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Category: Streaming Alert!

Streaming Alert! :: Silent Scream (1980)

Posted on By unkle lancifer

I don't know if any one movie can satisfy all of my horror needs. Sometimes I want scares, sometimes I want gore and sometimes I just desire a moderately creepy old dark house flick. 1980's SILENT SCREAM falls into that last category, it won't satiate anybody's desire for bloodshed but its slinking, reluctant pace, haunting imagery and exceptional use of locale make it go-to horror comfort food for yours truly. I'd probably love it a little bit more if somebody's head was chopped off but you can't have everything. SILENT SCREAM is like the last gasp of traditional old school horror right before the great age of slashers really got under way. You can almost sense the genre as a whole transforming before your eyes, kicking off classic cobwebs and lunging for the sharpest butcher knife in the drawer.

REBECCA "BOOGENS bait" BALDING plays Scotty Parker (add that name to the gender-neutral "final girl" moniker list) a gal with a Twiki meets Tootie mushroom-do who is looking for college lodging. Lucky for me she selects the most foreboding place she can find overlooking the sea and moves right in. As if the house were not off putting enough, her landlady is YVONNE DeCARLO who is the mother of a blatantly nerdy (i.e. potential psycho) son. Scotty is joined by some other young room renters including a potential beau, a brassy gal pal and a wealthy douche, all of who appear put on this planet in order to die before she. To all my friends out there hiding horrible family secrets within their home, please take my simple advice and never rent rooms to anybody. I don't care how much you need the money; it's just not worth the risk!

Now I'm going to give away a major plot point because it is also a major selling point as well! Do not read further if you have not had time in the past thirty years to watch this movie! The big secret in the creaky old spooky house is that mom and son are hiding someone special in the walls and that mystery guest is the one and only BARBARA STEELE! For me, this is the best news ever! I can't think of anybody I'd rather find hiding in my house except CHRISTINA RICCI or maybe MORRISSEY! This is when the movie gets really good because BABS plays a tragic, lost-in-time figure and those are my peeps! I think it's nifty that she's just as much a fly caught in amber as the film itself! Who cares if she is a murderer? She has the most beautiful eyes. I love this character because she plays the same song over and over again on a red record player and has placed an old picture of herself in her mirror so that she doesn't have to worry about aging. I think that's a fine idea. Her situation is very sad and I'm so jealous!

One of the reasons I really dug TI WEST's HOUSE OF THE DEVIL is because it so reminded me of SILENT SCREAM. Both movies have a nearly identical structure and a "keep your shirt on" pace. Maybe some viewers have something better to do, I sure as hell don't. I guess my biggest complaint about SILENT is that there is a slightly snorey side story which involves the police investigation and that is something I don't care about even if the officers are THE TOOLBOX MURDER's CAMERON MITCHELL and Dorito dude AVERY SCHRIEBER. It's a small price to pay for the good stuff though.

Believe it or not SILENT SCREAM was a big hit back in its day landing just in time to reap the post HALLOWEEN benefits. I did not encounter it myself until the mid nineties when it jumped out at me at a used video shop. I wasn't expecting much but I thoroughly enjoyed it as a potent punch of nostalgia and a semi-soothing mood piece with a couple good chills. Part of the reason may be personal; my first year of college I rented a room in a big old house on the coast of Massachusetts and it really brings back strong memories for me. I never witnessed any gruesome murders but I did find a giant rat staring back at me from my closet. Who can say which is worse?

NOTE: SILENT SCREAM was filmed in a joint called "The Smith Estate" in Los Angeles. Strangely enough it is the exact same beautiful Victorian home you'll find in 1964's SPIDER BABY (also available on Netflix streaming.) Stranger still, the two movies share almost the exact same shot of a character climbing up the front stairs, knocking on the front door and then checking out the window to the left! Wha!? ( I have not been this excited since I found out that Garth Manor from HELL NIGHT is the same pad as the mansion from FLEETWOOD MAC's "Big Love" video!) It doesn't look like much has changed at the Smith Estate between 1964 and 1980 (SILENT actually began filming in 1977!), it's almost as if time has stood still. How appropriate is that?

Streaming Alert: Jean Rollin

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Lo and behold, all of the sudden there's a whole slew of JEAN ROLLIN films springing up on Netflix streaming and this is your heads up! Titles include REQUIM FOR A VAMPIRE, THE NUDE VAMPIRE, NIGHT OF THE HUNTED, TWO ORPHAN VAMPIRES, DEMONIACS, THE LIVING DEAD GIRL, SHIVER OF THE VAMPIRES, THE RAPE OF THE VAMPIRE and LIPS OF BLOOD. So yeah, lot's of vampires.

Now, I have only checked out a couple of these in my day and mostly on fallible bootleg VHS. I can tell you that LIVING DEAD GIRL is a good starting place and I admit to being fond of the seaside local and stripey shirts of DEMONIACS. Like many prolific artists, ROLLIN has his highs and lows but no one can ever accuse him of not having a personal vision. Sometimes he is breathtakingly poetic and sometimes he is frustratingly nonsensical, either way he's admirably or consistently himself. If nude ladies tune your fork you just stumbled on a goldmine but I think all horror fans should stick their toe in ROLLIN's esoteric pool at least once. It might not be your cup a tea but that doesn't mean ya shouldn't take a sip!

To learn more about the late JEAN ROLLIN (he passed away just this past December) check out his official home on the web HERE!

Streaming Alert! :: Harper's Island

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Just one recommendation today but since it runs 13 episodes, it should keep you busy for a while. HARPER'S ISLAND you might recall was a season long slasher mystery that ran on CBS not too long ago. It didn't make much of a wave at the time but that may be partially blamed on audience impatience and inconsistent scheduling. Watching it on Netflix streaming sans commercials and with the ability to jump to the next episode at leisure can only smoothen the viewing experience.

HARPER'S has a lot characters to take in at first and there may be some rough patches and needless padding here and there, but once the cast gets whittled down and things start rolling it's a dark humored addictive pleasure. Some of it may be borderline hokey but its lamer qualities tend to add to the enjoyment level if you're watching with mouthy friends. You may even find yourself, as I did, jeering a character one minute and then lamenting his or her untimely death the next. The longer running time allows you get to know some of these victims a bit better than you would in a traditional slasher/mystery and with at least one person guaranteed to die each episode, the horror dry spells are few. The murders themselves are surprisingly gruesome for broadcast T.V. and the titles of the episodes are even morbidly named after the sound that is made when a death on the show occurs.

This show may have not have been the smash success it needed to be to continue on CBS but I hope somebody (are ya listening channels FEARNET, CHILLER, SYFI?) is wise enough to give the innovative format/structure another go sometime soon.

For now, I suggest giving this underrated and misunderstood series a chance.
It's got some good surprises up its sleeve and I can think of many worse locations to spend your summer vacation. Don't feel bad if you're not entirely convinced at first, I think I spent most of the run of the show dubious and cynical but now that it's over all I want to do is return! We're basically talking about a soap opera in which nearly everybody dies horribly at regular intervals, how can that not taste like a milkshake?

Streaming Alert! :: Frayed (2007)

Posted on By unkle lancifer

I just have to give all the dyed-in-the-wool slasher fans out there the heads up that FRAYED is now available on Netflix Streaming. Long time Kindertrauma readers will probably remember that a while back we featured traumafessions from the makers of this independent film (check them out HERE). I have a bit of a soft spot for this under the radar gem because it feels just like the eighties horror movies I gravitated toward in my youth. It owes much to HALLOWEEN (who doesn't?) but it's not afraid to shake the formula up a bit to keep things loose and freshly off kilter. I'm not crazy about all of the performances but the actors that really need to go for broke certainly do. If you are one of the folks who recently enjoyed the small town killer on the loose atmosphere of SCREAM 4, I think you'll find some fun to be had here too, just remember to turn the lights off before you watch and don't be surprised if when the film is done, you reach to rewind the tape only to remember it's not on VHS.

I'm happy to see that many people who have watched FRAYED and left comments on Netflix Streaming, IMDb & Amazon seem to appreciate it as much as I do for what it accomplishes. No, there are no big stars in the movie and sometimes its budget is apparent but if you settle down and get yourself into the action, it's really a fun and thrilling old school ride with real scares. In fact, I'm kind of surprised that FRAYED did not make more of a splash when it came out on DVD. I'm sure it would have if it was given a better push by distributer LIONS GATE. I mean they didn't even put images from the movie on the back of the DVD case and that is just lazy loco! I know I never rent stuff without pictures on the back because it makes me assume that the movie has something to hide! Well, FRAYED has nothing to hide (especially in the cool visuals department) and the days of reading the back of DVD cases in video stores seems to be over now anyway. Looks like us horror fans are going to have to rely even more on word-of-mouth from now on. You probably already know if a low-budget slasher salute suites your appetites or not. I know for me every once in a while I need that certain late-night fix and FRAYED, now available on Netflix Streaming is one good way to get it.

NOTE: FRAYED will also be making its cable premiere on THE CHILLER CHANNEL on May 6th at 10pm EST! You can check out its home page HERE & its FB page HERE! This is a film that really deserves horror community support. It is made by real fans rather than hired monkeys so I say check it out! HORROR MOVIE A DAY has called it "The best slasher in years!" and you can read that review HERE!

Streaming Alert: Games (1967)

Posted on By unkle lancifer

I think I may have mentioned before that I tend to be a homebody/shut-in. What do I want with the chaos of the outdoors when I have a perfect nest constructed of books and DVDs? Due to my shame free affliction I have an affinity for films that take place in a limited setting. Most of these types of films are based on plays (think THE BAD SEED or BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE. Yeah, I dig EILEEN HECKART, what of it?) but that is not the case with the devoutly interior GAMES which is based on an original screenplay by GENE R. KEARNEY (Wow! The guy who directed both versions of SILENT SNOW, SECRET SNOW! I swear I'm just finding that out now!). The action in GAMES never escapes the swanky apartment of spoiled upscale art collecting New York socialites Paul and Jennifer Montgomery (JAMES CAAN & KATHERINE ROSS neither ever looking slicker) and that's one of the films major appeals to me. Watching this movie is like being a silent ghost observer in someone's home. The plot is secondary, as I find the movie acts like a cozy diorama that I find myself happy to loiter in, the Mongomerys are into pop art pinball & getting their drink on, my kinda peeps.

Secondary or not there is indeed a plot and in 1967, I'm sure it was one twisty mind fuck. Contemporary viewers may see the final gotcha coming but whatever. (What, you think you are a genius or something for outsmarting a movie? Cure something and then we'll talk.) The Montgomerys know how to be awesome, they don't have kids but they do have an elevator. They wear wigs and perform magic for their house guests and employ both an elderly maid and a butch deliveryman. One day Jennifer (ROSS) makes the rookie mistake of letting a cosmetics sales lady into her house named Lisa who is portrayed by SIMONE SIGNORET. Anyone who has ever seen DIABOLIQUE knows that this is not a good idea. Lisa grifts the crap out of Jennifer and soon she has moved herself in. Lisa is not amused by the couple's multiple sources of entertainment and decides to kick things up a notch by playing "Angry Birds" with their psyches. Soon everybody is playing tricks on each other and screwing with each other's heads. It's a bit like a more mature, parlor room version of APRIL FOOL'S DAY. You never know who's zooming whom except you kind of actually do. Even still, there are a couple of nail-biting suspense scenes and it's hard to predict just how far things will go.

GAMES is running around in a thriller coat but the lining is so very horror. It was directed by the super fantastic CURTIS HARRINGTON who has graced the planet with such titles as NIGHT TIDE (1961), WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? (1971) WHOEVER SLEW AUNTIE ROO? (1972) and THE KILLING KIND (1973) among others. It's got a casual pace but it's never less than entertaining and like I suggested earlier, it delivers a swanky joint to hang out in. I don't want to ruin the fun but let me assure you that the thunder-cracking climax is worth the wait. A certain everyday tone is established and then HARRINGTON takes off his gloves and goes in for the kill, wedging in a possible supernatural angle which leaves you second guessing your previous assumptions. The performances are all highly watchable: CAAN is smarmy, yet charming; ROSS is cloying, yet compassionate, and SIGNORET holds her cards rather nicely to her chest. You'll likely notice DON STROUD from DEATH WEEKEND and THE AMITYVILLE HORROR and there's even a cameo by CAT PEOPLE's KENT SMITH! I have no idea why this film is not more notorious than it is. C'mon look at that cast for crying out loud.

GAMES is currently available on Netflix Streaming so check it out while you can. It was never released on DVD and if you want to own the VHS, you'd better have a couple hundred dollars lying around. If it happens to be raining or you find yourself awake in the wee hours of the night, please double this recommendation. CURTIS HARRINGTON is a director who is far too undervalued and if you ask me, the stylish and twisty GAMES is one of his finest accomplishments. Go ahead, roll the dice, it's your turn.

Streaming Alert: Terrorvision!

Posted on By unkle lancifer

UNK SEZ: Heads up! I just happily stumbled across the never released on DVD fluorescent eighties spaz attack TERRORVISION rearing its kooky head on Netflix Streaming! It's the only film I know of that can satisfy your yearnings for MARY WARANOV and DIANE FRANKLIN at the same time! You can check out a full, old and barely readable review HERE but the images and trailer below should tell you all you need to know!