THE HAUNTING AT THE BEACON
2009 - NR - 94 Minutes
D: Michael Stakes
S: Teri Polo - David Rees Snell - Elaine Hendrix - Ken Howard - Michael Ironside
DVD Courtesy of American World Pictures
Widescreen/Stereo
Extras: Screener/None Available

Bryn and Paul Shaw are trying to put the pieces of their lives and marriage back together. They lost a child, missing, presumed dead. Bryn, who was watching her son at the time of the disappearance, won't forgive herself and even tried to commit suicide. Hubby Paul moves them to a new apartment called The Beacon, with a new teaching job as a professor at a local college. Bryn is encouraged to start her photography again. All seems well until a ghostly child gravitates toward Bryn and all kinds of spookiness starts to happen. At first she thinks it is her son Danny but soon discovers the apparition belongs to a Ronnie Nash, an abused child who either fell from the elevator or committed suicide. It doesn't take long before several of the apartment tenants are involved and we get glimpses of Ronnie's father, a specter wearing a hood with chains on his head, hubby having an affair with a failed actress, and so on. Everyone thinks Bryn is losing it again, but in fact, she's got a mystery to solve. Thankfully Paul shares an office with a paranormal expert (how convenient!) and a few others have no problem helping her out. It all plays like a Made for Lifetime Channel movie, right down to the ex-actress being on a sex site sporting no nudity! Then, thankfully, the final third kicks in and half the crew turns into zombie-like ghosts with an evil agenda. There's some great F/X work by Vincent J. Guastini (MINDKILLER, CHILDREN OF THE LIVING DEAD) including a sequence that involves a cool zombified Ironside ripping out someone's intestines (he also has the best line in the movie at this very same point). With veterans Ken Howard and Michael Ironside in the production, you think it would be a no-brainer. Unfortunately, I can only recommend THE BEACON as a rental at best. As ghost stores go, THE CHANGELING this isn't. – Mark Engle

HARPOON
2009 - NR - 84 Min.
D: Julius Kemp
S: Pihla Vitala - Nae Yuuki - Miranda Hennessy - Gunnar Hansen
DVD Provided by Image Entertainment
Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1/Dolby Digital 5.1
Extras: Trailers - Gunnar Hansen Behind the Scenes Featurette
A group of whale watchers get stranded out in the middle of the ocean after their captain gets accidentally harpooned by a drunk tourist. The captain's mate (who must have finally read the script) freaks out and takes off leaving everyone else behind. Calling for help via the radio, they get picked up via an old whaling ship run by your standard "Hills Have Eyes" hillbilly family with anger issues (the whaling trade has been ruined by the so called "Green Piss"). Within minutes, the mentally handicapped brother shoves a hammer into the head of one of the older women and the game is on. Each member gets hunted down and picked off one by one in grisly fashion. The true horror however, is how nasty everyone is towards each other. There are two somewhat sympathetic characters, one a gay black man and the other a mildly plump blonde who suffers a rape within the first 30 minutes in and then hung up and fondled with some sort of colored goop by the challenged member of the hick clan. There's human harpooning, drowning by angry orca, decapitation, head blown off, people burned up and eye violence, but none of it is worth hollering about since the movie is filled with so many nasty and very stupid people. The dialog is terrible, character development is zero, the atmosphere is laughable, so all that is left, unless you like watching nasty people be nasty to each other is the gore, which there is plenty (this in the uncut version, be wary of the R rated version with a different cover) and somewhat impressive, but not enough to save this tripe. Gunnar Hansen gives the best performance, but he's only in it about five minutes. - Mark Engle

HIGH TIDE
Armchair Thriller Series
UK/1980 – NR – 98 Minutes
D: Colin Bucksey
S: Ian McShane, Kika Markham, Wendy Morgan, John Bird, Malcolm Terris, Anna Fox
DVD Provided By VCI Entertainment
Fullscreen/Mono

Advertised as a thriller, this one is actually more of a leisurely paced mystery. The one saving grace is the casting, which is quite good, especially with Ian McShane in the lead role. McShane plays Peter Curtis, a man who is fresh out of prison for attacking and accidentally killing a man who had recklessly run down and killed Curtis’ pet dog. It doesn’t take long for Curtis to be drawn into a tale of intrigue. The image of the s. Curtis decides to check out who the reckless driver was and what significance there is to his “High Tide” uttering. Along the way he gets involved in matters that are out of his control, falls in love with another man’s wife, and finds his own life in danger. McShane is superb as Curtis, being cool and likable right from the get-go. He successfully carries the movie by realistically portraying both the confusion and curiosity that his character feels. The supporting cast also does good work. Kika Markham is sexy, mysterious, and deceptive as Curtis’ love interest. Wendy Morgan is also engaging and behaviorally ambiguous as Celia, a woman who seemingly befriends Curtis but has secrets of her own. The sound and picture quality are adequate without being great, the story definitely contains a strong sense of mystery until its somewhat disappointing conclusion, and the cast is immensely watchable, especially McShane. While this isn’t a film that I can recommend to those genre fans that enjoy thrillers, it’s certainly something that every Ian McShane fan should see. – Craig Hamann

HORROR FILMS
2007 – NR – 204 Pages
A: Colin Odell & Michelle Le Blanc
E: Hannah Patterson
Book Provided By Kamera Books
Slightly Oversized Paperback/English
Extras: 12 Glossy Pictures – DVD Including 3 Shorts: Virus, Savage, Chicken Soup

In just over 200 pages, we get a worldwide history of the horror film from the beginning of cinema until 2006 separated by region/country. Divided in chapters dedicated to North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, you would be surprised how much is covered. Each section goes over the historical aspects while mentioning quite a few movies along the way. Afterwards, the authors pick specific movies and give a page worth or so review and how it or the director affected horror cinema overall. After getting through the sixteen page introduction that read like the driest text book, I honestly thought I was in serious trouble for another 190 pages. Luckily, the rest is quite informative and insightful without being a cure for insomnia. Like many books that are limited to covering only the basics, certain titles in the horror genre are obvious while other choices reviewed here are head scratchers. In the North America/Canada section, for example we get the obvious choices like FRANKENSTEIN, KING KONG, PSYCHO, ROSEMARY’S BABY, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE EXORCIST, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, THE OMEN, HALLOWEEN, EVIL DEAD, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, SOCIETY….?WHAT? Nothing against SOCIETY, I think it is a fine film in its own right, but if you look at this list, I have to scratch my head in a little bit of confusion. On a plus note and maybe because movies like SOCIETY, NAILS and so on get their due here, I was able to read about several movies I’ve never seen and a couple I’ve never heard of that sound like they are worth seeking out, especially titles from India, Hong Kong and Russia. I also have a lot of respect for the authors here writing from the context of a genre fan. Movies like RAZORBACK and Q usually don’t sit well with critics, who are not fans of modern horror, but they are loved by many fans of the genre and it reflects here. Overall, I didn’t want the book to end and cover more ground, but what you do get is highly recommended. – Mark EngleHIGH TIDE Armchair Thriller Series UK/1980 – NR – 98 Minutes D: Colin Bucksey S: Ian McShane, Kika Markham, Wendy Morgan, John Bird, Malcolm Terris, Anna Fox DVD Provided By VCI Entertainment Fullscreen/Mono Advertised as a thriller, this one is actually more of a leisurely paced mystery. The one saving grace is the casting, which is quite good, especially with Ian McShane in the lead role. McShane plays Peter Curtis, a man who is fresh out of prison for attacking and accidentally killing a man who had recklessly run down and killed Curtis’ pet dog. It doesn’t take long for Curtis to be drawn into a tale of intrigue. The image of the reckless driver mumbling something about “High Tide” before he died haunts him, plus he’s being followed and watched wherever he goes. Curtis decides to check out who the reckless driver was and what significance there is to his “High Tide” uttering. Along the way he gets involved in matters that are out of his control, falls in love with another man’s wife, and finds his own life in danger. McShane is superb as Curtis, being cool and likable right from the get-go. He successfully carries the movie by realistically portraying both the confusion and curiosity that his character feels. The supporting cast also does good work. Kika Markham is sexy, mysterious, and deceptive as Curtis’ love interest. Wendy Morgan is also engaging and behaviorally ambiguous as Celia, a woman who seemingly befriends Curtis but has secrets of her own. The sound and picture quality are adequate without being great, the story definitely contains a strong sense of mystery until its somewhat disappointing conclusion, and the cast is immensely watchable, especially McShane. While this isn’t a film that I can recommend to those genre fans that enjoy thrillers, it’s certainly something that every Ian McShane fan should see. – Craig Hamann

HORROR MOVIE FREAK
2010 - NR - 256 Pages
W: Don Sumner
C: Everett Roberts - James Lasome - Bill Burda - Heather Ross
Book Provided by Krause Publications
Paperback/Glossy Color - Black & White Photos
Extras: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) ON DVD

I've always considered myself a MOVIE FREAK front and foremost and a HORROR GEEK at heart. So my review of Don Sumner's book HORROR MOVIE FREAK may be a tad different. Books covering my personal favorite genre comes right down to one thing, and that is personal taste and opinion of the movies covered. With that in mind, Sumner covers a lot of safe tried and true ground as it should be. There's a few surprises here and there (why the f*&%k is Pakistani's HELL'S GROUND included here, I'll never have a clue!). But overall, he breaks down and covers different sub-genres by chapter (Slashers, Aliens, Nature Amuck movies, foreign horror, etc.) and gives us four or more titles that are prime examples of each. Certain choices will have us fans smiling and agreeing on some and wanting to throw the book on others. With each essay covering each movie, he backs up his reasons as to why the title is included and the writing is an entertaining and fun read. This of course is where we come back to personal opinion and much debate. Take the chapter called ABERRATIONS OF NATURE for example, which covers such titles as GRIZZLY, JAWS, THE BIRDS, CABIN FEVER (bacteria) and BLACK SHEEP. Where's DAY OF THE ANIMALS or KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS? Much more worthy titles to include rather than BLACK SHEEP in my opinion. In the Aliens And Outer Space chapter, our writer even admits that SLITHER probably didn't do so well because horror fans found it to similar to the much superior and earlier NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, yet NOTC isn't covered? Having some modern titles was probably an important decision factor, and I can understand (doesn't mean I always have to like it however). If Sumner ever puts out a VOLUME 2 or reprint, I highly recommend an extra page at the end of each chapter that lists another 50 worthwhile titles for each sub-genre that FREAKS should look for. There literally was only one title in the entire book I had never seen and that was by choice. Another notice about the opinions in the book as a whole seem to embrace or talk about impressive CGI effects, which is another debate among many Horror Freaks across the board. We've all learn to accept that it is the way it is, but for many of us old school horror geeks, accepting isn't admiring by a long shot. On that note, I can honestly say that HORROR MOVIE FREAK is a perfect gift for that new Horror Geek in your life, whether that be yourself, a relative or local zombie friend at your watering hole. For the rest of us, there's tons to like, but nothing new we haven't really seen before. Yeah, movies like THE CHANGELING and SPLINTER get their due! - Mark Engle

HARDWARE
1990 – NR – 94 Min.
D: Richard Stanley
S: Stacey Travis – Dylan McDermott – John Lynch – William Hootkins
Blu-Ray courtesy of Severin Films
1080p widescreen / Dolby Digital 5.1
Extras: A plethora of interesting supplemental materials.

Richard Stanley’s minimalist yet accomplished vision of hellish existence in a post apocalyptic world has finally arrived restored and uncut. Travis stars in Stanley’s unsettling parable as a fiery independent woman named Jill. McDermott is Moe (short for Moses), Jill’s lover and a man who earns his money collecting techno-scrap in the wastelands. This vocation has begun to take its toll as evidenced by a cybernetic hand and persistent cough. Still, he wants a good life for himself and his better half so he presses on. This doesn’t sit well with Jill as she finds herself alone more often than she’d like to be, even if she won’t admit it; she just throws herself into her art (metallic sculpture) in order to cope. Moe manages to smooth over a recent extended absence with a droid skull he’s recently come across. Trouble is that the gift is the still operational, and wildly malfunctioning, leftovers of a homicidal military project called Mark 13. Faster than you can say “Johnny 5 is alive!” Mark 13 pieces itself together well enough to act on its murderous impulses while Jill sleeps alone in her bed…. Mark 13 is an impressive sight to behold thanks to Image Animation’s effects. And that robotic skull with the paint job reminiscent of Easy Rider leaves quite an impression. Hardware is intensely atmospheric, frightening, and downright brilliant. Stanley’s unique vision is part horror, part science fiction, and part cautionary tale with just a dash of art house flavor for that distinctive drug-induced dreamlike flavor that washes over you with unstoppable persistence for 94 straight minutes of unadulterated movie joy. Travis shows a lot of skill in her early role and also manages to take a beating worthy of Bruce Campbell before it’s over. Look for Lemmy as a disgruntled cab driver and yep, that is indeed Iggy Pop’s voice representing the disc jockey known as Angry Bob. As if that wasn’t enough, Simon Boswell provides the original music. Best of all, Severin has altered the truth of Hardware forever; this film was actually meant to be VISIBLE! I know, shocking, right? The original theatrical release didn’t look this good, the VHS only made things worse, and the uncut Japanese Laserdisc dragged many scenes into soft, black, obscurity. Uncut doesn’t mean so much when you can’t even see the damn thing. This is it! An inarguably beautiful job has been done here. Also, the hours of extras will keep it going long after the credits roll. An exceptional movie, an exceptional release, highly recommended. - Michael Mackie

THE HIKING TRIP
2007 – NR – 90 min
D: Robert Parent
S: Kortney Adams – Tracy Young
DVD Provided by Seminal Films
Widescreen/Stereo
Extras: Trailer

THE HIKING TRIP is a good effort from first time director Robert Parent. While this low-budget psychological thriller has a whole lot of flaws, there are some great moments (as well as some moments with great potential that went nowhere) and shows Parent may have a bright future as a director. The film follows the story of a woman named Tracy (Kortney Adams) that wakes up in a hospital after a 3 month long coma. A doctor, who only talks to her from another room via a video monitor (we never see him), questions Tracy about what she can remember. She slowly (and I mean slowly) recalls a hiking trip with two other friends that led to an abandoned industrial building. In a boneheaded horror cliché move, the three friends decide to explore the building, as well as its spooky series of underground tunnels. The tunnel scenes are where the film shows most of its failed potential, as they are effectively creepy and there is some great use of whispers, bangs, and other scary noises as well. Eventually the film steers us to believe that Tracy may not be right in the head…or is she?! (Bum-bum-buuuum!). I sat watching the film confused and was still confused when the credits rolled. Like I mentioned, THE HIKING TRIP is a great effort from a budding film director, but if this were an essay term paper, I’d give it a C+ and tell Robert Parent to study harder next time and to leave the ultra-crappy CGI effects out all together. - Fred McKennon

This SOV movie is a female revenge anthology that targets gorehounds and vengeance-film fans. You get lots of soft-core sex and plenty of gore, even an unforgettably squeamish dick mutilation scene, plus a glut of vengeful violence by women scorned. Unfortunately, some of the acting is bad, with the various performers strictly playing results. Thankfully, Michelle Boback does well as a multiple rape victim and Jennifer Angiers holds her own as a crime hypnotherapist. Donny James Lucas provides a believable but too brief performance in the wraparound. The biggest drawback is that the stories are all just so-so at best. Much more could and should have been done with this production, but it appears as if the filmmakers preferred to go with the splatter above everything else. This is one for gorehounds but I can't recommend it to genre fans across the board. – Craig Hamann

THE HOWL
Directed by Tinto Brass
1970-93 Minutes/Widescreen
DVD Provided by Cult Epics

Before we get into the article I would like to make a statement. I really like Tinto Brass movies. Usually. Apparently, I like his comedies and not much else. Case in point; THE HOWL. The story, what there is of it, concerns Anita. A lovely, young woman about to be married to her boyfriend when she is lured away from the wedding by a jester. The jester takes her on a series of adventures before she speeds back to her wedding. This is one of Tinto’s surreal films along with the equally dull ATTRACTION (1969) and while there is a ton of symbolism and subtle meanings behind a film that really has no cohesive plot to speak of. There are things you can read into the movie, but it would give away the ending and I never give away the ending. Well, there was that one time, but I’m pretty sure that our erstwhile editor put the kibosh on that one. But enough about the crazy goings on here at Cult Cuts. We were talking about Tinto Brass. When Tinto fully grasped his concept of sexuality and placed it firmly within the confines of film in such wonderful movies like CHEEKY, FALLO! And THE VOYEUR he gave us some great flicks. His early years was a man attempting to do what a lot of people were doing and making some long, dull films that really carry no weight other than they were the early career of a man who now makes movies worth watching. Is any of that evident in these movies? No, not to me at least. Don’t get me wrong, I love reading things into movies, but this comes across so damned heavy handed that it’s not worth the time. Sorry Tinto. I really wished I liked this more. I’m gonna go watch CHEEKY again to cheer myself up. -Douglas A. Waltz

HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW
1983 - R - 92 Minutes
D: Mark Rosman
S: Kate McNeil - Eileen Davidson - Janis Ward - Lois Kelso Hunt
Anamorphic Widescreen/Dolby Digital 2.0
Extras: Trailer/Commentary/Alternate Ending/Gallery/Story Board Comparison

It's June 19th, 1961. A birth goes horribly wrong via flashback. Skip twenty years later and the mother in question, Mrs. Slater, now runs a sorority house. The only problem for the latest batch of seniors is that every year she closes up the house on June 19th, a week earlier than most. Our group of lovely ladies decide that this just won't do. After a nasty outburst from Mrs. Slater interrupting a coitus situation, the rest band together to play a cruel joke and also to go ahead with a huge party at the house. Well, things don't go as smooth as they had hoped. Sure, they have the party and it's a success to the partygoers. But what the guests don't know is our girls have accidently killed their housemother during their little prank and they have hidden the body at the bottom of the pool (made unusable by years of neglect). Unbeknownst to everyone but us slasher fans, someone starts killing the girls one by one. Mrs. Slater's body turns up missing. Other people's bodies start popping up and a strange child's room is discovered in the attic. Could the killer by Mrs. Slater or her supposedly stillborn/aborted son? Is one of the girls killing off the rest because some want to go to the cops or can't keep their cool under this kind of stress? Director Mark Rosman manages to keep you guessing, but it doesn't matter so much if you get the outcome right or not. Because Rosman hits the mark in characterization, atmosphere, suspense, locations, acting, nudity, gore and just about everything else that earmarks an excellent slasher from the heyday of the genre. In fact, when describing HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW to other fans, I usually tell them that this particular title is a great example of the "Classy" Slasher. Don't worry, 80's gorehounds, that definitely does not mean boring. Everything is just perfectly balanced in this horror outing of people unbalanced. Highly Recommended. - Mark Engle

HANNA D. THE GIRL FROM VONDEL PARK
1984 - NR - 88 Minutes
D: Rino Silvestro
S: Ann-Gisel Glass - Donatella Damiani - Tony Serrano - Sebastiano Somma
DVD Provided by Severin Films
Anamorphic Widescreen/Dolby Digital 2.0
Extras: Trailer - Director Interview (over 40 minutes long)

Exploitative? Oh, most definitely. Extreme? No, not really. At least not anymore. It's the whole 'sweet-teen-turned-heroin-addict-prostitute' sub-genre. Everyone jumped on board that one just for the amount of skin you are allowed to show. In this case that lovely skin belonged to the breathtaking Ann Gisel Glass. Her slender frame coupled with those huge, smoking eyes made it impossible to ignore. Directed by the infamous Rino Di Silvestro of WEREWOLF WOMAN and WOMEN IN CELL BLOCK 7 fame, Rino gives us a woman who believes she is in control of her life. Until drugs take hold. It never strays too far from the whole concept. Hanna meets a young man who says they will go places and then turns her into a porn actress and prostitute. He makes sure she gets plenty of good drugs. Probably the most disturbing sequences to me were when Hanna took the shot on the back of her tongue and the inside of her eyelid so that the track marks wouldn't show. No real blood and gore, but these will make you flinch. This is a restoration in the truest sense of the word. Uncut and uncensored for the first time ever in America. And, as far as extras go, there is a fantastic interview with the director who just passed away on the 9th of October of last year. I get the feeling that they let it run long because it was probably his last interview. - Douglas Waltz

HITLER MEETS CHRIST
2006 - NR - 76 Min.
D: Brendan Keown
S: Michael Moriarty - Wyatt Page
DVD Provided by Pathfinder Home Entertainment
Black & White/Fullscreen/Dolby Digital 2.0
Extras: Trailers

Two mentally ill homeless men strike up the most bizarre relationship. One thinks he is Hitler (Moriarty) while the other plays Christ (Page). For days they follow each other around, discussing theology, passion and most importantly their roles in history. Based on Michael Moriarty's controversial play, this sort of MY DINNER WITH ANDRE meets Schizophrenia has every right to strike the offensive chord and definitely tip toes very close to that brink. But what makes these characters more human than not is their pathos, pain and suffering as individuals lost in a quagmire of their own survival and search for their own soul. The most heart wrenching moments come when Moriarty's character longs for death or when confusion sets in and he feels truly lost. Somewhere between buffoonery (he's got Archie Bunker's raspberry down to a T) to pure anger at a world that won't forget or forgive him but won't let die either. This exercise/play is definitely not for everyone, but those who want to watch Moriarty act his craft to perfection along with some food for thought may want to check this out. The ending may or may not work for the individual, as it didn't ring true for myself personally, but it doesn't stop me from recommending HITLER MEETS CHRIST. It's powerful, painful, depressing and insightful. Probably best watched alone since it can make one feel uncomfortable at times. My only complaint besides the final 90 seconds is that Pathfinder's disc doesn't come with English subtitles. Being a two person play (filmed very well to the point that it didn't feel like one), the dialogue being the most important point of this story. When all is said and done, this is Moriarty's art at work and I've been a fan of his craft for years. Check it out. - Mark Engle