Book Review: Eternal Vigilance: From Deep Within the Earth

We all know the vampire subgenre has gotten a little stale and hokey. It seems that everyone is creating shallow vampire characters that serve as little more than coat hangers for the gothic clothes and opulent lifestyles that their writers hang on them. A vampire story with strong characters and a storyline that involves more than bodice-ripping and throat-slashing seems hard to find nowadays…which is why it was such a pleasure to be so enthralled by our very own Gabrielle Faust’s Eternal Vigilance: From Deep Within the Earth. Faust takes the time to develop her characters, both vampires and humans, and to also create a post-apocalyptic story that is as entrancing as it is terrifying!

Tynan, a vampire that is many centuries old, awakens from a hundred year sleep to discover the world has been ravaged by many years of war. A technologically advanced organization called The Tyst now rules the world with an iron fist and its highly sophisticated artificial intelligence. The only resistance against The Tyst is the Phuree, a group of nomadic warriors that plan on stopping The Tyst’s evil plans. For, you see, The Tyst has learned that vampires exist and seek knowledge from an ancient and horrifying vampire god that would make them immortal. Tynan must help The Phuree to stop The Tyst from fulfilling their nefarious scheme to save both vampires and humans alike…and ultimately save the world he is so bitter over.

That is an extremely rough and shallow synopsis of a novel that delves deep into characters, motivations and backgrounds. To write a proper synopsis that covers the many events of the novel would take much more room than I have! Faust is thorough and comprehensive in her approach, covering Tynan’s back story as well as other characters’ without ever slowing the story down. She gives us a crystal-clear picture of what life is like after the Tyst takeover, describing the crowded and smelly market places in the city overrun by Tyst surveillance as well as the remote and dusty nomadic camp of the Phuree. Her poetic descriptions paint a vivid picture of both characters and settings as well as letting us delve deeply into Tynan’s mind.

The most commendable aspect of the novel are the well-drawn characters. The story is told from Tynan’s perspective, but Faust fills her story with many other well-rounded and memorable characters. There’s Tynan’s beautiful human lover, Jasmine, his vampire creator/enemy Phelan, and the strong-willed Phuree leaders, among many others! The characters are so exquisitely developed and have so much depth that you can’t wait to read the next page to see what they do next. Everything rings true with the characters, especially the philosophical and strong-willed Tynan.

The story itself is engaging. Faust has an elegantly poetic way with words, elevating the story of survival to a romantic level. The ugliness of the stark, post-apocalyptic world is in sharp contrast to the refined prose that graces the pages of Eternal Vigilance. Don’t confuse “refined” with “stuffy,” though, because the novel moves at a fast pace, catching you up in the story and refusing to let go even when the novel ends, leaving you thirsty for the next installment of Eternal Vigilance.

With her first installment of Eternal Vigilance, Faust has opened the vein to a new and exciting vampire mythology and I can’t wait for what blood-red prose she spills for us next!

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Book Review: Crimson Orgy by Austin Williams

Director Herschell Gordon Lewis and producer David Friedman forever changed the face of cinema in 1963 with their gore-drenched film, Blood Feast. Before then, the exploitation crowd was only familiar with the nudie cuties that graced their movie screens, but Lewis and Friedman tapped into the audience’s bloodlust and ever since Blood Feast reveled in its gruesome carnage-for-carnage’s-sake, the movies have never been the same.

In Crimson Orgy, author Austin Williams explores the seedy and sleazy business of making exploitation movies in the mid-60’s, specifically one notorious snuff film called Crimson Orgy. He tells the tale of Stupendous Pictures, whose owners, producer Gene Hoffman and director Sheldon Meyer (characters inspired by Lewis and Friedman), can’t wait to delve into the gore business with their new gore picture entitled Crimson Orgy. They’ve seen the success of Lewis’ Blood Feast and can’t wait to outgross him, in more ways than one! Only problem is, they have a minuscule budget and an even smaller amount of time to film the gore flick.

They hire a skeleton crew and a cast that includes a boozing leading man, an inexperienced starlet and plenty of small-bit divas who throw a tantrum ever time they need to be covered in blood. With just a week to shoot the feature and a limited supply of film to use, things quickly begin to turn sour. The isolated locale of the shoot, on an empty stretch of Florida coastline, unnerves many of the cast and crew. Not only that, but a power-hungry backwoods cop is keeping a close eye on the production, just hoping for a screw-up so that he can send them all packing back to Miami. Director Meyer is also keeping the lead actress in the dark about the film’s violence and gory set-pieces. Pretty soon, a crew member begins to unravel and disappears with several canisters of exposed film and reports of a big tropical storm off the coast convince the rest of the players that the production is cursed. When real body parts are found on-set, suspicions rise about the intentions of both Hoffman and Meyer. Was their plan all along to pull off a snuff film? Is someone really going to die in Crimson Orgy?

Author Austin Williams delves into the nitty gritty of low budget filmmaking with such a passion that B-movie lovers can’t help but appreciate and love. His story about the fictional Crimson Orgy is immediately engaging (check out the clever intro from a fake book called Ultimate Guide to Horror Movies) and filled with suspense.

Williams tells the tale from the many different perspectives of the cast, crew and assorted locals and they themselves seem straight out of a Herschell Gordon Lewis gore flick! Hidden motivations, agendas and secrets abound in the the colorful cast of characters and this keeps the pace moving steadily along. We are never given quite enough explanation on characters’ backgrounds, but I believe this works in favor of the story, leaving characters’ murky pasts a mystery.

Film buffs like me will go nuts for the description of shooting a low-budget gore film, especially for all the intrigue that goes on behind the scenes. We learn that gallons of fake blood, realistic body parts, blood-curdling screams and a can-do attitude, no matter the price, are what matter in this business. It’s also nice that Williams throws in historical facts about Blood Feast and other players in the grindhouse movie biz at the time. These little touches really make the novel and make you enjoy it all the more!

One small quibble is that, technically, Crimson Orgy isn’t a snuff film. Yes, someone does indeed die (the prologue will tell you that, so I’m not spoiling anything), but the circumstances in which it happens doesn’t quite make it “snuff.” I don’t want to say any more, but I still recommend you check out this fantastic read, despite this small annoyance, because it is time well spent for horror fans, exploitation nuts and film buffs alike.

Available on Amazon!

Timber Falls (2007)

Some horror movies are so derivative I bet I could use the same review over and over, only needing to change names. The message behind this collective review would be that these unoriginal and woefully tired movies SUCK!

Timber Falls is no different than most horror films that feature religious backwoods fanatics. It’s pretty uninspired and unoriginal…but it does have Josh Randall’s rock hard abs on display!!

A yuppie couple is trying to “get away from it all” and decides a trip into the West Virginian State Park system will do the trick. Acres of forests, mountain peaks and rushing streams do little to soothe the soul when they encounter “the locals” that seem to pop up whatever trail they take. After a night of sweaty tent sex, the woman, Sheryl (Brianna Brown), awakens and decides to skinny dip. I don’t know about you, but after encountering a bunch of mostly lascivious weirdoes the LAST thing I would do is strip naked and give anyone secretly watching a free show. Nonetheless, this seemingly brainless beauty does and promptly gets kidnapped by a disfigured man. Cue our “hero,” Mike, (Josh Randall) who wakes from his slumber and runs around looking for his girlfriend, who by this point is nowhere to be found. When he returns back to camp after a few minutes of hollering, everything – their tent, gear, etc. – is gone! Woe is he! He then stumbles into a giant bear trap and passes out…

Mike wakes up to find himself in the cozy home of a local woman, Ida (Beth Broderick), who at first appears pretty darn normal, but soon enough he discovers her collection of human fetuses in the basement. He also finds Sheryl all tied up there with the hulking brute that kidnapped her. It seems that Ida, her husband Clyde (conveniently a park ranger, played by Nick Searcy) and disfigured brother Deacon (Sascha Rosemann) have been kidnapping couples in the hopes that one of them would conceive and carry a baby to term for them. You see, Ida can’t carry a baby to term and has miscarried countless times (hence the fetuses in jars). They marry the couple so their baby won’t be born out of wedlock and tell them to fulfill their marital duties. One problem, though, the couple just doesn’t feel too romantic under the circumstances and decide to fight back.

This is just another “crazy backwoods hillbillies” movie, but instead of featuring slobbering inbred villains it features a family that just wants a baby…and I guess they can’t afford a surrogate or don’t want to go through the adoption process. Rational and logic clearly gets thrown out the window on this one, but I wasn’t expecting anything brilliant, just a movie I could kill some time with. Unfortunately, the pacing on this movie was so slow that it felt like time was killing me!

It takes at least a half an hour for the film to get anywhere, all the while cycling through the same boring clichés. Perky city couple in the woods? Check. Clueless authority figure? Check. Hostile hillbillies? Check. Creepy religious types? Check. Disfigured bad guy? Check. And that is only within the first part of the movie! The tired, unoriginal storyline limps on through to the end.

Besides the cliché-ridden plot, it seemed silly that the overly muscular Mike (and his spectacular abs), who pretty much dwarfed everyone in the cast, would be overpowered by The Three Stooges of backwoods baby-makin’. He really needed to stop wussin’ out and go Hulk on everyone’s asses (“MIKE ANGRY!!!!”). At least that would have seemed more plausible than dear ol’ Momma Ida beating him up (or at least more entertaining).

I will give credit to the actors for putting on a jolly good show despite the uninspired story. Josh Randall and Brianna Brown do a convincing job of playing the couple, though their character development doesn’t go too deep. The rest of the cast was great as well, but my favorite was Beth Broderick (probably most recognizable from TV show Sabrina, The Teenage Witch) who played Ida. She was definitely this film’s saving grace. Her maniacal mind contrasted sharply with her seemingly sweet demeanor and you never knew what she was going to do next! I felt the character of Deacon, though played very effectively by Sascha Rosemann, was unnecessary. I also wish the film had given more screen time to the two hunters that offered some comedic relief.

Still, despite good performances I just can’t bring myself to recommend this derivative film. It is just overly predictable and bland for my tastes, though Broderick’s performance does kick it up a few notches. And I do have to thank writer Daniel Kay for featuring a scene where actor Josh Randall is strung up and his rippling muscles bathed in sweat and candlelight are in full view.

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The Exorcist III (1990)

After the bad taste that Exorcist II: The Heretic left in my mouth, I decided to check out the next Exorcist film, appropriately titled The Exorcist III. Surprisingly, The Exorcist III is a decent flick and left me with that minty-fresh taste I was looking for.

Lieutenant Bill Kinderman (George C. Scott) is investigating a serial killer stalking the streets of Georgetown. The killer has a habit of decapitating his victims and leaving behind religious iconography. The lieutenant believes that somehow the Gemini Killer, who was executed for his crimes 15 years ago, is back and responsible for the murders. He discovers a mental patient, Patient X, that looks exactly like his friend Father Karras (who died falling down that long flight of stairs in the first film, with Jason Miller reprising his role) who has been locked in a padded cell for 15 years, but claims he is James Venamun, The Gemini Killer (Brad Dourif), and that he is killing again. As the body count climbs, Lt. Kinderman comes to realize that something much more demonic has taken over Father Karras’ body…

Some might say that any sequel after Exorcist II would be like a breath of fresh air, but I found that even as a stand-alone film The Exorcist III works. Let’s just try and forget that Exorcist II was ever spawned.

Exorcist III starts off like a crime drama or a serial killer movie, but it’s got some nice touches of horror that will keep you on the edge of your seat! The movie unfolds slowly, building momentum with creepy dream sequences featuring religious iconography (Jesus is watching you!), howling winds and some character interactions that really pull you into the story. It also features two of the most startling scenes you’ll witness in a horror film! One involves a prolonged, tension-filled scene involving a nurse late at night in the hospital while the other shows an old woman crawling on the ceiling. Both are genuinely shocking, scary and come out of nowhere!

The film’s dialogue is sharp and witty, especially between Lt. Kinderman (George C. Scott) and Father Dyer (Ed Flanders). It is truly a joy to see these two characters, who are old friends, make delightful verbal jabs at each other. The dialogue gets a whole lot darker when Lt. Kinderman visits with Patient X/The Gemini Killer (Brad Dourif), but it’s no less intriguing. The chemistry between George C. Scott and Brad Dourif is fantastic and their scenes together are very eerie. The actors are definitely at the top of their game here, as the script gives them plenty to work with.

The script was written by William Peter Blatty and adapted from his book Legion, the sequel to his popular The Exorcist novel. Blatty also directed this film and should be proud of the damn fine horror film he’s created. It doesn’t rely on blood and gore to gross the audience out, but instead a creeping dread that permeates your very core.

Of course, the film isn’t perfect. On the onset, things are a bit confusing when Patient X reveals himself alternately as Father Karras (Jason Miller) and Gemini Killer James Venamun (Brad Dourif). While the film explains that the Gemini Killer took over the Father’s body as he died, the vacillation between the two is distracting. The ending wasn’t my cup of tea either. After slowly building dread and tension, the finale just seems over the top. The silly inclusion of exorcism priest Father Morning (Nicol Williamson) didn’t help either, as he doesn’t really serve a purpose in the film until the end.

Overall, though, The Exorcist III is an excellent, underrated horror flick that is a proper successor to The Exorcist. Now, if we could just imagine that Exorcist II was never made…

Available from Amazon!

Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

Some movies have a reputation that precedes them, a reputation that has marked them as being “bad” movies. Most everyone you talk to about these movies tells you they are awful…The Exorcist II: The Heretic is one such movie that is loathed by most horror fans and critics (oftentimes called “the worst sequel ever made”), but I was curious to see if it was really as horrible as everyone claimed.

The verdict?

Yes, it is as bad as everyone claims!

It cinches its title as one of the worst sequels ever made with a ridiculously unbelievable script, horrible dialogue, bad acting and taking itself way too seriously. The result is a self-important but tiresomely dull movie.

Four years after a demon was exorcised from Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), Father Lamont (Richard Burton) is put to task by the Catholic Church to get to the bottom of Father Merrin’s (Max von Sydow) death during the exorcism.

Meanwhile, Regan has grown into a chipper chubby-cheeked teen with no recollection of the exorcism, or at least that is what she claims. Her psychologist, Dr. Gene Tuskin (Louise Fletcher, who looks uncannily like Ellen Burstyn), thinks those memories are locked deep within her and wants to get to them. She introduces Regan to synchronized hypnosis (a process that involves little more than a tabletop machine with flashing lights that’s connected to electrodes), which will allow her to see into Regan’s subconscious (gee, sounds like a whole lotta unbelievable crap to me!).

Father Lamont comes to visit Regan and gets put in “synch” with her mind. He can see what happened that night and that the demon Pazuzu is still dwelling inside Regan. He then travels to Africa to hunt down Kokumo (James Earl Jones), the only known survivor (besides Regan) of an exorcism at the holy hands of Father Merrin. Add mumbo-jumbo about “good” and “bad” locusts, psychic connections that span continents and a big locust explosion at the finale and you’ve got an idea about the absurdity of the plot.

It’s sad, really, because director John Boorman, who wanted to create something wholly different than the first Exorcist, succeeded, but at the horrible cost of making a pompous, meandering and boring film. Visually, the film has its moments, with eye-catching aerial shots of red, rocky cliffs, plains and fields in Africa and the swarms of locusts, but those small moments do little to alleviate the pain of watching the remaining 95% of the movie.

The acting is cringe-worthy, with Linda Blair coming off as horribly annoying and the other actors faring no better. Of course, the source material, written by William Goodhart, could be the root of all the trouble. The dialogue (“When the wings have brushed you… is there no hope once the wings have brushed you?”) is atrocious and the situations and circumstances are just ludicrous. Not even the score, by the great Ennio Morricone (whom I usually love), is any good. It’s tribal sounds and demon-screeching just serve to grate nerves, very much like the rest of the movie.

This film had a grand scope when it first started, setting out to investigate exorcisms the world over from Africa to South America and beyond, but somehow its grand story became muddled and bogged down, both from the mythology laid down by the first film but also from its own preposterous storyline that became weighted with far too many questions it sought to answer. Between Father Lamont’s visits to the tribes in Africa and his “synching” with Regan’s mind, things become pretty unbelievable pretty quickly. And don’t get me started on the dream sequences!

Years of warnings from viewers and critics alike didn’t deter me from seeing this stink-bomb of a film, but hopefully it will save you the trouble. Unless, of course, you’re masochistic and enjoy being put through pain…then, by all means I would highly recommend Exorcist II: The Heretic!

Available from Amazon!

Frontieres (2007)

After I heard so much buzz about Frontière(s) (aka Frontier(s)), I was eager to check it out. After the recent French filmmaking triumphs of Haute Tension, Them (Ils) and Inside, it seemed destined that Frontière(s) would be another notch in French horror cinema’s belt. Despite the high praise that Frontière(s) has been receiving, I found it a disappointment. It lacks the ingenuity of past French films. Behind the fountains of blood and gore (enough of an endorsement on its own to get some of you to see it) cowers an unbelievable and “been there, done that” story.

With massive riots rocking Paris, a group of friends are on the lam after a robbery. Farid (Chems Dahmani) and Tom (David Saracino) head out of town and into the countryside, while pregnant Yasmine (Karina Testa) and baby daddy Alex (Aurélien Wiik) take Yas’ brother Sami (Adel Bencherif) to the ER after he suffers a gunshot wound. When Sami dies moments later and the cops are hot on their trail, Yas and Alex high-tail it out of town to meet up with Farid and Tom, who are holed up at a hostel deep in the countryside. What they don’t know is that the hostel and the nearby farm are run by a mad old man and his neo-Nazi family. When they discover that Yas is pregnant, their nefarious plans for “pure blood” are focused on her unborn child.

Frontière(s), written and directed by Xavier Gens, uses convenient plot twists and contrived situations that require quite a suspension of belief. Not to mention that we’ve all seen the “crazy cannibalistic family in the countryside” before. Frontière(s) doesn’t really add anything new to this delightful subgenre, which is just fine if you want the comfort of the familiar. If you are looking for something to knock your socks off, though, I’m afraid Frontière(s) won’t do the trick.

The contrived plot turns are probably what annoyed me most about this film. The way things unfold seem awfully convenient…that, or the characters really are dumber than a bag full of rocks. For example, when Yasmine has multiple chances to escape and run far, far away, she always manages to muck it up and get herself caught again. Also, in a brutal scene involving a table saw, the way things unfold (man turns on table saw, man walks away from table saw, man is pushed backward, falls on still-running table saw) seemed too much like a set-up. The scene felt forced, unnatural, unbelievable and in no way surprising. There were ample scenes like this that just made me roll my eyes. Another example would be the anti-climatic use of guns throughout the film, especially in the shoot ‘em up finale. Sure, people get their brains blown out aplenty, but this method of killing just seems too easy and dull for a horror movie.

On the positive end of the spectrum, the film offers plenty of grue – most of which ends up plastered all over one particular character by the end of the film. If you are looking to satiate your blood thirst, Frontière(s) will definitely help you quench it. There are also several nifty death scenes (the saw scene does look cool, even if it feels contrived, and there’s a sadistic steam death sequence that’s pretty gruesome) along with plenty of violence.

The acting is also quite good, with all the actors giving great performances. The backwoods family, featuring three grown daughters, three sons and the evil Nazi Vater (that’s “father” for all you non-German speaking folk), was pretty brutal but intriguing. You just couldn’t wait to see what they would do next. The group of friends caught in the middle each had their own personalities and each character was adequately developed, something that most horror movies woefully forget to do. Karina Testa as Yasmine was the most effective, going from distraught to confused to determined to enraged in a steadily building crescendo of emotions and vengeance.

Still, no amount of good acting or bloody gore could make me fully enjoy this film. There was too much of an incomplete storyline, too many convenient plot developments and too many loose ends the film fails to tie up. Even the beginning of the film, which featured footage of riots, didn’t have any bearing on the rest of the story and the Nazi family’s intentions for “pure blood” weren’t quite explained adequately.

Though I found Frontière(s) to be seriously lacking, I would still recommend it over the heinous American remakes currently being churned out. There is plenty of blood and grue to entertain gorehounds, just don’t expect a cohesive or original story.

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The Black Pit of Dr. M (1959)

Full of dark shadows, creeping fog, howling wind, ghostly apparitions, mental patients, disfigurement, death and murder, The Black Pit of Dr. M (aka Misterios de Ultratumba) is a masterpiece of gothic filmmaking that deserves far more attention and praise than it has received.

Dr. Mazali (Rafael Bertrand) and Dr. Aldama (Antonio Raxel) have sworn a pact that states whomever dies first must figure out a way for the other to experience the afterlife while still being able to return to the flesh. When Dr. Aldama dies, Dr. Mazali conducts a séance to remind his friend of their promise. Dr. Aldama speaks through a medium to Dr. Mazali that in precisely three months at 9 pm he will fulfill his promise and show Dr. Mazali the afterlife, but at a horrific cost.

Meanwhile, Dr. Aldama’s estranged daughter Patricia (Mapita Cortés) is led by the ghost of the late doctor (her father!) to the mental hospital where Dr. Mazali works. Patricia falls for Dr. Mazali’s young intern (Gastón Santos), while Dr. Mazali becomes entranced with the pretty girl. All the while, time is quickly passing and leading to the fateful night when the doctors’ pact will be realized.

One night, a mental patient (Carolina Barret) of Dr. Mazali gets exceedingly violent and hurls a bottle of acid in the face of an orderly named Elmer (Carlos Ancira), horribly disfiguring him. When the same mental patient turns up dead in Dr. M’s arms, he is blamed for her death and convicted of her murder. All the way to the gallows he believes Dr. Aldama will fulfill his promise and save him from death…but at what cost?

Mexican director Fernando Méndez crafts astoundingly atmospheric visuals and writer Ramón Obón spins a dizzyingly suspenseful story, both creating an unforgettable film with The Black Pit of Dr. M.

The visuals of the long halls of the arcane mental hospital, the dense fog, the Doctor’s villa and the dark shadows will strike you first. There are certain shots that are framed to perfection, including one scene that features the starkly back-lit gallows, which rival any of the classic Universal horror films for their gothic mystique.

Secondly, you will notice that the story of intrigue builds upon itself and never leaves a dull moment. Not only that, but time is adequately taken to properly develop the characters as the story unfolds. While the gorgeously gothic visuals help grab your attention and establish the dark mood of the film, it’s the compounding storyline that keeps building that really sets this masterpiece apart. It really has a bit of everything, from the ghostly visits of Dr. Aldama to the deranged mental patient to the disfigurement of Elmer and the strange love triangle between Dr. M, Patricia and the intern. It may sound a bit overwhelming at first, but both director Méndez and writer Obón skillfully weave an engaging story.

The actors also add to the high quality of the film, doing an amazing job of bringing their characters and their inky motivations to life. Rafael Bertrand is wonderful as the titular Dr. M and is easily the Mexican equivalent of Vincent Price! I also enjoyed the beautiful Mapita Cortés as Patricia. She added a real spark to the film. Even the woman who played the violent mental patient, Carolina Barret, did a fantastic job with her character. Though she had no dialogue, her facial expressions and body language artfully portrayed all the mad emotions in her character. All of the actors’ passionate portrayals of their characters, coupled with the mysterious atmosphere and intriguing story, helped create an unforgettable film.

Unless you aren’t a fan of old black and white movies (and if you’re not, you are truly missing out), there isn’t one negative thing I can say about this film. From the opening death bed sequence to the grand, horrifying finale, The Black Pit of Dr. M had me hooked. Its stark chiaroscuro cinematography coupled with its intriguing story set in the fog-shrouded villa and mental hospital will leave you in awe.

Available on Amazon!