My Horror Shelfie #47 - From Rabid To The Rocky Horror Picture Show

My Favorite First Time Watches Of 2025

 

Silly as it sounds, I can't help but get so freakin' excited around this time every year because it's time once again to get out my creepy notebook and peruse my first time watches. My hope is that you will find something in here you forgot about or haven't heard of before to add to your "To Watch" list for 2026. My brain is already electrified with all of the stuff I can barely wait to get to in the coming year. Sadly, I only watched like 90 new-to-me movies this year. Ugh, that is awful! I did a whole mess of rewatching favorite shows and movies. 2026 will be different, trust me. I did watch one new show that I loved called "Murderbot" (2025). Highly recommended.

Before I get started, I want to mention a couple of things I did that I would be grateful if you'd lend your eyes/ears to. I put out two albums of ambient music this year. One on the techno side of things and another of the ambient guitar variety. The first is Light Pollution and the second is Sleep/Walk Situationer. I'm immensely proud of these releases, and don't worry, I'll make more! My musical moniker is The Slow Wizard and my YouTube channel where I share my meager attempts at learning synthesizers and other doodads is chugging along. And lastly, the Hello! This is the Doomed Show podcast is still going strong as is my Doomed Moviethon channel. 

In other news: Doomed Moviethon Dot Com celebrated its 20 year anniversary in 2025. I can't believe that I've been writing about horror and cult movies for twenty freakin' years. Unreal. To all of you who have been there supporting my work all this time or folks new to my nightmare worldview, thank you one thousand and five times. I guess I'll keep doing this shiz. 

Okay, that's enough self advertisement -though you should really check out this commercial I made. Anyway! Here are my favorite films I watched this year. As usual, this is not a top 10 list and the order is mostly random, though my favorite film of the year always gets the top spot. Let's go!

Keeper (2025)

Anyone who knows me definitely saw this choice coming as my favorite film of the year. What can I say? I'm always up for the strangeness that Osgood Perkins is going to deliver. And Keeper is certainly a strange one! I went to the theater and it turned out that I was the only person who'd bought a ticket for that night's showing. So there I was, alone in the room, dead center in a sea of empty seats, and regretting not being able to convince LeEtta to come with me. Why? Because I was freakin' scared! (And also this film should have done better.) I can't wait to get this on disc and see it again!

The Vourdalak (2023)

Oh, hello there, France. I remember seeing an early trailer for this and thinking, "I NEED TO SEE THIS." Then finally, it popped up for rent and I went for it. Between the masterful version of this story from Mario Bava in Black Sabbath (1963) and the gory version called Night of the Devils (1972), I never expected another adaptation to hit as hard for me as The Vourdalak does. First time feature film director Adrien Beau (not to be confused with Adrian Belew) takes this film to some very atmospheric, ghoulish, and surreal places. What a treat!

Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

LeEtta and I watch a whole bunch of Agatha Christie adaptations all the time, so I've seen multiple versions of her classic tale. And yet somehow, I had missed this star-studded affair from total boss, Sidney Lumet. Everyone in this film is a who's who of awesome A-listers from multiple generations of Hollywood, but it's Albert Finney's gleeful portrayal of Hercule Poirot that makes this one a new favorite I'll enjoy time and time again. 

Oddity (2024)

I can't get excited about The Conjuring or Insidious movies. They're fine, but I've never seen past the second installments of either franchise. Then a movie like Oddity comes along and, for my money, does what those films do, but better. Or at least, it does ghosts really, really well without the cheap -I'm not talking budget- feeling. This spooky ass film also has Carolyn Bracken in it, an actress that I can't take my eyes off. And she is great in this! 

Loft (2005)

I kept stashing this one for a rainy day and when that rainy day arrived, I was totally blown away. Kiyoshi Kurosawa has had the most incredible career, and every time I find another one of his that I haven't seen before, I feel hashtag blessed. How he manages to get so much dread and creepiness into his films is nothing short of miraculous. One of the things I love about him, and something that is absolutely true of Loft, is his films move in such unexpected ways. A fine journey to Hell. 

Sinners (2025)

Usually, I am prepared for a film to hit me in the emotional solar plexus. For instance, I knew Godzilla Minus One (2023) was going to get me, and it did! But the ugly crying I did after Sinners was nearly out of control. Even trying to talk about this film had me choking up for a days afterward. It comes down to emotionally connecting with the characters. The performances, the script, the music, and the production design all came together exquisitely. Those things along with the assured hand of a great director, this was bound to hit and hit hard. The night I saw this film, I was in the presence of greatness.

L.A. Bounty (1989)

I was feeling sad about the passing of Wings Hauser, and I snagged a few of his lesser known (to me) titles and L.A. Bounty was my favorite of the handful I checked out. He plays the whacked out villain in this one and not surprisingly, he almost steals the whole movie. This one is Sybil Danning's show through and through. She plays a mostly mute bounty hunter who will kick your dick inside out. You need to see this.

Hercules (1983)

Luigi Cozzi made a sci-fi sword and sandal movie in the 1980s packed with eye-popping special effects?! And it's got Lou Ferrigno, Sybil Danning, William Berger, Bobby Rhodes, AND Gianni Garko? Then sign me up! Hercules has just tiniest bit of lag in its energy in the last reel, but otherwise this one is damn near perfect. It's pretty wild. I have to give credit to my childhood favorite, Clash of the Titans (1981), for inspiring the little wave of fantasy films like this and Lucio Fulci's Conquest (1983).

Furiosa (2024)

Sadly, the negative hype of this one got to me -partly that it was a prequel and partly that it was going to be more CGI-heavy than Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)- so I didn't see it in theaters last year. That was dumb of me! I should have had faith in George Miller, because I enjoyed Furiosa so damn much. The weirdness and the contemplative moments of Fury Road were expanded into this insanity. As usual, I'm looking forward to rewatching the whole franchise from start to finish, and I'll be excited to see how this one plays out with the rest of the films.

Strike Commando 2 (1988) 

While I very much enjoyed Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragasso's Strike Commando (1987), this sequel never missed a beat for me in terms of the awkward, cornball bullshit I want from a shockingly derivative Italian action film. The characters are total weirdos that make me laugh every time they open their mouths, usually to scream at each other and the action scenes are actually cool even though they almost make zero sense sometimes.  

The Monkey (2025)

Did I actually get two Osgood Perkins films in one year and they were both great? Yes, but also yes. While Keeper was more in keeping with what I crave from Perkins's work, The Monkey is a solid entry in his filmography. While I'm pretty much done with gore for comedy sake -though there are exceptions like Psycho Goreman (2020)- there's a great deal of heart stashed away in this outrageous film. 

Black Tight Killers (1966)

I had never heard of this film until Radiance posted the boffo trailer for it, and I turned it off after just a few seconds because the fire had been lit. When the Blu-ray arrived, the film exceeded my expectations! If you need some dynamic spectacle in your life, then Black Tight Killers is for you. It's a pop art explosion with a bonkers ass plot. 

The Night of the Walking Dead (1975)

Rod and Troy of the The Naschycast covered this film ages ago on their show and I very patiently waited for someone, somewhere to put this one out in a non-shitty bootleg/download. Sure enough, Severin Films came in like champs and I was finally able to see this one on a nicey nice Blu-ray. This León Klimovsky jam was totally worth the wait. If you need more strange and atmospheric Spanish horror in your life, then bump this one up in your queue. 

Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025)

Well, dress me up in a tinsel tutu and call me Rudolf, I did not see this last one coming at all. This new take on the freaky ass SNDN franchise hit all the right sleigh bells for LeEtta and I. We absolutely loved this. I love how they too what folks who are familiar with the first film and threw a whole new spin on it, and I think made this just a cool film for newbies. I can't wait to get my hands on this one in the new year.

Honorable Mentions

Surf II (1983) - Truly bizarre spoof movie and sequel to nothing. 

Ferrari (2023) - Classy. Cars are cool or whatever.

The Lady Vanishes (1979) - A cozy and delightful film. 

Mickey 17 (2025) - Do we need more dystopian sci-fi? Always.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979) - Essential 1970s trash. 

Trancers II (1991) - Oh my God! Almost better than the original. 

Stopmotion (2023) - Sad and damn good horror to depress you.

Lady Morgan's Revenge (1965) - Excellent Italian gothic.

Camp Fear (1991) - Almost a fave of the year but I can't remember it.

Prime Cut (1972) - This is so good and so badass that I can't even.

Hired to Kill (1990) - Outrageous and cheap action. A parody?

An Eternal Combat (1991) - Very imaginative Hong Kong goodness.

The Power (1984) - Ambitious horror schlock.

Cut (2000) - Aussie slasher goodness that is pretty wild. 

Weapons (2025) - I want to bottle and sell this one's energy.  

Mister Scarface (1976) - Silly but charming poliziotteschi from my birth year.

Worst Films I Watched This Year

Bloody Psycho (1989) - Just jaw-droppingly bad. Kind of infuriating.

Summer Catch (2001) - Cinematic food poisoning.

Children of the Living Dead (2001) - Brutally sucky, but in a bad way. 

My Horror Shelfie 45 - From P2 to Phantom of the Paradise

My Horror Shelfie 37 - From The Living Dead Girl to Luz

The Moviethon Vlog 46 - My Horror Hallway

My Horror Shelfie 23 - Giallo Collection Part 1

Howdy there. I got sort of smart and decided to jump the gun on discussing my entire giallo collection. Here's the first part of what will likely be a five part series. It is possible that I have many gialli on DVD and Blu-ray. I hope you have fun watching this. Stay tuned for more AKA please like and subscribe (yuck, who says that crap?)!

Wednesday Ramble: Revisiting The Vibe

 

I get The Vibe (AKA that Euro-horror vibe) a lot from Italian and Spanish horror where they frame the characters in certain ways or have this perfectly plain location that is rendered terrifying or haunting just by the way the filmmakers choose to light it. The composers have a lot to do with it as well. Morricone, Nicholai, Cipriani, Pisano, etc. Their music, especially the prettier melodies, juxtaposed with the promise of the upcoming horrors are also effective at giving me the same feeling.  Of course, huge credit goes to the writers and directors of these films because without their stories and direction, I'd never have discovered all of this dark joy.

I often struggle to describe the feeling I get from these films. But the Vibe-y sensation is a melancholic invigoration, a creepy floating sensation, or a caffeine rush of morbidity. It's definitely a sharpening of the senses with a big dash of euphoria thrown in. Usually, I find myself creepily smiling, cackling, or just tearing up when The Vibe hits me right. There aren't any specific films where The Vibe is throughout the whole movie. However, there are a few examples where large sections of the film do the trick though. The House by the Cemetery, Phenomena, Death Smiles at Murder, Anthropophagus, Lisa and the Devil, Vampyros Lesbos, and Horror Rises from the Tomb, just to name a few, are great providers of The Vibe.

I try not to repeat myself too much on this blog. Ha ha! Yeah, right! But I was having a convo with a friend about this subject and wanted to post the above paragraphs without looking at my original post on the subject from 11 years ago. So I guess this is kind of a mission statement for what I look for when I'm going into a film from this era/these countries. I will likely come back to this topic in another decade or so.

Just A Look: Satan's Blood (1978)

Zombie Movies

Partly due to the passing of the great George Romero and partly due to a discussion with my pal, the great Simon (Creatures of Light and Darkness), I have compiled a list of my favorite zombie movies. As I was talking with Simon, the list kept growing, especially after he sent me his and I was like "oh snap, I'll steal pretty much all of these, thank you". Then the Wiki happened and then my meager list began to morph into its very own horde of the hungry dead. I'm not going to bother with that whole "so what is the appeal of the zombie film?" pontification paragraph. Let's just get rad.

Night of the Living Dead
Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie
The House by the Cemetery
Zombi 2
Zombi 3
Horror Rises from the Tomb
City of the Living Dead
White Zombie
Planet Terror
Zombi Holocaust
Dawn of the Dead
Vengeance of the Zombies
Tombs of the Blind Dead
Cemetery Man
Bio Zombie
The Hanging Woman
Nightmare City
Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror
Dead Alive
Resident Evil (franchise)
Re-Animator
Bride of Re-Animator
The Living Dead Girl
Night of the Creeps
Return of the Living Dead
The Fog
Messiah of Evil
The Beyond
Mutant
Horror Express
Zeder
Pontypool
Day of the Dead
Oasis of the Zombies
House of the Dead
Grapes of Death
The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies
Shock Waves

Franco Friday #61 - El siniestro doctor Orloff (1984)

I keep thinking that the Franco Friday series is over. I know that I’ve only seen one quarter of Jess Franco’s films and there’s still greatness to be found if I keep scavenging. But honestly, I’m still fried from the last time I jumped in. And as usual, I have so many other fun things going on that this project seems like it might be officially dead. Then, out of the blue, I find ANOTHER Dr. Orloff film! Wait what? How did that happen? Well, gang, here I go again. Let’s see what old Orloff was up to in 1984.

El siniestro doctor Orloff
Directed by Jess Franco
1984
Howard Vernon, Antonio Mayans, Rocío Freixas, Antonio Rebollo, Rafael Cayetano
77 minutes

Dr. Orloff’s son Alfred (Antonio Mayans) is pining over his lost love who also happens to be his dead mother Melissa. He keeps her body preserved so that he can revive her someday. Alfred needs the bodies of young and sexy women to make this terrible dream come to life so he sends his blind assistant Andros out to kidnap him some raw materials. Meanwhile, Inspector Tanner (Antonio Rebollo) is feeling the pressure as he hasn’t been able to crack the case yet. His lovely wife Muriel (Rocío Freixas) wants to help so she gets mixed up in all this craziness too. This should turn out great for all parties involved.

As I was watching The Sinister Dr. Orloff (not to be confused with one of my favorites, The Sinister Eyes of Dr. Orloff), I thought to myself, "Could this be a nice throwback to his early 70s goodness?" The answer is yes. This kind of meandering pervy crap is exactly what I was hoping it would be. Not only are characters recycled from this storyline that Franco remade over and over again, the plot as well will be very familiar to fans of this disjointed series.

Antonio Mayans fans, rejoice! He is pretty frickin' great in this film. Alfred is a really, really pathetic male chauvinist psycho dickhead and his narration while he’s cruising the streets with his robotic manservant is as lame as it is hilarious. Howard Vernon is back as the original Dr. Orloff and he looks truly insane in this. His hair was styled during a nuclear bomb test and his character spends the movie in a wheelchair trying to talk Alfred out of his insane plans. Jess Franco himself plays a ridiculous gay stereotype who witnesses one of the abductions. Lina Romay does some voice work but unfortunately doesn’t play a character onscreen in this one. Rocío Freixas is very cute and all but she's clearly standing in for Romay. She even looks like she's borrowing Lina's blonde wig!

The Spanish seaside locale is beyond beautiful and there’s some very familiar looking architecture on display (see Countess Perverse). This gets predictably trashy as there’s plenty of utterly gorgeous female flesh on display but it only goes for extended onscreen sex once. Color me relieved. The real sleaziness happens when Alfred strangles one of his victims -who is EXTREMELY nude- to death and he seems to be really, really enjoying it.

The Sinister Dr. Orloff is a wonderful overdose of mad science, off kilter dialog, and jiggling boobies (and other body parts). It’s good but definitely not essential for Franco fans but there’s a whipping scene if you’re into that kind of thing. There's also endless shots of Andros carrying naked women over his shoulder which I think is a fetish as well. The synthesizer music at the beginning is very subtle like a supernova smoking crack. Come to think of it, all of the music in this film is pretty deranged; and surprise (not really), it’s all done by Franco under a pseudonym! My only major complaint about this one is that I really wish it was dubbed into English but I highly doubt this film got very much distribution beyond Spain.

“You can’t atomize the soul of a human being.”

The Vibe Episode Revisted

While trying to avoid using up our bandwidth at the Podomatic page as well as create new-old content, I put The Vibe episode on YouTube. Fans of Hello! This is the Doomed Show often cite episode 3 as one of their favorites and that really blows me away. I often neglect the old episodes just because Brad and I were so new to podcasting and we tended to record VERY LONG and the audio quality was pretty lousy. Not to mention we were still nervous as fudge. However, the passion behind this nearly 3 hour ep is impossible to deny and man oh man, we made some epic lists here. So check it out if you haven't before. Also, I typed up everything we talked about in case you don't want to listen! Bam. That's amazing. Thanks to me.

Stuff we talked about in Episode 3:

The Perfume of the Lady in Black
Torso
Lady Frankenstein
Amuck!
The House by the Cemetery
The Creeping Flesh
The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism
The Ghost
Murder Obsession
Phenomena
Shock
Lisa and the Devil
The Hanging Woman
The Devil's Wedding Night
Anthropophagus
Death Smiles at Murder
Zeder
Tragic Ceremony
A Whisper in the Dark
Night of the Devils
Werewolf Woman
The Sect
Terror Creatures from the Grave
Eye in the Labyrinth
Liz & Helen
Spasmo
Crimes of the Black Cat
Death Carries a Cane
The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire
The Blood Stained Shadow
So Sweet, So Dead
Amuck!
The Dead are Alive
A Smile Before Death
So Sweet, So Perverse
Death Steps in the Dark
The Sweet Body of Deborah
Death Haunts Monica
Spirits of Death
Eyeball
Vampires' Night Orgy
Horror Express
A Candle for the Devil
The Abandoned
La Residencia AKA The House that Screamed
Who Can Kill a Child?
A Bell from Hell
Tombs of the Blind Dead
The Blood Spattered Bride
Symptoms
The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue
Vampyros Lesbos
Rites of Frankenstein
Night of the Skull
A Virgin Among the Living Dead
Eugenie de Sade
Bloody Moon
Kiss Me, Monster
Hunchback of the Morgue
Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll
Werewolf Shadow
Horror Rises from the Tomb
Exorcism
Night of the Werewolf
Human Beasts
Vengeance of the Mummy
Vengeance of the Zombies
Panic Beats
Dr. Jekyll vs. the Wolfman
The Swamp of the Ravens
Hammer horror movies:

Brides of Dracula
Blood from the Mummy's Tomb
Nightmare
Dracula has Risen from the Grave
Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter
Countess Dracula
Vampire Circus
Taste the Blood of Dracula
Paranoiac

My Voice Again

So Jeffrey and I recorded an episode of the podcast on Jess Franco's Faceless. It's no secret, we loved it. The episode has some great feedback in it too.

Check it out. Here, here, or here:

And my pal Tyler over at Apologize to the Podcast was kind enough to interview me on his show. We talk ALL KINDS OF MOVIES for a long time. It's just grand. Listen here for more me!

Franco Friday #60 - Shane's Franco Marathon!

I like Shane Migliavacca. He's a rad duder. Check out his blog right now! Just when you thought that the Franco Friday series was dead, Shane swoops in and saves the day. He watched 12 films by Old Jess and documented his journey. Check it out and then check out his blog again because like I previously stated, he's a rad duder. -Richard

The crazy world of Jess Franco. Really there's nothing like it. His movies are filled with beautiful women, weird dialogue and lots of smooth jazz. I wandered into the world of Franco back in the '90's. First place I remember hearing about him was in Fangoria magazine. But I hadn't seen any of his movies. Back then I'd get together with some of my friends and we'd rent a bunch of crazy ass films on VHS. On one of these movie nights I rented Oasis of The Zombies. That was a mistake. We hated it. The tape was grainy, the zombies kind of sucked and not much happens in the movie. This was the first time I saw one of his films. I'm surprised it wasn't the last. Jump ahead to the early 2000's.

Thanks to the magic of DVD I was getting to experience movies I'd been only able to read about. Mondo Macabro released Franco's Diabolical Doctor 'Z'. On a whim I picked it up. I loved the film's crazy mad science and great visuals. Ever since then the amount of Jess Franco films in my collection has been growing. I'd been hoping to do a marathon of his movies when the time was right. This year my collection finally got to the point where I felt I had a nice selection. What follows is my three day descent into a mad free form Jess Franco jazz nightmare.

Day 1

1) Marquis de Sade's Justine (1969)

We get some kooky Klaus Kinski interludes as Marquis de Sade himself. Romina Power's acting is stiff as a board but she's nice on the eyes. Her big hat isn't though. Justine bounces around from one sleazy character to the next. Almost all of them trying to tempt her to the darkside. There's one hunky dude she meets that seems okay. When Jack Palance shows up this movie goes into crazy overdrive. Film meanders quite a bit. There's a few slow spots in Justine's journy. It's really great looking. And there's plenty of over the top characters to keep your interest from totally waning.

2) The Awful Dr. Orlof (1962)

Things start a little slow but then Morpho shows up and all is right with the world. Well, except for the Inspector character. He just sucks! Worlds worst detective. Just open your girlfriend's damn note already and solve the case man! This is Franco doing classic monster movies. I like it. Seen this film several times. I grow to enjoy it more each time. If your smart and not me this should be your gateway film into Franco land.

3) Golden Temple Amazons (1986)

From the directors Alain Payet and an uncredited Jess Franco comes a film full of bewbies. Lots and lots of bewbies. There's also some real manly dude with a beard. Did I mention bewbies? The film is set in Africa but all the Amazons are all tall blonde women. Go figure. Somebody went crazy with the nature footage here. Also bewbies.

4) Diamonds of Kilimandjaro (1983)

I don't know why they spelled it like that. Another Franco co-directed jungle pic. Hilariously atrocious dubbing in this sucker. The same manly beard guy is in this one too. You sir are great. There's some diamond plot but really who cares? It's all about how godawful this film is. Too bad there's some stock footage animal killing thrown in. Not cool.

5) Bloody Moon (1981)

Bloody Moon, where have you been? How come we didn't meet sooner? This film is so '80's and I love it. Oh that funky score is amazing! The old woman in this film is one bitter bitch. Shut up old lady. This is one hot language school. Full of '80's babes. Everybody's pants are high and everything is bedazzled. The character of Paco is so over the top and wrong. You have to see him eating or driving. It's amazing to behold. There's sadly some snake violence on display here. The kills are fairly bloody. Also there's full moon breast baring.

Day 2

6) Jack the Ripper (1976)

The amazing Klaus Kinski ladies and germs! He's back to kick off day two! This is Dr. Orloff sans Morpho. Could have used him here. Oh puss close ups are never cool. Lina Romay singing is hilarious. It's a highlight of the film which is otherwise kind of depressing. This was my second ever Jess Franco film. I remember renting it on VHS expecting a slasher. So there's some nostalgia here for me.It's historically inaccurate as far as Jack the Ripper films go. So don't expect facts Jack.

7) Ilsa, the Wicked Warden (1977)

This movie needs to come with a built in shower. The sleaze oozes from the screen. It's nicely filmed sleaze though. The story concerns a missing woman and her not to bright sister. The sister gets herself intentionally sent to to a jungle prison in search of her missing sibling. You have to admire Lina Romay. She didn't mind getting naked.

8) Eugenie (1970)

This movie is tripping balls. Bruno Nicolai's score is excellent. Did anybody tell Chris Lee what was going on? Or did he just wander onto the set? God bless Jess Franco for letting Paul Muller make out with hot chicks. The evil brother dude is really giving that rocking chair a workout. Calm it down man. Man that ending is a real twisty kick in the teeth. It's very Game of Thrones with all the double crossing and murder. Really enjoyed the heck out of this one.

Day 3

9) Kiss Me Monster (1969)

This here is one of my favorite Franco flicks. It's just pure campy, crazy fun. A real groovy Eurospy spoof. Leads Janine Reynaud & Rosanna Yanni appear to be having a blast. Sexy spies versus mad scientists with plenty of jazz thrown in. What's not to love here?

10) Oasis of the Zombies (1982)

Didn't get any better. There's long stretches of nothing going on. Perfect to doze off to. The best part of the film besides the zombie attacks is the flashback scene. Where we're treated to a really goofy battle between British and German during WWII. So how did the zombies from WWII get those mod '80's haircuts?

11) A Virgin Among the Living Dead (1973)

If I had to pick a favorite Franco film, Virgin would be in the running. It's a beautiful haunting nightmare of a movie. There's another great Bruno Nicolai in this one. That Christina von Blanc is stunning. And it's great to see the always reliable Howard Vernon. There's Paul Muller again. But he doesn't score any hot chick make out scenes in this one. The Queen of the Night is creepy as hell. That ending. Is it a dream? Some sort of weird time loop? Or are they in hell? What ever the case it's amazing.

12) Venus in Furs (1969)

It all starts in Istanbul not Constantinople. Franco's noir masterpiece. This is another one that I pick for my favorite Franco film. Every shot is amazing. The beatnik dialogue can be kind of goofy at times. But it adds to the film's charm for me. Good old Klaus makes another appearance in the marathon. The film is surreal as hell. You'd think maybe it would meander. But it never does. It moves along at a steady pace. If there was one Franco film you should watch, it's this one.

So there you go. What a weird movie marathon. There where some bombs in there. I was honestly a little scared how this one would turn out. But it was a lot of fun. There was a dream like quality to the whole thing that made going back to the real world kind of sad. There's so many Franco films I have yet to see. I'd love to do another one some day.

-Shane Migliavacca

Crimson Peak

Mia Wasikowska plays Edith Cushing, a Turn of the century lady (that's the 19th Century, BTW) who's struggling to be taken seriously as a writer. Her industrialist father (Jim Beaver) entertains a business proposal from Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), a nobleman who is trying to make his fortune in the mining industry. Edith overhears Thomas's appeal to her father and the board of directors and is quite taken with the man.

As romance blooms between Edith and Thomas, much to the chagrin of Edith's father and Thomas's overprotective sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain), a terrible tragedy "coincidentally" occurs sending her rushing into marriage. At the family home of the Sharpes, Allerdale Hall, all is not well. The place looks like a Charlotte Brontë fever dream only not as structurally sound.

Oh and there's ghosts! When Edith was a young girl, her mother died and came to visit her after the funeral to give her a warning, "Beware of Crimson Peak!" This encounter makes Edith just a tad more open to supernatural experiences than your average person. The moment she sets foot in Allerdale Hall, she is besieged by spirits that are all pretty pissed off. What do they want? Who were they? These questions and more will be answered this season on Crimson Peak!

As the month of October is coming to a close, I realized that I hadn't been to see a horror movie all damn month. And that was probably because everything but this looked like shit to me. I desperately didn't want to miss Crimson Peak on the big screen. Thankfully, the new place around here, Studio Movie Grill, is close to work and the wife and I could easily catch a screening right after work. This place used to be the Regal University 16, the legendary theater glorified in my account of Nafa's and my Halloween II experience back in 2009 (read it here).

I only have two negative criticisms for Crimson Peak; one is rather slight and the other a bit more annoying. Heck, they might even be tied together, at least they are in my deranged mind. The first thing is, I feel like the setup leading up to Edith getting to Allerdale Hall and falling for Thomas Sharpe should have been longer. Period pieces are slow and the good ones are achingly so. Thanks to my wife, I have seen A LOT of Jane Austen adaptations, some of them 4 hour versions and that length lets you settle into a story thus making the small emotional moments have a huge payoff. I realize that asking for a horror movie that is one minute short of two hours goes against every molecule of my being but damn it, this is a gothic horror film and I wanted more.

The second thing is the acting felt pretty stiff in spots. I don't want to harsh on this point too much because I'm hoping a second viewing of Crimson Peak will help me change my mind. Would I have been more invested in these performances had the movie taken it's time a little more? Probably not. I did care what happened to these people and I did get wrapped up in all the gothy melodramatic business but something is nagging at me. The one person who really bothered me was Jim Beaver. His portrayal of Carter Cushing really left me cold. He needed to be a bit more gruff or drunk or pissed off or jolly -shit, I don't care- just more something.

Now that that nitpicking is out of the way (see, only two paragraphs!), let me gush for a bit. Guillermo del Toro has never let me down and Crimson Peak is no exception. This film feels like 1. A love letter to the Hammer horror films of the 1960s, 2. A knowing nod to Mario Bava fans, and 3. A full on manly makeout session with Henry James. I've only read a few of James's works but I get the impression that he liked to kiss dudes, hard. The eerie atmosphere, beautiful set design, and magnificent lighting are paired with surprisingly brutal violence and monstrous apparitions making this a real treat for horror fans.

What makes this some next level shit is that Crimson Peak is kinda smart and it made me want to talk about this movie immediately after it was over. del Toro tells you what is going to happen early on and when it happens, your brain goes, "Damn it! I forgot about that! I'm not as smart as I thought. Blast these spectacles and useless vest!" Okay, maybe that's just me. I notice that this film has a slim chance of making its money back and I really hope it does because I want more classy, lush, and thoughtful horror films like this. Recommended. And -BONUS!- it's a great date movie.

Fang Of Joy #3 is out now!!

I'm so frickin' excited about this 44 page monster of an issue that I'm using expletives like "frickin'"!

Get your copy today!

Happy Birthday, Doomed Moviethon!

Doomed Moviethon is now 10 years old. Let's party!

Three new reviews!

House of Voices

Tell Me Something

Rojo Sangre

And one new article!

You Got Rodanned!

EurocultAV Doomed Moviethon Movie Party #2: Werewolf Shadow

Scott of EurocultAV.com and I had such a blast at our first movie party that we are having another one! Here are some choice moments from Twitter while we watched Pieces. We used #piecesofgeorge to mark this historic event. Here are some choice moments:

We are going to do this again with the essential Paul Naschy film: Werewolf Shadow. At the stroke of midnight (Eastern Central Time) on January 31st, start the film and join us on Twitter so we can frolic in the slow motion vampires and sexual power of Waldemar Daninsky. This time, use #NaschyShadow to be a part of the fun. Be sure to follow us on Twitter: @EuroCultAV and @doomedmoviethon and we'll see you on January 31st!

Doomed Moviethon EurocultAV Movie Party #1 - Pieces

So we tried this over the weekend with a double feature of Graduation Day and Pieces but alas, I had a migraine and had to bail. So we're trying it again. Doomed Moviethon in conjunction with EurocultAV.com is having a Movie Party. At midnight EST this Saturday (that's 11pm for you Central Time peeps), we are going to have a showing of Pieces. Where is this happening? On Twitter and Facebook! Where else? I'm hoping that we can have this little Movie Party once a month.

So anyway, start the film at the stroke of midnight (or 11pm or whatever your corresponding time zone may be) and we'll all hang out and get destroyed like a BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD!! Remember, this event is this Saturday, 12/27/14. Be there or end up in Pieces. The hashtag for the event is #piecesofgeorge so don't forget to use it and abuse it.

Links:

EurcultAV on Twitter

Doomed Moviethon on Twitter

EurocultAV Facebook Page

Doomed Moviethon Facebook Page

H!TITDS #55 - Satan's Blood

Why does that Satanic bird sing? Jeffrey and I find out once and for all. This movie is crazy and our discussion is crazy. This probably isn't the episode you play for your parents.

Listen here.

Check out the archives of the show here.

H!TITDS - Episode #50 - A Candle for the Devil

Ladies and gentlemen, a bit of a milestone over at the podcast. Not only are we at episode 50 but this also marks THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN OF BRAD to the show. Holy poop! After an insanely long absence, co-founder of Hello! This is the Doomed Show, Brad is back. We get back on the hawg to discuss A Candle for the Devil AKA It Happened at Nightmare Inn from 1973. So much fun. Too much fun. Boo much fun. BRAD BRAD BRAD BRAD BRAD BRAD BRAD.

Listen to the new episode here.

Grab the old episodes here!