When a sniper guns down 14 pedestrians at random on the streets of New York City, cop with a troubled personal life, Peter Nicholas, is up for the job of reasoning with him. Though he doesn’t manage to talk him down from his killing spot atop the water tower, he does elicit a reason from him before he throws himself to his death. As Nicholas investigates further killings across the city it becomes apparent that something connects them all; the killer’s dying confessions reveal that “God told me to.” As the investigation takes shape, the common ground for each killer is having met an elusive long-haired stranger shortly before their crimes, but who is this ubiquitous being and what will Detective Nicholas’s connection to them be? Find out in Larry Cohen’s genre-busting cult classic.

New York City in the 70’s had a tendency to be portrayed in the movies and the seemingly endless cop shows of the same era as the perfect site of public paranoia; a sprawling concrete metropolis breeding suspicion and uncertainty where anything could be possible, and usually was, egged on by the media to fuel the almost palpable air of unrest that floated around the dirty streets. Writer/director Larry Cohen’s God Told Me To is certainly no exception and exploits this feeling well with his bizarre mix of the strange and the serious in this detective/mystery/horror/sci-fi hybrid that is as compelling as it is peculiar.

God Told Me To, despite being a mixed bag generically, belongs for the most part, particularly tonally, to the detective/mystery genres. With the opening scenes of a nauseatingly claustrophobic New York, our troubled detective has to act fast when a sniper opens fire, causing hysteria in the streets below. Reminiscent of the earlier Dirty Harry, God Told Me To uses the detective figure as an urban hero, combating one of the city’s most feared attackers; the sniper. This kind of crime perfectly utilises the self-perpetuating urban fear; a crime which preys on the city but which the city conversely and simultaneously conceals in safety. And if you are thinking there’s nothing too strange or unusual about this, well then you’d be right, but it is as the investigation gets underway that we gain the bizarre turn that has earned Cohen (Q The Winged Serpent and It’s Alive!) his rightful cult status.

Indeed, it’s only as the story develops that the bizarre horror/sci-fi elements begin to enter the arena. As we learn more about the tangled personal life of our hero, of his devout Catholicism, the parallel mystery similarly unravels. But don’t be fooled by Cohen’s crazy generic mix for it masks some grave undertones. There are some serious and still very relevant ideas about religion at play here, which helps to make this film timeless. Cohen presents some surprisingly open ideas about religion which won’t be to everyone’s taste; “You got all the blessing’s who needs religion?!” points to a false and almost greedy human search in desperation for a higher power which, as Cohen rather aptly presents, won’t necessarily be a good one.

Whilst there is some bloodshed in this film it is more a horror of ideas with some creepy and genuinely unpleasant and difficult scenes made only the more so as it is so plausible. As we discover that religion has a hand in the city hiding something more deadly, invested with the power of destruction more precise than a sniper, it is truly chilling. It is an idea even more relevant now than when Cohen wrote it; that the more modernised society becomes the more we search for some lost meaning and the more we open ourselves up to religion, fanaticism and the need to feel the presence of a deity to restore the human purpose (it is no accident that the sniper opens fire above the icon of modern American consumerism that is Bloomingdales). But fear not, if this all sounds a little heavy you can still relax and enjoy the bizarre story, direction and generic mix that make it peculiarly entertaining as this, after all, is what makes this a Cohen Classic; a strange film with intelligent undertones, and who can say fairer than that?

Part warning for modern society, part bizarre generic mix, but all-round Cult Classic.

Korean language trailer for The Truck , directed by Hyung-jin Kwon and starring Goo Jin and Hae-jin Yoo.

Chul-min is a simple truck driver whose usual cargo is liquor, vegetables and other necessities. When his daughter is diagnosed with congenital heart disease, he scrambles to borrow money from friends to pay for the operation. Unable to raise the necessary funds, he tries his luck at gambling. When he loses everything, the gang boss who runs the gambling house gives him an unusual job: to deliver some freshly stabbed corpses to a faraway province. On his nerve-racking journey carrying dead bodies in his truck, Chul-min turns to the radio for company only to hear about a serial killer on the loose. After spotting a car that has fallen into a ditch, he is flagged down by a policeman who is heading to the same province. When Chul-min unravels the real identity of his passenger, his nightmare really begins...

Oh my! There's film news and there's super-good film news, and this little tidbit certainly falls into the latter. Has anyone ever told you I love 3D movies (yeah, you, every time you see me)? Ok, I probably did tell ya before, but 3D movies are one of my most favouritest things for giving a bit of kiddified magic into the piss and shit world of adulthood. Well, a less well-known fact could be that I also really rather adore Brian Yuzna for having a hand in some of my fave horrors (Society, Re-Animator, The Dentist, Necronomicon, Dagon,) ergo, with all the remake/sequel news to boot, this unique piece really excites me.

This trio of goodness, the first of which will be giant sea scorpion-based Amphibious (!), is to be Indonesia-made in conjunction with distributor Queen Imperial Films. The second 3D feature output from this shingle will be Necronauts, a Terry Bisson-written journey into the realm of death which will be helmed by Lawnmower Man's Brett Leonard. Richard Stanley (Hardware, Dust Devil and an infamously short stint on Dr. Moreau) will helm the final instalment of this terrific tryptich, Cold Blooded, an island survival story featuring komodo dragons (!) Happily, all films will be shot in English sourcing local talent and will even more happily be low-budget. Yippee!   

www.fantasticfactory.com                                             

Trapped in an isolated gas station by a veracious Splinter parasite that transforms its still living victims into deadly hosts, a young couple and an escaped convict must find a way to work together to survive this primal terror.

Splinter is directed by Splinter is the first feature length film from American based British visual effects specialist Toby Wilkins. The film won six awards at Screamfest including Best Directing and Best Picture.

www.splinterfilm.com | Myspace | Directors Blog (Tumblr)

Legendary UK TV film critic Barry Norman looks at the making of two early 90's Low budget UK horror movies. Jim Grooms 1992 cult horror-comedy Revenge of Billy the Kid and Cult director Richard Stanley's horror / sci-fi Hardware.

This segment is taken from the BBC's long running film show Film '90 (now obviously Film 2008). Barry Norman presented the show for 25 years starting in 1972 up until he left and in 1999 and was replaced by current host Jonathan Ross.

Though Hardware was slated as a Terminator rip off by some at the time it made a profit and Richard Stanley went on to make another film with a cult following the Namibian serial killer movie Dust Devil in 1993. DVD label put out a remasterd directors cut of Dust Devil in 2006 which you can still pick up from Amazon. However his career stalled when he was thrown off the set of the 1996 production of The Island of Dr. Moreau and replaced in the director’s chair by John Frankenheimer. 2006 saw him contribute to the screenplay for Nacho Cerdà's hit indie horror The Abandoned and next year should see the release of his return as a genre director, the post apocalyptic movie Vacation.

The team behind Revenge of Billy the Kid fared worse if anything, which personally I think is a shame as it was not a bad little flick if you like low budget horror comedy. Jim Groom was to direct only one other movie Room 36 which was beset with so many problems it took over a decade to reach its first Screen release and as far as I know has never had any distribution outside festivals and screeners. Tim Dennison one of the films writers has gone on to be a producer involved in various films including Simon Hunters The Mutant Chronicles.

Hardware - UK Theatrical Trailer

Hardware - US Trailer

Revenge Of Billy The Kid - trailer

Revenge Of Billy The Kid - Review

Room 39 - Review

Room 36 - Website

On an island “somewhere” off the English coast (but obviously Cornwall), farmer Gyles MacDonald opts for a spot of drunken bestiality with his goat, the end result being Billy- half man, half beast. Shunned as a freak by his own father, the goat-child turns feral, only to return much later to wreak his revenge on the family that turned against him.

Doing nothing for the image of Westcountry folk as dim-witted inbred’s, Revenge of Billy the Kid similarly upholds the British cinematic tradition of bawdy humour and self-deprecating mockery. With the British heritage of the gothic and anthology horror genres made famous by such institutions as Hammer and Amicus long gone, the 80’s and early 90’s dipped into the international move toward gross-out, in this instance heavily tinged with our own special brand of saucy mirth.

As a general rule of thumb you can pretty much rely on Medusa Pictures to bring you something gloriously terrible, and they certainly haven’t bucked their own trend here. “The dirtiest film in the history of British cinema” says Fear, and I don’t doubt that as this film proves itself to be utterly filthy in every respect. With a tone very reminiscent of Peter Jackson’s early work, Revenge of Billy the Kid is minimal budget ridiculousness. With its vile tale of one freaks revenge against its maker, this highly original comedy-horror bears witness to one of the most repulsive families to ever grace the screen. Playing like a more revoltingly incestuous version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre family, they are proof that the family that lays together stays together. Nauseating, abhorrent and absolutely loathsome in every single way possible, the MacDonald’s are shunned by the mainlanders, and they’re not quite right either. The link to the mainland is mostly seen through the love story between MacDonald daughter Ronnie (Samantha Perkins) and shop keeper's son Lance Allot (Dean Williamson), a love forbidden on both sides and in a horribly comic Jackson-esque fashion, is repulsive in its own way. Though Lance must prove to be Ronnie’s knight in shining armour in the style of a hero in a heavy nod to another horror great.

Yes, this is horror for the fans by the fans territory and that is always heart-warming to me. There’s nothing that gives you that Readybrek glow like knowing that all the bloody unpleasantness is by someone who’s as passionate about it as you are. Though Billy is more comedy than horror. Despite the majority of the comedy being derived from the unbelievably foul MacDonald clan, it manages to maintain a constant level rather than burn itself out with over the top caricatures and childish humour, helped in part by Michael Balfour’s spot-on performance as questionable parent Gyles MacDonald. Most of the horror comes towards the end of the film as Billy, a silly and grotesque creation, wreaks his revenge. This is mostly done to some comic amounts of fog and dramatic lighting and, whilst it is enjoyably silly, would have been better suited to a more Braindead level of outrageous bloodshed. That said you can’t really deconstruct this film into negative’s and positives. It’s wholly disgusting and offensive on every level and you’ll either love it or hate it, and I absolutely loved it. A brave and unusual film that does a certain justice to the British contribution of contemporary horror, albeit in our own questionable way.

A tasteless but oh so enjoyable slice of British comedy-horror. Evil Dead it certainly isn’t, but more the rare thing of a super low budget delight.

Promo trailer for the UK DVD release of R-Point director Su-chang Kong's The Guard Post (aka GP506), a similarly genre-bending foray into the cinema of fear that further cements his reputation as one of the most original filmmakers working in Asian cinema today.

www.vanguardmovie.com (read the synopsis here)

Toronto After Dark 2008 Festival Preview Trailer featuring scenes from the *first eight announced feature titles

* Repo! The Genetic Opera, Red , Let The Right One In , Idiots and Angels, Tokyo Gore Police, Mirageman, Trailer Park Of Terror , Who is KK Downey?

www.torontoafterdark.com

 Trailer for Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro's Brazilian post-apocalyptic horror Porto dos Mortos.

In a devastated post-apocalyptic world where the rules of reality are transformed by magic and madness, a vengeful police officer searches for a possessed serial killer in a battle of the not-so-good versus absolute evil. (IMDB)

www.beyondthegravemovie.com

America’s Dumbest Family embark on a disastrous house swap holiday where they encounter creatures whose master plan is to turn them into vegetables and eat them.

Troll 2; it’s not a sequel and there aren’t any trolls in it. No, really. And yes you should take that as a measure of the overall quality of this film. Totally unrelated to the original and no doubt superior Troll, Troll 2 actually features goblins with the dietary requirements of vegetarians who have honed their favourite meal to vegetables which are both man in size and man in origin. The trouble is, only Joshua, youngest of the Dumb family, knows their secret, for the cunning of these creatures is plenty as they masquerade as humans with a great sense of hospitality who, consequences abound, inhabit the town of Nilbog, which just happens to be the family’s holiday destination. So it is left to Joshua to save both his family and presumably mankind from becoming goblin fodder, which he does with the help of his dead Granddad and a bologna sandwich (a reference to the film in general, or just the hammy acting?)

I don’t know what is more disturbing about this film, the fact that it was ever made or the fact that it was made in 1990. Currently occupying position number 8 in the IMDB’s bottom 100 films poll and with a user rating of 1.8, this film belongs to the ‘so bad it’s good’ school of filmmaking. Despite all the actors being American and it actually being filmed in America, this is an Italian film, which may explain a few things (those guys sure made some weird crap didn’t they?) This film is so bad it’s quite unbelievable, though it is hugely entertaining for this very reason. This is definitely one of the best worst films I’ve ever seen; the acting is diabolical, the dialogue quite shockingly bad (there are so many superbly bad lines but my favourite has to be ‘you just pissed on hospitality’), terrible editing (I’m not really one for noticing continuity errors but there are some shockers here), crap effects (an awful lot of green poster paint and not a lot else) and costumes (potato sacks and masks no self respecting trick or treater would venture out in) , and just plain old peculiar story ideas (lust among popcorn being just one of them.)

Troll 2 is so worth a watch if, like me, you’re partial to really bad films and they make you laugh when you know they’re not supposed to. It seems to be generating a bit of a cult following theses days which is good to see because this film shouldn’t be written off as rubbish, there’s too much unintentional entertainment value to be had here. Although there were times during this peculiarly anti-vegetarian film when I did wonder if it was actually meant as a bit of a joke, or can it really be that bad? So, is it a joke on us or another nail in the Italian filmmaking coffin? I know where I stand on that one.

This is a tricky one to rate as it makes no contribution to filmmaking whatsoever in the usual sense, so in that respect it’d probably be ½/10. As sheer entertainment value goes I’d give it 8/10. If you come across a cheap copy bag yourself one and I promise you’ll have a laugh.

Poster for the US remake of  Oxide and Danny Pang's 2002 jump horror The Eye (Gin Gwai)

Synopsis: Sydney Wells (Jessica Alba) is an accomplished, independent, Los Angeles-based concert violinist. She is also blind, and has been so since a childhood tragedy. As our story opens, Sydney undergoes a double corneal transplant, a surgery she has waited her whole life to have, and her sight is restored. After the surgery, neural ophthalmologist Dr. Paul Faulkner (Alessandro Nivola) helps Sydney with the difficult adjustment, and with the support of her older sister Helen (Parker Posey), Sydney learns to see again.

But Sydney's happiness is short-lived as unexplainable shadowy and frightening images start to haunt her. Are they a passing aftermath of her surgery, Sydney's mind adjusting to sight, a product of her imagination, or something horrifyingly real? As Sydney's family and friends begin to doubt her sanity, Sydney is soon convinced that her anonymous eye donor has somehow opened the door to a terrifying world only she can now see.

The Eye is a bone-chilling supernatural thriller that tests the boundaries of perception and reality.  Directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud, the team who directed the suspenseful international hit Them (Ils), The Eye stars Jessica Alba, Alessandro Nivola and Parker Posey. Produced by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner with Mike Elliott, Don Granger and Michelle Manning serving as executive producers.

View the trailer 

Official Website 

www.mandylane.co.uk