Flavours of the Month: October 2013...

LOOKS:

South Park Season 17 - recent seasons have seen a dip in quality, or perhaps expectations got in the way. Now though, after a slightly extended hiatus, we've had five good ones in a row - perhaps the apparent tweaks to how the show is written have paid off. Hopefully this upswing is set to continue.

The Walking Dead Season 3 (Blu-Ray) - TWD in HD, yes please. It's a shame there weren't more extras (and why they didn't include the making of featurettes AMC put on YouTube is anyone's guess), although I am yet to listen to the commentaries. There are some issues with the third season, mostly confined to the back half of the season - most specifically episodes 3x11, 3x13 and most especially 3x14, whereby pacing became incredibly mixed (both inside each episode, and across the overall arc of the season). I wrote on Homepage of the Dead about how some of these problems could have been tweaked. Not enough to sink the season by any stretch of the imagination, but they were unfortunate mis-steps in an otherwise satisfying season.

Click "READ MORE" below for more looks, sounds, vibes and flavours...

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

Find more giallo reviews here.

Typically, giallo films centre around a crazed killer dispatching beautiful women, or anyone who blocks their path for vengeance, but there are occasions where the genre strays further afield, and the lines of definition begin to blur. Step forth Luciano Ercoli's elaborately-named The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion, a mysterious psycho-sexual tale of bourgeois blackmail.

Click “READ MORE” below for the full review and many more screenshots...

Zoom-In Edition: The Walking Dead 4x03 Memes...

Find more Walking Dead memes here.

We're now three episodes deep into season four - another good episode, but not one particularly suited to meme-making ... still though, here's four brand new TWD memes.

Click each image for FULL SIZE.

Click to Enlarge: How will he pass the time now?

Click "READ MORE" below for three more memes **SPOILERS AHEAD**...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Ilsa Trilogy Edition...

Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS (1975):
What's the Plot?
The first appearance of Dyanne Thorne's exploitation icon - the savage and sensual Ilsa of various employ. Set during World War II, the film takes place in an isolated prisoner camp used primarily for sadistic medical tests, as well as Ilsa's own private experimentations in search of supporting her theory that women are far more capable of dealing with pain than men (cue some rather graphic and disturbing brutalities). However, with an Americanised German native by the name of Wolf brought to the camp, an uprising is soon in the offing - as well as the chance for Ilsa to finally be sated between the sheets.

Raunch Factor?
Numerous energetic sexual encounters between Ilsa and Wolf - who is capable of lasting as long as he wants - sometimes involving a couple of her female cohorts. Thorne fans get plenty of bang for their buck. Frequent nudity in general, too, albeit sometimes in rather distasteful contexts.

Gore Volume?
This is the most savage entry in the series with particularly nasty blood-soaked interludes in the medical wing throughout the film. Boiled flesh, ocular trauma, death-by-lashing, bodies ravaged by disease and so on. It gets pretty rough at times and even seasoned genre fans will find their limits tested.

What's the Vibe?
Quite nasty and rather tasteless, in essence, and yet understandably iconic in exploitation cinema. The fact that it takes place during WWII and inside a prison camp makes the tone particularly horrible and mean-spirited. What's more, the generally bleak tone sits decidedly at odds with the campy exploitation elements (e.g. the athletic bedroom antics in Ilsa's private residence). Even stranger is that this film, filled with such brutality, was shot on the same set as beloved American TV sitcom Hogan's Heroes. Exploiting Nazis and WWII for entertainment isn't anything new by any means, but She-Wolf of the SS frequently crosses the boundaries of taste that makes for an uneven viewing experience, stuck somewhere between grindhouse titillation and repulsive recreation. Even the sense of relieving triumph come the finale takes a swift beat-down.

Click "READ MORE" below for an extra double-helping of Ilsa's persuasive charms...

Watch Me When I Kill (Antonio Bido, 1977) DVD Review

Find more giallo reviews here.

Otherwise known as “The Cat's Victims” or “The Cat With The Jade Eyes”, Watch Me When I Kill was Antonio Bido's first foray into the world of giallo filmmaking. Coming from a background in art house film, Bido wanted a commercial hit that would appeal in equal measure to film buffs and general audiences. Taking inspiration from the likes of Hitchcock and Argento, and combining the original, artier script with more mainstream adaptations, Watch Me When I Kill came into being.

Click “READ MORE” below for the full review and many more screenshots...

"Brother of Mine" (2013)

"Brother of Mine" is a short dramatic film in which Sean Connell ("Skinner") plays Thomas, a man seeking revenge in the long-running wake of a family tragedy.


Click "READ MORE" below for more information on the film...

Singing For Your Breakfast Edition: The Walking Dead 4x02 Memes...

Find more Walking Dead memes here.

We're two episodes deep into season four now, and it's already getting emotional - debrief with some memes.

Click each image for FULL SIZE.

Click to Enlarge: Beth's got this covered...

Click "READ MORE" below for more memes - **minor spoilers ahead**...

New short film coming soon...

Last week I shot a new short film with Sean ("Trapped", "Signing Off", "Skinner") and his brother Ben ("Trapped", "I Am Zombie Man 2") - editing is underway, and so here's a couple of preview screenshots.

The film will be posted up on my YouTube Channel as soon as it's done, which won't be too long.

The Las Vegas Serial Killer (Wolfgang Schmidt, 1987) Review

Find more film reviews here.

Just like with The Hollywood Strangler Meets The Skid Row Slasher, Ray Dennis Steckler is under the guises of Wolfgang Schmidt and Sven Christian as Director, Cinematographer and Editor of this sketchy 1987 follow-up, which continues in much the same vein as its predecessor.

Click “READ MORE” below to continue the review and see more screenshots...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Killers & Writers...

Chained:
What's it about?
A taxi driving serial killer called Bob abducts a mother and child, takes them home, kills the mother, and then keeps the nine year old boy chained up in his house for close to a decade, treating him like a dog and his own post-kill cleaning attendant.
Who would I recognise in it?
Vincent D'Onofrio, Julia Ormond, Jake Weber.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Written and Directed by Jennifer Lynch - daughter of David, thus partly explaining the sheer darkness of this intensely disturbing psychological horror - Chained makes for a bleak but fascinating watch. Everything is deliberate and calculated, there are moments of shocking psychological conditioning, and the deep-freeze coldness of the selection and killing of victims by Bob is decidedly unsettling. The central performances by D'Onofrio (killer Bob, simmering threat and full stops in all the wrong places) and Eamon Farren (captive Tim, gaunt and painfully quiet) are utterly captivating - at times terrifying - while Lynch keeps the film moving forward at a precise pace. So pitch-perfect is the film for the duration that's it's confusing when a late-in-the-game development nearly derails everything ... however, recall one particular detail of a flashback and suddenly a bizarre left-field punch turns into a typically deliberate calculation that feeds right back into the nurture-over-nature theme. The last minutes do exhibit moments of messiness, but then maybe that's the point. Easily one of the most unsettling films I've ever seen. Great.

Click "READ MORE" below for one dud and one hit...

The Hollywood Strangler Meets The Skid Row Slasher (Wolfgang Schmidt, 1979) Review

Find more film reviews here.

Wolfgang Schmidt is actually a pseudonym for Ray Dennis Steckler, who is best known for his 1963 movie “The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies”. Steckler had numerous aliases which included Sven Christian – credited here in a dual-role of Cinematographer and Editor – and was well known for working on an extremely low budget (sometimes just a few thousand dollars).

If you're into ultra low budget, down-and-dirty slasher flicks, then you've come to the right place.

Click “READ MORE” below to continue the review and see more screenshots...

Story Time Edition: The Walking Dead 4x01 Memes...

Find more Walking Dead memes here.

Season 4 is finally underway and that means it's time for some more TWD memes!

Click each image to view FULL SIZE.

Click to Enlarge: The boy's growing up...

Click to Enlarge: The new-look season!

Click "READ MORE" below for more memes from the season 4 premiere (SPOILERS AHEAD)...

The Walking Dead: Season 2 & Bonus Memes...

Find more Walking Dead memes here.

Season 4 is nearly with us, so in the meantime I've been doing what a lot have been doing - having a TWD marathon of the first three seasons on DVD/BluRay boxset - and it's inspired a bundle of new memes.

N.B. Click on each image for their FULL SIZE.

Click to Enlarge: Dale's got experience.

Click to Enlarge: Victory will be Hershel's.

Click "READ MORE" below for a barn load of more memes...