Giallo, Exploitation, and Various DVD, Blu-Ray, and Movie Reviews...

The most recent reviews are at the top of each section.

Shameless Screen Entertainment DVD Reviews:

Stage Fright (Michele Soavi, 1987)

Formula For A Murder (Alberto de Martino, 1985)

Contraband (Lucio Fulci, 1980)

Four Flies On Grey Velvet (Dario Argento, 1971)

Amsterdamned (Dick Maas, 1988)

The Washing Machine (Ruggero Deodato, 1993)

The Sister of Ursula (Enzo Milioni, 1978)

The Frightened Woman (Piero Schivazappa, 1969)

Baba Yaga (Corrado Farina, 1973)

Venus In Furs (Massimo Dallamano, 1969)

The Beast In Space (Alfonso Brescia, 1980)

Satan's Baby Doll (Mario Bianchi, 1982)

Love Goddess of the Cannibals (Joe D'Amato, 1978)

Watch Me When I Kill (Antonio Bido, 1977)

Oasis of Fear (Umberto Lenzi, 1971)

My Dear Killer (Tonino Valerii, 1972)

Almost Human (Umberto Lenzi, 1974)

The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh (Sergio Martino, 1971)

Who Saw Her Die? (Aldo Lado, 1972)

Phantom of Death (Ruggero Deodato, 1988)

Dellamorte Dellamore (aka The Cemetery Man) (Michele Soavi, 1993)

Night Train Murders (Aldo Lado, 1974)

Torso (Sergio Martino, 1973)

The Killer Nun (Giulio Berruti, 1979)

What Have They Done To Your Daughters? (Massimo Dallamano, 1974)

Strip Nude For Your Killer (Andrea Bianchi, 1975)

Various Giallo Reviews:

Death Smiles On A Murderer (Aristide Massaccesi, 1973)

The Pyjama Girl Case (Flavio Mogherini, 1978)

The Suspicious Death Of A Minor (Sergio Martino, 1975)

Delirium (Lamberto Bava, 1987)

Francesca (Luciano Onetti, 2015)

Cold Blooded Beast (Fernando Di Leo, 1971)

The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave (Emilio P. Miraglia, 1971)

The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (Emilio P. Miraglia, 1972)

The Editor (Astron-6, 2014)

The Bloodstained Butterfly (Duccio Tessari, 1971)

Death Walks At Midnight (Luciano Ercoli, 1972)

Death Walks On High Heels (Luciano Ercoli, 1971)

Five Dolls For An August Moon (Mario Bava, 1970)

The Girl Who Knew Too Much (Mario Bava, 1963)

Blood and Black Lace (Mario Bava, 1964)

The Case of the Scorpion's Tail (Sergio Martino, 1971)

The French Sex Murders (Ferdinando Merighi, 1972)

All The Colours Of The Dark (Sergio Martino, 1972)

Short Night of Glass Dolls (Aldo Lado, 1971)

Yellow (Ryan Haysom, 2012)

What Have You Done To Solange? (Massimo Dallamano, 1972)

The Black Belly of the Tarantula (Paolo Cavara, 1971)

Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (Umberto Lenzi, 1972)

Seven Deaths In The Cat's Eye (Antonio Margheriti, 1973)

The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (Luciano Ercoli, 1970)

Autopsy (Armando Crispino, 1975)

Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key (Sergio Martino, 1972)

Eyeball (Umberto Lenzi, 1975)

The Bloodstained Shadow (Antonio Bido, 1978)

The Case of the Bloody Iris (Giuliano Carnimeo, 1971)

  Other Reviews:

Private School (Noel Black, 1983) 

V/H/S/Mixtape (Various, 2026) 

Evil Dead Burn (Sébastien Vanicek, 2026) 

Faces of Death (Daniel Goldhaber, 2026) 

Jason Goes To Hell (Adam Marcus, 1993) 

Silent Night Deadly Night (Mike P. Nelson, 2025) 

Space Cop (Jay Bauman & Mike Stoklasa, 2016) 

Deathstalker (Steven Kostanski, 2025) 

V/H/S/Halloween (Various, 2025) 

Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfolds (Fred Olen Ray, 1995) 

8MM (Joel Schumacher, 1999) 

The Bikini Car Wash Company II (Gary Dean Orona, 1993)

We Are Zombies (RKSS, 2023)

The Bikini Car Wash Company (Ed Hansen, 1992)

Frankie Freako (Steven Kostanski, 2024)

V/H/S/Beyond (Various, 2024)

In A Violent Nature (Chris Nash, 2024)

Mosquito (Gary Jones, 1994)

Stone Cold (Craig R. Baxley, 1991)

Destroy All Neighbors (Josh Forbes, 2024)

Vice Academy (Rick Sloane, 1989)

Ski School (Damian Lee, 1990)

V/H/S/85 (Various, 2023)

Murdercise (Angelica De Alba & Paul Ragsdale, 2023)

Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-Rama 2 (Brinke Stevens, 2022)

Evil Dead Rise (Lee Cronin, 2023)

Kids vs Aliens (Jason Eisener, 2023)

Scare Package II: Rad Chad's Revenge (Various, 2022)

Witch Academy (Fred Olen Ray, 1991)

Dinosaur Island (Fred Olen Ray & Jim Wynorski, 1994)

Virgin High (Richard Gabai, 1991)

Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go To College (John Carl Buechler, 1990)

Beach Babes From Beyond (David DeCoteau, 1993)

Ghoulies II (Albert Brand, 1987)

Bad Girls From Mars (Fred Olen Ray, 1990)

Ghoulies (Luca Bercovici, 1985)

King Frat (Ken Wiederhorn, 1979)

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (David Blue Garcia, 2022)

Free Hand For A Tough Cop (Umberto Lenzi, 1976)

Death Row Diner (B. Dennis Wood, 1988)

Dude Bro Party Massacre III (Tom Jacobsen, Michael Rousselet, Jon Salmon, 2015)

Hell Squad (Kenneth Hartford, 1986)

Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich (Sonny Laguna & Tommy Wiklund, 2018)

Willy's Wonderland (Kevin Lewis, 2021)

Hired To Kill (Nico Mastorakis, 1990)

Dial Help (Ruggero Deodato, 1988)

The Zero Boys (Nico Mastorakis, 1986)

Joysticks (Greydon Clark, 1983)

Return to Savage Beach (Andy Sidaris, 1998)

Day of the Warrior (Andy Sidaris, 1996)

Hot Dog ... The Movie! (Peter Markle, 1984)

The Dallas Connection (Christian Drew Sidaris, 1994)

Season of the Witch (George A. Romero, 1972)

Enemy Gold (Christian Drew Sidaris, 1993)

There's Always Vanilla (George A. Romero, 1971)

Fit To Kill (Andy Sidaris, 1993)

Hard Hunted (Andy Sidaris, 1992)

Chopping Mall (Jim Wynorski, 1986)

Do Or Die (Andy Sidaris, 1991)

Guns (Andy Sidaris, 1990)

3 From Hell (Rob Zombie, 2019)

Castle Freak (Stuart Gordon, 1995)

Savage Beach (Andy Sidaris, 1989)

Critters Attack! (Bobby Miller, 2019)

Splatter University (Richard W. Haines, 1984)

Malibu Express (Andy Sidaris, 1985)

Picasso Trigger (Andy Sidaris, 1988)

Hard Ticket To Hawaii (Andy Sidaris, 1987)

Microwave Massacre (Wayne Berwick, 1983)

Evil Toons (Fred Olen Ray, 1992)

Body Melt (Philip Brophy, 1993)

The Best of 80s Scream Queens - Nightmare Sisters, Murder Weapon, Deadly Embrace (David DeCoteau aka 'Ellen Cabot', 1987-1989)

Nail Gun Massacre (Terry Lofton & Bill Leslie, 1985)

The Mutilator - aka - Fall Break (Buddy Cooper, 1984)

Syndicate Sadists (Umberto Lenzi, 1975)

Blastfighter (Lamberto Bava, 1984)

Man From Deep River (Umberto Lenzi, 1972)

Thriller: A Cruel Picture - aka - They Call Her One Eye (Bo A. Vibenius, 1973)

Massacre In Dinosaur Valley (Michele Massimo Tarantini, 1985)

Milano Calibro 9 (Fernando Di Leo, 1972)

Hell Comes To Frogtown (R.J. Kizer & Donald G. Jackson, 1988)

Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man (Ruggero Deodato, 1976)

Zombie Lake (Jean Rollin, 1981)

Evil Ed (Anders Jacobsson, 1995)

Bride of Re-Animator (Brian Yuzna, 1989)

Dr Alien (David DeCoteau, 1989)

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (Joe D'Amato, 1977)

The Bogey Man (Ulli Lommel, 1980)

Creepozoids (David DeCoteau, 1987)

Killer Workout (David A. Prior, 1987)

Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (Fred Olen Ray, 1988)

Don't Answer The Phone! (Robert Hammer, 1980)

Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-Rama (David DeCoteau, 1988)

Matinee (Joe Dante, 1993)

Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity (Ken Dixon, 1987)

Pervert! (Jonathan Yudis, 2006)

Rabid Dogs (Mario Bava, 1974)

Chillerama (Green/Lynch/Rifkin/Sullivan, 2011)

The Final Girls (Todd Strauss-Schulson, 2015)

The ABCs of Death 2 (Various, 2015)

SS Experiment Camp (Sergio Garrone, 1976)

Bloodsucking Pharaohs In Pittsburgh (Dean Tschetter, 1991)

Anthropophagous (Joe D'Amato, 1980)

Contamination (Luigi Cozzi, 1980)

Manborg (Steven Kostanski, 2011)

Galaxy of Terror (B.D. Clark, 1981)

Fly Me (Cirio Santiago, 1973)

Barbed Wire Dolls (Jess Franco, 1976)

Hitler's Last Train (Alain Payet, 1977)

Fraulein Kitty (Patrice Rohmm, 1977)

Ilsa: The Wicked Warden (Jess Franco, 1977)

Caged Women (Leandro Lucchetti, 1991)

Super Bitch (Massimo Dallamano, 1973)

99 Women, Women Behind Bars, Bare Behind Bars, Sadomania, and Amazon Jail ("Bad Girls Behind Bars" DVD Collection, Jess Franco and Oswaldo De Oliveira, 1969-1982)

Jungle Warriors (Ernst R. von Theumer, 1984)

Red Heat (Robert Collector, 1985)

Chained Heat (Paul Nicolas, 1983)

Hard To Die: Sorority House Massacre 3 (Jim Wynorski, 1990)

Sorority House Massacre 2 (Jim Wynorski, 1990)

He Knows You're Alone (Armand Mastroianni, 1980)

2019 After the Fall of New York (Sergio Martino, 1983)

Silent Night (Steven C. Miller, 2012)

The Las Vegas Serial Killer (Ray Dennis Steckler, 1987)

The Hollywood Strangler Meets The Skid Row Slasher (Ray Dennis Steckler, 1979)

Evil Dead (Fede Alvarez, 2013)

The ABCs of Death (Various, 2013)

Maniac (Franck Khalfoun, 2013)

The Lords of Salem (Rob Zombie, 2012)

Dead Genesis (Reese Eveneshen, 2011)

More reviews will be added as-and-when.

Double Bill Mini Musings: A load of old Italian cobblers...

Demons & Demons 2:
The Italians, when it comes to the horror genre at least, aren't especially known for particularly great plots. The Italians love the look of something, and that's their primary focus - and so it is with this Dario Argento presented twosome, directed by Lamberto Bava (son of Mario "Bay of Blood" Bava).

The first has a bunch of randomly dated characters (including a pimp-like dude who looks like he got lost somewhere between Saturday Night Fever and a dialogue-light bad guy for Pam Grier to pummel) all attending a secret movie premiere. So begins the movie-within-a-movie, featuring some random mask that cuts you when you put it on and turns you into a demon, who can spread the demon disease through their fingernails. Inexplicably, in the lobby, there is a similar mask (for some reason dangling off the handlebar of a motorbike ... what random movie was this display supposed to be advertising anyway?) that, you guessed it, cuts the cheek of one of the pimp dude's floozies.

She goes all demon on everyone's arse and soon enough the good stuff in the flick finally gets on the go - that being the gore and nonsense violence. Grandiose shots, agonising shots to boot, of demons having their human teeth slowly pushed out by their devilish gnashers (similiar with their fingernails) ... and then constant shots of them wandering around aimlessly screaming ... ... the cast of dated stereotypes and useless fodder, led by the white-suited pimp, barricade themselves and fend off the back-lit, glowing eyed, titular antagonists - and get picked off one-by-one.

Fast forward to a helicopter - for utterly no reason at all - crashing through the ceiling, as well as endlessly dull sequences of coke-headed punks driving interminably around a not-at-all-good-to-look-at Italian city from the 1980s, to simply become yet more fodder, and it's all a bit insufferable, I've got to be honest.

I was rather looking forward to seeing Demons and Demons 2, but neither have the grandiose, painterly vision of Argento's technically superior eye, nor the unmitigated sleaze of Fulci's grindhouse grot. These flicks sit somewhere, uneasily, between, and while Argento's flicks sometimes aren't the strongest when it comes to plot, at least they have one that makes a lick of sense. Demons, and particularly the inferior sequel, is just a bunch of random crap happening.

Speaking of which, the second movie is exactly the same - but in a building - not 'the same like Die Hard 2 is the first one in an airport', no, it's pretty much exactly the same. It again features a movie-within-a-movie, that's supposed to be important, but isn't really, it again features the pimp-in-the-white-suit (this time as a tough-talking gym instructor), it again features a useless rabble of punks insufferably driving around a naff-looking Italian city, it again features gruesomely detailed shots of demon-dental-restructuring, and doesn't make a scrap of sense.

Most of the characters, more so than in the first, are literally nameless, and it's all set in an exceptionally ugly apartment complex filled wall-to-wall with cannon fodder. A bunch of random nonsense happens scene-after-scene in this 'swish' prison, all loosely cobbled together under 'various people need to survive the siege' - and the overacting, just like in the first, is heinous. It's not just naff acting, it's stupendously bad acting, performed by apparently good looking people.

What's worse though is how long it takes for the monsters to transform for most of the movie, until the third act when - for, again, no good reason at all - every remaining side character (in a cast of side characters) instantaneously mutates for 'a scare' (and that's at the same time as being able to impersonate their former selves, which was never flagged up to be an actual ability ... especially as, again, they spend half the movie lumbering around, back-lit, eyes glowing, and screaming endlessly at nothing).

I was really quite interested to see these flicks - the trailers made them look rather enjoyable - but the horrendous scripts, overacting, and general lack of sensible pacing or interest - threw all that out of the window for me. Perhaps if I'd seen them as a young teenager, but there are countless 'lesser' horror movies with far better scripts, acting, and pacing. It wouldn't be so bad if they were 'so bad they're good' (like Zombie Lake, for example), but they're clearly supposed to be something spectacular and they just aren't by any stretch of the imagination. I usually enjoy movies like this, and to each their own, but blimey I really didn't get on with these flicks at all.