in for the 10 o’clock news? Well your uncle Ben has managed to tape the 10-minute teaser and a clip of your aunty Doris snorting a line of coke off a Pilipino boy while they were on their holidays in Margate. Chuck in some scat, and that’s devil doll in a nutshell, it’s completely insane!

The story goes: on the eve of the execution of a murderous member of the Black Panther movement, a teen (with huge boobs!) unwittingly channels the killer’s spirit while messing around with a Ouija board. Queue scantily clad/naked women and a ventriloquist with murder in mind.

Now, this film is definitely not for everyone. In large letters on the front of the DVD case it states “WARNING: This film offends everyone”. Its full of rape, drugs and murder, plus plenty jokes about all of this to rub salt in the wounds. Also, the cleanest woman in the world is in this film…

SHES NAKED IN THE SHOWER FOR 75% OF THE FILM!

In all honesty, this film is crap. It’s a full-blown exploitation film, which I (as a fully grown man) had to turn the volume down so my housemates didn’t think I was watching hardcore porn. But, I absolutely loved it! It’s so unbelievably over the top, with its tongue jammed firmly against the inside of its cheek. It’s a truly independent film that I’m surprised Troma hasn’t picked up.

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