people you fancy but shouldn't (part 80).

As requested by Ms Rollo Vellocet the mysterious and moody John Shackley AKA
Will Parker from The Tripods.

foot and mooth.

Found this in the back of a cupboard yesterday whilst looking for a packet of Sharpies so I could actually do some work.

I love it when that happens plus between this, Big Legend and the frankly magnificent - in an utter pants way - Sasquatch: The Legend of Bigfoot (1976 - review to follow) we've been on a wee bit of a Bigfoot bender here at the moment which has made a nice change from all those sharks.

Abominable (2006).
Dir: Ryan Schifrin
Cast: Matt McCoy, Jeffrey Combs, Haley Joel, Christien Tinsley, Natalie Compagno, Ashley Hartman, Tiffany Shepis, Dee Wallace-Stone, Karin Anna Cheung, Lance Henriksen, Jeffrey Combs, Paul Gleason and Michael Deak.

“Hey ass monkey!  Eat this!”

It's close to midnight and on the outskirts of Ruralville USA, something evil is lurking in the dark.

Well I say evil but actually mean really hairy.

Hairier even than your nan's chin.

Enter (roughly from behind - natch) freaked out farmer Billy Goatsgruff (Linn best known as Frank Tripp from CSI: Miami and son of ELO founder Jeff) who alongside his wife Ethel (genre goddess Wallace-Stone) who have been rudely awakened not by the dustman but by strange noises emanating from the trees.

With their faithful hound Sparky (played with conviction by Ruby who actually has her own IMDB page) in tow they head outside to investigate, soon coming across (not in that way - I thank you) a gutted horse.

Which was nice.

Sparky - being a good boy and, more importantly dispensable - runs off into the woods only to be killed by a huge shadowy figure, the merest glimpse of which causes Billy and Ethel to leg it back to their house and hide behind the sofa as the mysterious figure shambles about outside and raids their bins.

Waiting till the beast has left before venturing outside the pair are (fairly) surprised to find not only all their rubbish scattered around the garden but also a set of big footprints on the ground.

Literally.

"Hello? Who do I haveta fuck to get off this movie?"

With the basic backstory out of the way it's time to meet our players who hope to if not entertain us with their thespian skills for the next 90 minutes at least give us a good laugh during their death scenes and first up is the fella who will be our hero for the films proceedings - the wheelchair using Mr Nice Guy Preston Rogers (The Hand that Rocks the Cradle and Police Academy 5 star McCoy), a man recovering from the death of his wife in a climbing accident (that left him paralyzed, it's not like he's lazy) 6 months earlier.

As part of his recovery Preston has been ordered to spend the weekend at the house in the woods that the couple were staying at pre-accident alongside the frighteningly ginger nurse Otis Wilhelm (FX man Tinsley in his bigscreen debut) who veers wildly from nurse Ratched style nastiness to doe-eyed caring depending on what the story needs.

And what it really needs now is a cult cameo to tell us that there's something scary in the woods.

Luckily  Jeffrey Combs is on hand (and wearing your dad's best clothes) to fill this role.

Almost immediately upon arriving at the house things start to go awry tho' beginning with Preston realizing that they've run out of Soy milk (he has allergies) so a grumpy Otis has to head back to town leaving our wheelie-hero to amuse himself with an impromptu game of dodge-em's with the shelves whilst gazing wistfully at photos of his dead missis.

His melancholic mood is soon broken with the noisy arrival of a group of sexy city girls - Karen (Hartman, best known as Holly Fischer in The OC ), Michelle (Compagno owner of Traveler's Bookcase, a renowned travel bookstore in Los Angeles), the midriff sharing C.J. (Maneater's Hot girl #3 Cheung), Tracy (Shepis - no introduction necessary) and Amanda (Haley Joel - who I'm sure isn't the wee boy from The Sixth Sense but you can't tell these days) - all set for a riotous hen weekend in the house next door.

Binoculars held in his free hand Preston watches the girls unpack in a totally non-pervy (or Rear Window) way before noticing something skulking about in the trees behind the houses.

Sounds legit.

Realizing that none of them are going to get naked and rubber peanut butter over each others lithe, toned tummies and thighs Preston is about to call it a day when Karen pops outside to call her boyfriend only to be snatched away by a big hairy beast leaving her phone lying in the mud.

Preston does what any self-respecting peeping tom would do in the situation and starts waving his arms around like an epileptic windmill as an ominous Lalo Schifrin score builds up in the background which just goes to show that sometimes you can be overly supportive of your kids.*

Unfortunately Otis had been longer than expected fetching milk so misses the excitement but when Preston tells him what's happened he puts it all down to the poor guy being hungry so heads into the kitchen to rustle up a nice meal for two.

Oh and to sneakily swig on a bottle of vodka.

I really know how he feels.

"You ain't seen me right?"

Night falls and realizing that Jeffrey Combs is still on set we cut to the man himself sitting around a campfire alongside some bloke who appears to be director Ryan Schifrin in a wig and local hunter named Ziegler Dane (Henriksen decked out like a gay 80s cowboy whilst visibly working out his alimony payments in his head) who are all searching for the mysterious beast in the woods.

After Combs claims to have heard noises in the distance Dane goes to investigate finding a half-chewed (yet still living) Karen in a cave begging for help.

As Dane reaches out for her the poor girl is dragged away screaming into the darkness and Dane - doing what we'd all do in that situation - runs away to warn his pals who immediately start shooting randomly into the trees.

Well one of them does, Jeffrey just stands there looking shifty as the beast picks them off one by one.

Preston meanwhile is busying himself contacting the local sheriff's office about the big monster stalking the area as the remaining ladies wander around shouting 'Karen!' in a way usually associated with (very) amateur dramatics before tutting loudly and phoning the police.

Obviously a text and a phonecall regarding a missing person at the same place must be a usual occurrence seeing as the police basically tell them to get to fuck. 

Giving up the search they head back inside, promising to search for Karen again after a few drinks and a game of  Twister, the thought of which makes Tracy come over all clammy so she decides to go for a shower.

As you do.

I mean look, if you have an actress who doesn't mind nudity you'd be a fol not to feature some.

Or a 12 year old boy obviously.

"Hello....Are you the blind man?"

Cue an incredibly unwarranted 5 minutes of Ms Shepis lathering herself up as Preston watches that's luckily cut short by a hungry Bigfoot pulling her thru' a window as he snaps her in half.

I don't think her ate her whole tho' as I assume he spat that bit out.**

Preston desperately tries to get Otis over to the window but by the time he's drunkenly waddled over the beast has gone.

Being a sensible type who never overreacts to pressure Otis reckons the best course of action is to sedate Preston but our hero grabs the syringe and  tranquilizes Otis instead.

As the naughty nurse drops to the floor shaking Preston has a clear choice, sit idly and watch Otis' mighty manboobs as the undulate beneath his cheap nylon smock or wheel himself back over to the window in the hope of seeing if the creature has left any bits of Tracy lying around that'd be worth wanking over.

But as he peers closer to the window the creature appears, roaring loudly at him causing Preston to faint, banging his head on the way down.

Well actually on a table but you get the drift.

Laugh when?

Preston quickly comes to (it's only the audience who are comatose) to hear the girls screaming about the mess Tracy has left in the bathroom, shouting to them that she was attacked by a monster the surviving ladies poo-poo this idea and assume she had her woman's period and has gone to look for chocolate.

With the beast approaching from the bushes Preston excitedly tries to get their attention but they ignore him (so what else is new?) but in a burst of intelligent thinking not usually seen in straight to DVD shlockers decides to call Karen's mobile and inform them as to what is occurring.***

After telling them about Tracy and Karen getting eaten he urges them to lock themselves in the cabin and to stay away from the windows.

Not because they're unattractive and will scare the locals but because Bigfoot may try to grab them obviously.

Right on cue the beast bursts in and the ladies hide -  Michelle in the upstairs bathroom and C.J. in a wardrobe whilst Amanda pops a lampshade on her head and pretends to be a light.

Blood in mah mooth!

Unfortunately Michelle lets rip a massive fart and the Bigfoot drags her thru' the ceiling before hugging her to death.

Stomping off to the living room, he totally fails to see Amanda but as he's about to leave the beast bumps into C.J. who - being a girl - starts screaming, scaring the poor creature who in retaliation grabs the nearest thing to him and lobs it out of the window.

Unfortunately the nearest thing to him was Amanda.

Dusting herself off she grabs C.J. and the pair run for their car where a by now  hysterical (but still tummy flaunting) breaks a nail trying to open the door.

Bigfoot seizes this opportunity to stomp on her whilst Amanda makes a break for Preston's cabin leaping thru' the front door just as Bigfoot finishes squashing C.J.

"Do you require any scissors sharpening?"

Comforting a by now (understandably) traumatized Amanda, Preston being a nice guy promises to protect her as he strokes her luxurious hair which no doubts helps him formulate a plan to rig a shit-load of booby traps around the cabin.

But alas we're running out of time (and patience and money) so all this comes to naught as Bigfoot bursts in and slowly approaches the pair leaving our dynamic duo no alternative than to abseil down the side of the house in the hope of making it to the car.

Dropping Preston off the balcony first to secure the ropes (it's not like the drop will fuck him up even more than he is already) Amanda quickly follows but the beast grabs the ropes and attempts to pull her back up.

Just as it appears that she's gonna get eaten the director remembers that Otis is still around so has him suddenly wake up and plant an axe in the beasts back before getting his head bitten off.

Fair enough.

With the beast in hot (and hairy) pursuit Amanda drags Preston toward the car in a desperate attempt to escape - and build some tension obviously - and the pair quickly scramble inside but as Amanda attempts to drive away Bigfoot grabs the vehicle and attempts to have sex with the exhaust pipe.

Possibly.

"I can see your house from here Peter!"

 Burning his massive uncut member of the pipe Bigfoot quickly lets go of the car and it crashes into a tree sending Amanda flying thru' the windscreen landing in a crumpled (yet still lovely haired) heap in the grass.

Luckily being constructed from high quality plastic she's OK.

As it moves in for the kill Preston - in a move that would make Edie MacReadie proud - starts to honk his car horn which disorientates the creature.

No really.

As it stumbles laughably behind the car Preston releases the brake sending the car - and poor Bigfoot -  careering into a tree and causing the still embedded axe to pop out thru his chest.

As the beast slowly dies (well I'm assuming it's dying but to me it looks like it's pulling my uncle Jim's sex face) Preston drags himself from the car and over to Amanda to check that she's at least still warm.

Look you take those chances whilst you can.

As the police - and ambulances - finally arrive, Preston and Amanda are carted off to hospital whilst the local sheriff, Barry Halderman (The Breakfast Club's Gleason) and his deputies head out into the forest to search for the creature whose body, in that good old fashion horror cliche, has vanished but as they're about to give up and go home for a tearful wank and a Pot Noodle a strange noise alerts them to the fact that they are not alone.

Looking up at the trees the men soon realise that they're surrounded by Bigfoots.

Or at least one Bigfoot added to the picture via a Top of The Pops effects filter numerous times.

Do you ever wonder if, when Alfred Hitchcock finished making Rear Window, he sat in the screening room and thought to himself "You know, this movies no bad an' all that but what it's really missing is a big fuck off monster eating people."?

Well director Ryan (my dad's considerably more famous than your dad) Schifrin obviously did and not just on a drunken night out with his pals cos he actually went out and made it.

And I've gotta be honest it's not half as bad as you think it's going to be.

True the score belongs in a much better - and much more frightening - production and the majority of its cult cast are pissed away on cameos but on the whole Abominable is surprisingly a fairly entertaining movie.

Well actually it's two separate movies - one the aforementioned Rear Window remake, t'other a standard monster flick - each vying for the viewers attention which is the real problem as one their own they'd probably be great little flicks but as it stands you end up wanting more of the psychological stuff regarding Preston trapped in the cabin as chaos and death occurs around him with only the bullish Otis for company but instead end up having to sit thru' loads of scenes of a big hairy man biting various cast members that always cut away as things getting interesting.

And by interesting I mean gory.

It doesn't help that when you see the beast in all its glory you realize that the fucker is the spit of the late, great character actor Jack Elam which kinda puts a damper on the whole 'scary' thing.

Go on, tell me it's not true.

Outside the crowd pleasing cameos the cast are actually not too bad - Matt McCoy and Christien Tinsley in particular are great together, yes they may be cliches but they're good cliches that work well within the movie, unfortunately everyone else on screen are really underdeveloped so you really don't care when they start getting offed.

Plus what kind of madman kills off the wonderful Tiffany Shepis rather than makes her the final girl?

It is possible to have her naked and survive in a movie you know.****

Probably.

"Sorry I have my women's period!"

Abominable may be total pants from start to finish but at least it's a fairly inoffensive and pain-free kind of pants.

But saying that so is getting felt up by your drunken uncle at Christmas so it's all a matter of taste I guess.





































































































*Tho' let's be honest anything except trying to sell them to a baby farmer for booze money when they were toddlers is pretty good going in my book.

Right mum?


**Can we have a quick 'cheers!' to this 'joke as it's now officially been used  2000 times on this blog.


***There's a huge thing earlier with him overhearing Karen's surname and him sending texts which I forgot about till this point and really couldn't be arsed rewriting it - Plus I couldn't find a way to add any childish banter - sorry.


****I think she actually reads this blog so hopefully she'll leave a comment.

that thing you do.

36 years ago today THE greatest monster movie of all time was released. 

But as much as I love it I've just realised that the title is nonsensical.

John Carpenter's The Thing?

No he's not.

Think about it, there are no characters in the movie by this name plus audiences were probably put off by thinking that the title gave away who the monster was then got confused looking for this mysterious John Carpenter character during the movie.

Perhaps a better title would have been 'Director John Carpenter wants to remake the title sequence from the Howard Hawks/Christian Nymby original film but has taken his inspiration from the original short story about a shape-shifting alien'.

Tho' that would have left less space for the artwork.

Sorry I haven't slept well.

hied the ball.

Been a hectic week of real-life stuff here so decided to settle down and relax with a wee bit of Paul Naschy.



Scarily even after the amount of (fairly) well written reviews I've posted recently (I've even been spell-checking them) no-one has commented/read or offered me any free stuff.


The nearest I got was an email from Carolina Grigorov, star of
Robin Hood: Ghosts Of Sherwood.

Well I say it was from her but it was from her management threatening to sue me because "I didn't have permission to review her performance." and to tell me to remove all photographs of her from my review.

I bet Mark Kermode doesn't have to put up with this shite.

Anyway from now on I'm just gonna review films where the cast is already dead.

Or should be.

The Man With The Severed Head (AKA Crimson, 1973).
Dir: Juan Fortuny.
Cast: : Paul Naschy, Carlos Otero, Yul Sanders, Claude Boisson, Ricardo Palmerola, Evelyne Scott, Gilda Arancio, Olivier Mathot, Richard Kolin, Roberto Mauri, Silvia Solar, Antonia Lotito and Víctor Israel.

The top tier criminal gang (and Bad Seeds tribute act by the look of them) of 'Monsieur' Jack "The Lad" Surnett (Naschy - say no more) are busying themselves stealing loads of cut price tat from Argos in order to fund a place in the upcoming Battle of The Cover Bands competition being held at the local Pontins.

Or should that be Le Pontins seeing as we're in France?

But the days of planning goes to pot when the greedy, bucked toothed Karl (Israel looking for all the world like the results of an unholy union 'tween Tracey Pugh and The Gonch from Big Babies) decides that he wants to give his wife a pearl necklace so excitedly smashes a display case causing all the alarms to go off.

And this, my friend is why the UK voted leave.

Terrified of being grabbed by the gendarmerie our motley crew jumped into the back of their rust covered 2CV and make a break for the countryside with the police in hot pursuit.

Unfortunately the local law enforcement officers seem to have previous when dealing with filthy, fame hungry crims and set up not only a sneaky roadblock but a couple of hidden snipers armed with machine guns.

With appears a tad excessive and just goes to show that you can never trust the French.

As their getaway car trundles forth the police open fire and in a scene that would make the creators of Casualty go green with envy poor old Surnett gets shot in the head.

Which is nice.

Seeing as Surnett is the one who owns all the equipment (plus his uncle is the entertainment officer at the holiday camp) the gang have no choice but to attempt to save his life and to this end drive over to the house of alcoholic and the recently widowed Nick Cave alike - I'm assuming he's the bands singer -Dr John Ritter (Otero) who, after taking a look at Surnett and gently poking the bullet hole ,with his red right hand informs the others that without urgent medical help that their friend will die.

Being a band on the run visiting a hospital is out of the question, so Ritter suggests that a visit to his old friend Professor Neville Teets (the bewigged and big-binned Palmerola) is in order.

It seems that Teets is a world expert on bullet-based brain injuries and has been waiting for the chance to try it on a human patient so with this in mind Ritter, Karl, Barry Adamson (Devil Hunter's Sanders) alongside second in command Henry Kelly (Mathot) rock up at his house in the middle of the night (tho' it may be daytime with a shit filter) and demand his help.

And some booze obviously.

"Well at least we have something to shite in now!"

Things go a wee bit awry tho' when upon arriving at the house Ritter realises that poor Teets accidentally shut both of his hands in a fridge door a few months back and can no longer operate but in a fantastic twist of fate it turns out that prior to this he'd been instructing his boyish wife Ana (Cannibal Terror's Solar)in the ways of brain surgery just in case something like that ever happened.

Lucky eh?

Examinig Surnett's head (whilst ignoring his massive manbreasts and dinnerplate sized nipples) Teets surmises that the only way to save the patient it to remove the damaged part of the brain and replace that with a similar one from a compatible donor.

Sounds legit.

Unfortunately (for the donor that is, for the plot it makes perfect sense) the only person with a similar brain is Surnett's arch enemy, the evil gangster and popular keyboard wizz Ronald 'The Sadist' Mael (writer and director Mauri, best known for King of Kong Island and The Porno Killers), a man feared as much for his mighty mustache as his mentalist manner.

Taking the Professor's daughter hostage Karl and Barry head into town to acquire the much needed brain.

When he knocked on my door and entered the room
My trembling subsided in his sure embrace
He would be my first man, and with a careful hand He wiped the tears that ran down my face and placed a brain on the table for us to pop in Paul Naschy's head.

With the help of a local flower seller (a blink and you'll miss it cameo from top Scots singing star Lulu) and Surnett's girlfriend - who happened to be shagging Mael before that, seriously this is getting to be like an episode of EastEnders just with less forced bumming - Ingrid (Arancio from the classic Zombie Lake plus the jailbait lez-fest that is Schoolgirl Hitchhikers) and her breasts,  Karl and Barry track down The Sadist and gun him down before placing his dead body on a railway track to sever the head.

Hmmm....seems a wee bit convoluted but hey ho.

Within the hour the operation is complete and appears to be a great success, the only downside it seems is that upon waking Surnett now finds that he's experiencing violent (and sometimes sexual) urges, tho' I'm not sure if that's due to him now sharing The Sadist's brain or the fact that the bandages around his baw-like bonce appear to be so tight as to make his face turn purple.

With The Sadist's pals all running about trying to find their boss, Henry decides it'd be a bit of a giggle to have The Sadist's head nicely gift wrapped and delivered to Mael's harsh faced girlfriend Barbara Dixon (Scott, best known as Lisa the secretary in Swedish Sex Games) as a present.

As you can imagine this goes down as well as your Nan after a glass of cooking sherry so Barbara orders The Sadist's best buddy Willy (Kolin from Eyeball) to find those responsible and kill them.

To death.

Taking the movies meager running time into account it's not long before Barbara and Willy have captured both Ritter and Ingrid, beating the poor doctor to a fleshy pulp (no change there) whilst they torture Ingrid with fag ends in the spare room.

A wee bit like Boxing Day at your house when you were a kid.

Is it in yet?

 Dumping Ritter in the street, the dying doctor valiantly returns to Teets' house to warn the others that Willy and his gang are coming - and gunning - for revenge and that it'd be best for everyone if they stop all this nonsense and apologise.

Henry agrees and alongside Ana attempt to persuade Teets to stop his experiment.

Teets however disagrees and vows to continue working on/with Surnett to complete the operation and cure him of his newly acquired psycho-sexual tendencies before he ends up sticking it in the local paper girl whom he's been lusting after from the bedroom window.

Beware the binmen.

As the bad guys close in tensions fray as Henry discovers that it was Karl that bungled the robbery and Teets and his wife argue over the fate of Surnett's ever expanding bonce.....

From Juan Fortuny, the director of such classic fayre as the Joe Rígoli vampire comedy El pobrecito Draculín (he also wrote Orloff And The Invisible Man but don't hold that against him - oh go on then do) and Marius Lesoeur, the producer of Zombie Lake and Oasis of The Zombies comes a film that's sole purpose appears to be that star Paul Naschy fancied a dirty weekend in France.

True it features enough plot points for about six different movies - everything from wildly implausible brain transplants, gangland murders and crime caper fun all set to a backdrop of gaudy fashions and a fantastically inappropriate 'bing bong' score from the legendary Daniel White but none of it actually makes any sense in relation to the plot.

Even the slightly more 'erotic' version (released under the catchy title Le Viol et L'Enfer des X) lacks any kind of excitement or ability to thrill, tho' that may just be the fact that the cast are so uniformly unattractive that any temperature rises are more likely to be the result of having to sit thru' such a tardy mess than anything of a sexual nature.

Tho' I must admit to experiencing some small stirring when Antonia Lotito cycled into view clad in white knee-length socks and an underpant revealing skirt to deliver the papers.

That may have been because of the vintage Yamaha FS1E she was riding.

Sexiest thing in the movie if I'm honest.

What the whole thing lacks in convincing performances, realistic plotting and anything remotely resembling talent it more than makes up for in sheer entertainment value when you realise that every single cast member looks like a famous musician.

From then on in you can re-interpret the plot as some massive Smash Hits Poll Winners Party style gang war where goth-rock god Nick Cave battles fearlessly against an evil teaming of Sparks and Danni Minogue as Smokey watch on from the sidelines.

There's even a dance sequence about a third of the way in featuring a pert arsed redhead (is there any other kind?) and a couple of camp blokes dressed as Klingons.

I shit you not.

This all comes to a head tho' when Paul Naschy escapes from Teets' house and instead of some mad, mental sadistic Frankenstein style beast we're confronted with what looks like a cut price cosplay of The Aquabats MC Bat Commander.

Aquabats....

Let's go!

So is The Man With The Severed Head a fantastically self-aware piece of modern cinematic art or a huge pile of massive wobbly arse?

Honestly I'm fucked if I know.

devil nae care.

The laydees are away to see Hotel Transylvania 3 (and to be honest I'm a wee bit mifted because reasons) but it does mean that I get to pick a movie to watch this afternoon.

Or at least the Cassman does.


The Devil's Nightmare (AKA La plus longue nuit du diable, La terrificante notte del demonio, The Devil Walks at Midnight, Vampire Playgirls (yes, really) - 1971).
Dir: Jean Brismée.
Cast: Erika Blanc, Jean Servais, Jacques Monseau, Ivana Novak, Lorenzo Terzon
Shirley Corrigan, Colette Emmanuelle (not this one), Christian Maillet, Christian Maillet, Lucien Raimbourg, Lucienne Bogaert and Daniel Emilfork.

Can You Be Possessed By The Devil?- Does the Pope shit in the woods?

We begin our tale in Berlin at the arse end of World War II, where nifty Nazi Baron Barry von Rhoneberg (Belgian superstar and creator of The Office,  Servais) is busying himself polishing his medals as he awaits the birth of his child as the sound of allied bombings echo around him.

Yup the sound quality is that bad.

Luckily tho' the whole thing is sepia toned as to better match with the stock footage of the aforementioned bombings.

Or it would if that footage wasn't scratched to fuck and dipped in treacle.

Anyway, as is the way in such films Von Rhoneberg’s (very) young wife unfortunately dies giving birth (I mean unfortunately as she's in the film long enough to have it on her resume) to a healthy baby girl, which seems to upset the baron no end.

Well I assume he's upset (to be honest he looks like he has trapped wind) because on hearing the news he ushers everyone out of the room before taking the bairn down to the basement and stabbing it to death with his bayonet.

Fair enough.

"Finally! A bottle of pure, unfettered Autism!"

Cue Crayola credits and a (quantum) leap forward in time to the present day where ace reporter Brenda Snatch is busy bugging von Rhoneberg for an interview regarding his home and its history, but the baron just wants to be left alone and grumpily sends the reporter packing with order to  - under any circumstances - never ever take any photos of his overgrown garden.

Sounds legit.

Obviously the reporter pays absolutely fuck all attention to this and snaps away with gay abandon as she's leaving which means that because she's concentrating so much on getting a 'good shot' (which is the actual technical term - I checked) that she totally fails to notice the huge 'something' that appears via a handy wind machine and kills her.

To death.

Later that day one of the locals comes across her body (well it is still warm) on his way back from a fishing trip remarking that it looks as if the poor woman had died of fright - as opposed to death by binman bumming as usual I guess.

The only unexplainable thing is the odd burn mark on her left wrist.

 Well that and the fact of her fashion choices.

Meanwhile across town a tour bus driver by a sweaty fat man named Matt (Maillet from your dad's favourite film Take Me, I'm Old Enough) full of the kind of folk you only find in EuroHorror movies - a grumpy old bloke in plaid trousers named Mason (human testicle Raimbourg), a hunky young priest named Alvin (Monseau), the constantly bitching husband and wife Howard (Lady Frankenstein’s  Terzon) and Nancy (Belgium's answer to Jill Gascoine - Emmanuelle), close 'friends' raunchy Regine (Corrigan from Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf) and kinky Corinne (Novak) - are having a terrible time trying to get to the ferry that will take them to their destination, the holiday resort of Spent that's just on the border.

Probably.

To be honest I wasn't paying attention as I was more interested in figuring out if this was the same tour company from La Orgia Nocturna de los Vampiros before imaging an entire Eurotrash bus-based series.

The road is blocked and there are no toilets for miles which is causing everyone to become a wee bit edgy - as in they're getting upset, not that anyone is getting piercings or tattoo's - luckily out of the blue a totally not at all sinister local in a skin tight mime outfit and huge white gloves appears with an offer of help.

The stranger (Emilfork the ferret-fanged star of City of The Lost Children amongst other things) informs the driver that they might as well head over to the Baron's castle and ask if they can stay overnight because they've missed the last ferry and there wont be another till morning.

By the look of his outfit I was half expecting him to pull a Mickey Mouse mask on as the drove away.

Pulling up outside the castle the party are met by von Rhoneberg has his butler, Hans (who no doubt shot first) — who welcome them with open arms, explaining that a mysterious woman rang to explain the situation and that everyone's rooms are prepared and supper is in the oven.

Which is nice.

That's your dad that is.

As Hans shows everyone to their quarters, he regales the group with the terrifying tale of horror that have taken place in each of the rooms: exorcisms, violent bummings, murders and bizarre accidents that don't appear to put any of the guests off staying in the slightest.

Which means that they're either made of stern stuff or that Hans is really shite at telling stories.

a wee bit like Rian Johnson.

With the guests settled and an hour to kill before supper there's just enough time for Corinne and Regine to indulge in some saucy (yet cringingly uncomfortable)  lescapades before joining everyone in the dining hall for food, wine and excited chat.

Just as the group are about to tuck into a bowl of Angel Delight the meal is interrupted by the doorbell and Hans goes to investigate* and finds a lone traveler named Lisa (Ginger haired Goddess Blanc from The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave) begging to be allowed to stay the night.

Casual.

Upon encountering our redheaded raver, Mavis the maid (Bogaert, whom readers will no doubt recognise from Les dames du Bois de Boulogne) does her damnedest to turn her away by telling her that there are no free rooms, but Hans (who has obviously read the script) helpfully points out that the box room where the baron stashes his porn has an inflatable mattress in it - and a bicycle pump to inflate it with.

Sorted.

Stopping only for a quick shit and to touch up her eyeliner Lisa enters the dining room just as Lita comes to dinner just as the baron is helpfully explaining that an ancestor of his made a pact with the devil and according to legend each firstborn daughter of the von Rhoneberg family is cursed to become a succubus - a female demon who uses her charms to steal mens souls and send them into a life of torment.

So, basically just a normal woman then.

The guests laugh politely at the tale and head off to bed, particularly relieved that not only does the baron not have a daughter but by the fact that the whole story sounds like utter bollocks.

You can tell where this is going can't you?

As the party prepare for a good nights sleep, Matt has other ideas and heads down to the kitchen for some (more) food but is surprised to find Lisa already there and slaving over a hot stove preparing a sumptuous feast for him.

Being a greedy bastard Matt scoffs the lot but whilst washing it down with a small glass of wine chokes to death as a now hideously transformed (well they shaved her eyebrows) Lisa gazes at him giggling.

Put it in me!

As the night goes on each of the party will fall foul to their hedonistic desires as Lisa offs each and every one of them like some proto-Seven serial killer -  Nancy, being a wee bit greedy drowns in a pit of powdered gold, Howard and Corrine are beheaded and spiked respectively in a post-coital tryst, Regine is bitten by a snake as she sleeps (they were kinda struggling for 7 deadly sin murders by this point methinks as I'm sure loudly snoring isn't an actual sin) whilst poor old Mr Mason is thrown out of a window.

Due to the sin of wearing hideously high waisted nipple warming trousers obviously.

As dawn breaks only Alvin is left, seemingly immune to Lisa's ample charms (yes I mean breasts), spurning her advances toward him whilst fingering his crucifix and chatting about God.

Each to there own I guess.

"Are you the blind man?"

Bored with all this religious chat the devil himself soon makes an appearance and wouldn't you know it, it's the spooky guy who gave them directions to the castle in the first place, it appears he's just decided to turn up for a bit of a gloat but Alvin sees an opportunity to save the poor passengers who have died, offering as he does his own soul in exchange for theirs.

And why would the devil accept such an offer?

Well Alvin explains that by taking him it means one less priest to do God's work and save folk from sin.

Plus I reckon it'd keep a fair amount of kids safe from another fiddling father too so it's win/win really.

The devil agrees and the next morning, Alvin awakes to find that the bus passengers are all still alive and the entire event appears to have been a dream.

Thinking nothing of it he heads down to join the others for breakfast before they depart but as they're buttering the toast the baron - who is indulging in an early morning fencing bout with Hans (as you do) - is mortally wounded and Alvin rushes to his aid, offering to stay with him as they wait for an ambulance.

As the party head to the bus the Baron confesses that he did indeed have a daughter but killed her in her cradle but as he tells the terrible tale Mavis appears and beckons Alvin over for she too has something to tell the priest.

It seems that the child the baron killed wouldn't have actually become a succubus as Lisa was actually the eldest von Rhoneberg daughter, born from an affair she had with the Baron's brother, Rudolph.

It's like an entire year of Eastenders squeezed into 10 minutes.

But with better teeth obviously.

"I'm sorry....I have my woman's period!"

Alvin thinks the old woman is talking bollocks and comforts Lisa as the passengers board the bus and drive away.

But the calm is short lived as suddenly the bus is forced to swerve in order dodge a rag and bone cart - driven by the devil no less - before plunging of a cliff and bursting into flames, killing all aboard.

As Alvin watches in horror (or it may be constipation) Lisa and the devil (that'd make a great film title by the way) share a smile, happy in the knowledge that  they have claimed everyone's souls.

Yup, even yours just for watching the film.

The only feature from Belgian director Jean Brismée, The Devil's Nightmare delivers everything you'd expect from an early 70s EuroHorror - from closed mouth, uncomfortable lesbianism to clenched arsed uncomfortable acting (especially from Jacques Monseau when Lisa attempts to seduce him, honestly I felt like giving the poor sod a hug) the film drunkenly veers from gothic chiller to dribbly food porn to discourse on faith and religion without skipping a beat as it throws in (and up) everything from rudimentary gore, hideous brown underwear and outrageous fashions along the way and all set to one of those throaty vocal scores you only find in late 70s European horror films.

Honestly it's a veritable check list of clinches that nevertheless is as entertaining as it is sometimes terrifically tacky.

Plus Erika Blanc's tummy is quite nice.

I don't know what's more repulsive....the wallpaper or the underwear

Mad, bad and down right dangerous to know, it's Blanc's luscious Lisa the Succubus teaser that holds the whole film together, at once flirty and dirty  yet sweet and naive, all big eyes and even bigger hair she makes even the most outrageous costumes and even more outrageous posturing seem natural and demure whilst exuding a sense of sexual menace I've not encounter since being stuck in a cupboard with my  old scoutmaster as a boy.


I'll be honest even if the rest of the film was utter pants (which luckily it isn't) it'd be worth watching just for her.

Recommended.

Just don't get too excited and accidentally purchase/watch the poverty row 2012 remake by Shlock Meister David Zagorski instead tho' as it's utter pants.

But saying that steampunk superstar cum director (and part-time) drummer Seregon O'Dasseyin looks very pretty in Lisa role.

And she does wear a terrific blouse.

 

* Obviously I mean answer it as he really doesn't need to investigate the bell as he's heard it before.

people you fancy but shouldn't (part 79).

British BBC journalist and presenter Fiona Susannah Grace "Fi" Glover.

 

eating out.

OK last cannibal caper for now.

I promise.

Emanuelle E Gli Ultimi Cannibali (AKA Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, Emanuelle's Amazon Adventure, Trap Them and Kill Them, Emanuelle Chez Les Cannibales 1977)
Dir: Joe D'Amato (who else?)
Cast: Laura Gemser, Donald O’Brien, Monica Zanchi, Susan Scott, Gabrielle Tinti, Geoffrey Copleston, Annamaria Clementi, Nieves Navarro, Percy Hogan, some cannibals.

Saucy sex minx Emanuelle (D'Amato regular Laura Gemser) has momentarily given up whoring for a living and is currently residing in New York, making her cash as an ace newspaper reporter famed for getting to the heart of gritty 'human interest' stories.

And her current assignment?

To expose an evil lesbian nurse.

But frankly is there any other kind?

Posing as a mentalist she enters (phnar) the hospital with plans to get her story by any means necessary, which in Emanuelle's case involves sneaking into patients rooms in the dead of night and masturbating the information out various incarcerated loons.

Whilst all the time carrying a doll with a camera hidden in its eyes.

I'll have to check with a journalist friend, but I'm pretty sure that isn't common practice but if it is the Piers Morgan/Donald Trump interview just got even more sinister.

The best performance in the whole movie.

After a night of finger-based fun, Emanuelle is surprised to see the nasty nurse she's supposed to be pursuing stumbling drunkenly from a patients room covered in blood from a bite wound on her chest.

Obviously there's only one course of action open to our heroine if she wants to find out what's happened.

That's right, she enters the room and gets right back into fiddling.

Whilst goosing the information out of the mad cannibal woman Emanuelle notices a strange (re: shite) tattoo hastily scrawled on the loopy ladies tummy and - using her free hand - gets a picture of it before legging it out of the asylum and heading straight over to her editors office.

Her editor is amazed, explaining to her (and us) that this tattoo proves the existence of a supposedly extinct stone-age cannibal tribe in the Amazon.

Who'd of thought it?

Well who apart from the obviously drunk screenwriter obviously.

Intrigued by the thought of a gang of flesh eaters running an online shopping company Emanuelle decides to visit her old anthropologist buddie Dr. Mark (not the star of Oliver!) Lester (the exploitation genres very own George Clooney, Tinti), who tells her that the symbol belongs to one of the world’s last practising cannibal tribes, tho' you'd think that they'd be pretty good at it by now.

Thanking him for useful history lesson with a quick bout of the sex, Emanuelle persuades Lester to lead an expedition to the Amazon to find the tribe.

"More bass!"

In no time at all, Lester and Emanuelle arrive in South America, first stopping off to visit an old colleague of his, Professor Wilkes (Copleston from almost every movie ever made) to get supplies - oh and have sex - (but not with the old bloke obviously) before being joined on their quest by the old man's daughter Isabel (top teen tempting tottie Zanchi) and a random, tho' fairly sexy nun (Clementi). 

"Hello? Are you the blind man?"

Fueled (and fucked) up, our frisky foursome head off into the jungle (in reality D'amato's local garden centre) for an appointment with a mightily manbreasted missionary called Father Rick Morales, an expert on cannibals as well as God.

Which is nice.

Obviously with such a hazardous and long journey ahead of them, Emanuelle decides that it'd be best to stop every few miles for (even more) sex.

And with our luscious leading lady being a modern equal opportunities type, she makes sure that everyone gets to join in, flitting - and fondling - between the hunky Lester and the eager to learn Isabel. 

And it's during one of the movies many muff-fests that Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals' - or perhaps the whole of cinemas - greatest scene unfolds; the two ladies, whilst having a quick wash in a pond, begin fondling each other (in clinical close-up) whilst a chimpanzee sits watching them from the riverbank.

And all to a sexy jazz (mag) score.

If that  wasn't enough to cement D'Amato's place as a cinematic God tho' he pulls out all the stops by dressing the chimp in a pair of big sunglasses and forcing it to smoke a fag.

Genius on celluloid.

And before you write I, yes I am aware - as I'm sure dear Joe was, that Chimpanzees are African, not South American animals so there's probably a good reason for him being there.

Who knows there's bound to be a cut scene explaining that he was the planes co-pilot or something.

Possibly.

Just be grateful that Gemser doesn't try to have sex with it.

"Aye son!"

Bored with monkey - and master - baiting the pair soon come across (snigger) hardened adventurer Don MacKenzie (Dr. Butcher MD himself, Donald O’Brien) his Rula Lenska-like, big black cock obsessed wife Maggie (Navarro) and his 'handyman' (and owner of an aforementioned big black cock) Salvador Daley.

It appears that the trio are determined to find the wreckage of a plane that went down (oooeeerr) in the jungle with a fortune in diamonds on board.

Unfortunately they have bad news concerning Morales mission; the Father is missing presumed lunch and all of the nuns have been massacred by cannibals.

Obviously no-one takes this news well and they all end up having a lot of sex in order to boost morale.

Except MacKenzie who goes to sleep.

Emanuelle struggles with a huge
(non trouser) snake. For a change.

Shagging their way across the Amazon basin for what seems like eternity, it's a blessed relief when the group are finally attacked by 'cannibals' (played with conviction by a dozen or so out of work Brazilian bin men in Beatles wigs) who, just to show how savage they really are steal Lester’s boat, most of the party’s supplies (including the cheese and onion flavoured condoms and KY jelly) and kidnap the pretty (non shagging) Nun.

Being nappy wearing primitive types tho' they have absolutely no idea what to do with her so end up tying the poor cow to a tree before stripping her naked and eating her whole.

No they don't spit that bit out.

It'll come as no surprise to find that everyone is a wee bit upset - oooh for literally minutes afterwards - by this but quickly cheer up when Don's aeroplane (with its cargo of diamonds) is found.

Celebratory sex all round then?

"Now this is podracing!"

Wouldn't you know it tho' but just as the frantic fucking is about to get interesting those kooky cannibals pop out from behind a bush and snatch Maggie.

Which is possibly much more painful than it sounds.

Lester being the hunky hero type - and the only male member of the party who hasn't stuck it in her yet - hatches a plan to save her.

In any other movie this would be a great idea and possibly lead to an Indiana Jones style climactic chase.

With more bellends obviously.

But alas this film was co-written by Romano (Zombie Holocaust) Scandariato, so this daring rescue attempt consists of Lester and Co. sneaking into the cannibal village disguised as wolves or something, sneaking up behind the cannibal chief and shouting 'look up there! it's Fred Titmus!' before grabbing Maggie and running back into the jungle.

I'm afraid to say - but not at all surprised - that it doesn't work.

Sex machine Salvador is quickly killed whilst Donald and Isabel taken captive leaving Lester limping about with a petted lip whilst Emanuelle sits around with the look of a woman who can't remember if she left the gas on.

Our heroines problems are of little consequence to poor Don tho' who suffers the indignity of being tied to a tree before being cut in half and forced to watch as his legs, arse and cock are scoffed by the greedy tribesmen which leaves him for all the world looking like a bizarro hand puppet.

Or it would if the whole shoddy effect wasn't achieved by Sellotaping a photocopy of the actor to a couple of rose bushes and quickly tearing it in half.

Meanwhile Isabel, being the first ginger the tribe have ever seen, has an even more convoluted fate awaiting her because being drugged, stripped naked and gang banged by the entire tribe is exploitative enough so to top it off the terrifying tree dwellers are planning to sacrifice the poor girl to their river goddess.

The official Ronco Douglas Bader
Washing Line: available now!

Have no fear tho' for it's Emanuelle's turn plan a rescue attempt and this one's a corker.

She quickly removes all her clothes before getting Lester to daub the tribe’s emblem on her belly (luckily she has a face painting kit with her).

Luckily Lester's a dab hand with a brush and before too long Emanuelle is made up to look the  spitting image of the aforementioned river goddess.

Now tell me in all seriousness that you saw that coming.

Pants.

Will Emanuelle be able to rescue Isabel in time?

Will they escape the tribes wrath?

And more importantly will they be able to fit any more shagging into the last 10 minutes of the movie?

G on, guess.

"Look at me Emanuelle...I'm from Dudley!"

All hail the late, great Joe D'Amato as he spews forth another of his trademark ugly people having sex mixed with hard core gore 'epics' and again falls down the scary thematic thigh gap between the two genres.
 

It's not all bad tho', lovely Laura Gemser is always watchable and at least she can act, plus the amazing Monica Zanchi is far more attractive than the majority of D'Amato's female cast; all ginger locks, freckles and wide eyed innocence, looking for all the world like a cutesy librarian dropped naked into a cesspool of cannibal kinkiness.

Which is quite frankly the best description of a perfect woman as you'll ever find.

Damn you D'Amato springing Zanchi onto me as an innocent, horror loving teen.

I mean between her and Nastassja Kinski in Cat People is it any wonder it took me nearly so long to find a girlfriend who lived up to such perfection?

As an aside I should point out that apart from being absolutely beautiful and a damn fine actress to boot Zanchi also performs the second best masturbation scene ever committed to celluloid in this very movie.

The best being Harvey Keitel's car window Nat West in The Bad Lieutenant obviously.

To be honest if you're in any way a serious film fan then Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals is worth viewing just for that scene alone because let's be honest, you're not watching it for the plot and realistic effects are you?

Well I am but that's to be expected.

Zanchi: I love her.

 And whilst it never manages to scale the dizzyingly daft heights of Erotic Nights of The Living Dead at least the sex scenes aren't as arse clenching as those featured in Emanuelle in America (no horses for one thing), the film does at least have a slightly more attractive, less warty cocked (stand up and be counted Percy Hogan) cast than is usual for a D'Amato movie and thankfully none of the animal cruelty that blights most cannibal flicks.

Because we all know that monkeys love to smoke.

And if nothing else at least you had to admire D'Amato for his perseverance.