ARMY OF FRANKENSTEINS

ARMY OF FRANKENSTEINS (2014)

Label: Scream Factory

Release Date: September 1st 2015 

Region Code: A

Duration: 109 Minutes

Rating: Unrated

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Ryan Bellgardt
Cast: Raychelle McDonald, Christian Bellgardt, Rett Terrell, Eric Gesecus, Jordan Farris, John Ferguson
Slacker Alan Jones (Jordan Farris) is down on his luck these days, his horny aged landlady who wants the overdue rent but the guy's just spent his savings on an engagement ring for his girlfriend, who might just be cheating on him with her manager at the grocery store, at least that how it would appear to be at first glance.Having just witnessed her mouth-to-mouth with her manager Allan suspects the rumors might be true and storms out of the store only to be beaten senseless by a group of thugs who were hired by the pint-sized genius Igor (Christian Bellgardt), who brings him back to the lab of mad scientist  Dr. Tanner Finski (John Ferguson), who subscribes to the stories of the fabled Dr. Frankenstein, if you re arrange the letters of Dr. Tanner Finski you will unravel a rather unsurprising anagram.

Dr. Finski and Igor want Allan to be a part of the experiments to re animate a creature made from body parts harvested from corpses at the graveyard, and they need Allan's apparently keen eye sight to complete the creature. Once they have plucked his eye they insert it into the creature and begin the process of re generation and re animation but something goes awry and somehow they rupture the multi-verse and the trio and hundreds of clones of the Frankenstein monster are hurled back through time to Virginia in 1864 amidst the Civil War, with the multiple monsters now threatening to change the course of human history, the trio must work together to save the world.

This low-budget movie starts off with a fun set-up with a good mix of b-movie charm and young love comedy, rather silly but fun stuff. Once the trio are sent back through time we get some fun steam punk type hi jink as Allan meets-up with his Civil War era ancestor Solomon Jones (Rett Terrell) who fights for the North and his love interest Virginia (Raychelle McDonald). Somehow the Southern  soldiers get a hold of the Finski's re animating agent and before too long they have their own version of a pro-slavery Frankenstein, not to mention a Were-Cat of sorts and more silliness ensues. 

About half way through this I started to become a bit fatigued by the overly long and convoluted twists and turns of the movie, but I didn't hate it. There's some good gore gags with multiple heads being popped like over ripe tomatoes, heads being ripped off the neck by the monsters and some digital effects that while they weren't fantastic were entertaining, there's a lot of green screen compositing throughout, a few shots rendered more believable than others. The cast of the movie is competent, everyone seems to know exactly what kind of b-movie they're making here and bring just the right amount of camp to their respective roles. Aside om some minor gore this feels more like a movie for the kiddies than for hardcore horror fans, say along the lines of Spy Kids or Shark Boy and Lava Girl. 

While I commend the makers of the movie for stretching their budget and making a science fiction-fantasy stream punk adventure hybrid film I cannot see myself re visiting this one anytime soon, this is a one and done viewing for me. The disc from Scream Factory is near bare bones with only a trailer for the movie, no making-of or commentaries are included. Oddly, this non-collector's edition Blu-ray gets a slipcover somehow, while so many other more notable releases have not, which is a bit of a head scratcher.  2/5 

DEATHGASM Arrives in Theaters and on VOD on 10/2

DEATHGASM Arrives in Theaters and on VOD on 10/2

After wowing film festivals worldwide, New Zealand's acclaimed new horror-comedy DEATHGASM hits VOD, Digital Download and U.S. cinemas on October 2, 2015 from Dark Sky Films

"Funny, vulgar, wildly gory, and (whaaat?) actually kinda sweet."
- Scott Weinberg, NERDIST

New kid in town Brodie and bad-boy Zakk quickly bond over their mutual admiration of heavy metal. But when these two metal thrashing losers unwittingly summon malevolent forces, their dreams of stardom may just have to be put on hold.

Jason Lei Howden's beloved horror-comedy has struck an epic chord around the world, playing to sold-out film festival audiences and taking home numerous awards for its irreverent, loving take on heavy metal horror culture.

Runtime: 90 minutes
Country: New Zealand
Language: English
Genre: Horror

A PLAGUE SO PLEASANT Spreads the Infection on September 29th

Wild Eye Releasing has announced a date change for their latest cinematic epidemic. A Plague So Pleasant will now infect home entertainment systems beginning September 29th. A more dangerous strain than recent efforts, the film has been hailed by undead aficionados as "a miraculous accomplishment" (Zombie Guide Magazine), "an Excellent, Original Zombie Movie" (ZMDB.com), and "so much better than the average straight to video zombie travesty" (The Rotting Zombie).

In the near future, zombies have become a protected, endangered species, held in captivity and legally wandering the streets free from harm by the living. But for the loved ones of those who die, sometimes coping is just too much to handle, especially when not everyone feels the dead have a right to exist, and are willing to break the law to rid the world of this new population of the dead.

A Plague So Pleasant (Official Trailer) 

METAMORPHOSIS (1989) / BEYOND DARKNESS (1990)

METAMORPHOSIS (1989) / BEYOND DARKNESS (1990)

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: R I Unrated
Duration: 96 I 93 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Director: George Eastman, Claudio Fragasso
Cast: Gene Lebrock, Harry Cason, Catherine Baranov, Jason Arnold, David Wicker I Theresa F. Walker, Michael Stephenson, Gene Lebrock, David Brandon, Barbara Bingham

Scream Factory have done a bang-up job hammering out the double-feature Blu-rays this year with some choice Amicus horror anthologies, a plethora of b-movie creature features, some goodies from the vaults of Charles Band and some Blaxploitation action, but for some reason these Italian schlock films always get me excited. once again Scream have raided the Filmirage vaults for another double dose of Italian scares, this time bringing us Metamorphosis (1989) and Beyond Darkness (1990), the latter of which comes to us from director Claudio Fragasso whom also brought us the deliciously awful Troll 2. Not sure if this was planned the the double-feature also turns out to be a spot light for wooden leading man Gene Lebrock who stars in both films.
METAMORPHOSIS (1989, Rated R) 
Synopsis: First up is the science-fiction/horror of Metamorphosis! When his experiments in genetics are mocked by his colleagues, maverick scientist Dr. Peter Houseman takes extreme measures to prove that his untested anti-aging serum works. Injecting himself with his miracle "cure," he soon experiences a terrifying change within himself that threatens not only the lives of those around him, but also his own sanity. From cult cinema mainstay George Eastman, Metamorphosis proves that nightmares may change, but fear is forever!

Metamorphosis from actor turned director George Eastman follows the mad scientist exploits of professor/scientist Peter Houseman (Gene Lebrock) who is conducting genetic research geared towards stopping the aging of humans, which sounds great but as so often happens in these sort of films stuff goes wrong. When his funding is threatened Prof. Houseman moves on to human trials, subjecting himself to his own, untested serum and what follows is a failed hybrid of The Fly by way of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with absolutely none of the charm of either. The scene where Houseman injects himself feels like it was stolen straight out of the Incredible Hulk TV series from the 70's, once you see it you will know what I mean. We do get some very minor body horror elements throughout but each one feels like a missed opportunity, and there's a very brief moment of lost time when the doc realizes he's been out on the town and does not remember it, but even that is only a shadow of an idea aped from far superior source material.

Lebrock is a decent enough looking guy, his Hollywood head shot says leading man material but the guy has zero acting chops and no charisma, plus the dialogue in this film is just the worse sort of mind-numbing pseudo-science you could imagine, you just cannot wait for the titular metamorphosis to begin, but you will be waiting a very long time, it's not until the final fifteen minutes or so that this thing takes off, so for seventy-plus minutes you're left to struggle through one boring dialogue heavy scene after the other. They throw in a love interest for the professor, a single-mom with an annoying kid, towards the climax the kid is on the run from the mutated Houseman at his lab, I kept hoping he would catch the little bastard. 

If you are patient enough to sit through it, or just skip ahead to the final moments, you will be rewarded with an awful man-in-a-rubber-suit creature effect and it is definitely worth the wait, if you enjoy laughing your ass off at bad practical effects work, if that is the case you are in for quite a treat!

The pace is dull and the cast seems bored, the only character with any zest is that of the older and crippled Professor Lloyd (Stephen Brown) whom is clearly out to destroy Housman's career and steal his life's work, he comes off as suitably maniacal and seems to be the only one tuned in to just what sort of movie they're making, everyone else is way too serious. There's also a bit of an intended "shocker" ending that is just deflated as fuck. I implore you do not watch this movie alone, you need drunk friends and lots of beer to make this work and even then you will be disappointed. 

BEYOND DARKNESS (1990, Not Rated) 

Synopsis: Next, take a terrifying trip into a world beyond fear, beyond belief… Beyond Darkness. When a man of God and his loving family move into a new house, they think they've found the perfect home…until they discover that their new digs were once the location where a coven of witches were burned at the stake! It's only a matter of time before the radio starts blaring satanic chants and the cutlery takes on a mind of its own. Will the awakened evil in this house have its final revenge, or can a plucky priest fend off what lurks Beyond Darkness? This tale of terror comes from Claudio Fragasso, the director of Troll 2 (so you KNOW it's good!).

The second-half of this Italian horror show is Beyond Darkness, concerning a Father Peter, again played by the slightly less wooden Gene Lebrock, who moves into a gorgeous home in Louisiana where he will spread the word of the Lord alongside his wife Annie (Barbara Bingham), son Martin (Michael Stephenson of Troll 2 infamy) and young daughter Carol (Theresa Walker), but the film has a evil history apparently built on land where witches were burned at the stake centuries ago. 

In the kids room is a creepy black swan rocking toy, one which rocks itself in the dark of night, so you know evil is afoot! It soon becomes apparent that the house is being haunted by a gaggle of undead witches who are draped in black and pull the children into an evil dimension, at this point it might be worth mentioning that this is sort of a sequel to Witchery (1988) and is part of the unofficial La Casa series, which were unofficial sequel to Sam Raimi's Evil Dead movies, and the other-dimensional aspect of it does have a similar vibe to Witchery, though I think Witchery was a better executed film, and even that wasn't so great, but it did star David Hasslehoff and Linda Blair, so it has that going for it. 

The uninspired movie sort of combines elements of Poltergeist and The Exorcist to create an overly long mish-mash of boredom, in fact this one makes director Claudio Fragasso's Troll 2 seem like a masterpiece by comparison. Again, this will require a roomful of friends and massive amounts of alcohol to squeeze any fun out of it. I will say that there are some fleeting moments of creepy imagery and haunting atmosphere from time to time, but they are few and far between and not nearly enough to salvage this spiritless demonic cash-in of a movie.

Audio/Video: Unfortunately the HD transfers for both films are pretty dull, I imagine Scream simply licensed the HD transfers from Filmirage or whomever the rights holders were and went with it, but the images are soft, colors are muted and both have had an awful digital scrubbing removing grain, fine detail and leaving behind a smeary and dull HD image bereft of life, which has been the case with most of Scream's Italian movies.

Onto the soundtracks we have an English language DTS-HD MA Mono track for Metamorphosis and Beyond Darkness has an English language DTS-HD MA Stereo, both suffer from what would appear to be just plain bad sound recording during the making of the movie, with Beyond Darkness suffering the worse of the two, some of the scenes in the Church are muddled quite a bit it's not a disaster but its not pleasing either, thankfully both films have the option of English subtitles. 

The only extras on the disc are HD trailers for both of the movies totalling about five minutes, otherwise this is a straight-up bare bones release. This is hard to recommend, both movies are Italian cult-cinema at it's worst and you would have to be a die-hard schlock enthusiast to need either of these on Blu-ray in my opinion, and I saying that as someone who loves a lot of crappy cinema, but these took me to task and then some, but there's part of me that is quite happy to have them on my movie shelf. 2/5 

EXTREME JUKEBOX (2013)

EXTREME JUKEBOX (2013)

Label: Troma
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated 
Duration: 80 Minutes
Audio: Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen 
Director: Alberto Bogo, Andrea Lionetti
Cast: Alessio Cherubini, Elisabetta Loi, Pino Scotto, Maurizio Lastrico

Synopsis: “Welcome to Nova Springs, a rock and roll metropolis chock-full of rising stars. You’ll meet Jessie, a charismatic rocker, and his groupie girlfriend, Chloe. After unearthing a mysterious LP in the abandoned estate of legendary 80s superstar David Crystal, these young lovers unleash a bloodthirsty spirit…the infamous “Killer of the Woods.” As the bodies pile up, it’s up to Jessie, Chloe, and rock’n’roll priest Father Zappa (Italian heavy-metal pioneer Pino Scotto) to set things right. It’s LORDS OF SALEM by way of ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL, with a side of spaghetti!”

This had a very good premise, an Italian horror film about a dead rocker, a cursed record and a masked-killer on the loose murdering people... it sounded like a good time and even started off with a fun intro scene that of a woman at the gym showering alone, afterward she begins to walk home alone and is pursued by a weird masked-killer who chases her around a running track, definitely played for comedy as her jumps over the ridiculously low hurdles set along the track, so you know right away this is meant to be a comedy, he then proceeds to stuff a mic in her mouth while he cracks a joke about karaoke. 

From here it descends into tedium pretty quickly as we focus on a upcoming rock star named Jessie Cake who is obsessed with a cursed record from singer David Crystal, an electro-pop star from the eighties who disappeared over twenty years ago, which sort of has the flavor of eighties rock n' roll classic Trick Or Treat, but he execution of the story is amateur hour, which is not always a drag, but the pace of this movie sent me to snoreland more than one, it was a chore to sit through. 

The highlight for me other than the fun opening scene is a dream sequence where the dead rocker David Crystal explains the power of the cursed record and how it contains pure evil, it has a fun Alice in Wonderland psychedelic vibe about it, and a few interstitial scenes of scenesters shopping for records were fun, but overall he film is so poorly executed and disjointed, even more so than the standard Troma fare.  

Special Features: 
- Intro from Lloyd Kaufman (2 Mins) HD 
- Behind The Scenes Documentary (54 Mins) HD 
- Original Theatrical Trailer (1 Mins) HD 
- Rainbow Projects (3 Mins) HD 
- Photo Gallery (44 Images) (2 Mins) 
- Tromatic Extras 

Extreme Jukebox is a complete waste of a perfectly good rock n roll horror idea, on paper this is sounds right up there with Back Roses and Trick Or Treat, in execution its just dull and boring, which is too bad, aside from the promising kernel of an idea the hard rock soundtrack is pretty decent. 1.5/5

TROMA'S WAR (1988)

TROMA'S WAR (1988) 

Label: Troma
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 91 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen
Director: Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz
Cast: Carolyn Beauchamp, Sean Bowen, Rick Washburn

Synopsis: Before there was "American Sniper" and "Lost" there was TROMA'S WAR! A tropical vacation turns deadly when a passenger plane full of American tourists crash-lands on a remote Caribbean island! Those who manage to survive the flaming wreckage band together in search of safety, only to discover their island is home to a vicious terrorist organization. Bullets fly and flames light up the jungle as the survivors are hunted, captured, and pushed to the limits of human endurance…until they decide it’s time to declare WAR! Gloriously restored in explosive HD, TROMA’S WAR is Troma at its loudest, biggest, and most action-packed! 

A commercial jet airliner originating out of Tromaville crashes on an uncharted island somewhere  in the Indian Ocean, most of the passengers perish in the fiery crash but a small group of survivors crawl from the wreckage and regroup, soon discovering they've crashed on some covert terrorist training camp where all the anti-American groups of the world seem to have converged. You have the usual assortment of Islamic bombers, some neo-Nazis and even a pig-faced American among them. The group of survivors is lead by a 'Nam vet turned car salesman, sporting a loud Hawaiian shirt, the guy is pure nuts, but just maybe nuts enough to lead the band of survivors against a horde of American-hating terrorist. 

Troma's War is an insanely violent and fun movie, loaded with corny comedy and sorely stereotyped characters with plenty of nude women, which is sort of what Troma all about. On top of that there are lots of crude 80s practical special effects providing no shortage of gore and plenty of bloody squibs, exploding boobies and genital harm, this is ferocious good fun, just be prepared for the usual Troma cheapness, there's no escaping it, though this apparently cost three-million to make, which is A LOT for a Troma movie.

The cast is fun but the acting is predictably awful, though some of the dialogue is priceless stuff, the delivery might be a bit off but the writing is super silly and fun, this is a slice of trash cinema gold right here. Of course Troma never fears to go the completely tasteless route and this time offer a the character "Señor Sida" (Mr. AIDS), a terrorist with unsightly lesions over his face and body who leads a brigade of AIDS-infected soldiers in hopes of spreading the terrible disease throughout the US, at one point raping a young woman and infecting her, played for comedic effect, of course. I would hesitate to call this - or any other Troma movie - a classic of 80s film, but its certainly a fun, trashy actioner from Troma that's worth a watch if you love 80s cheese and that trashy Troma aesthetic. 

Audio/Video: The film arrives on Blu-ray from Troma for the first-time in widescreen, the image looks pretty decent out of the gate with some minor print damage and a few scratches, nothing too egregious and sporting a layer of natural looking film grain. Then when the action sequences kick in you really notice some compression artifacts, the macr0-blocking begins to overwhelm the action sequences, it is rather unsightly and yet another issue with a Troma Blu-ray, which is unfortunate, I wish they would just have someone like Vinegar Syndrome handle the transfers for all their vintage titles, VS have been doing a great job with titles they've licensed from Troma, such as Graduation Day and Sugar Cookies, both of which received phenomenal HD transfers without any unsightly glitches. Audio comes by way of an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track that sounds well balanced and clean, no issues other than Troma still refusing to go the lossless audio route in the year 2015. 

Onto the extras we have quite a bit of cool stuff, beginning with an audio commentary with writer/director Lloyd Kaufman who goes into quite a bit of detail about the production of the movie and the various New York locations and the ensuing battle with the MPAA and the cuts they were required to make to get the R-rating. 

There are various cast and crew interviews, beginning with 'Post War Reflections' with Kaufman briefly interviewing stars Sean Bowen, Joe Fleishaker and Jessica Dublin, and then into 'Veteran’s Day: A Post-Tromatic Reunion' with director Pericles Lewness and Joe Fleishaker reminiscing about their time making the film. There's also an interview with Weapons Coordinator/Actor Rick Washburn who played the 'Nam Vet car salesman Parker in the movie. New and exckusive to this Blu-ray edition is a new intro from Lloyd Kaufman featuring the Toxic Avenger, plus a 20-minute conversation with Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz whom reflect on the making of the movie, the low-budget challenges and dealing with the MPAA. 

Special Features:
- New Intro with writer/director Lloyd Kaufman (3 Mins) HD 
- Director’s Commentary with Lloyd Kaufman
- War Memories with Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz (20 Mins) HD 
- London’s War (1 Mins) 
- Post War Reflections with Sean Bowen, Joe Fleishaker and Jessica Dublin (5 Mins) 
- Interview with Weapons Coordinator/Actor Rick Washburn (3 Mins) 
- Veteran’s Day: A Post-Tromatic Reunion with Pericles Lewness, Joe Fleishaker (10 Mins) 
- Original Theatrical Trailer (3 Mins) 
- Troma Trailers: Retunr to Nuke 'Em Hight Vol. 1 (3 Mins) , Return to Nuke 'Em High Vol. 2 (2 Mins), The Toxic Avenger (3 Mins) 

Troma's War is a lot of corny Reagan-era action fun, it was a time of extreme American jingoism and Kaufman and crew put together quite a fun and bloody companion piece of sorts to the action movies that were coming out at the time, just way cheaper, cornier and with loads of boobies. The Blu-ray is a nice upgrade from the previous DVD versions but the compression issues that plague the transfer are gonna problematic for a lot of folks, you have been warned. 2.5/5

WILLIAM CASTLE HORROR COLLECTION (1960-1963)

WILLIAM CASTLE HORROR COLLECTION (1960-1963) 

Label: Mill Creek Entertainment 
Release Date: August 18th 2015 
Duration: 7 Hours 18 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Region Code: 1
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Video: Anamoprhic Widescreen (1.78:1, 1.85:1) 
Director: William Castle
Cast: Rosemary DeCamp, Glenn Corbett, Tom Poston, Robert Morley, Murray Hamilton, Guy Rolfe

Mill Creek have put together a fun set of 60s b-movie fun from the Alfred Hitchcock of schlock - William Castle, a showman of the highest order who infused his movies with scares, fun and plenty of gimmicks. Licensed from Columbia Pictures the set features the film in the original widescreen presentations and the transfers looks mighty fine. 

13 GHOSTS (1960) 
B/W – 85 Mins – Not Rated – Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)
Starring: Charles Herbert, Jo Morrow, Martin Milner, Rosemary DeCamp. Donald Woods, Margaret Hamilton

First up is the fun scare-film 13 Ghosts, we find a Museum employee Cyrus Zorba (Donald Woods) who is on the verge of being evicted from his home alongside his wife Hilda (Rosemary DeCamp), teen daughter Medea (Jo Morrow) and adolescent son Buck (Charles Herbert). This luck seems to have changes when from out of nowhere he inherits a creepy old house that belonged to hus uncle, Dr. Plato Zorba. Of course they take advantage of the inheritance and move right in, but the house comes with baggage, a housekeeper, Elaine Zacharides, played my none other than actress Margaret Hamilton who played the wicked Witch of the West in the classic Wizard of Oz, her most famous role is referenced throughout to fun effect.

Dr. Zorba, who dabbled in the dark arts of the occult, is said to have hid away a vast fortune somewhere in the home,which is also haunted by twelves horrifying ghosts, which can only be seen when wearing a pair of special-made goggles created by Dr. Zorba, which is where the infamous Illusion-O gimmick comes into play. 

At the cinema when the movie would play the audience where given special viewers of which to watch the film, there was a blue filter and a red filter. If you were brave enough you would watch it through the red lens it would make the ghosts stand out, if you chose the blue lens the ghostly images would remove the ghostly images, which is a fun ploy, though I am unsure how effective it was, but that is a kind of showmanship and interactivity sorely missing from today's cinemas, we need more b-movie schlock these days. 

Not scary but pretty amusing, the young kid Buck (Charles Herbert) steals the show as an adolescent boy fascinated by the supernatural, and ultimately the one who solves the puzzle of the missing fortune. 

13 FRIGHTENED GIRLS (1963) 
Color – 88 Mins – Not Rated – Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)
Starring: Murray Hamilton, Joyce Taylor, Hugh Marlowe, Khigh Dhiegh, Charlie Briggs, Norma Varden

Next up is a fun Cold War era espionage thriller set at a Swiss boarding school attended by the daughters of various international diplomats. Candace "Candy" Hull (Kathy Dunn) is the daughter of American Diplomat  John Hull (Hugh Marlowe), she has a crush on her an older man named Wally Sanders (Murray Hamilton, the mayor from Jaws), a spy working for her father. To impress him she begins to do a bit of spying on her own, using her friendship with Mai-Ling (Lynne Sue Moon), the niece of a Red Chinese diplomat, to uncover secrets.Turns out the teen has quite a knack for espionage, and uncovers the murder of a Russian diplomat and is now caught up in a cat and mouse game of espionage and teen romance, and while it is not horror it it a lot of fun, this one feels very much along the lines of an old live-action Disney film from the 60s.  

The gimmick this time out is not some hokey visual process, but some pre-filming publicity by way of a contest, a casting call for thirteen girls from thirteen different countries to reprsent their own country in a starring role in the film. 

MR. SARDONICUS (1961) 
B/W – 90 Mins – Not Rated – Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Starring: Ronald Lewis, Audrey Dalton, Guy Rolfe, Oskar Homolka, Vladimir Sokoloff, Erika Peters

This creepy horror classic is based on a novella by screenwriter Ray Russell (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes), and is brought to life by William Castle (13 Ghosts), master of terror! Desperate to retrieve a winning lottery ticket, a greedy baron unearths his father s corpse. An enormous jackpot is his reward, but not without a price his face is frozen permanently into a hideous grin. He enlists his fiendish one-eyed servant to help him lift this horrible curse, but their schemes fail. Finally, he turns to a noted neurosurgeon and his wife s former lover to cure him.

There's never a bad time to watch a William Castle production and tonight was definitely the time to watch Mr. Sardonicus (1961), it was hitting almost all of the right notes for me.  There's a great foggy London-set intro from William Castle himself, ever the showman he comes off as the schlocky Hitchcock, which is very appropriate. We're introduced to a London doctor named Sir Robert Cargrave (Ronald Lewis, Scream of Fear) whom receives a letter from an old flame, Maude (Audrey Dalton, The Monster That Challenged the World) imploring him to visit her, apparently it's a matter of life and death. Once he arrives it's quickly revealed she was coerced into summoning him by her husband Baron Sardonicus, a real bastard played to perfection by Puppet Master 3's Guy Rolfe. The Baron wishes for Cargrave to cure him of a horrible affliction  the Baron  after unearthing his own father's corpse from the grave to obtain a winning lottery ticket he was stricken with a permanently grotesque smile across his face, this aspect reminded me of The Man Who Smiles (1939), if the doctor should refuse or fail to succeed in devising a treatment Maude's life hangs in the balance.

It was a blast to see Guy Rolfe as a younger man, loved him from the few Puppet Master entries from Full Moon. Early on in the film the Baron's face is hidden, shrouded in mystery beneath as mask, which was pretty great. Once the hideous affliction is revealed it's a whole new level of weird, he's a creepy villain and he comes with a one-eyed man servant named Krull (Oskar Homolka, The Seven Year Itch) who threatens to steal most of the scenes he appears in, it's great stuff. As great as Homolka is it's Guy Rolfe who definitely steals the show with his maniacal charisma, not to diminish a strong performance from Ronald Lewis as our hero and Audrey Dalton who turns in a smaller performance but as a sympathetic heroin she's quite fine.  

A fun watch, it drags from time to time, your mileage may vary depending on your temperance for black and white, it's a William Castle production so you just know that there's a gimmick, this time out it's a choose-your-own-ending feature, sorta. Unfortunately we don't get zapped in our asses with an electric shock but this is still an entertaining watch in the tradition of a twisty Twilight Zone episode. 

HOMICIDAL (1961) 
B/W – 88 Mins – Not Rated - Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Starring: Glenn Corbett, Patricia Breslin, Eugenie Leontovich, Alan Bunce, Richard Rust, James Westerfield

Homicidal is pretty much William Castle's spin on Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, at the top of the movie a pretty blond checks into a hotel and comes on strong to a bellboy, offering him cash to marry her, which he accepts. They arrive at the justice of the peace for a quick wedding and as soon as the nuptials are finished she pulls a kitchen knife from her purse and stabs the justice to death! I was bowled over by this one, the amount of violence is pretty shocking for the time, Castle was definitely trying to one-up Hitchcock here with a knockout blond and some amped up violence and blood. 

The woman runs off and a search begins for the blond murderess, meanwhile the woman, revealed to be Emily (Jean Arliss) returns to her home where she cares for a mute, wheelchair-bound old lady (Eugenie Leontovitch) whom she abuses at every turn for reasons unknown. Also in the picture are the old woman's niece Miriam (Patricia Breslin) and he brother Warren, all of whom become suspicious of Emily as her behavior becomes more and more erratic - with the murder of the justice of the peace having something to do with an inheritance in the family. Arliss is fantastic as the nut-job murderess, and the reveal at the end is truly a shocker that I did not see coming, I knew something was up, but I just couldn't put my finger on what it was until it was revealed - good job Mr Castle, you got me! 

THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1963) 
Color – 87 Mins – Not Rated – Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)
Starring: Tom Poston, Robert Morley, Janette Scott, Joyce Grenfell, Mervyn Jones, Fenella Fielding

The last film on the set is an adaptation of the J. B. Priestley which was previously adapted by James Whale (Frankenstein) in the 30s. we begin with an American car salesman Tom Penderel (Tom Poston, from the Bob Newhart Show) delivering a new car to Casper Femm (Peter Bull) at the the Femm family home located in a very rural area. Pulling up to the gate of the him during a torrential down pour a gargoyle falls onto the hood of the car, destroying the engine and stranding the aloof Penderel at the Fenn Family home. 

Once inside he meets the eccentric Femm family, who announce that Casper Femm has dies following an accidental fall down the stairs, but something more seems to be happening at the home, something murderous. From here we are treated to a macabre comedy of murder as one by one the inhabitants of the home fall prey to a killer, once again, inheritance seems to be the motive. This is a Hammer co-production and it certainly has a British feel about it, the comedic and macabre slapstick tone strongly reminded me of the Price-Lorre-Karloff classic The Comedy of Terrors (1964), this was a hoot and a ton of fun.  

A fun set from Mill Creek of some good old fashioned frights and laughs from the master of the b-movie William Castle. Sony had released these among others on a box set a few years ago, this is a great budget-minded edition from Mill Creek, minus the fun special features from the Sony set. I hope we see a second set in the near future with Castle's Straight-Jacket, The Tingler and Zot! among others. Mill Creek Entertainment released Mr. Sardonicus on a double-feature Blu-ray not too long ago, would love to see a few HD William Castle double-features going forward, these are must own movies for fans of 60s schlock and this set comes highly recommended. 4/5