Devil Hunter

 

Devil Hunter

1980

Director- Jess Franco, Lina Romay

Cast- Ursula Buchfellner, Al Cliver, Gisela Hahn, Antonio Mayans, Antonio de Cabo,  Bertrand Altmann, Werner Pochath, Aline Mess, Muriel Montossé

            The movie begins alternating between two scenes. In one scene, the beautiful starlet Laura (Ursula Buchfellner) flirts with the cameras before going to her hotel room and getting naked for a bath. In the other, a scared, naked girl runs from a tribe of men in an island jungle. The girl is tied up while a beautiful priestess prays to a totem pole. A creature that looks like a man, except for his red bulging eyes, comes from the jungle and kills the young girl, eating parts of her. Meanwhile, Laura is jumped by a group of kidnappers and carried away.

            The kidnappers are holding Laura hostage in remote jungle location and send her manager a ransom note. The manager hires Peter (Al Cliver, who starred in several Italian horror films including Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2 and The Beyond). Peter is some kind of shady Mr. Fixit who gets called in for situations like this. He is paid a hefty sum to recover the stolen starlet and a bonus if he can hold on to the ransom money in the process. Meanwhile, it seems like Laura may not live long enough to be rescued. One of her kidnappers seems to be a rapist who wants to have his way with her. Another is an unhinged sadist who seems intent on hurting or killing her. The third kidnapper is Jane (Gisela Hahn) who seems to be the calm one of the outfit. There is no sisterly love here as she is content to watch her comrades torment Laura.

            Pater arrives on the island and he and the kidnappers try to double cross each other (poor Laura is just a pawn it seems). This results in a shootout and Laura runs away. Peter tries to find her before the kidnappers. As you’ve probably guessed, this island is the same one we saw at the beginning of the film so the cannibal creature is stalking all of them. Laura is captured by the natives who clean her up and prepare her as a sacrifice to their cannibal god.

            This film is a product of its era, when the taboo toward sex on screen was at its lowest. It’s chock full of full frontal nudity and close ups. There are a lot of women in the film and most of them are naked at some point. That said, it still doesn’t approach the level of some of Franco’s “dirtier” works, some of which were pornographic.  He made the movie back to back with another cannibal film, Mondo Cannibale, but this film is only peripherally a cannibal film. Franco often put elements into his movies that would differentiate them from other entries in their particular genres. Adding the supernatural element helps set this film apart from the (many) other cannibal films of this era. Calling it “Devil” Hunter is a bit misleading. The nemesis of the film could hardly be called a Devil, but I guess calling it “Naked Bug Eyed Cannibal God Hunter” would have been too long.

            Interestingly, Franco’s wife at the time, Nicole Guettard, edited the film but Lina Romay, who would become his lifelong partner, co-directed the film. How Franco walked that line, who knows.

     German actress Ursula Buchfellner, who plays the perpetual damsel in distress Laura, appeared in German Playboy at the age of 16. But don’t worry; watching this movie won’t get you put on a list. She was 18 or 19 when Devil Hunter was shot. She would later go on to pose in Penthouse as well, making her the first woman to pose in both magazines.

            Franco did so many different kinds of films; gothic horror, sleazy crime, Satanic inquisition, etc. He has several of these adventure style films on his list as well. It’s a mixture of horror with action with huge, generous helpings of nudity thrown in for good measure. If you like Franco, or like Euro B films of this era, Devil Hunter is worth adding to your collection.

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals

  

 

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals

1977

Director- Joe D'Amato

Cast- Laura Gemser, Gabriele Tinti, Nieves Navarro, Donald O'Brien, Mónica Zanchi, Annamaria Clementi

            

    The story opens in an asylum with a nurse getting s chunk bitten out of her breast by a patient. Emanuelle is an undercover reporter, posing as a patient, doing a scoop on the asylum. Intrigued by the seemingly cannibalistic patient, she pays her a visit. After some coaxing that would probably get her in trouble with the Me Too movement, she discovers a strange tattoo above the girl’s pubic area. Upon further research she finds this is the mark of a remote cannibal tribe, long thought extinct.

            

     She teams up with an anthropologist (after some steamy sex of course)  and sets course for South America where they meet up with beautiful blonde Isabelle (Mónica Zanchi) who is their guide and Sister Mary (Annamaria Clementi). They later join up with a husband wife that are supposedly in the jungle for hunting, but are secretly looking for lost diamonds that were in a plane that went down. The wife is cuckolding her husband and hooking up with the hired help. He in turn is a perv that tries to grope Isabelle while she sleeps.

    Before things can get too far out of hand with the group, they run afoul of the cannibal tribe. The cannibals make short work of Sister Mary, then cut open wifey and bisect her husband. The cannibals rape Isabelle as a prelude to sacrificing her to their river god. Before they can do that though, Emanuelle tricks them into thinking that she is their deity.  The site of her, rising up naked from the water, is a thing to behold so I can’t fault the natives for being duped.

            

     The film is quite entertaining. I think this is due to its director and its star. Joe D'Amato was an incredibly prolific and successful Italian director who specialized in genre films. He co-directed the eclectic horror film The Devil'sWedding Night,  was the cinematographer for The Arena with Pam Grier and Margaret Markov, directed the sword and sorcery Ator, the post-apocalyptic 2020 Texas Gladiators, and too many other films to name. Chances are, if you are a fan of Italian B-movies, you own several of his films.

           

    The real main attraction though is Laura Gesmer. She is quite striking to look at, but also has a real charisma that allowed her to carry a scene. She seems like a Milo Minara drawing come to life. The whole movie, in fact, comes across very much like a live action Euro sex comic. While all of the other women in the movie are presented  as rather disposable (they strip naked, maybe have sex, then something bad happens to them) Gesmer’s Emanuelle  seems to be very much the protagonist. Events aren’t happening to her, she is driving the story. The concept of “the final girl” hadn’t come into its own at this point in cinema, but I suspect that if Laura had been making movies in America instead of Europe, she would have been a successful Scream Queen. Gesmer worked on and off with D’Amato through her entire career, so they must have had a good relationship.

           

    The film would probably be reviled today by a modern audience. Besides its objectification of, and violence toward, women, it lacks any level of “cultural sensitivity.” But honestly, if you are watching this movie expecting social commentary, you have probably made a mistake. Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals is a trifecta of exploitation. First, it plays on the trend of blaxploiation of the era. This film was a later entry in the Black Emanuelle series. These were not sequels to the original Emanuelle but a very successful imitator, playing on their success and using a more exotic star. Laura Gemser, who is Dutch-Indonesian, wouldn’t be considered “black” by the American use of the word, but I suppose for Europe, in the 70s, she fit the bill. Secondly, it was cashing in on the cannibal craze that would run through the early 80s. Thirdly, it was part of the tidal wave of erotic movies that swept the western world at that time.

       

     There was a bigger market for erotic films in the 1970s than there has been before or since. It would be easy to dismiss the decline in erotic films as their being superfluous in the era of on-demand porn. But that would be grossly minimizing how wildly popular they were. The original Emanuelle film played in Paris theatres for years! Upon its release it sold almost 9 million tickets in France alone (that’s about 1 in 5 people in the country at that time). Meanwhile, across the pond in America, The Devil in Miss Jones was one of the highest grossing movies of the year, beating out most of the big budget Hollywood films.

           

    Maybe it was the excess of the 70s, maybe it was the residual free love from the 60s, but for whatever reason, the public had both a hunger for and a tolerance for sexuality that is absent today.  Looking back at these erotic films like Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, some might be tempted to view them as purely exploitive, cashing in on the lowest common denominator. But that would be ignoring that many of these films weaved art and sex together in a way that most films don’t even try to today.

            

     Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals is probably racy by today’s standards, but I’d say it’s tame by the standards of the genres it seeks to emulate. The nudity, while plentiful, is not particularly explicit and is certainly less graphic than some of the harder Jess Franco films. The cannibal violence, while graphic, doesn’t rise to the level of Cannibal Holocaust and the other better known films in the genre. Emaunelle and the Last Cannibals plays like mixture of genres. It’s not the sexiest movie out there but its sexier than most. It’s not the most graphically violent movie you’ll ever see, but it still has a decent dose of blood and guts. To me it’s a jungle adventure film with lots of eroticism and elements of horror mixed in for fun.

 

Motel Hell

 

Motel Hell

1980

Director- Kevin Connor

Cast- Rory Calhoun, Nancy Parsons, Nina Axelrod, Paul Linke, Wolfman Jack

            

     In the sub-genre of cannibal films, I guess you can put movies into two categories. First are the movies (mostly European) that feature Westerners lost in a wilderness with prehistoric people that ritualistically consume human flesh (Cannibal Holocaust being the most famous, or infamous, example). The second is the more American type that features cannibalism seeping into everyday life.  Of this group, Motel Hell is definitely the most original, and maybe the best.

            

    Vincent (veteran cowboy actor Rory Calhoun) and his sister Ida (Nancy Parson best known as Ms. Ballbricker in the Porky’s franchise) run a roadside motel and sell smoked meats to travelers and the locals. “Farmer Vincent’s” smoked meats are famous for a hundred miles around, but what is his secret recipe? You guessed it. Human meat.

       Vincent goes out “hunting” late at night and bushwhacks travelers to take back to his farm. But he doesn’t “harvest” them then, oh no. He drugs them, keeping them alive, buried in the ground up to their necks. He slits their vocal chords, turning them into gurgling, growling animals. He keeps them there, fattening them up, until he is ready to kill them and process the carcass for his smoked meats.

            

    He and Ida have got the whole business running pretty smoothly until a wrinkle appears. One night, Vincent’s trap ensures a pretty young girl, Terry (Nina Axwlrod). Vincent seems to have a genuine affection for her. It isn’t clear if it’s fatherly or romantic love, but it doesn’t seem unwholesome. However, Vincent’s kid brother Bruce (Paul Linke,  best known as Grossman from Chips) is not only the Sherriff and completely unaware of Bruce’s activities, but he’s also got the hots for Terry. Ida also resents the introduction of this young thing in their life, seemingly stealing her brother’s attentions away from her. Terry, who seems to have some daddy issues, develops romantic feelings for Vincent and things come to a head when they decide to get married.

      

   

     Amidst all of this family drama are the disturbing visuals of Vincent and Ida harvesting humans with no more ambivalence than someone feeding cattle that they will one day lead to slaughter. In fact, that’s exactly how Vincent sees it. He’s not the deranged sadist of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Quite the opposite, he takes a pride in his work and sees it as useful.

            

      The real genius of this film is not the bizarre cannibal plot but that those elements are only the backstory. It still manages to make the family drama the focus of the story. Kevin Conner had a successful career directing fantasy-action movies in the 70s and had a career all the way through the 21^st century. Every actor was a perfect choice for their role. The musical score, rather than the cheap sounding background of an 80s horror film, is a string composition that seem fitting to a bigger budget drama.

            

     Motel Hell is not as gross out gory as many of its cannibal cousins, but it is certainly the funniest of the genre. In the words of Vincent, “It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent’s fritters.”

A Scream Queen You Can Hold in Your Hands: Will Turner's Custom Horror Dolls

 

    First off, I should say that, besides watching and writing about horror, one of my big hobbies is making and collecting 1/6 scale figures (that’s 12 inches to the uninitiated , or the size of a classic G.I. Joe or Barbie). It began about 20 years ago, buying military figures and then 1/6 scale Star Wars and then one day I decided to make a custom version of a Clone Trooper and I was hooked on the hobby. So as a hobbyist, I can fully appreciate the time and money that goes into creating something like these dolls.

    A few months ago I ran across some of Will’s dolls on ebay, completely by accident. I bought a few, and was so impressed by the quality that I bought a few more. As a toy aficionado, as well as a fan of horror (especially 80’s horror) I wanted the chance to pick Will’s mind, not only about these outstanding dolls, but on horror movies as well.

First off, tell us what Custom Horror Dolls is and what you do?

I take old Barbie dolls and turn them into various characters from tv shows and movies (mostly horror). I repaint them, re-style their hair, and hand sew their clothing to match the character’s outfit from a specific scene. Each doll is made-to-order and is one of a kind.

 How did you get into this?

I’ve always been a huge horror fan. My sister and I used to act out horror movies with Barbies when we were little. A few years ago I saw some old Barbies in a thrift store and remembered all the fun we had pretending they were horror movie characters and I thought it would be fun to buy them and see if I could actually make them look like the characters.

 On your average doll, how much is handmade from scratch vs. scavenged or re-purposed from other dolls?

It really depends on the doll. There are so many different characters that I’ve made over the years and they are all so different. All the clothing is handmade though. Most accessories have to be handmade as well, either sculpted with clay or made out of some kind of unconventional material.

For any fellow hobbyists out there, tell us what kind of tools and materials you use when making something from scratch?

I sew all the clothing with a needle and thread, but for accessories I use different tools and materials such as a hot glue gun, a Dremel rotary tool, polymer clay, various sculpting tools, and acrylic paints.

"....most people associate dolls with girls and action figures with boys, which is an outdated way of thinking."

 What is the difference between an action figure and a doll?

I think the main difference is that most people associate dolls with girls and action figures with boys, which is an outdated way of thinking. My Custom Horror Dolls are for boys and girls, children and adults.

You obviously have a love for horror films. What was the first horror movie that made an impact on you?

I would have to say A Nightmare on Elm Street. I grew up watching horror movies with my Dad and the Nightmare movies were always our favorite, especially Dream Warriors.

What was the first doll you ever made and what was the first one you ever thought about selling?

The first doll I ever made was Nancy Thompson from Nightmare on Elm Street. I made her for my own personal collection. I bought a brunette Barbie doll and a $1 sewing kit. I used an old white t-shirt I already had to make her iconic pajamas and I taught myself how to sew. I painted a gray streak in her hair and posed her next to a 12 inch Freddy action figure I had and posted the pic on Facebook. That same day I had people asking to buy her.

"The Nightmare on Elm Street films are what got me addicted to horror when I was a kid."

You’ve  devoted a lot of time to the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. You’ve done dolls of several of the women from that including the awesome Taryn. What is it about that franchise that grabs you?

The Nightmare on Elm Street films are what got me addicted to horror when I was a kid. They are very special to me. I’ve made dolls of most of the women from the franchise, and I plan to do more. Nancy was the first doll I ever made and continues to be my second best seller.

 Which of your dolls is the fan favorite and why do you think that is?

The fan favorite is definitely the Elvira doll. She is the best seller and the one people always want at conventions. I’ve sold over 100 Elvira dolls just this year. I think the reason that doll is so popular is because most people know who Elvira is. Most of the other dolls I make are characters that “normal” people wouldn’t recognize. 

 I can tell that you are a Return of the Living Dead fan. You’ve made dolls of Suicide, Tar Man, Spider and, of course, Trash. Tell us why you love this movie so much.

I am a huge Return of the Living Dead fan. I’ve always loved that movie. It’s just one of those movies that I grew up with. When I started making dolls ROTLD was one of the first movies I thought of doing because there are so many cool looking characters that I was excited to see in doll form.

 Any chance that you’re going to make a Jewel Shepard figure from ROTLD?

I have had a few people request a doll of her and she is on my to-do list.

 My favorite doll that you’ve made is Julie from ROTLD 3? How did you do all of the detail on her face or is it a trade secret?

That may be my favorite doll as well. It’s definitely one of the most detailed ones. It takes longer to do a Julie than any other doll because of all the small details with all the piercings and glass going into her skin. I literally have to puncture her face with a tiny needle and insert tiny jewelry or cut slits in her “skin” to put pieces of plastic that looks like glass. It’s just very time consuming.

 You do a spot on Angela and Suzanne from Night of the Demons. That’s one of my favorite films. What are your thoughts on that movie?

I love Night of the Demons. I watch it, and the sequels, at least once a year.

"Most people think of Jamie Lee Curtis when they hear the words 'Scream Queen', but I always think of Brinke Stevens, Linnea Quigley, and Debbie Rochon. "

Speaking of Linnea Quigley, give us your top 3 Scream Queens and why

Most people think of Jamie Lee Curtis when they hear the words “Scream Queen”, but I always think of Brinke Stevens, Linnea Quigley, and Debbie Rochon.  I’m a huge fan of low budget independent horror movies from the 80’s and 90’s. 

Scream Queens have been a regular part of horror, in some form or fashion, for at least 50 years. Why do you think that they are such an important part of the genre?

Whether they are the final girl, the hero, a victim, or even sometimes the villain, a Scream Queen is someone the female audience can relate to. It’s important to have that kind of female representation in the horror genre, especially when a lot of times women are depicted as just damsels in distress.

 OK, all artists have to face rejection. Is there a doll that you just thought was going to do great but it never caught on?

I made some dolls of a few characters from The Walking Dead because I had requests for them, but they didn’t sell.

What dolls, that you haven’t made, are most requested?

I get a lot of requests for Rocky Horror characters, which I am planning on doing soon.

 I’m just going to throw some ideas out there; Lucy from Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula, Vampira, Viper from Doomsday, and Linnea Quigley from Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers. Any chance of seeing one of those in the future?

Definitely! Those are some good suggestions. I’ve actually had Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers on my list for a while.

 "Horror movies are usually predictable. It was great being surprised for a change." 

 New or old, what was the last good horror movie you saw and why did you like it?

I haven’t seen many good new horror movies lately, but I liked Hereditary. I went into it not knowing what to expect, so I was surprised with what happened. Horror movies are usually predictable. It was great being surprised for a change.  

If people want to check out more of your work, where can they find it?

Most of my Custom Horror Dolls are featured on my facebook page at: facebook.com/customhorrordolls

and they are available to buy at ebay.com/str/customhorrordolls.

Sleepy Hollow

 

 

Sleepy Hollow

1999

Director- Tim Burton

Cast- Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Casper Van Dien, Jeffrey Jones, Richard Griffiths, Ian McDiarmid, Marc Pickering, Christopher Walken, Christopher Lee, Ray Park, Steven Waddington

            

   Most of Tim Burton’s films have a horror flavor, but most also have enough humor, satire, or just plain weirdness, that the horror isn’t really center stage. Not so with Sleepy Hollow. This is a straight up horror movie and, I think, one of Burton’s best.

           

     It’s an adaptation of the Washington Irving story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This time though, Ichabod Crane, rather than a school teacher, is constable dispatched to investigate the grisly murders (all decapitations) in the rural town of Sleepy Hollow. Crane is a primitive sort of forensic detective and he relies on science and reason as the best way to solve crimes. The citizens of Sleepy Hollow, however, tell him a tale that his science cannot explain. During the Revolutionary War, there was a Hessian mercenary fighting for the British who had a particularly strong blood lust. He loved to ride into battle on his black steed, cutting off heads as he went. He was eventually cornered in the woods and killed, the death blow coming when his own sword was used to decapitate him. Now, he has risen from the grave to claim more heads. But why now? And to what purpose? This is the mystery that Constable Crane must solve.

      

     

   In addition to Burton’s direction, Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography creates a dark, cold, creepy landscape. Danny Elfman’s musical score is quite un-Elfman like, creating an ominous feel very different from his other collaborations with Burton.

            

     The cast, one of the finest ever assembled, is really stellar, filled with both Burton favorites and others from outside the “Burton family.” Johnny Depp, Burton’s most frequent collaborator, does the honors as Ichabod. Christina Ricci, in her only Burton collaboration, is beautiful and mysterious as the love interest, and may or may not be a witch. Younger fans will recognize Michael Gough from his numerous Tim Burton films, but older fans will know him from his numerous Hammer and Amicus horror films. Other familiar faces include Jeffery Jones (Beetlejuice, Deadwood), Ian McDiarmid (the Emperor from Star Wars), Alun Armstrong (Van Helsing), Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers), Martin Landau (Ed Wood, Space: 1999) and horror icon Christopher Lee. Harry Potter fans will receive a treat as Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, and Richard Griffiths all appeared in that franchise (alongside Burton’s one time wife Helen Bonham Carter). The Headless Horseman is played by two actors, veteran actor Christopher Walken and Darth Maul himself, Ray Park, handles the action sequences.

             

    The film is 20 years old but it has aged remarkably well. I think this is due to a reliance on creepy ambiance and interesting characters rather than CGI (which never ages well). It’s a perfect film to break out during the fall and winter as the days get colder and the nights grow longer. It has a timeless, folk horror feel and is worth being a part of any horror film collection.

 

 

Carrie

Carrie

1976

Director- Brian De Palma

Cast- Sissy Spacek, William Katt, Nancy Allen, John Travolta, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, P.J. Soles, Beth Buckley

            

   Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) is a lonely teenager, growing up in a single parent home, raised by her hyper religious mother (Piper Laurie) who has demonized sexuality and told Carrie nothing about it other than it is evil. When Carrie begins having her period at school she freaks out, thinking that she’s dying. The other girls quickly use it as a way to shame and humiliate her. Carrie bears a secret though. She has burgeoning telekinetic powers and they lash out when she is angry.

            

    The high school gym teacher (Buckley) tries to protect Carrie by punishing the girls involved. One of the girls, Sue (Amy Irving) learns her lesson and begins to feel sorry for Carrie. Another girl, Chris (Nancy Allen) hates Carrie even more now. Sue comes up with a plot to make Carrie feel better, by having her boyfriend (William Katt) take Carrie to the prom. Chris, on the other hand, comes up with a plot to humiliate Carrie even further, with the help of her boyfriend (John Travolta).

            

   The supernatural elements aren’t the main story here, they are just a plot device. The real story is the lonely, social isolation of Carrie. She is a marginalized, beaten down person. She is rejected by peers, abused by her mother. It’s a grim lesson ,I guess, that the better angels of our nature don’t always win, because Chris’s plot to humiliate Carrie ultimately prevails. When this happens, Carrie snaps and her powers run wild, resulting in a chaotic massacre.

            

    This movie is a “classic” and is mandatory viewing amongst many horror fans, but it’s also 43 years old, so probably many fans have not seen it. The film is based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name, the first of his novels to be published (I guess he knocked it out of the park on the first swing). Even people who haven’t seen the film have seen the classic imagery of Carrie White, covered in blood. That image has inspired uncountable tributes and homages over the years.

    

   The movie was made for a little under 2 million and made almost 34 million (proof that horror is the most profitable genre). This was helped by a tremendous amount of talent. Brian DePalma was a very successful and influential director through the 1980’s giving us Scarface, Carlito’s Way and the incredibly well received The Untouchables. Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie were both nominated for Oscars for their portrayals. Amy Irving went on to a long career, including starring in The Fury, another DePalma film about a kid with special powers. Nancy Allen had a long career as well, starring in several more DePalma movies. She is probably best known today as Lewis, the spunky partner to Robocop. John Travolta had the most success of the actors involved and the next few years was a golden age for him, making Saturday Night Fever, Grease, and Urban Cowboy within the next four years. P.J. Soles, who played Chris’s minion, had a successful few

year herself, starring in John Capenter’s Halloween (1978), Rock n’ Roll High School (1979), Private Benjamin (1980),  and Stripes (1981). Of the entire cast, William Katt is probably the most beloved by genre fans. He was the star of the superhero TV show, The Greatest American Hero and the horror/ comedy movie, House. 

            

     The film, despite its age, is particularly relevant today, even more relevant than when it premiered.  The prevalence of disconnection and disaffection in today’s youth, pervasive bullying fueled by “social” media and a general lack of empathy in society, has created an entire generation of kids who have grown up under the threat of school violence. Carrie was a few decades ahead of its time.