Don't Go in the House (1979)

On a budget of 250,000 Dollars director Joseph Ellison made Don't Go in the House. The movie itself is very similar to Psycho (1960) and especially Deranged (1974). Not coincidentally both of these movies were inspired by 50's serial killer Ed Gein.

Donny Kohler is scarred for life (literally and figuratively) by his deranged mother, who he grew up with. After the death of his mother Donny goes completely insane and brings girls to his home to murder them violently.

Don't Go in the House has a pretty long build up which itself is pretty uninteresting as well. Even back in 1979 the whole 'Going crazy after mother died' was done multiple times before this movie, and because of that the story just doesn't feel really original. Luckily after about half an hour maniac Donny manages to get a girl into his house. The kill that follows is pretty good and actually very barbaric. Fully in screen we see how he ties up the naked woman in a steel room in his house. He pours gasoline over her body and then fires his flamethrower causing the woman to burn to death, still shown in full glory. Sicko Donny himself is wearing an asbestos suit. It's a suit that had the potential to become iconic in the horror genre. Unfortunately it didn't because the frightening looking suit is used much too little in the movie.

After this first kill the quality of the movie decreases rapidly. That's pretty much the only thing that goes rapidly in this movie 'cause after the kill the tempo of the movies goes back to being terribly slow. This slow, boring tempo lasts until the very decent disco scene. The scene is followed by a good showdown in the house of Donny. The house by the way looks like a horror house from the outside but unfortunately the creepyness of the house isn't shown very well when shooting scenes in the house itself. Anyway, during the showdown Donny finally puts his asbestos suit back on and again it is followed by a good looking burn kill. What's especially creepy is the ending scene in which Donny is going so insane that he thinks all the burned bodies, that he kept in the house, come back to life to muder him. An impactful ending that does look a lot like the ending of Maniac (1980). 

The music score is ofter very weird sounding and is sometimes supported by funky disco music. Dan Grimaldi grows into his role of Donny as the movie continues. The supporting cast is actually pretty decent, especially Robert Osth who plays the role of Donny's best friend. According to IMDB this was Osth's only movie role on his CV. 

Either way Don't Go in the House turned out to be a disappointment. It had potential, that's for sure. Killing your victims by burning them to death is macabre enough to make for a good horror movie. Unfortunate those scenes are pretty scarce. The tempo of the movie sucks at times and the asbestos suit had to be used MUCH more. The good last +- 15 minutes saved this movie from being a total let down.

Fun Facts (Source: IMDB) 

Dan Grimaldi kept the asbestos suit he wears in the movie.

Night of Fear (1972)

Night of Fear was originally titled 'Fright' and was actually the pilot of a new tv-show. Shocked by the nature of the pilot the series was quickly cancelled. It was later released in Aussie cinemas as a feature film.

A young woman accidentally drives onto a dirt road after nearly crashing with a truck. The woman continues to follow the dirt road, not knowing that it is under construction. It doesn't take long before she drives her car into a big gap in the middle of the road. Not soon after a crazy hillbilly appears and continues to terrorize the trapped woman.

Australia was shocked after the release of this film, and when you watch it you'll get why. It's not necessarily the violence that does it, gore was shown more explicit prior to this movie. It's mostly the sinister, creepy, almost sick atmosphere that this movie has that does the trick. As for the setting, atmosphere and art-direction It's very comparable with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). I wouldn't be surprised if Tobe Hooper got a lot of inspiration out of this Australian shocker when making his own masterpiece. In addition main character Carla Hoogeveen not only looks A LOT like Marilyn Burns, she also acts in the same, almost hysterical, way. It's almost as if Hooper directed Burns to act like Hoogeveen does in Night of Fear.

The movie itself is a little weird to say the least. In the beginning of the movie we see multiple people who you figure are going to be leads in the movie only to disappear seconds later and never to come back. Then we cut to Hoogeveen who crashes on a deserted dirt road. For the remainder of the movie she is chased by an axe wielding mentally disabled madman. oh yeah, the movie doesn't have any dialogue at all, it's just weird music playing. You'd figure that this would get boring after a while but surprisingly enough it doesn't. The movie only lasts about 50 minutes which is perfect for a movie like that. Also I have to say I was kinda glad not to hear any dialogue in order to just experience pure horror.

The movie is VERY frightening but does suffer from some downsides. The editing was often done very amateuristic. But obviously the biggest downside were the insanely dumb mistakes by our leading actress (every now and then you wonder who really is the one who is mentally disabled). I've seen me some idiot moves by hunted victims in slasher movies but this was of a whole other level. Also the abrupt ending and the lack of answers and explanation about the killer and the killings is kinda disappointing.

Overall Night of Fear is a very, very entertaining exploitation movie from down undah. Actually it's more than that. It's sinister, creepy, dark and terrorizing. It's a movie you must have seen as a horror fan. Even if you turn out not to like it, it still is a hell of an experience.

Fun Facts (source: IMDB)

To promote this movie, lead actor Norman Yemm walked down the Pitt and George streets of Sydney wearing a sandwich board advertising this film and with an axe over his should embellished with fake blood. 

This movie's initial theatrical release in November 1972 in Australia was delayed because the film had been banned by the Australian Censorship Board. The film was not released until March 1973 where it was released uncut after appeal.  

This was the first theatrically released horror movie of the new wave of Australian cinema during the 1970s.

Mangiati Vivi! (A.K.A. Eaten Alive!) (1980)

Mangiati Vivi! is Umberto Lenzi's second cannibal movie after making Man from Deep River in 1972. He gathered a cast of people experienced in Italian (horror) films. Robert Kerman had experience with Ruggero Deodato's shocker Cannibal Holocaust. Janet Agren had been playing in Italian movies for years and later went on to star in Italian B-movies like City of the Living Dead and The Rat Man. Don't forget about Ivan Rassimov who had a lifetime of experience in Italian movies like Jungle Holocaust, Shock and multiple Emanuelle films. Supporting these stars were for example Me Me Lai and Paola Senatore, names that should ring a bell for veteran Italian movie geeks.

A woman goes deep into the jungle of New Guinea to find her sister who moved there to join a religious cult. The cult is evil but it's not the only thing that's dangerous. The jungle happens to be filled with cannibals looking for a nice lunch. Together with a hired help named Mark they must try to fight their way to safety.

Mangiati Vivi might be less known than Lenzi's Cannibal Ferox (1981), it certainly DOES reach its level of entertainment. Of course writer and director Umberto Lenzi had to come up with an idea again to get some western people deep into the jungle. This time a woman is looking for her sister who joined a cult, think of Jim Jones' Jonestown, who are based deep in the jungle of New Guinea.

Like in so many Italian cannibal movies animal cruelty is featured in the film. This time it's about five scenes of cruelty towards animals. This time most of it (I even believe all of it) is stock-footage from other cannibal movies like Lenzi's Man from Deep River and Mountain of the Cannibal God. Like in all the other movies the violence towards animals is nauseating and completely unnecessary as it adds absolutely NOTHING to the story. My advice, hit the fast-forward button when you see a small alligator being dragged by it's tail by a native and do the same when you see a huge snake and a small squirrell monkey. Those are definitely the sickest ones in this movie. The alligator death even comes close to the turtle's death in Cannibal Holocaust.

The reason this movie still manages to be so entertaining is mainly due to Robert Kerman. Kerman has the perfect appearence for a worn-out Vietnam veteran and does really well in his bad-ass role, it has to be said. The rest of the, interesting, cast consists of female beauties like Janet Agren, Paola Senatore and Me Me Lai. Their acting surprisingly enough is actually reasonably decent. More important though, all three of 'em lose their clothes multiple times!

The movie manages to be quite exciting and the tempo, when in the jungle, is quite good. Every time the movie starts to get a little boring Lenzi throws in a nude or gore-scene and he has our attention again. The gorescenes, that are less brutal than Cannibal Holocaust and Cannibal Ferox' gore, are mostly 'borrowed from other cannibal movies. Luckily I had not seen any of the cannibal movies that Lenzi borrowed from yet so it all was very new for me. And although the gore never gets really shocking there are still some very entertaining scenes. Think for example about the scene where Senatore and Me Me Lai are literally being cut into pieces and eaten while they're still alive.

Not a bad movie at all from Umberto Lenzi. It's trashy, sure, but it's the good kind of trash. We got cannibals, hot naked women, gore, a great performance by Robert Kerman and Ivan Rassimov in a dress pretending to be Jim Jones. Fuck yeah!

For an interesting Robert Kerman interview by the way, hit the this link.
http://www.therialtoreport.com/2013/06/02/r-bolla-adult-films-method-actorpodcast-12/
He talks about his time in adult films, the making of Cannibal Holocaust and his depression that got him into using drugs after he was screwed over by his agent. Very intersting stuff so check it out if you're a Kerman fan like me.

Non-Horror Exploitation: Hammerhead (1987)

Hammerhead (yeah I know it strangely enough just says Hammer on the left but the movie IS called Hammerhead) is one of Enzo G. Castellari's more unknown action movies. That's a shame because this really is a highly entertaining movie by the Italian maestro of the B-movie. This time Castellari put his mind on Miami Vice, Scarface and Beverly Hills Cop, and mixed it together to make his own movie: Hammerhead.

Police officer Hammer is called up by a frightened old friend who asks for his help. When they meet his friend tells him there are murderers after him. Before he can tell him more he is in fact murdered. Just before he dies he manages to give Hammer a key. Hammer starts his own investigation that leads him deep into the drug scene of Jamaica and soon finds himself chased by crooks looking for the key.

Daniel Greene, who is 'known' for his role as cyborg Paco in Sergio Martino's Hands of Steel, got the lead in this movie portraying Hammer (nicknamed Hammerhead). Greene did a fine job as the quiet cyborg but has a harder time portraying the poplair, charismatic detective. Luckily he does do a good job in the many action scenes. Greene's partner is Jose, played by Jorge Gil, who brings a lot of life to the movie and does a good job portraying what can only be described as Tony Montana's not so serious nephew.

Hammerhead pretty much ticks all the boxes in things you wanna see in an action flick. The chase scenes are spectaculair and the fighting sequences overall are filmed very effectively. Of course there can't be 93 minutes of straight action. There is even a sentimental little plotline about Hammer's ex-girlfriend and his daughter. These are the moments that the movie tends to get pretty bad, especially due to the frighteningly bad acting of Hammer's daughter. Fortunately the last 30/40 minutes of the movie completely make up for it. That's the moment where the movie goes completely out of control. What follows is non-stop action which is shown very explicitly. There is one magnificent scene that features a bad guy, Hammer's face and a circular saw. I won't spoil too much, but it's a straight classic in the history of the action genre. 

Hammerhead definitely goes straight to my list of my favorite 80's action movies. Brilliant car stunts, a beautiful woman, good fighting sequences and explicit action. That's wat we want and that's what we get!

Castellari--> You deserve this one!

 

Shiryo no Wana (A.K.A. Evil Dead Trap) (1988)

Evil Dead Trap actually was one of the first Japanese horror movies I ever saw. Where a lot of Japanese horror movies choose an over the top gory spectacle including blood fountains Evil Dead Trap is a more traditional slasher.

Nami hosts a late night home video program. She receives a tape which appears to be a real snuff film. She and her crew investigate the location where she meets a man looking for his brother who warns her to stay away. As she gets closer to the truth, she and her friends are subjected to a brutal nightmare.

The brutal tone of the movie is pretty much set immediately. Only 5 minutes in Nami watches the terrible snuff film that was presented to her. The gore in this sequence leaves nothing to the imagination. A tied up woman is carved with a knife in full close-up. The worse is yet to come though. After that the knife pierces her eye in full close-up causing eye fluid to burst out. Yup, director Toshiharu Ikeda sure knows how to catch your attention. Nami, frightened but intrigued by the video, quickly gathers her filming crew and heads to the place where the video was filmed (in the video was a complete segment with directions how to get to the place where the killing took part) to investigate whether the video was real or if it just was a prank. When they arrive it doesn't take long for strange things to happen. This all is supported by an amazing score that seems to return every 5 minutes. Tomohiko Kira, who composed the score, strangely enough only composed music for four other movies, of which three were directed by Ikeda. I have yet to see these movies but with the score he produced in this movie you'd put the guy in the same line as terrific composers like Fabio Frizzi, Claudio Simonetti (or the whole Goblin group if you like), John Carpenter and Riz Ortolani.


The killer that roams around in the foggy area where our tv-crew is investigating isn't any less than a brilliant appearance. Wearing a dark green raincoat and his face covered with a camouflaged mask it kinda reminded me of the killer in The Prowler (1981). The kills are great. I already mentioned the snuff video killing which was amazing but that's not the only blood that flows around in this movie. All the kill scenes are worth mentioning so lets sum it up. A girl's body gets spiked by multiple big metal pins, a man is stabbed with a knife in the back of his head while raping a girl, a girl is strangled with a big piece of aluminium wire while she gets dragged over the top of the car by the wire around her neck and last but not least a woman's head is pretty much sliced in half by a big hatchet. Gorehounds, look up this movie!

Unfortunately there are some badly done things as well, which shouldn't come as a surprise as Evil Dead Trap is a B-Movie, a good one, but still a B-Movie. For example, a girl's hand is sliced open by the killer. Painful, I get that, but in stead of running away she takes a good amount of time to slowly open her hand, look at it and then dramatically fall to the ground. Another thing that bothered me a bit was the fact that the movie just lasts a little bit too long. It could, and in my opinion should, have stopped at around 90 minutes but Ikeda decides to add another 15 minutes in which the movie goes totally over the top including a murdering fetus.

Evil Dead Trap is certainly one to check out. It's got a magnificent music score, a scary killer and some amazing death scenes. The movie definitely has got some flaws but I take them for granted as most things about this Japanese slasher flick are just fucking awesome!

Demoni 2... L'Incubo Ritorna (A.K.A. Demons 2) (1986)

After the succes of his Demoni (1985) Lamberto Bava quickly decided to cash in some more on the demons and a year later Demoni 2 was released. Mainly made by the same crew, and even some of the cast that played in the first movie, Demoni 2 kind of repeats the first movie in terms of the plot but not in terms of quality.

A documentary is shown on TV of group of teens who investigate the legendary forbidden zone, in which a Demon infestation once took place. When finding a lifeless corpse of a demon, one of the teens causes the resurrection of it, and the demon makes it's way into the nearby world by TV-broadcast... An unlucky girl, having her birthday-party at that time, gets possessed by the demon while watching the documentary and soon the entire building in which she lives turns into a living nightmare.... 

It takes about 40 minutes for the movie to find some pace. Not entirely coincidental that's also about the same point in the movie that Bobby Rhodes, who brilliantly portrayed a pimp in the first movie and is equally as good in this one as a gym instructor, starts getting more screentime. The rest of the cast consists of the, back then, good looking Nancy Brilli and an only 11-year old Asia Argento, debuting in a feature film. 

At pretty much every single thing Demoni 2 takes a step back in comparison with Demoni (1985). The demons look less spectaculair, the gore level is drastically reduced and the setting is less impressive. Especially the latter point is a disappointment. The movie theatre that the first movie took place in had a perfect vibe and was a great setting for a movie like Demons. The apartment building that Demons 2 takes place in lacks the fantastic vibe of the theatre and Bava doesn't get half as much out of the setting as he did in the first movie. One thing that did stay on the same good level as Demons (1985) is the soundtrack, this time provided by Simon Boswell. True, Boswell isn't Claudio Simonetti but he does produce an excellent score in this movie supported by some great rock songs.

Great scenes like the scene where 2 persons are locked in an elevator and pry open the door only to see dozens of crazy demons run past them are often followed up by just plain bad scenes like the one where a small gremlin-like creature attacks a pregnant lady. Not only is that a bad scene, it's also drawn out way to long while other scenes in this movie are often cut short which leaves a strange feeling you're watching a badly edited movie with unfinished scenes.

Demoni 2 certainly isn't an Italian horror treasure like Demoni (1985) was. The plot and the way it's elaborated just feels very lazy. On the other hand it's still cool to see some demons chase their victims while a typical 80's score is playing. Thereby comes that Bobby Rhodes is once again doing so well that he adds a lot of color to the movie. Demoni 2 is not great but it's just entertaining enough to earn 3,5* out of 5*.

Non-Horror Exploitation: Warlords of the 21st Century (1982)

Post-apocalyptic films set in the near future were hot stuff in the 80's. It's almost as if the people in the 80's were afraid of what would come in the future. Either that or they just loved a good post-apocalyptic action movie every now and then. Luckily that's exactly what Warlords of the 21st Century (also known as Battletruck) is.

Survivors of the oil-wars are terrorised by Straker and his gang. Straker travels through the wasteland with an enormous armored truck which strikes fear into the hearts of the survivors. When a girl named Corlie escapes from Straker's camp Straker is determined to do anything to get her back. Corlie though is now protected by a mysterious motorcyclist named Hunter. Hunter isn't afraid of Straker and his truck and believes there is always a way to fight back.

You can describe Warlords of the 21st Century by one word: Cool! Just like in post-apocalyptic/sci-fi movies like Escape From New York and Mad Max the badguys are dressed strangely and are mad as hell. Their leader is an evil mind named Kramer, who is very decently portrayed by James Wainwright. As seen in the plot Kramer travels in a huge truck that you can only describe as bad-ass to the max.

Warlords of the 21st Century is shot in New-Zealand. As we all know the landscape of New-Zealand lends itself perfectly for various movies. This time there are no hobbits wandering around, this time we get futuristic looking vehicles and it's cool as fuck. Many aerial shots are shown during race and/or chase scenes, and with good reason. Seeing a huge 18 wheeler drive full speed on dirt roads next to huge cliffs is impressive to say the least.

Sure te story is slightly standard. We've got the typical loner who has to save the sweet girl out of the hands of the evil. But who gives a rat's ass, it's a perfect outlet to show some good ol' fashioned action. And that's exactly what we get, including a stunning last 10/15 minutes.

It's not the most original movie you'll ever see but it has all the ingredients a genre-fan like me wants to see in a movie like this.
- Post-Apocalyptic wasteland? Check!
- Life saving, mysterious loner? Check!
- Cool villain? Check!
- Bad-ass huge armored truck? Check!

The only real criteria you could give is that the movie perhaps should have lasted 10 minutes shorter. +-90 minutes was a bit too much in my opinion.

Fun Facts (source: IMDB)

The top speed of the battletruck was 65 km per hour; it was the largest motorized film prop ever built in New Zealand. 

Director/co-writer Harley Cokeliss came up with the story when he was living in Los Angeles in 1975. He was inspired by the mid-'70s oil shortage and the size of the huge oil trucks transporting gasoline to various stations in the Los Angeles area.