Nazi Basterds & Bombshells

Check out the trailers here: http://www.fullmoondirect.com/Nazi-Basterds-Bombshells-5-Disc-DVD-Set_p_923.html

Buy it from Amazon: Nazi Basterds & Bombshells

I joined Full Moon Streaming!

I finally did it! After a lot of debate about whether or not Full Moon's new streaming service would be of any benefit to me, I took the plunge and signed up last night. I'm glad I did too because, as a subscriber to their previous Grindhouse Flix (which has now been retired and amalgamated with Full Moon Streaming), I got a massive discount on my initial 3 month membership.

I know my haters (and by haters, I really mean one jealous attention-seeker who shall remain nameless for now) think that I'm some kind of shill who gets lots of kickbacks and freebies from the movie industry, but I'm not. I've never asked anybody for anything, and I never promote anything on my blog which I haven't payed for and enjoyed. Suffice it to say that I had a great time enjoying my latest purchase until the early hours of this morning watching the Empire/Full Moon movies which I don't have on DVD yet. Eventually tiredness overcame me, but I got through quite a few.

Highlights of my first night with Full Moon Streaming included "Dangerous Worry Dolls" (2008), "Shrunken Heads" (1994), "The Evil Clergyman", and "Trancers: City of Lost Angels". The latter is quite short as it was originally meant to be part of a trilogy rather than a standalone movie, but I'm a huge Jack Deth fan and was very pleased to see it after all these years.

Because I moved to America nearly 6 years ago, I had to leave a lot of my things behind. Some of the casualties were my Full Moon VHS tapes which I've been trying to rebuy on DVD. Sadly, the lesser known titles aren't on DVD yet and probably never will be, so Full Moon Streaming makes up for it. Unlike Netflix, Full Moon Streaming works on Ubuntu too!

Always the innovator, Charles Band is putting the new Full Moon movies on this service first, which is another bonus. New releases will appear every Friday, and on October 29th, "Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong" will make its debut. In addition, there are all the Grindhouse Flix movies, Vidcasts, competitions, and "Hot Chick of the Week" features.

Even though I'm a hardcore horror fan, sometimes I just like to chillax with a fun Full Moon movie. They aren't exactly Oscar winners, but some of the performances are a lot better than you might expect, and the stories are always entertaining. I haven't reviewed many of them on this blog, so next month, I will be reviewing everything from Empire International Pictures through to the new Full Moon Features. That's if I can pry myself away from Full Moon Streaming for long enough to do so.

Empire of the 'B's - The Authorised History of Empire Pictures

Empire of the 'B's by Dave Jay, Torsten Dewi, and Nathan Shumate

According to the official Full Moon Features Facebook page:
"This book has been in the works for a very long time... Isn't the cover great?!?
In a few months, it will be available in the UK at bookstores, via http://www.fullmoondirect.com, Amazon, and at conventions!"

The MAD Movie World of CHARLES BAND

Here's the back cover:

Foreword by STUART GORDON

I can't wait to get my paws on a copy! How about you?

Update
You can now also buy it from Amazon: Empire of the 'B's: The Mad Movie World of Charles Band

The cheapest way to collect Full Moon movies

Everybody loves Full Moon movies, right? Those of us who are of a certain age whereby we really do remember the '80s and early '90s without the aid of rose-tinted spectacles grew up renting everything that Charles Band managed to get onto the shelves of our local video rental stores, and we thoroughly enjoyed doing so. As rentals turned into PVTs, we all went a little bit crazy buying up the big-boxed B movies of our teens. We never thought they'd be worth anything, we just had to have them, and we replayed them to death.

But time moves on, unfortunately. Our once great collections of VHS tapes are now rotting in their boxes, or being sold in yard sales, and we've got huge DVD collections instead. The trouble with collecting Full Moon movies again on DVD, though, has always been two-fold. First, there's just so damned many of their movies to buy, and second, a semi-cultish following has helped to keep the prices up. Both aspects are great for Full Moon of course, but not for anybody with limited funds (and space) who is trying to collect their products.

Maybe you've wanted to upgrade your Empire/Full Moon favourites to DVD, but thought it was too expensive to buy the box sets? Maybe you've missed out on a few of the newer Full Moon titles too? Well, thanks to a distribution deal with Echo Bridge Home Entertainment which has been going on for the last couple of years, there's actually no need to bankrupt yourself. For only $55 (plus tax) and a trip to Kmart, you can have all the good ones again, plus a load of crappier horror movies which you'll probably never watch.

Here's how to do it:

The first thing you'll want to buy is a big pack of "Puppet Master" movies. These are the most famous Full Moon movies, and you can't call yourself a horror fan if you don't have them. In their wisdom, Echo Bridge Home Entertainment have created two packs to choose from which are both priced at $5 each (except online!), so the only thing you need to decide is if you want the three "Killjoy" movies as a bonus.

If you choose not to buy the "Puppet Master and Killjoy' collection, you can get the "Killjoy" movies as part of the "Death comes in 3s" pack along with the first three "Gingerdead Man" movies and the "Demonic Toys" trilogy. What a bargain! Even if the newer Full Moon movies aren't to your taste, you can at least check them out for only $5. That's less than a bag of beef jerky and a fizzy drink to wash it down with!

You may also want to collect the triple pack of "Deadly Dolls" movies (which I've only added to keep my pairs of pictures even!) despite double-dipping on "Demonic Toys 2", but don't do it unless you absolutely must have the bonus "When Puppets and Dolls Attack!" featurette. You need to slow down in your excitement! I'll tell you why later.

Moving on to the more important sets, the first three "Subspecies" and "Trancers" movies are exactly what they say on the box. They are barebones versions with no frills or extras, but you can't go wrong for $5 each from the bargain bin. With only one more "Subspecies" movie, and three more "Trancers" movies left, you can complete each series by buying them from Full Moon Direct, Amazon, eBay, or anywhere else, and still know that you've saved money.

Remember our old friends the "Midnight Horror" collections? If you haven't already got them, you'll need these for "Evil Bong", "Demonic Toys", "Meridian", and "Decadent Evil" (in Volume 1), or "Evil Bong II: King Bong", "Demonic Toys 2", and "Doll Graveyard" (in Volume 2). You can also get the latter three and "Decadent Evil" in Volume 3, but let's not confuse things any more than Echo Bridge Home Entertainment already have done.

Finally, these two "expensive" $10 multipacks containing "20 Horror Films" each will provide you with the "Dangerous Worry Dolls" movie from the triple pack—which I told you not to buy—as well as "Seed People", "Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong", "Lurking Fear", "Head of the Family", "Dollman", "Vampire Journals" (a spinoff of "Subspecies"), "Netherworld", and "Doll Graveyard" again. Sadly, there will always be repetition with Echo Bridge Home Entertainment's horror movie collections, but on the bright side, only having one double-dipped movie can be considered negligible. For that reason, I've avoided listing "Castle Freak" and "The Pit and the Pendulum" which are also available in multipacks but not together.

As for the "When Puppets and Dolls Attack!" featurette, it'll be available on Full Moon's streaming site - http://fullmoonstreaming.com - which you can join for only $6.99 a month. Of course, most of the movies above will also there, so you may not want them on physical media either. At the end of the day, it's all down to how much of a collector you are.

Although there's a very slight possibility that more Full Moon movies may appear in Echo Bridge Home Entertainment DVD packs in the future, if you buy this lot, you will have 43 of them to start you off. 43 Full Moon movies! That'll keep you busy for a while!

Unlucky Charms (2013)

"Five girls vie for a chance to model diva Deedee DeVille's fashion line, but they're soon competing for their lives against four mythical beings, led by the mischievous Farr Darrig."

Going from the sublime to the ridiculous, this typical Full Moon production with a shorter than average running time of 70 minutes (including drawn-out opening titles and end credits) isn't something which I was too eager to watch, but I'm glad I did just so that I could dismiss it as an updated version of "Spellcaster" (1988).

I'm sure that Charles Band is quite familiar with "Spellcaster" since his very own Empire Pictures produced and distributed it (and he is named as Executive Producer at the beginning!), but that's all that really needs to be said about that film. Apart from starring Bunty Bailey (the girl in A-Ha's "Take on Me" video) and having Adam Ant in a small role at the end, it's not exactly memorable. The subject matter of both movies is clearly similar but not identical, and even if it was, nobody cares. It's hardly a crime to clone your own products.

Without such "cloning", we wouldn't have a dozen installments of the "Puppetmaster" series, or the spin-offs which aren't much different. Charles Band is obviously not the only producer/director to do this either. Everyone from Bill Zebub to Roger Corman has frugally rehashed the same plots, dialogue, and ensemble casts in their z-grade "B movies", and I'm not going to condemn any of them for it. Hell, there are no new stories to be told anyway, so all any filmmaker can do is update the actors and locations.

Numbers 1, 3, and 4 please... in that order.

"Unlucky Charms" is only a quick satire which showcases some models/actresses, their boobs, and some cheap-looking effects anyway. It's not a serious horror movie by any stretch of the imagination, nor is it meant to be, but it's what Full Moon fans generally like. I'm still not sure which side of the fence I sit on when it comes to Full Moon. Some Full Moon movies have been very good, but most have been absolutely terrible. If pressed on the matter, I prefer the "Trancers" series, followed by "Subspecies", but I don't really care for any of their most recent titles.

Maybe the new Full Moon has become yet another hipster thing which I'm too old, jaded, and grumpy to buy into. I noticed a lot of people on Twitter talking about "Unlucky Charms" who I would never classify as "horror fans", so Full Moon must be doing something right for them. Ironic comedy will only take you so far though if the overall quality isn't there. Sadly, I've switched more Full Moon movies off through boredom than I've completed, but I did make it all the way through this one. How and why exactly, I don't know. Perhaps it was the boobs.

Although I can say that Seth Peterson is very good as Pirl, Nathan Phillips is competent as the leprechaun Farr Darrig, and beautiful Nikki Leigh is my favourite out of the models, I wasn't so enamoured by the rest of the cast or what they had to work with. It's not that anybody is absolutely horrible in their roles, but they aren't great either. Of course, nobody has to be pitch-perfect in a B movie, but it makes things far more entertaining if the cast can "do a bit" rather than just play dress-up... or take-your-dress-off, as the case may be.

"Unlucky Charms" looks good, has an okay-ish story, and it's quick enough over the ground to not be boring. It's just not very original, and if the moral of the tale is that looks aren't everything, it shoots itself in the foot with its own self-criticism.

Thus, while the plot may be amusing to anyone who loathes TV contest shows such as "America's Next Top Model" and would love to see those narcissistic bimbos destroyed by various creatures from Irish folklore, "Unlucky Charms" didn't do much for me. Give or take some magic, a few supernatural entities, and a sleazy MTV-style VJ, I really have seen it all before.

Only saying...

Puppetmaster/Killjoy - 12 movies for $5!

I bought this multipack two weeks ago from Wal-mart for only $5, but I don't think that I posted anything about it except on Facebook and Twitter.

As you can see from the scan, I haven't even opened it yet so I can't tell you anything about the quality of the transfers or how the movies are arranged on the DVDs. I intended to have a marathon "Puppetmaster" day, but I fell asleep in a big furry heap with Willow (my cat not the kids' movie) instead. It's only the later movies that I haven't seen anyway.

Here are the synopses from the Echo Bridge Home Entertainment site where they are still selling this pack for $19.99:

PUPPET MASTER
A demonic crew of puppets unleash their murderous talents on psychics investigating their owner, Andre Toulon.

PUPPET MASTER 2
Toulon's army of assassin puppets exhume their beloved creator to gather the brain matter that keeps them alive, but the Puppet Master has a deadly plan of his own.

PUPPET MASTER 3: TOULON'S REVENGE
After Toulon escapes a kidnapping attempt that killed his wife, he exacts revenge with Six Shooter, Blade and Leech Woman, a new army of mini-murderers.

PUPPET MASTER 4
Blade, Tunneler, Pinhead and the newest head-swapping puppet, Decapitron, go toe-to-toe with their most menacing enemy yet—a team of terrifying gremlin-like creatures.

PUPPET MASTER 5
Caught between two foes, the half-pint heroes must preserve the magic formula which gives them life...while Puppet Master Rick's life hangs in the balance.

CURSE OF THE PUPPET MASTER
Toulon's puppets have a new master in backwoods scientist, Dr. Magrew, who has been desperately trying to duplicate the great Puppet Master's work.

RETRO PUPPET MASTER
Young Toulon is taught the secret of life by an Egyptian sorcerer, but then becomes the target of an evil god.

PUPPET MASTER: THE LEGACY
Toulon's reanimation formula is in jeopardy when a rogue agent threatens its protector.

PUPPET MASTER: AXIS OF EVIL
A young man named Danny saves Toulon's puppets after his death and must now bring them to life to defeat the axis of evil.

KILLJOY
When an outcast is bullied to death, a killer clown exacts revenge in his honor. His name is Killjoy and he thinks murder is a laughing matter.

KILLJOY 2
On a wilderness rehabilitation trip, a group of at-risk youth find themselves in the home of a voodoo woman where Killjoy's spirit is summoned.

KILLJOY 3
A group of unsuspecting college students accidentally open the portal to Killjoy's demon realm and get trapped in a strange funhouse world with the killer clown and his friends.

One thing to beware of if you go to Wal-mart is that they also have a pack of just the 9 "Puppetmaster" movies for the same price, and that's the one which is on the racks rather than in the $5 bin. It's still a good deal if you don't want the "Killjoy" movies, and the artwork is better anyway.

I found this pack in the bargain bin at the front of the store and saw that there was also one copy in the regular bargain bin next to the DVD section. I don't think that they are as rare as the Lionsgate multipacks which had everyone on a wild goose chase last year, but don't be surprised if your local Wal-mart doesn't have any left. From the sticker at the top right, it looks like they've had these since March.

If you can't find it or don't have a Wal-mart, you can also get this pack from Amazon for $4.99. The best price is coming up as $1.37 right now, but that's without the shipping.

Nazithon: Decadence and Destruction (2013)

If you're anything like me (and I sincerely hope that you aren't), your knowledge of Naziploitation probably begins and ends with "Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS" (1975). Give or take the sequels, there's not much in these movies for horror fans.

To say that Naziploitation has a niche audience of sado-masochists, perverts, and people who just like looking at sexy women dressed in Hugo Boss uniforms may be over-generalising, but there's definitely a stigma attached to this subgenre for all the right reasons. However, just out of curiosity, I decided to try out the new GrindhouseFlix site from Full Moon to see what this stuff was all about.

GrindhouseFlix is a nicely designed site with some truly weird and wonderful movies on it (with more due to be added every month). I found the navigation and sign-up process very easy indeed, but the best bit is that the video streaming software which they use behind the scenes works on Linux. Unlike Netflix (which is unusable on Ubuntu even though there's now an unofficial way of getting it to work using WINE), GrindhouseFlix works on any modern operating system.

I used a promo code to watch "Nazithon" for free so it would be churlish of me to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I have to say that the collection of trailers and clips is hardly an in-depth documentary. Basically, it's a collection of most of the nudie bits from the Naziploitation movies. There's nothing wrong with that at all, but I wish that I'd used my freebie on a full length movie instead.

Being my usual cynical self, I'd guess that "Nazithon" is really meant to be a taster (or teaser) for some of the movies which are eventually going to be available on the site, but I still got something out of it. I made a list of anything which looked interesting including "SS Hell Camp", "Salon Kitty", and "The Damned" so that I can watch them later. I'm sorry to say that clips of "Zombie Lake" didn't impress me, but that's because I've had a gutful of zombies anyway.

The hosts of this excursion into "Decadence and Destruction" aren't natural comperes, and I couldn't tell you who either of them are in the entertainment industry without looking them up. There's nothing she can do about it now, but Michelle McGee has far too much ink for an SS officer and looks a bit silly. The fact that the real SS had no female officers anyway (as far as I know) is neither here nor there. This is a Full Moon production after all.

A brief cameo by a certain female puppet from "Puppet Master: Axis of Evil" (2010) is a treat for fans of the series, but I haven't got that far through them yet and have no idea who she is either.

If you want to watch "Nazithon" for free, just click on the banner below, sign up, and use one of the promo codes from Full Moon's Facebook page. It's only 80 minutes long and you might enjoy some of it.

Ooga Booga (2013)

"Ooga Booga follows an innocent African-American boy who is brutally murdered by dirty cops, but his soul is magically transferred into an action figure named Ooga Booga. With his tribal spear and old girlfriend to help, he takes to the streets and trailer parks to find the men that ended his once bright future."

Having seen Ooga Booga's other appearances in "Doll Graveyard" (2005) and "Evil Bong" (2005), I was intrigued by what Charles Band had in store for us with a full length feature starring the puppet. I also wanted to see if Karen Black and Stacy Keach could still act since I haven't seen them in anything horror related for ages, but that's another story. It's been a long time since "Trilogy of Terror" (1975) or "Body Bags" (1993) which are, respectively, their most famous genre performances.

I know that I have a reputation for being all about the serious horror movies rather than the comedies, but before everyone jumps on the "You're a hypocrite!" bandwagon, I do watch other subgenres occasionally either by accident or just to see what's happening. I may be a hypocrite in some situations (like everyone else), but I'm not as bad as certain sycophantic "big name" websites or virtually deceased hillbilly podcasts. This isn't a popularity contest for me so if I choose to watch something silly rather than horror from time to time, that's my business which I'm now making yours for the sake of a blog post.

Anyway, with no idea what kind of entertainment I was going to derive from "Ooga Booga", I gave the Redbox kiosk my custom, made yet another pizza, and settled down for something a bit more uplifting than all the usual death... or so I thought. There's actually still a little bit of murder and bloodshed in "Ooga Booga".

Although the cynic in me is inclined to believe that the whole movie is a giant advertisment to sell replicas of the "Badass Dolls" because they're undeniably cool, "Ooga Booga" has a few genuinely funny moments in spite of itself. Unfortunately, the pacing is slow and the jokes are very far between.

Nobody does a particularly bad job, and the Ooga Booga doll is cute enough to steal the show in every scene even if he's only blinking, but everything feels sparse. The movie isn't short of racist insults, but many punches are pulled by the lack of real vehemence behind them which would make everything more offensive, controversial and memorable.

The main gag is, obviously, the homage to Karen Black's fight with a Zuni fetish doll in "Trilogy of Terror", but it doesn't have any impact even with the same actress in it. Making a parody out of something that was already unintentionally funny is a misplaced step too far in the "meta" direction, and it falls flat. The motivation of the Zuni fetish doll is completely different to Ooga Booga's revenge for one thing.

I must admit that I was expecting (and hoping for) "Ooga Booga" to be a lot more racist and un-politically correct than it turned out to be. While the racist epithets and imagery abound, the fun is really poked at the white stereotypes more than cashing-in on the "blaxploitation" angle. As such, I'm not really sure what to make of what I watched.

The bottom line is that "Ooga Booga" is neither pro-Black or pro-White even if the characters are one way or another. As a bit of cheap "filler" entertainment which lasts less than 90 minutes and only costs a dollar, there's nothing much to gain or lose from the experience.

The Midnight Horror Collection: 8 Movie Pack (Vol. 2)

This pack from two years ago is the first and last of the real "volumes" before Echo Bridge Home Entertainment started reissuing their previous "Horror Collector's Sets" with different cover art. You'll see what I mean as I continue these posts about multipacks.

You have to be very careful with these "Midnight Horror" collections if you are on a restricted budget especially as "Vol. 3" is made up of the Full Moon second disk from the first Midnight Horror collection plus "Zombie Dearest" from this one. Most collectors who are after "completeness" will find themselves with multiple copies of the same movies just to get one or two extra ones which aren't worth watching.

Echo Bridge Home Entertainment horror movie collections are always worth the money individually, but the sheer number of them which they've created by remixing their limited catalogue is very annoying. I would rather pay $60 or so and have everything that they have to release in one bigger pack rather than "Demonic Toys 2" and "Prom Night" half a dozen times. Obviously, Echo Bridge Home Entertainment won't make as much money if they do that so it's never likely to happen.


Watch Me (2006)

"One by one Tess Hooper's friends are brutally murdered. Linking them together is a file that spreads through electronic address books to seek its victims."

If you're anything like me, you'll switch this movie off after the first few seconds because it's clearly a "micro budget" Australian clone of "The Grudge", "The Ring" and several other Asian horror movies mixed together.

Having now seen it all, I can only say that it should be renamed as "Don't Watch Me".


Deadfall Trail (2009)

"Three campers head into the wilderness for a bare-bones expedition, but when the situation becomes desperate, the building tension reaches a breaking point."

Unless you are really into testosterone, survivalism, and men going mad in the wilderness for no good reason, there's not much to get excited about with this low-budget drama either.

Unfortunately, it's so talky that you can't even fast forward through it to say that you've seen the good bits. If you stay with it, there's a nude woman covered in blood at one point, but apart from some nasty bug eating, this movie barely counts as horror.


The Fear Chamber (2009)

"A detective is on the verge of capturing a serial killer, but nightmarish visions thwart his efforts."

Although it's very slow-moving and predictable, there's some lovely gore in "The Fear Chamber" which is worth fast forwarding to and replaying.

The supernatural revenge plot is a nice twist on "The Hands of Orlac" formula, but ultimately, too much time is spend on the cop wrestling with his inner demons. It might have worked if the lead had been able to act his way out of a paper bag.


Haunted from Within (2004)

"A modern retelling of the legend of La Llorana unfolds in an Arizona town."

This is an absolutely horrible movie in every way and on every level, but at least it has beautiful Rina Fernandez in it.

Sometimes an actress is so beautiful that you think you could just gaze at her all day doing nothing and enjoy it. "Haunted from Within" will, however, prove any such theory wrong.

There are much better low-budget "La Llorona" (pronounced "Yorona") movies available and quite a few worse ones. This was originally called "Spirit Hunter: La Llorona" just to confuse collectors of La Llorona movies such as myself.


Evil Bong II: King Bong (2009)

"On the search for a cure for their strange weed-smoking side effects, a group of stoners head to South America."

The same characters as the first "Evil Bong" movie and pretty much the same jokes too. Despite a change of location, what looks like a bigger budget, and even more topless models, it's not good.


Demonic Toys 2 (2010)

"When an oddball group of characters gather to inspect an ancient puppet, strange things begin to happen."

A couple of pretty actresses don't quite make up for the pacing problems, boring story, and poorly differentiated killer toys in this weirdly numbered third sequel. None of the "Demonic Toys" movies are as good as the "Puppet Master" ones, and that's really saying something since they are all terrible even as comedies.

I tried to like it, but "Demonic Toys 2" is somewhat unengaging, too slick looking and sounding, and tries vainly to be a throwback to the '90s instead of catering for a modern audience. Something went very wrong in the mix this time, but everyone is allowed a turkey or two. Putting all the turkeys together on one DVD is asking for trouble though.


Doll Graveyard (2005)

"A teenage loner discovers a set of handmade dolls buried in his backyard. When the clan comes to life, they protect him from harm... fighting a bloody battle in his name."

Easily the best movie in this pack. "Doll Graveyard" might be yet another '80s-style "Puppet Master" and "Demonic Toys" clone, but the wish fulfilment and revenge angle is well played and uses the stereotypical characters perfectly. The casting of the actors is also very good. In particular, the brother and sister look as if they could be siblings in real life.

I enjoyed this one. It's a real shame that it's "windowboxed" on large screen TVs and is shorter than a regular feature by a good 20 minutes.


Zombie Dearest (2009)

"While digging up the septic tank, Gus unearths an obedient, hard-working zombie... a zombie that will do whatever he wants."

When I read the plot synopsis, I thought that this would be another "Fido", but it's not even in the same league. More mediocre than anything else, "Zombie Dearest" only held my interest because of the facial similarity between sexy Shauna Black and Carol Decker from T'Pau (remember them?). I won't use the emoticon which looks like this: o_O because that would be cruel.

If "Zombie Dearest" is supposed to be a horror-comedy then, once again, I missed all the horror and the jokes.


Thus, volume two of "The Midnight Horror Collection" contains one DVD full of lacklustre, low-budget dreck coupled with another which is mostly made up of equally dire Full Moon titles. I'd give it a 50/50 chance of ending up in my yard sale, but that may change again nearer the time.

I have one reader of this blog who I know would love to live in America and have access to all these multi-feature DVDs, but since the dozens of multipacks usually contain the same movies over and over again, I can assure him that he really isn't missing out on much.

"The Midnight Horror Collection 8 Movie Pack" series has now reached "Vol. 13". I only have one more of the 8 packs myself, and it doesn't even have a volume number on it. Instead, I collected the original "Horror Collector's" sets as they came out or ended up in my local pawn shop. While I may still be missing two or three movies, I don't have any desire to buy more.

In my coming posts, I'll go through each "4 Film Horror Collector's Set" and let you know in which "Midnight Horror" packs the movies have been repeated.

The Midnight Horror Collection: 8 Movie Pack (Vol. 1)

Although a lot of these movies have been published before in other Echo Bridge Home Entertainment packs, I believe that this was the first of their "Midnight Horror" collections. I bought it for the full $5 price from Wal-mart just to have a DVD copy of "Meridian" (known in the UK as "Phantoms"). Getting "Below" and several lesser known Full Moon movies was simply a bonus.

The thing is that even though I've had the pack for almost two years, I hadn't watched any of the newer Full Moon movies or other low-budget nasties until today.

Overall, I had a good time watching it. While not every movie in the pack is good, it's definitely worth the money.


Prom Night (1980)

"Four seniors, who all share the same terrible secret, are stalked by a vengeful axe-wielding killer on Prom Night."

You all know this one so I'm not going to re-review it.

The ratio is the old fullscreen 4:3 format, and it's a bit dark, but "Prom Night" isn't a bad movie. I've never really raved about it though and used to think it was boring. It's all about the nostalgia for some people.


Below (2002)

"A submarine picks up three survivors of a U-boat attack but these visitors seem to spark a series of chilling, otherworldly occurrences."

I've reviewed "Below" already too, and it's an okay movie. I liked it more when I first saw it on TV and didn't notice some of its more glaringly lower-budget qualities until I watched it again.

At the end of the day, it's just another Miramax/Dimension Films horror with a fairly decent cast and production values.


I Am Omega (2007)

"The lone survivor of a deadly plague is doomed to an eternal battle with the mutant creatures that now control the Earth."

Something from The Asylum to cash-in on "I Am Legend", of course, but it isn't bad at all. Some of the camerawork is a bit shaky, but I got through a couple of bags of crisps and half a pound cake without incident so it's perfectly watchable.

The action scenes are very good indeed, Mark Dacascos has some nice martial arts skills, and Jennifer Lee Wiggins is great eyecandy. The bottom line is that "I Am Omega" is one of the best movies that The Asylum has ever made. If I ever start doing "Sci-fi Saturday" reviews again, this movie deserves a more in-depth and honest critique than anyone else has given it so far.


The Legend of Sorrow Creek (2007)

"When two sisters return to their childhood summer getaway, they soon fall under the wrath of an evil curse—one that threatens to rip them apart forever."

This Canadian "Blair Witch" wannabe is the weakest link on the first DVD, but it's no longer than a TV movie and occasionally looks like one too. If you make it through the first couple of minutes, it gets better intermittently.

"The Legend of Sorrow Creek" is cheap, the dialogue is full of clichés, and the acting is nasty, but at least it isn't a "found footage" movie. Having said that, it's still best to skip it if you don't want your evening's entertainment ruined.


Evil Bong (2006)

"A toke from a mysterious and powerful vintage bong takes a group of college kids on the wildest trip of their lives."

What begins as a passable stoner comedy with a retro vibe eventually turns into an even lamer horror/situation comedy which isn't worth sitting through except for some hot topless girls and amusing vulgarities.

"Evil Bong" is another slightly shorter than regular feature though so it's not worth getting too upset over.


Demonic Toys (1992)

"When a sixty-six-year-old demon with the power to bring toys to life is awakened, he goes in search of a body to inhabit."

Having never been a fan of the "Puppet Master" movies or this spin-off with similar effects, the whole movie feels dated to me in a bad way.

The real draw is Tracy Scoggins rather than the demonic toys themselves although some of the puppetry is nicely done for the time.


Meridian (1990)

"When a young woman visits her recently inherited Italian castle, she discovers that she has also inherited a medieval curse that threatens her life."

If you ever wanted to see Sherilyn Fenn and Charlie Spradling get strumped all over the place by a werewolf, this is the movie for you. There are some nice performances, everything looks great, and the erotic scenes are genuinely erotic.

The only faults are that "Phantoms" is a very girlie, romantic film at heart rather than a horror, and Malcolm Jamieson bears too much of a resemblance to Martin Kemp during his Spandau Ballet days.


Decadent Evil (2005)

"A vampire named Morella feasts upon the blood of strip club clientele while housing her ex-lover Marvin—part human/part reptile—in a bird cage."

"Decadent Evil" is more or less a run-of-the-mill vampire flick with a TV episode running time, terrible dialogue, and a few weird bits thrown in which don't always gel. It's like a mixture of "The Hunger" and a below average "Tales from the Crypt" episode.

This is another Full Moon movie which most people haven't seen (or would even want to), but the girls are all very pretty. It's not really very "decadent" or "evil" though.


If you haven't already got any of the older "4 Films Horror Collector's Set" packs then either this or the newer "Midnight Horror" 20 pack is a decent purchase for $5.

As a gift for someone who is only just starting to collect horror movies, you can't really fault it. More serious collectors who are looking for better transfers will certainly find something to moan about, but it's higher quality than most Mill Creek packs.

There's definitely something for everyone in this collection so I recommend it. It's just a pity that "Meridian" isn't on the first DVD instead of "The Legend of Sorrow Creek" since I would quite happily throw the second DVD away otherwise.