Looking more into Shot On Video horror, the new company Visual Vengeance has been bringing some SOV rarities to Blu-Ray, including ones that never really got a release in the first place (and I'm sure some of these would be better off obscure).
Like this release that intrigues me in spite of any misgivings on my part, from Todd Sheets, a horror filmmaker who is behind films with titles like *Clownado*
Well I'm glad you brought all that up. Apparently Visual Vengeance is the sister label of Wild Eye Releasing, who specialize in whatever you'd call the modern equivalent of SOV, including the modern works of Mr. Todd Sheets. I don't know if there's a word for it... still digital only really really REALLY cheap? So my autistic list of stuff I've watched continues with four Wild Eye films.
18 ) Bonehill Road (2017) - From Todd Sheets. I have to admit I enjoyed this. For one thing, the lead actress, playing a teenage girl, is surprisingly very good, and the rest of the cast isn't bad, considering. Linnea Quigley has a bit part. It's all VERY cheap and the werewolves are guys in masks, but they're pretty good masks. The gore is standard animal intestines but it succeeds in being gross. Well, no accounting for taste, and yeah I was drunkwatching, but I can't say I was bored. There are a lot of oddly zoomed-in shots that make me suspect this was filmed in 4:3 for a gimmicky VHS release, and the widescreen version is actually cropped vertically. If not that, I dunno... it's pretty conspicuous and the same goes for Clownado (see below).
19) Creature from Cannibal Creek (2019) - This is more like what I expect from a modern zero-budget feature. The monster looks like a goofy high school football mascot and the whole thing could've been filmed in a wooded area about the size of a grocery store parking lot, if that. There's barely anything like a story, no real main character, a tiny cast of non-actors, and a lot of jokey references to other horror movies. The sole black character tries to rape his white girlfriend. You won't find that in one of your daring, rule-breaking A24 indie slowburners. If you pay into a kickstarter to get some kind of baloney "producer" credit on a horror movie, it's probably going to turn out like this.
20) In Furs (2016) - A guy takes some bad drugs and goes on a murder spree while hallucinating, and that's kind of it for plot. Maybe seven speaking characters? At the climax, our hero tears the fetus out a pregnant woman... normally I wouldn't reveal that kind of shocking twist, except it's spoiled by the DVD's front cover, and the back cover, and the interior art, and the art on the disc itself, and I think even the DVD menu, so I guess it's an open secret. That's not even the most disgusting moment... it's only like an hour long, so it's got that going for it.
21) Clownado (2018 ) - Here Todd Sheets reunites a lot of the Bonehill Road cast, excepting that one actress I was impressed with. Linnea Quigley has another bit part as "Spider", which was her character's name in Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama. Considering the budget limitations, the movie boasts a pretty large scale, in terms of the size of the cast, the number of different locations, and overall scope. The digital shots of an airplane flying into a storm are not really bad... not so long ago they'd have had to do that with mismatched stock footage or something. Having said that, I was ready for this to be over after the first five minutes.
(And with that, I'm done with WildEye, for now.)
22) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) - Very impressive CGI that holds up to this day.
23) Let the Right One In (2008 ) - Having avoided spoilers this long, I finally decided to see what the deal with this is. It's very Swedish and probably not a horror movie. I wasn't disappointed. They had me worried it was going to be a triumphant and heartwarming coming-of-age story for a while there.
24) Nosferatu in Venice (1988 ) - The Exorcist is to Exorcist 2 as Nosferatu the Vampyre is to Nosferatu in Venice. "
The boom man on set, Luciano Muratori, stated that during a scene where Nosferatu was to turn Barbara De Rossi's character Helietta into a vampire which was supposed to be Kinski pretending to lean over and bite her neck led to Kinski inserting his fingers into the woman's vagina, which had her run from the set in tears.[6] Cozzi stated that Kinski went as far as slamming her to the floor and psychically and sexually assaulting her by biting her vagina.[7]" Now that's method acting. Some great photography, loved the Vangelis soundtrack. Doesn't follow from Herzog's Nosferatu at all and can barely be passed off as a sequel. Also features Donald Pleasence and Christopher Plummer, an unhappy fate for both, even if they didn't get raped by Klaus Kinski, which is far from certain.
25) ParaNorman (2012) - There's a brief shot of a gas station called "Gunnar's Gas Stop", ha, well-played.
26) Prey for the Devil (2022) - Is it absolutely mandatory for every modern horror movie to have a scene with a VHS tape? Also featuring: jump scares, flickering lights, conspicuous CGI, and a white woman who learns to forgive and trust herself after the patriarchy underestimates her. This is what passes for nunsploitation in 2022. It was okay.
27) Mausoleum (1983) - I liked the black maid character who spouts authentic negro dialog like "GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY". This is like an episode of a 1980s primetime soap opera except a large-breasted blonde woman keeps making people explode with her mind after inheriting the Nomed family curse. NOMED is ofc DEMON backwards, literally Troll 2-tier writing.
28 ) Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1955) - Cheap Black Lagoon knockoff with a lot more time spent on a spy plot than the monster, who is a cute muppet. Ends with a soliloquy about man tampering in God's domain, blah blah blah. 10,000 leagues is further than the entire diameter of Earth btw, so it can't have come from THAT deep.
29) Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922/1968 ) - The cut-down American version, with the ill-fitting William Burroughs narration and semi-fitting jazz soundtrack. It's a downgrade from the original, but worth a watch.
30) Slumber Party Massacre (1982) - Better than I remembered... straight to the point without much time wasted, a great sleazy slasher. That synth pipe organ soundtrack is pulling a lot of weight. The villain gets a really glorious death too. Yeah, skipping the remake.
31) Viy (1967) - The first horror movie made in the USSR, based on a Gogol story. A people's film, much more frightening than western decadent formalist capitalist horror movies. Some pretty wild costuming and special effects at the climax.
So yeah up to 31 one day ahead of schedule, now I can go back to watching romantic comedies.
