pakula lives!

With the upcoming relaunch of the Universal Monsterverse with Tom Cruise in The Mummy (tho' not in my mummy which would be worth seeing if I'm honest cos she's fairly fit for an old bird) I thought it was about time I had a rewatch of one of THE greatest monster movies of all time.

"PUT IT IN MEEEEEEEE!"

Zinda Laash (AKA, The Living Corpse 1967).
Dir: Khwaja Sarfraz.
Cast: Rehan, Ala-Ud-In, Asad Bukhari, Nasreen, Latif Charlie and Deeba Begum.

The kindly, yet oh so slightly hatstand Professor Jimmy Tabini (60s superstar Rehan who most of you may know from Hell's Ground) has spent his whole life (so far) trying to create a magical medicine that will quite literally hold back death.

And get rid of those eggy stains you get on the underside of your pants.

Unfortunately for him - but not for the movie obviously -  things go a wee bit awry when takes a swig from the bottle to test it and suddenly drops down dead.

As luck - and plotting - would have it his cutesy cardie-wearing assistant Gayle (Nasreen best known as Girdhari's Mom in Tel Malish Boot Polish) is on hand to quickly carry him to the cellar and pop his body in a handy coffin.

Which is nice, if a little abrupt.

But almost immediately after nailing the coffin shut Gayle notices a spooky scratching noise coming from within.

Putting it down to wolves she retires to her bed for the evening little realizing that the home-made medicine has had a bizarre effect on the good doctor.

Well more bizarre than appearing to kill him stone dead obviously.

It seems that the powerful potion has turned Tabini into one of the undead causing him to rise from his grave whilst dressing in Bela Lugosi's hand me downs.

Well I hope they're his hand me downs seeing as Lugosi was buried in his cape and suit - I'd hate to add grave robbing to Tabini growing list of misdemeanors.

So imagine Gayle's surprise that night when she comes across the resurrected Tabini on her way to the toilet.

The surprise soon turns to terror tho' as he greets her by chomping down on her neck.

Something tells me he's become a vampire.

Oh yeah - the movies title.

Sean Connery farted....and it smelled of haggis. And shame.

Being based on Bram Stoker's book it's not long before someone called Harker turns up - in this case the handsome Dr. Aqil Harker (Bukhari) tired and hungry after a trip to the local Londis (probably to see if they still have Orloff And The Invisible Man in stock) who arrives at the Professor’s humble abode looking for food and lodgings.

But not, i hasten to add a vampiric encounter.

Tabini resplendent in all his dinner suited glory creepily greets Aqil and quickly takes him upstairs to 'show him to his bedroom'.

I don't know about anyone else, but when men of a certain age have rushed me upstairs we've at least discussed payment first.

But just as the movie is seeming to head into the territory of 'the homolust' much feared by Pakistani cinema a photo of  Aqil's fiancée falls from his overnight bag not only to prove that the doctor is as straight as they come but to give Tabini a chance to show us his pervingly lustful look.

So we're all winners really.

Portishead: The pikey years.

Maybe Aqil could have avoided trouble when sleeping in strange old men's houses by wearing a picture of his missis in a heart shaped badge on his lapel but then maybe he fancies a wee bit of camp count action for a change.

And with that thought he makes his excuses and goes to bed only to be woken  from a restless sleep some time later by the spooky sound of singing emanating from the cellar.

As is the way in horror movies (yup even those with sporadic musical numbers) Aqil grabs his dressing gown and heads off to investigate soon coming across (and who would blame him?) the professors assistant - clad only in a sheer, granny style nightgown - sexily undulating and generally being a saucy minx in an attempt to seduce him.

I say.

Your mum yesterday.

Unable to resist the sight of a full hipped dusky beauty in a flowing nightie Aqil is soon not only under Gayle's hypnotic spell but a servant of the undead Professor Tabini.

A man of science now possessed by an evil supernatural force.

"I fang you!"

Will Aqil's family notice he's missing and mount a search party?

Will his Fiancée Janet - overcome with grief for her missing man - begin singing in the street for absolutely no reason? 

And how will she manage to free him from Tabini's - and more importantly the foxy vamp vixens - power?

Unashamedly borrowing wholesale from (and in the case of James Bernard's score for Horror of Dracula - blatantly stealing, alongside an incredibly strange version of La Cucaracha.) the Hammer and Universal Dracula cycles by way of a Bollywood style make over - the wonderfully weird Zinda Laash is exactly what you'd expect from a film entitled 'Dracula in Pakistan'.

Switching seamlessly from classic Gothic terror to song and dance scenes at the drop of a cape, the movie also adds some unique touches to vampire lore.

Whereas the 'western' Dracula has the ability to shape change (mostly into a bat in screen versions) Tabini is more likely to hop into his car for a quick getaway.

Same goes for Dracula's use of his 'persuasive' mind powers, whereas we're used to the Count's hypnovision, Tabini is more likely to just beat the shit out of people in order to get his own way.

And it's these scenes of wanton violence alongside dance routines dubbed "Too sexually provocative" by the censors that led to the film's almost banning only getting a release after the sexier scenes were cut and then with an 'X' rating,  the first ever in Pakistan.

No mooth shite-in allowed!

And it's this mix of the familiar and downright bizarre that make this movie such a joy to watch, plus Nasreen is probably THE most exotic - and not to mention sexily swivel hipped - vampire babe to ever grace the silver screen.


Genius from start to finish.

And Rehan gives the greatest ever performance as Count Dracula in any movie ever.

Fact.

goldraker!

More freak out Fumetti fun, this time it's the dangerous world of Max Goldrake, the sexy playboy secret agent and what looks like his monkey butler Edward.

Probably.

h.p. source.

So I decided to watch one of those modern films that the cool kids keep talking about and not just that, I watched one that has been hailed as the future of horror.

In the small midwestern - possibly in Pennsylvania - jumbo-eyed junkie James (Stern - not the radio shock jock) frighteningly flees from a farmhouse and into the woods as a couple of check-shirted shotgun toting townies - a never named father and son who for the sake of this review we will call Dick and Dom.

This will be less confusing later seeing as the father is actually played by someone called Fathers who strangely enough looks bizarrely like a younger, fitter Richard Liberty - whilst the son is played by a council estate Matt Damon.

Under the pseudonym Mik Byskov.

As you can see he doesn't have his character name in his actual name.

But he does have the word 'boy' in it tho' which you might call your son.

Anyway I digress.

It seems this pair have been busying themselves madly shooting shit and dosing women in petrol before setting light to them.

So far so The Crazies.

But it's not 1973 and this isn't one of Romero's finest (after Bruiser obviously) - we're actually in 2017 and experiencing the neon nightmare that is.....

The Void (2016).
Dir: Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie.
Cast: Ellen Wong, Aaron Poole, Evan Stern, Kathleen Munroe, Art Hindle, Daniel Fathers, Mik Byskov, Gracie Munro, James Millington, Stephanie Belding and Kenneth Walsh.

This is hell!

Meanwhile a wee bit further down the road, lank-haired deputy sheriff Daniel Carter (Poole - a near perfect amalgamation of Nic Cage, Daniel Roebuck and David Arquette but wearing his dads shirt) is enjoying a nice nap in his warm police car.

His dreams of trains and tunnels are rudely interrupted not by the dustman but by James tumbling out of the bushes and into the road.

Being a nice guy - and wanting to move the plot forward Carter bundles him into the car and takes him to the local hospital where by some strange quirk of fate and convenient storytelling his estranged wife Alison (the scarily long-faced Munroe) works as a nurse.

Well I'm assuming she's a nurse, I mean she's dressed like one but then again so is the feisty intern Kim (Wong from Scott Pilgrim but don't hold that against her) and she seems to know fuck all about medicine and seems much more interested in paying homage to the bit in Nightmare City when the lovely Mrs. Miller chats to Phil about his ailment.

Thinking about it I should have heard the alarm bells as soon as it started riffing Umberto Lenzi really.

But it's OK as before you have time to consider the ramifications of this frankly freaky homage we've moved into Assault On Precinct 13 territory, you see the hospital was gutted by a fire recently so it's officially closed with only a handful of staff on call and two patients - the pregnant Maggie (Munro looking for all the world like Lynn Lowry circa I Drink Your Blood) who's accompanied by her grampa Ben (Darkman II's Millington) and some bloke called Cliff Killedsoon who is so instantly forgettable as to not being listed on IMDB.

Travesty of justice or lucky escape?

You decide.

Tinky Winky's let himself go.

Arriving at the hospital Carter is met by the enigmatic Dr. Peter Powell (Twin Peaks Windom Earle himself Walsh - so he'll be the baddie then), nurse Beverly (Belding - wife of Saved By The Bell's Richard), the aforementioned Kim and Alison giving the pair a chance to exchange longing glances across a gurney.

After a few minutes of backstory chat (they split up due to their son dying during childbirth - selfish sod) and mugs of coffee Carter makes his excuses and sneaks off for a wee only to come across (not in that way) Beverly sticking a pair of scissors into Cliff's eye (son) before attempting to remove her face.

Carter does what any self respecting policeman would do in that situation and shoots her dead before collapsing due to a seizure.

Cue a couple of trippy hippy visions cut to the ominous sound of a cow mooing.

Same scene, different shit.

As the entire cast run around trying to figure out what just happened the gruff state trooper Cameron Mitchell (Hindle from The Brood) turns up demanding that James be handed over to him immediately.

If not sooner.

It seems that the farmhouse slayings haven't gone unnoticed and that Mitchell (having a nicer hat) is now in charge.

Carter heads out to his car to radio the station regarding the situation only to be confronted by a gaggle of robed cultists who attack him without warning before he manages to crawl back inside the hospital only to find a terrified James being attack by the corpse of Beverly which has transformed into a slimy multi-tentacle beast.

Which is nice.

As Carter and Mitchell attempt to rescue James from a fate usually reserved for cartoon Japanese schoolgirls Dick and Dom burst into the hospital and angrily hold everyone at gunpoint.

It appears they have unfinished business with James.

"Aye son!"

James - being a bad druggie type - takes Maggie hostage and in the ensuing confusion stabs Dr. Powell in the neck.

There's no time for recriminations tho' (well not yet) as no sooner has he fallen to the floor when the Beverly beast reappears dragging Mitchell of to his doom.

Being experienced monster botherers (kinda) Dick and Dom easily kill the creature before returning the others in order to shout angrily about things.

Because there's nothing like a wee bit of tension to up the stakes.

Stopping the manly pissing/dick measuring competition long enough to formulate  a plan of attack/escape/something to pass the time Dick and Dom agree to accompany Carter to retrieve his shotgun from a patrol car but just as they're about to venture outside Maggie begins to fart loudly which as everyone reading knows means she's about to give birth.

Alison volunteers to go into the basement (alone) to collect medical supplies for delivering the baby  little realizing that Powell has risen from the dead and is hiding in the morgue waiting to pounce.

"Shite in mah mooth!"

Concerned for Alison's safety Carter goes to look for her only to receive a phone call from Powell in order to explain bits of the plot whilst taunting him with regards to the vision he experienced earlier.

Just in case we hadn't realized that Powell is involved Dick comes across a box of Polaroids featuring pictures of dead bodies and the good doctor in a white robe holding a hood exactly like the cultists wear.

Yup, think we got it thanks.

With Kim - and Ben - looking after Maggie Carter, Dick and Dom - convinced that James knows more than he's letting on - decide to torture the poor fella for a bit in the hope of discovering useful stuff.

Under threat of a particularly nasty Chinese Burn,  James breathlessly explains how Powell has the power to transform people into monsters and runs a sex cult to those ends.

Which makes about as much sense as anything else happening I guess.

Convinced by all this meta-psychical sub Lovecraftian nonsense (and hoping to get invited to one of Powell's parties)  the three men drag James with them as they head into the basement to find Alison and confront the doctor.

"Is it in yet?"

Meanwhile Alison awakes to find herself strapped naked to an operating table whilst Powell explains how he has discovered a way to hold back death.

Think that scene in Re-Animator but without the joy of Barbara Crampton's frankly magnificent breasts.

Approaching the Alison in a manner usually reserved for Disney villains and slightly drunk old men Powell pulls back her bedding to reveal that her tummy has been replaced with a hastily painted plastic bag attached to a hair dryer to make it move about in a comedy manner.

No hang on I think it means that something is growing in her belly.

My bad.

Fantastic breasts and where to find them (it's 1hr and 5 mins in if you're interested).

As all this pervy pregnancy stuff is going down Carter, Dick, Dom and James are having a few troubles of their own seeing as the hospitals dimensions appear to be shifting and changing leaving them stuck in a room full of horribly mutated corpses brought back to life by Powell during his initial experiments.

almost instantly James - now being superfluous to the plot is killed whilst the three amigos are separated as they run for cover.

Meanwhile back upstairs Maggie is either going into labour (Corbin will be pleased) or having a massive poo - either way she begs Kim to perform a C-section.

Or a mildly erotic dance, take your pick.

But on accounts of being the worse medic this side of Harold Shipman Kim just stands about screaming only stopping when Maggie - desperate for something interesting to happen - cuts her granddads throat.

Turns out that Maggie is in fact carrying Dr. Powell’s child.

As in that's the baby in her tummy, she's not got it in a rucksack.

As the creepy cutists enter the building Kim decides to hide in a cupboard.

Maggie may.....or may not.

Back in the basement and Carter has so far been unsuccessful in finding anything of consequence to move the plot forward but has found his ex-wife.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you feel about Japanese porn) she's been transformed into a multi-tentacled baby machine by the evil Powell.

Realizing that he'll never find a dress to fit her Carter kills her with an axe before being suddenly transported onto the set of The Neon Demon where Powell proceeds to tell our hero that he has found the ability to conquer life and death.

He promises to give Carter the secret but only if he embraces death first.

Sounds legit.

Told you.

Before he can answer tho' Maggie appears and stabs him in the back.

As Carter crawls toward the massive florescent triangle on the wall Powell finally reveals what he's been up to in the basement - constructing an almost perfect Uncle Frank from Hellraiser suit in order to knock 'em dead at the next horror con.

Probably.

I mean there's no other reason to have him in a skin (free) latex suit other than in tribute to that Clive Barker classic.

Tho' if they were real horror fans they'd have dressed him as Rawhead Rex and have done with it.

Cop a load of this!

As Maggie kneels before him,  Powell begins to recite a spooky incantation that causes the pregnant girls stomach to explode as she gives birth to the biggest and unintentionally (I hope) funny monster this side of Alien Resurrection's Newborn which then proceeds to stomp on the cultists heads whilst dragging its mum around by the umbilical cord.

Which is kinda worth the price of admission alone if I'm honest.

It's a pity then that Dick and Dom arrive almost immediately and set fire to it.

As the dynamic duo battle the beast baby Carter can only watch in mid apathy as Powell - in a scene reminiscent of an even more 80s version of Stars In Their Eyes but with dodgier wigs - begins his final transformation.

Powell informs Carter that he can still be with Alison.

But only if he gives himself to the abyss.

Which isn't too bad a deal if you think about it, I mean it's much better than having to swear allegiance to Titanic or Avatar.

At least you'd get to rewatch Ed Harris occasionally.

Playschool's windows have gone to the dogs a wee bit since Brexit.

Will Carter choose his wife over his humanity?

Will Dick and Dom survive their encounter with the baby from Hell?

Will Kim make it out of the cupboard alive?

Or will the directors go from playful homage to straight up imagination free rip-off for the climax, leaving the audience feeling slightly cheated?

Go on guess.

From Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski - members of the 80's-centric, independent Winnipeg-based film production initiative Astron 6 - The Void created a massive buzz late last year with it's decidedly old-school, John Carpenter style vibe and practical effects promising a glorious return to the heady days of pre-cert potboilers and unabashed body horror.

And in some ways the film delivers.

The first 45 minutes is a perfect blend of everything from Assault on Precinct 13 to Prince of Darkness via From Beyond and Shivers and with a smidgen of Silent Hill and even Lordi's Dark Floors for good measure (amongst others) tautly plotted and perfectly cast with just enough of a mix of mystery and homage to keep the viewer intrigued but all that changes as soon as the characters venture forth into the bowels of the hospital and the film doesn't as much run out of steam as grind to a spluttering halt as the cast wonder aimlessly from one movie reference to another desperately searching for a satisfying climax.

Frustrating doesn't cover it as I went from edge of my seat terror to tapping my watch to see if it had stopped, getting more and more fidgety as time passed, desperately wishing that the film would recover and make a last grasp at gory glory.

Unfortunately it doesn't, preferring instead to throw it's hands in the air and shout  "Fuck it" before just copying the ending of The Beyond shot for shot in the hope that no-one has ever seen it.

Or by this point cares. 

As an aside (which may be useful to any aspiring film makers reading) if a viewers only thought coming away from a horror movie is "That's not how placental abruption works" you kinda know you've arsed up the whole new dimension in terror thing.

just saying.

Have you seen this?

 

So have they.....Twice.

I may sound overly harsh but I'd rather the whole thing been shite than see something so brilliant degenerate so quickly.

A bit like your mum with a drink in her.

Whilst never reaching the dizzying heights of Astron 6's previous feature The Editor it's probably still worth a look - just don't believe the hype and fast forward thru' the last half and despite the faults I'm actually fairly excited to see what the pair do next.

Unless it's sending me hate filled emails.

It's happened before.

 

true.

A few years ago whilst masturbating in bushes in a park in Braunton, North Devon I noticed a person behind me.

It was Tom Cruise taking a break from shooting Live, Die, Repeat.

As I turned he smiled and spoke to me.

All he said was "Proceed".

I felt fairly uncomfortable so took a picture and left.

nun too happy.

It's the school holidays so time to let the kids pick the films up for review.

Seeing as the laydees are away at Easter Adventure Camp (TM) it's left to Cassidy to choose.

Again.

Don't forget to be kind in the comments he's only 10.

Satan's Baby Doll (AKA La Bimba di Satana, A Girl For Satan. 1982)
Dir: Mario Bianchi
Cast: Jacqueline Dupré, Mariangela Giordano, Aldo Sambrell, Joe Davers, Giancarlo Del Duca, Alfonso Gaita and Marina Hedman.

Somewhere in the polyester hell that is seventies Spain, the wealthy yet scarily swarthy landowner Antonio Aguilar (Sambrell) is mourning the death of his wife Maria and trying to figure out how he can sneak young girls into the house now that he's got his teenage daughter Miria (Dupré, the 'actress' not the famous cellist) to look after.

Du Pré: Overjoyed to be featured on this blog.
Or she would be if she were alive.

Things begin to take a sinister (yet vaguely amusing) turn when, during the funeral service, just as Miria is gazing doe eyed at her mum, the body begins to shudder and shake in an alarming display of europorn cum acting.

Obviously Miria finds this sight terrifying as do the majority of mourners tho' I must admit it was kinda sexy in an old lady stroke kind of way.

I miss Helen Daniels.


Returning home to their ancestral castle we discover that disco dancing dead mums and sweat sodden dads are the least freaky of the family when compared to Antonio's paraplegic, four-wheeled brother Ignazio, his big haired, bold hipped carer and nun-in-training Sol (Amazonian thighed sleaze bucket Giordano from Nights of Terror) and the shiny headed wooden toothed servant Isidro.

Tensions are high between Sol and Antonio and to make matters worse Ignazio has the hots for Sol, taking any opportunity he can to squeakily follow her round the house (well, the downstairs rooms at least) and spy on her in the shower.

Insert comment about a man biting a big cock here.

Miria, not too surprisingly, seems to be quite depressed due to her mum's death and Isidro, with all his talk of Maria's spirit not being at rest and other superstitious bollocks isn't helping matters.

he's convinced that Miria's dead mum is attempting to possess her daughters body toward some foul act of revenge or maybe just for a laugh.

Who knows?

Late one night Miria is awoken by her mothers voice whispering softly in her ear and ordering the confused teen to visit the family crypt. Being a good girl, Miria obeys her mum only to come across Isidro frantically fiddling with a big cock whilst trying to invoke some nonsensical supernatural protection rite.

Jade Goody: The final interview.

Drawn towards her mother's corpse as if pulled by some strange, talent draining force Miria is horrified to find Maria's cold dead eyes staring back at her.

Miria (being female) screams and faints.

Bless.

Concerned by his daughters behavior (but not, it seems by his handyman's predilection for choking chickens) Antonia arranges for a doctor friend to visit Miria.

Oh and to embalm Maria whilst he's at it.

Much to her dismay, the doctor recommends that Miria should go on holiday for a few weeks and try to forget the spooky voices and bird based violence she's been experiencing. Miria huffs and stamps her feet like a typical teen but Antonio and Sol agree with the doctor and begin to pack her bags.

Everything seems to be back to normal, Ignazio is following Sol around the house with what looks like a dead rat poking out of his lap, Sol is cutting Antonio filthy looks, Isidro is polishing a pair of gorgeous brass knockers and the doctor is embalming Maria in the crypt.

It's a wee bit like Eastenders only better scripted.

Especially when Maria returns to life and injects preserving fluid into his neck.

Miria was shocked to find that her real father was
the unknown, third dwarf Chuckle Brother.

Going down to the cellar with some crisps and a can of Fanta for the doctor, Antonio is shocked to see his friend lying stiff as a board with his dead wife's body astride him holding a big needle. In a bout of panic he decides that rather than call the police it would be easier to torch the car before dumping both it and the doc's body in the local canal.

Sol, either pissed off at the situation or annoyed that this is the longest she's ever gone in a movie without stripping to a pair of cream stockings and sharing her ample bush with the audience, finally loses it with Antonio shouting "You dirty old sod!" at him whilst waving her fists in the air.

But this only helps fan the fire of his insane lust for her and he storms out of the crypt shouting "I promise you this, you little whore....I will eventually have you!"

Oooeerr missis.

Mariangela Giordano wonders if it's in yet.

As the days go by it seems to all concerned that Isidro's hunch about Maria taking over her daughters body was correct (who knew?) as with each passing moment Miria is morphing more and more into her dead mum, revealing secrets about her life as yet unknown to poor Antonio.

You see, behind the safe, floral dressed mumsy exterior Maria was a sex obsessed pervert due, in part to Antonio's drug induced impotence but mainly because she was a dirty lady like the type your gran told you to stay away from. It seems that no one was safe from her ungodly desires and that she'd been shagging everyone from the recently deceased family doctor and a pre-accident Ignazio as well as having a long term lesbian tryst with Sol.

Each to their own.

Antonio, however has more important stuff to deal with and totally ignoring the fact that his nympho dead wife has return from the grave decides that this would be the best time to kill his brother and Sol. Coming up with a plan to wall them both up in the crypt.

For what reason I have no idea, I mean I've had girls knock me back before and I've never had the urge to bury them alive in my garden.

Well maybe just the once.
But whilst he puts his fiendish plan into action Maria has taken total control of Miria's (admittedly curvy) body and is intent on revenge herself....

Miria farted...and it was an eggy one.

Dismissed by many as an inferior remake of the 1979 erotic horror classic Malabimba (albeit with nicer wallpaper), Satan's Baby Doll is a near perfect example of everything that's right (and in some cases so wrong) with the Eurotrash genre.

The film is virtually plotless, existing only to showcase a few cheap scares, some high fashion trousers, a couple of scenic locations plus a fair bit of female nudity from Mariangela Giordano (playing the same role in both films - tho' it would be nice to see her fully clothed for a change seeing as she resembles that drunken auntie you always see at weddings) and the flat faced, lazy eyed Jacqueline Dupré (in her only film role).

I almost feel sorry for her in a way, I mean, imagine being so charisma free as to make a sleazy lesbian love scene appear boring (at least Malabimba's Katell Laennec tried frowing every so often, tho' from the look of her she was thinking about cakes during the sex scenes).

Whatever she's asked to do her expression never changes from one of mild apathy. You should be lusting after her yet all you want to do is give her a blanket to cover her modesty and a hug.

If you're still around Jacqueline please get in touch to say you're OK.

"Pull my nightie down when you're done".

At just over an hour and ten minutes in length Satan's Baby Doll is mercifully short and, if you're a fan of Mariangela Giordano (and frankly who isn't?) must be deemed an essential purchase.

And that, my friends is the scariest thing about it.

people you fancy but shouldn't (part 70).

With the shiny suited rebooted movie out let's all remember the button nosed beauty of Amy Jo Johnson - The original Pink Ranger.

Nuff said.