Every year, people are usually asked, or post something about what we’re thankful for. It usually ranges in being thankful for their family, a good job, being healthy, or a variety of subjects of that nature. A lot of those things are stuff we tend to take for granted every other day of the year. But when you really look, I’m sure you’ll find a little more light than dark in one’s life. Even for us evil horror fanatics!
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Directed by Nacho Cerdá
Written by Karim Hussain, Nacho Cerdá, and Richard Stanley
Starring Anastasia Hille, Karel Roden, Valentin Ganev, Paraskeva Djukelova, Carlos Reig-Plaza
I was lucky enough to see this in the theater when it was released in 2007 nationwide, as part of the After Dark Horrorfest’s 8 Films to Die For. This was the first year of this happening and it had some great titles in there, such as Mike Mendez’s The Gravedances and J.S. Cardone’s Wicked Little Things (you can read our review of that HERE). I knew of Cerdá work because of his 1994 short film Aftermath that made quite a lot of noise in the horror underground, with it being a very nasty and graphic tale of a coroner who just happens to be a necrophiliac. Very disturbing, but incredibly shot and very effective. So, when his first feature film was coming out, I wanted to take advantage of seeing it in the theater. And I’m glad I did.
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(2010)
Directed Olaf Ittenback
Stars Irene Holzfurtner, Mathias Engel, Alexander Gamnitzer, Andreas Pape, Annika Strauss, Ralph Willmann, and Timothy Balme
Being a young gorehound back in the VHS bootleg days, you were always looking for the next Evil Dead type of film, with over-the-top gore, showing you the blood and guts action you’d never see before. When you hear of a German film moving through the great market, even though it wasn’t available in English or subtitled, it was extremely gory, you know you had to see it. That is when I first became aware of German filmmaker Olaf Ittenback and his 1989 film Black Past. On this SOV film, Ittenback was the writer, director, producer, special effects, visual effects, and one of the actors! He followed that up with The Burning Moon in 1992, another gore-filled low budget epic. For some reason though, I never followed his career after those initial titles. Maybe because the availability of other films, and then with laserdiscs and DVDs, I had my hands full.
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The Untold Story (1993)
Directed by Danny Lee & Herman Yau
Starring Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Danny Lee, Emily Kwan, Siu-Ming Lau, Fui-On Shing, Eric Kei
Back in the early ’90s when I was really into the Honk Kong film genre, especially the horror titles, we were always on the lookout for any of the Category III films that were going to blow us away. For Hong Kong titles, Category III meant adult content, that could be sex and nudity, or gore and violence. Or both. While they never could top the gore coming from American films, Hong Kong would have some subjects that never would have made it past the MPPA, such as the murdering of small children. So when I came across The Untold Story, the violence was so over the top and grim, I couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed. Now, revisiting the film after many years to check out the new Blu-ray from Unearthed Films, I wondered if it was going to have the same impact. Continue reading
Back in the day when I was renting a ton of Honk Kong films from a laserdisc store (if that doesn’t date this), anytime you came across a Category III movie, you knew you were in for something intense, whether it be nudity, gore, or just the subject matter. But I was not expecting what I got when I rented The Untold Story. It starred Anthony Wong, who I just loved from action flicks like Hard-Boiled (1992), to Full Contact (1992), to The Heroic Trio (1993), to even more tragic stories like Taxi Hunter (1993), so I knew I was going to be in for another great performance. But I had no idea what I was in for when I first took home this one, which brings new meaning to the word brutal. Even more amazing is that Wong took home a Best Actor Award in Hong Kong for his role in this movie!
Now, thanks to the fine folks over at Unearthed Films, not only will this film be available here in the states for the first time on Blu-ray in its restored version, but it has a ton of extras included, which are listed below.
If you are a bit squeamish, this is not for you. It is gory, brutal, and pretty terrifying in what happens on screen, as Wong’s character goes crazy, using his fellow employees (and their families) as meat for the restaurant’s pork buns! But if you want to see a film that is hard to forget, and a performance to match, then order your copy today! Continue reading
Back in 2013, two brothers from Argentina created a short film, just an over an hour long, called Sonno Profondo that was inspired by the Italian giallo films of the ’70s. With a miniscule budget and a crew that pretty much consisted of them, they showed how much style and talent they had. They were Luciano and Nicolás Onetti. Two years later, they released a feature length film entitled Francesca (2015), that once again showed their immense talent. If you didn’t know, and watched this film, you would swear that it was some lost Italian film from the ’70s. The look and feel of it, not to mention the amazing score (also done by Luciano), was just incredible.
But now they have left the giallo behind for now and have made a film that is reminiscent of the gritty and grimy slasher films of the ’70s, such as Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Hills Have Eyes. The film is called What the Waters Left Behind, and will be released by Unearthed Films on Blu-Ray and DVD on May 12th. Continue reading
Unearth Films have announced they will be releasing the 1988 film The Unnamable, based on the story from H.P. Lovecraft. Back in the video days, the creature on the box art would pretty much guarantee any horror fan picking it up. Now it will be getting a DVD and Blu-Ray release in a 4K scan and color corrected print coming from the original negative, with a 5.1 and DTS Surround sound. It will be released on October 9th.
This release looks to have a ton of extras as well. Such as:
If you are one of those that haven’t had the pleasure to witness one of the best giallo films to come out in the last couple of decades, and one that looks like it was made back in the heyday of the black gloved killers, then you need to see Francesca, created by the highly talented brothers, Luciano and Nicolas Onetti. Just check out the trailer below to see what I’m talking about.
There are a few up and coming filmmakers that are really trying to replicate the style of the Italian giallo film genre, some more successfull than others, such as Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani’s Amer (2009) and The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears (2013). But when the trailer for this film simply called Francesca hit the internet, I would have sworn this was made back in the ’70s, the heyday of the giallo. The look, the color, the music, and of course, the style, is just amazing.
Directed by Luciano Onetti and written by him and his brother Nicolás Onetti, they give us a tale about a two cops on the trail of a psychopath that is set on cleaning up the city of the “impure and damned souls”. The film has won several film festival awards like Director at Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre 2015, Best Production Design at Tabloid Witch Awards – Hollywood Investigator 2015, Weird Visions Award at Ravenna Nightmare 2015, Best Giallo Film at Crypticon Kansas City 2016, and Special Mention at Horrorant 2016 in Greece. Not a bad start, huh?
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