Zombie Toxin (1996)

Zombie Toxin (1996) - United Kingdom
Directed by: Tom J. Moose

THE MAKING OF A BRITISH TRASHTERPIECE:

Tom Moose, Adrian Ottiwell and Robert Taylor began making films together in 1989 when they all met in their teenage years in school. They made a few amateurish comedies and short films together, some about chickens and superheroes. But it wasn't until 1992, when Tom was brewing his own homemade white wine, that he came up with an idea for a feature-length film; a film we would come to know as Zombie Toxin, but it was originally named Homebrew. Tom pitched his idea to Robert and Adrian, and they wrote a rather complex story. What started off as a simple yet absurd comedy would later devolve into a convoluted tale about Nazis, zombies with diarrhea, horse slaughter and killer, sentient wine bottles. Tom and crew never intended to make a "sick" film so they employed as much humor as possible when making the movie to keep it from being too dark.

A script was never written for Homebrew. The filmmakers would literally make up the dialogue and scenes as they went along, but this made for very confusing and tedious shoots. On top of the movie's ultra low budget, there were a few special effects and pyrotechnics involved that made for dangerous times on set, which resulted in a lot of the effects having to be done with computers. Homebrew began shooting in 1993 and wrapped up in 1996, and it was around this time that Tom and crew were really spreading the word about their movie. Tom wrote in to multiple zine publishers looking for help finishing the movie. 

Steve Lawson, a filmmaker and the author of the underground movie zine A Bag of Sand wrote a few articles about Homebrew in different issues and not only promoted the film, but also chipped in on production. Tom gave Steve ideas of what the film was like and Steve ended up making all of the music up without seeing any of the movie. Steve used an Amiga computer and a program called Pro-Tracker to score the film, and then sent the score to Tom via a computer disk for mixing. The film was shot entirely on SVHS and was edited together using video mixers and computer graphics, with the titles and effects being done at a video company where Tom worked at the time. After years of hard work and stress, Homebrew was finally completed later in 1996 and was lucky to get international distribution and a reputation as one of the most ambitious and sick amateur movies to ever emerge from the underground.

Now that's all well and good, but I've rambled plenty about the behind-the-scenes details. What is the movie about? Well it's very hard to say exactly, but I'll give you my best plot description possible. Two Satanists (who look more like KKK members) that run a torture and shoe-repair business employ one Mr. Nasty to slaughter a horse for a ritual they're planning. When the procedure gets too bloody and messy, Mr. Nasty is infected by the horse's innards, which spread a deadly toxin that will turn anyone into a flesh-hungry zombie. Mr. Nasty's goofy, unlucky assistant Benny dumps the horse's innards into the river. But things get worse when a farmer drinks from the river and turns into a zombie with chronic diarrhea. His diarrhea infects his yeast crops, which two Nazis harvest to make homemade wine in an attempt to take over the world. But the plan backfires, and the wine bottles come to life and start attacking everyone. Who will stop the reign of the evil wine bottles?

REVIEW:
So... yeah. Homebrew is a shot-on-video splatter comedy from Britain. It is also one of the most batshit insane movies I've ever seen, even to this day. This movie is pure non-stop madness, but it's one of the most hilarious indie movies I've ever seen. It's the greatest thing Troma never released! The plot is by far the most ridiculous and convoluted thing about the movie, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't love how stupid it is. The story is so nonsensical and we are constantly introduced to characters who get hastily killed off or only exist to be running jokes. Every character's motivations are paper-thin and lack explanation, which would normally kill any other film. But in a comedy like Homebrew, you're so engulfed by its insanity that you're too entertained to care! 

The acting ranges from laughably bad to over-the-top and hammy like bacon. Every actor seems like they're using everything in their power to not burst out laughing, which makes things even better. I can't blame them when half of them are running around in ridiculous costumes, gaudy wigs and fake mustaches while singing corny songs (yes, there are songs) and spouting great one-liners about shitting their own innards out.

Speaking of shit, there's a lot of it in this movie. There are multiple scenes where we get graphic closeups of (obviously fake) shit spewing from zombie's asses, as well as a lot of green, glowing chunky vomit. Without meaning to spoil, one of the best and nastiest scenes in the movie involves two zombies, a lot of shit, vomit, and some really messy gore effects. For an amateur production, the camera, editing, and special effects are especially impressive. Granted, we do get a lot of very cheap looking digital effects that were clearly made with a low-grade computer. But the gore, makeup and other practical effects are pretty well done considering the obviously ultra-low budget. The camera work is very inventive and there are some very creative shots, such as a scene involving a character being run over by a train, POVs from the killer wine bottles, and so much more. The editing and sound mixing, while rough in some spots, is mostly well-done, and even the score is pretty cool, if cheesy and rough around the edges. So while this movie isn't ultra-polished or smart, it's a hell of a lot of fun and there's plenty of gore and dark humor for horror fans to enjoy!

I love this movie. It's one of my favorite shot-on-video flicks, and is also one of my favorite British underground flicks. Tom Moose, unfortunately, didn't do too much later in his film career. After Homebrew, Tom and crew began working on a parody of government-conspiracy movies called Viva Las Venus, but that project was never finished. Tom made a few smutty sex-comedies in the mid-2000's that did get distribution in America, but he never made anything else in the realm of horror-comedies, which is a shame. I'd love to see him and his crew take on making one more absurd dark comedy. But I'm at least content knowing he made this masterpiece of trash. Absolutely check this movie out!

RELEASES:

-Homebrew was originally self-released by Viscera International Pictures in 1996 on VHS.

-Homebrew was later re-released on VHS in the UK by Screen Edge.

-Finally, Homebrew was released on VHS in the USA by Alternative Cinema under its old sub-label Shock-O-Rama Cinema, but the name and title card were changed to Zombie Toxin for the American market. There's also another VHS edition from Shock-O-Rama with the name Zombie Brew on the box, but the opening credits have the original Homebrew title card. Alternative Cinema has teased a DVD re-issue of the film for years now, but the release has yet to materialize. Which really sucks. I would kill to see some bloopers, behind the scenes or interviews!

MORE PICTURES:

CREDITS:

Pictures and stills courtesy of Ross Snyder of Saturn's Core Audio and Video, Michael Raso of Alternative Cinema, John Bentham of Screen Edge and Steve Lawson of Creativ Studios.

Blutnacht: Die Rache des Dämon (1999)

Blutnacht: Die Rache des Dämon (1999) - Germany
Directed by: Jochen Stephan, Hermann Weller

ABOUT THE FILM:
Jochen Stephan is a big movie fan with an even bigger movie collection, sporting thousands of DVD's, Blu-Rays, VHS tapes and more. He's been collecting movies for over 20 years at this point, and he has one of the best collections I've ever seen. Tons of rare underground and indie releases, and needless to say, tons of German splatter and horror. Jochen actively spends his time and money on collecting all of the underground German movies he can, but Jochen has also made a few horror films, and it's time to check out his first filmmaking endeavor.

"Scary find in the cornfield"

Blutnacht has a troubled history behind its production and its release. It was filmed between 10 to 12 days in 1999. After wrapping up the movie, one day someone from within the city found blood, animal guts, clothes and vampire teeth scattered all over the cornfield, where Blutnacht was filmed. Alarmed, this citizen called the police, the news and the media got involved, and they even brought in a police helicopter to look over the field for more body parts or clothes. They later found out everything was part of a film project, and the filmmakers hadn't finished cleaning yet. Everything traced back to Jochen and his film, and his house was raided and all of the film's materials were seized and investigated before being returned later. Because of its violence and bloodshed, the movie was marked as "indiziert," meaning it was placed on a list of media that could be harmful to German youth, but it wasn't completely banned (but close to it). The film was eventually taken off of the list, and on a VHS re-issue in 2002, Blutnacht came with television news reports on the aftermath. This same footage was also later included on the DVD release.

"Rider discovers gruesome horror film props"

But what about the film itself?

Blutnacht is about Jo, an ordinary German man who likes to have fun. One day, Jo and his buddies decide to meet up and have a party, and Jo brings his girlfriend along for the ride. But before the party, Jo is shocked and angered to discover his girlfriend fooling around with his best friend. So he confronts them and they quickly flee. Feeling betrayed, Jo walks off and wanders onto the road, where he is hit by a car. The driver gets out and discovers that he killed Jo, so he quickly escapes the scene. But the intense anger Jo felt toward his girl and his best friend manifests itself as a demonic force and resurrects Jo as a pissed off bloodthirsty demon, who sets out for revenge against humanity. As he stalks and kills everyone he finds in the countryside, he is followed by a companion who assists him in the killings, rewarding him with new killing tools and also making the bodies disappear. The blood night begins!

REVIEW:

The movie starts and after 10 long, boring minutes of nothing but Jochen and one of his friends driving and talking, we finally get into the meat of the story and the fun begins.

Blutnacht is a love-letter to all things underground splatter and horror, and you can tell everyone involved had a lot of fun making it. Everyone in the cast basically plays themselves, so the dialogue and exchanges don't feel awkward or unnatural, but are still far from professional. Jochen puts on an entertaining show as Jo, a brutal killing machine who just wants blood and guts, and he mercilessly chops, guts, slices up and decapitates everyone in his path. The story is plain and simple, but still maintains some originality with the aspect of Jo being followed and assisted by the other demon.

The gore effects in Blutnacht are pretty good by amateur film standards, and the kills are plentiful. Arms and body parts are hacked up and stabbed into, guts and innards are torn out of torsos, heads are pulled clean off of shoulders, and bodies are lit on fire, all the while blood sprays everywhere like a firehose. And the camera doesn't shy away from any of the gore, it captures every last second of the kills in their nasty glory. However, this causes some issues with the pacing and the editing. The movie is very slow at points, even when stuff is happening. The camera lingers a lot, with few angle changes or edits. Another problem is the picture quality and the lighting. Blutnacht was shot on a cheap video camera and was recorded almost entirely at night with very little lighting. Everything is lit with cars or with small lights, and this makes it hard to see what's going on at times. At one point a bright light flashes during a kill scene, as someone was taking photos off screen. The picture quality is very fuzzy and grainy, as if the footage had been copied from tape to tape a few times during editing. There are also points where you can see the play button from the VCR it was recorded on and the picture lags occasionally. So the film isn't pretty to look at, but it's what I expected from an amateur gore movie made in the late 90's.

Blutnacht feels a lot like one of those underground movies that the filmmakers made only to entertain themselves, out of their love of horror and gore. I feel that if the police never got involved in this movie, it would have been long forgotten and buried. But Blutnacht's production history marked its legacy, and the movie has forever casted its shadow onto the German underground scene.

I had a lot of fun with Blutnacht, even if it is technically flawed on many, many fronts.

RELEASES:
-Blutnacht was originally going to be released in 1999, but the police seized all of the materials before it could be released. Currently, only one copy of the original tape exists, in Jochen's possession.

-The movie was re-released on VHS in 2002 by WeSt Pictures after it was taken off of the "indiziert" list. This tape came with bonus footage at the end of the movie, showing various excerpts from newspapers about the film, as well as news report.

-Blutnacht was later re-released on DVD-R by WeSt Pictures, with the same extras as the old VHS release. You can purchase a copy from Jochen personally on Facebook.

-Blutnacht was released on DVD-R in the United Kingdom by OldSkull Video, along with its sequel. This was the only release to include English subtitles.

-Blutnacht was released on VHS again by Rotten Cat Media.

The only existing copy of the original tape.

Zombarella's House of Whorrors (2019)

Zombarella's House of Whorrors (2019) - United States

Directed by: Tony Masiello, Tim Ritter

ABOUT THE FILM:

Zombarella's House of Whorrors is the ultimate love-letter to the shot-on-video, straight-to-video sleazefest movies of the 80's and 90's while also parading itself as an X-rated version of late night cable access television shows. Filmmakers Tony Masiello, Tim Ritter, and the elusive "Fred Olen Wood" were brought together after all having worked together on previous projects like the anthology Hi-8: Horror Independent 8. Tony approached Tim in 2019 and asked if he would like to make a short film for an upcoming anthology. Tim happily obliged and also sent Tony some old footage that had never been released before, with everything melding together into this tribute to b-movies and late-night television.

The movie plays out as if it were an actual late-night cable access show and does so quite convincingly, with more b-movie trailers and 1-900 number adverts than you can shake a stick at. But the main attraction is an anthology of three short horror stories by Tony Masiello and Tim Ritter, compiled into an anthology called Tales from the Mausoleum, as hosted by the sexy and well-endowed Zombarella! Held within this sleazy anthology are tales of killer dolls, horny aliens, cannibal vampire call-girls from space, a lunatic obsessed with castrating people and many more crazy lo-fi shenanigans!

REVIEW:

Zombarella's House of Whorrors proves successful as an homage to low-budget b-movies and to cable access television, however there are a few nagging flaws that bother me about it. The first time I watched the movie I wasn't a big fan, but after giving it another shot it grew on me and I began to appreciate it more for what it is.

All of the short films, fake advertisements and movie-trailers are a huge mixed bag in terms of quality, production value and entertainment factor. Most of them are solid with premises so ridiculous and cheesy (such as Cannibal Vampire Call-Girl Hookers from Outer Space) that they amount to being the film's best moments, even if they are just adverts and not part of the actual anthology. Some of the trailers and the adverts are compiled from really old footage so the picture quality may change a lot from scene-to-scene, but it's not detrimental and even gives the film more variety to aid the cable-access vibe it was going for.

But then a lot of the adverts get really repetitive and drawn-out, such as the gratuitous amount of 1-900 "adults only" adverts. It feels like they were being added a lot to pad out the runtime more, and they bring the pace of the film down as a result. If there were maybe 2 or 3 of these ads scattered throughout instead of how many are actually there, the pacing problems wouldn't be as nagging or noticeable.

The actual stories in the anthology are interesting and varied in terms of creativity, with my personal favorite being the Computer Date segment due to the writing and copious amounts of gore. Unfortunately most of the acting across all of the shorts is not good, so it was a little hard trying to get invested. I understand that most of these people were just friends of the directors who wanted to be in the movie and aren't professionals. There's nothing wrong with that, but it gets to be distracting at points. However, the acting isn't necessarily super important in a film like this, as the movie is fueled by its creativity. Hell, even a lot of the ads and fake trailers are very funny and well-made, like the one for Wee Willy Winky.

The movie is well-edited and put together, the camera, lighting and sound is consistently decent and a lot of the gore effects are pretty well-done! We get tons of deaths in here featuring castrations, decapitations, axeings, stabbings, guttings, more genital mutilation and so much more!

While Zombarella's House of Whorrors isn't perfect, it's a very entertaining viewing experience with so many different things to offer to its audience. It has sex, it has violence and over-the-top gore, aliens, killer dolls, laughs, and it does nothing more than aim to entertain. They weren't trying to make high art or anything, it's just a bunch of horror fans making stuff other horror fans would enjoy! And I would recommend any self-respecting fan of shot-on-video horror and b-movies purchases a copy.

RELEASES:

-Zombarella's House of Whorrors was released by Tony Masiello himself under his company SOV Horror in 2019. It was their second ever DVD release and is still available today for an absurdly low price at their website. Unfortunately that doesn't stop assholes from pirating his hard work and swapping it around on the internet for free. Not fucking cool, you guys.

I would highly encourage any fans of shot-on-video movies, sex, gore and trash to purchase the movie and anything else Tony has released because he puts in an endless amount of effort into every single release he does! You can purchase the movie here!

The DVD comes with an audio commentary from Tony Masiello, deleted scenes, a bunch of trailers for other SOV Horror releases and an episode of Tony's cable-access show Mondo Bizarro!

Paura il Diavolo (1992)

 

Paura il Diavolo (1992) - United Kingdom

Directed by: Darren Ward

MY 50TH REVIEW:

Before I get into the film itself I'd like to announce that I'm stunned I've made it to 50 reviews. I mean, technically I've already reviewed more than 50 movies/short films, but this is my 50th consecutive review posted, and I'm excited to share it with those who read what I post. For those of you who've stuck with me this long, thank you so much. If it weren't for you guys, this site wouldn't exist or would be completely dead, and I appreciate you giving my stuff a read. Now, let's get into the review proper. And it's the first British film I've reviewed too!

ABOUT THE FILM:

Darren Ward is a British independent filmmaker from the United Kingdom who first became interested in making movies in the late 1980's. He grew a love for horror and wanted to become a special effects artist, and would test out his skills on his buddies. When Darren was finished with school in 1989, he participated in helping make a local zombie film called Dead Time, and would continue to work on independent action and gangster movies for the next few years. In 1992, Darren Ward finally decided to set out and make films of his own, and Paura il Diavolo was his very first attempt at filmmaking. It was self-financed by Darren himself, with a budget of 30 GBP!

In Paura il Diavolo, Darren pays homage to the Italian horror films of the 80's, with his biggest influence on the project being Lamberto Bava's Demons. This 45 minute short film takes place over one dark, stormy night and follows a young man who returns home. The sky rumbles violently and something lands in the backyard in a fiery crash. The man discovers a bag with a note attached, warning him not to look inside the bag as it holds the spirit of an ancient evil. The recipient is advised to destroy the bag as soon as possible. Unfortunately our lead doesn't heed the warning, and undergoes a transformation into a hideous beast hellbent on killing all in its path!

REVIEW:

Similar to My Lovely Burnt Brother, Paura il Diavolo is one of the first underground films I ever saw and it's one of the films that pulled me deeper into the scene in the first place. So I will always appreciate Paura il Diavolo for introducing me to the scene, but the film is not free from flaws.

You may notice that my screenshots are incredibly dark and blurry. Usually I would blame the poor quality on the copy of the movie that I used for review, but in actuality Paura il Diavolo is just incredibly dark and murky. The lighting, or lack thereof, is by far the film's biggest problem. Sometimes it's so dark that it's impossible to see anything, and the lights that we do see are so oversaturated and bright that they make the film a real eye-strain.

The story is extremely simple, cliché and derivative of other films. Hell, sometimes the influence is blatantly obvious. The entire transformation scene was inspired by Bava's Demons, and there's one scene where a character is watching Argento's Opera on the TV, right as the film reaches the infamous eye scene. Hell, even Paura's title is an homage to the Italian horror films of the 70's and the 80's. But the story itself is so slowly paced, it could have easily been from 20 to 25 minutes long. There's not much to say about the acting because the film has very little dialogue, but what we do hear is hard to make out, mainly because the cast members all have thick British accents and the audio quality is poor too.

Probably the film's biggest strength is the special effects and the make-up. Considering the obviously low-budget, we get some decent gore and blood effects including plenty of stabbings and an exploding chest near the end. The demons inside the bag look pretty silly, but the monster himself actually looks really cool. If I saw that fucking thing in the dark I would probably shit myself and then promptly run for my life. The stand-out effect is the demon's transformation, as it's very well-done with some pretty nasty close-ups on the demon's claws growing from under the man's fingernails.

Paura il Diavolo is a very flawed short film and I can really only recommend it to SOV enthusiasts and underground horror collectors. But in the end I was still able to find some entertainment in it and I appreciate it for piquing my interest in underground gore and horror cinema.

RELEASES:

-Paura il Diavolo was first released on VHS in 1992 by Darren's company Giallo Films, but this tape is extremely rare and near impossible to find. This is the original version that included copyrighted music from the band The Cult.

-A re-edited version of the film with a new score and music was released on the German released Darren Ward's Three Tickets to Hell in 1997 by Incredibly Strange Video. The tape also came with Ward's first feature Blue Fear and his short film Bitter Vengeance. This specific VHS was the source used for this review.

The Norwegian Drillbit Massacre (1988)

 

Den Norske Drillbor Massakren (1988) - Norway

Directed by: Jon Christian Møller

ABOUT THE FILM:

The year was 1988. It was a decent year for horror films. It's the year that we got such classics as Child's Play, Night of the Demons and Brain Damage. It's also the year that gave us what is, in my opinion, one of the better 80's shot-on-video horror movies, 555 by Wally Koz. We also got a few more decent SOV's like Twisted Issues, and a couple of turds like Death Nurse 2. Meanwhile, in Norway, a teenager named Jon Christian Møller, armed with nothing but a camcorder and some butcher refuse bags, made zero-budget movies out in the forest with his friends. Jon didn't make movies for any reason other than to entertain himself and his friends. But somehow, these movies made it farther than their homes.

The Norwegian Drillbit Massacre doesn't have a plot. Some schmuck in a white mask with really long brown hair runs around decimating people with a power drill. He comes across cyclers, punks and scum and just mutilates them in really violent and juvenile ways. This goes on for the whole movie until two random characters, some guy named Dr. Døllshit and a girl, put up a fight with the lunatic, tie him up and torture him to death with fireworks. Having defeated the menace, the two walk away from the scene holding hands.

REVIEW:

What Norwegian Drillbit lacks in story, it makes up for in being so badly made and ridiculous that it becomes lovable. It's inept and silly but at the same time it's so entertaining that I really can't bring myself to hate it. It's also similar to Live Undead (1991) in the sense that you can watch it and feel oddly nostalgic, as if you would have made something just like it as a teen with your friends. Running around in the woods, drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, cycling, reading porno mags you probably stole, playing soccer and getting killed by drill-wielding weirdos. Who else can relate, am I right?

Well with the nostalgia-bug qualities aside, let's take a look at the actual movie. It's very, very bad in almost every way. The camera work and the editing is a mess. There are several shots where the actors laugh, stifle laughter or stare at the camera. Every other shot is followed up with half a second of outtake footage or alternate takes. The camera jitters so much you'd swear the camera person was running off of little sleep and a lot of coffee. The credits are typed out over a computer or a TV screen. Shots will randomly shift into slow-motion, even when it doesn't make any sense. But all of these bad qualities make the movie really funny and even charming in a way, and it's never boring despite having plenty of scenes where characters do nothing. Hell, you could even making a drinking game out of this thing. Take a swig every time you see a random person riding their bike or staring at the camera.

The kills are twisted and juvenile in theory but they're so badly executed that they're almost guaranteed to make the viewer laugh. Random kids and teens are chased down and drilled in the stomach or back, one gets a drill to the ass cheek and another gets his manhood destroyed by the tool. And all the while this unidentifiable meat is spilling out of the actor's shirt or pants, covered in what looks to be red syrup. One of my favorite kills takes place when a kid with the ugliest, most obviously fake wig is playing with a soccer ball and running around in the grass behind a building. Suddenly, the killer leaps down from a tree and falls on the kid to kill him, while hitting him so hard that his wig flies off of his head. That nearly killed me from laughter.

If this movie were more widely available, I could definitely see it being one of the more well-known bad 80's SOV's. After all, it's only the best SOV where a teenager is actually tortured with fireworks. It needs to be seen to be believed, and I would encourage any SOV enthusiast to hunt down a copy.

RELEASES:

-I'm not sure where you could get a legitimate copy of this movie, but I've seen it floating around as part of a bootleg DVD with Jon's other movies, under the name Videogore.