53) Carnage (1984)

"Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost!"

Director
Andy Milligan

Cast
Leslie Den Den Dooven - Carol
Michael Chiodo - Jonathan\
Lon Freeman - Nathan Frye
DeeAnn Veeder - Susan
Chris Georges - Mark
Chris Baker - Ann
Dennis Malvasi - Tony

I have sat through some movies that I can only call "heavy." I can't think of anything else to call them. Hardcore? In your face? Horror movies that inflict much more terrible violence than your average slasher. Movies like The Human Centipede (I had to pause this movie just to compose myself, and still ignored my better judgement when I decided to watch The Human Centipede 2. I never finished the sequel) and The Devil's Rejects from Director Rob Zombie.
With The Devil's Rejects, I didn't know if I was watching something that celebrated violence of the absolute worst kind, or was portraying a picture of how despicably low fallen people can go. Whatever the case, it definitely worked to out-horror The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Still, it did make me an ardent admirer of the acting abilities of Bill Moseley. His completely intimidating performance as Otis Driftwood turned out to be one of the worst movie "monster" villains that would give Freddy Krueger or the possessed Regan MacNeil a run for their money.
So, having sat through difficult movies such as these, I still had yet to sit through a movie from the independent movie production company, Troma. That is until I watched Carnage (1984).
Troma brands itself as the movie company that has been "disturbing media for 45 years."
From movie clips and reviews I've watched, their films are generally filled with gross splatter, gore, spoof, bathroom horror, bare skin, and lots of low-budget effects.
I can take slasher flicks, but with segments I've seen from the more well known grossout Troma movies such as Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead, Tromeo and Juliette, and Terror Firmer, I need to mentally prepare myself up to these if I so choose to subject myself to these kinds of movies sometime in the future. I just won't eat anything for a while if I do.
Laugh at my self-proclamation as a horror fan if you must for the lack of Troma on my list of horror movies viewed.
Well, I can finally add a Troma movie to this list.

Chris Georges in Carnage.

As my adventures through the Night Screams Collection continues, the 1984 independent paranormal horror movie Carnage is officially my first Troma movie. Though, I am a little ashamed my first wasn't The Toxic Avenger - Troma's most well known title. Sorry, Toxy 😢
I didn't know Carnage was a Troma film until I popped the disc in the DVD player. I suppose getting into this company's films is like peeling a Band-Aid off. Don't think about it. Just yank it off quickly to avoid excessive pain, make sure your sore doesn't start bleeding, and get on with life.
Before I put Carnage on, I watched another movie from the Night Screams Collection called City of Missing Girls (1941) which TV Guide once called "an awkward murder mystery." I planned to review that here, but it was far from being a horror movie, and I just couldn't get myself to pay enough attention to it. So, a review wouldn't seem fair.
Anyways, the movie Carnage has a simple plot.
It opens with a young newlywed couple dressed in their wedding clothes as "Here Comes the Bride" plays on a record player.

The couple embrace as if it'll be their last embrace. The groom pulls out a gun and slowly raises it to her head. He pulls the trigger, and the bride collapses to the floor. He bends down to gaze on his wife as he puts the gun to his own head.
Sometime after this suicide, another newly wed couple, Carol and Jonathan, moves into the same house. As the two settle in, they're initially unaware of the paranormal activity taking place around the house almost as soon as they move in.
The ghosts haunting this large home enjoy randomly moving a variety of objects under their nose, or just out of sight of the couple.
They also make the phone ring at random, and turn on random electronics and appliances like the gas stove. Though initially unnoticed, these spooky shenanigans leave the couple confused, but they dismiss it.
When Carol invites an older lady to sort through belongings left in the basement, she's left alone as Carol goes back upstairs.
An apparition of the former bride appears and begins tormenting this older lady while shouting at her to leave.
The lady goes into a terrified state of shock at what just took place. While bed ridden at her home, she's driven by voices in her head to slice her own throat.
These paranormal activities don't seem to phase the couple much as they prepare for their own house warming party.
As the party gets underway, and guests arrive for an overnight stay, the ghosts (the bride particularly) become more violent and vengeful. It becomes very clear to the home owners that their house is indeed haunted.
There are no plot twists in this movie. There's not too much to expect, and that's what the audience gets - not too much.
Carnage is also a low budget picture with poor special effects and the scariest thing being the terrible scripted acting. In fact, this movie feels more like a community theater play or, rather, someone's home movie.
But it does have its share of blood and guts. In one scene, some burglars break into the house's basement through a window. As they meander around, the ghost bride manifests herself to them and begins to torture the two. One burglar's intestines are pulled out while the other loses his hand by a floating hatchet. Despite the laughable effects, the ghosts are certainly no-nonsense.

The audience is also introduced to another newly wed couple who are friends of Carol and Jonathan. We're "treated" to their personal issues through a discussion between Ann and her mother regarding Ann's husband, Tony.

Michael Chiodo and Leslie Den Den Doovan.

These friends are invited to the house warming party, but their story adds nothing to the movie. Why we're introduced to this couple to such great extent is beyond me.
And speaking of bad effects, one scene has Tony taking a bath during the overnight party. It's obvious when he gets in the tub that there's no water.
A radio slowly moves towards Tony in the tub filled with pretend water by an unseen force until it falls in and electrocutes him. Then the camera cuts to a close up of his lifeless body floating in the tub now filled with bathwater.
If this movie actually had been a home movie, I'd be impressed.
Director Andy Milligan has some other B-horror titles in his repertoire of obscure movies such as The Man With Two Heads, Bloodthirsty Butchers, Monstrosity, and Legacy of Blood. He's definitely a prime director when it comes to these kind of movies. Perhaps he deserves a little more exploration.
Despite all these criticisms, movies like Carnage are the reason I made this blog in the first place. It's terrible, schlocky as can be, and funny when it's not meant to be. It's Troma! - disturbing media for 45 years.
The only people whom I expect would find enjoyment in this movie would be fans of Troma, or obscure B-horror movies in general. It does have a kill count, after all. 

46) Frankenstein '80 (1972)

The serum!

Director
Mario Mancini

Cast
Gordon Mitchell - Dr. Otto Frankenstein
John Richardson - Karl Schein
Xiro Papas - Mosaico - Frankenstein's monster
Renato Romano - Inspector Schneider

My efforts in depriving myself of sleep continue as I force myself to stay awake while making my way, movie by schlocky B-movie, through the Night Screams collection.
The next flick in the line-up takes me back to Italy. Not the nice, touristy part of Italy full of gorgeous historic culture. Rather, a strange, dark, annoyingly repetitive, and sexually exploitative part with a little known avenue called Frankenstein '80. 
Frankenstein '80 barely resembles the original movie with Boris Karloff. This one has a Dr. Otto Frankenstein create a monstrosity out of random body parts, and that's about all it has in common with the original story.
In the movie, Dr. Frankenstein is always in his lab during the day. At night, however, he's working on a creature he calls Mosaico that's pieced together with various body parts from cadavers.
The monster escapes and goes on a complete killing spree, attacking mostly helpless women (mainly prostitutes) and doing bad monster things.
Police are racing to capture the killer, who just keeps on killing. They search. He kills. They continue searching. He continues killing. They search more. He kills more. Search. Kill. Search. Kill. (SPOILER) They find him. He dies. The end. Frankenstein '80 is that cut and dry.
Each kill is gruesome, and some murders include nudity. I guess the producers had to throw in sex appeal of the worst kind into the mix so they could attract an audience. But the fact that this flick hardly went noticed in its home country upon its release in 1972 shows someone failed miserably.
Italian audiences know tasteless when they see it!
Dr, Frankenstein uses something called "Schwartz serum" to give his creation life. I'm fairly sure that's what it was called. That's what it sounded like to me. I thought that was funny. I guess one could now saw "the schwartz was with him!" #Spaceballs
The serum is really meant to keep the body from rejecting implants. It's stolen almost as soon as the movie begins.

Xiro Papas as Mosaico, the Frankenstein monster.

Another scene that was hilarious without meaning to be so was a struggle scene shot in a meat locker.
The monster makes his way into the walk-in freezer and attacks an unsuspecting woman inside.
After a few minutes of struggling, he takes a side of beef, or a shank or something, and beats her to death. Death by beef shank!
At another part of the movie, the scene fades out...and fades right back to the same scene. Bad editing, maybe?
To its credit, Frankenstein '80 does make an honest noteworthy attempt to be scary with all the sudden, various ways the monster attacks his unsuspecting victims.
Sadly, though, time isn't a friend to this movie. But that's not necessarily the movie's fault.
One thing still stands true. As I've mentioned before, Italian horror film makers really like blood and gore. This movie is no exception. It delivers in that regard. But the erotica is just plain unnecessary.
It makes the low budget movie much more cheaper than it already is.
This one isn't even a B-movie among B-movies. It's repetitive, boring, and unimaginative in its story line.
Despite that classic Italian gore, Frankenstein '80 is an easy pass. And just what the "80" stands for, I don't know?

43) Buried Alive (1939)

"There's no doubt Johnnys' been a victim of unfair tactics. But we must accept things as they are."

Director
Victor Halperin

Cast
Robert Wilcox - Johnny Martin
Beverly Roberts - Joan Wright
Wheeler Oakman - Manning
George Pembroke - Ernie Matthews
Peter Lynn - Gus Barth

Watching the early thriller Buried Alive puts me at four movies in out of the 50 included in the Night Screams collection.
As I've mentioned in previous reviews, this collection includes B-horror, thriller, and suspense films from a variety of decades.
Buried Alive falls into the suspense/ melodrama movie genre. And for a film from an early decade, it doesn't hold back in dealing with injustice perhaps too often found in the justice system.
For this story, the scary part is the officials with the remiss attitude surrounding an innocent person in jail and on death row.
A prison executioner, Ernie Mathews (George Pembroke), is overwhelmed by his job and asks a prison trustee named Johnny Martin (Robert Wilcox), whose on his way to the airport to drop off prison doctor Robert Lee (Steven Chase), to drive him over to a local bar.
While he's having a drink at the bar, Mathews is confronted by a jerk tabloid reporter named Manning (Wheeler Oakman) which ultimately leads to a fist fight.
Meanwhile, Joan Wright (Beverly Roberts), a prison nurse who was driving with Martin to see Lee off at the airport, asks him to swing by the bar to pick up Mathews.
When he arrives, Martin is pulled into the ensuing fight and ends up punching Manning pretty hard.
He manages to pull Mathews out of the bar and into the car. And in retaliation, Manning writes an unsavory article about Martin, blaming him for the fight though he himself is the one who actually started it. The article also makes the governor look pretty bad.
Martin ends up in jail, and the governor is now inclined to delay his parole.
After spending time in jail, Martin is in fact denied parole and sent back to jail.

His outburst of anger after the hearing certainly doesn't help his image with the parole board.
Meanwhile, Joan has been helping him deal with the list of injustices Martin has been buried under, and they both end up falling in love.
To add to Martin's dilemma, his cell mate ends up killing a prison guard and attempts to escape.
Martin chases him to discourage his attempt at fleeing, and is shot and captured under the belief he was also trying to escape.
Martin is brought up on murder charges thanks primarily to false testimony from an inmate who has nothing but contempt for Martin.
Now, Martin has to somehow find a way to prove  his innocence among unsympathetic officials.
The plot just seems a little too convoluted. I had trouble paying attention and trying to recall just what was going on, and what the significance behind a few characters was.
Nevertheless, I was intrigued enough to carry on, especially after Martin is falsely accused. The story tightens up at that point in the movie.
Despite the title, Buried Alive isn't a horror film. It's a metaphor for the main character being "buried alive" under a large amount of injustices.
The ending is a payoff worth waiting for.
This movie's pacing helps keep my interest, despite boring and often times disinterested acting.
But I have to hand it to early cinema choreography. The fist fight in the bar is brutal.
Actors really get into the scene. I imagine the director telling actors on set, "just start punching, and we'll see what we get." I've seen this same kind of style in other movies produced in the same era.
Director Victor Halperin had earlier directed Dracula himself, Bela Lugosi, in the famous horror movie, White Zombie (1932). So, he knows horror for sure.
Overall, this is a movie about determination and confidence in the truth while pursuing vindication. Martin is dangerously close to insanity with the heavy weight forcing him down. And being up against the justice system, escape seems impossible.
For early cinema, and film noir melodrama fans, this movie could easily satisfy.

38) Death Warmed Up (1984)

Our salvation belongs to medical engineers. We are the new messiahs. We will be wearing the most beautiful of lab coats. Not in insane asylums, but in chemical biological laboratories. 

Director
David Blyth

Cast
Michael Hurst - Michael Tucker
Margaret Umpers - Sandy
William Upjohn - Lucas
Norelle Scott - Jeannie
Gary Day - Dr. Howell

Continuing on with my Night Screams collection is the 1984 New Zealand "zombie splatter movie" Death Warmed Up. 
It's a science fiction/ horror movie that tries to be at times over the top with gore, serious at other times, and trippy the rest of the time with flashes and extreme high angles or close-ups.
The plot makes for a good horror setup. A young man named Michael Tucker (Michael Hurst), who reminds me of Billy Idol, becomes a test subject for scientist Dr. Howell (Gary Day) who is researching mind control.
In the midst of his research, Howell traps Tucker in a shower and forcefully injects him with a drug capable of mind control.
This drug causes Tucker to kill his parents without his realization of what he's doing. As his parents happened to be obstacles in the way of Howell's scientific research, this certainly makes sense.
After the murders, Tucker ends up in a mental hospital. He's eventually released after several years.
Shortly after his release, Tucker and his girlfriend Sandy (Margaret Umpers), along with their friends Jeannie and Lucas, decide to take a road trip to an island which happens to be where Dr. Howell has a clinic. Of course, only Tucker is aware of Howell's clinic while everyone else, including Sandy, is oblivious.
Tucker is bent on finding Howell and inflicting revenge.
Meanwhile, Howell has a collection of zombies under his mind controlling influence which Tucker and his crew will soon discover.
The final confrontation between Tucker and Howell didn't build up until the last half of the movie, only to end quickly in a poof. It was anything but climactic.
The real challenge for Tucker was getting past the zombies (not your typical walking dead, but rather insane killers willing to do Howell's bid as drastically as they can) and locating Howell.
In one scene, they make their way into a tunnel which ultimately leads to Howell's clinic. The four of them are confronted and chased by these zombies in the tunnels amidst dark corners, flashing lights, and corridor after dark, dank and confusing corridor.
The comedic element, which I found confusing and distracting begins with the group's journey on the ferry to the island. While the four are on the ferry, they encounter a small group of strange individuals.
One is a hunchback named Tex who's under the control or employment of the ferry captain, I don't know what his story or significance is other than someone who's previously crossed paths with Howell.

Michael Hurst in Death Warmed Up

Tex appears randomly throughout the movie.
Also while on the ferry, they meet two other guys - one named Spider (David Letch) - who watch from their van as Jeannie and Lucas have sex in the back of their 1963 Ford Fairlane parked on the main wide open deck of the boat.
The four confront the two guys which ultimately leads to the two stalking and attempting to kill all of them.
I'm guessing all these characters are merely under Howell's control.
I was slightly taken in by this movie, its touch of surrealism and gore, while struggling to determine if it was trying to tell a more serious tragic story or portray a comedic fever dream. It may have pulled some inspiration from Mad Max as far as visuals go. Otherwise, Death Warmed Up was another predictable B-movie.
It ended on a climax that was tragic yet pointless. I couldn't help but wish it would hurry up and end. It was as though the movie was under budget so producers just shot film to use up what was left of their budget. I don't know if that was the case, but it sure felt like it.
It was fun for the mere sake of watching a B-film. And though it started off decently enough, it went nowhere by the middle of the movie.
It's a trip for sure, but I don't think I'm going to remember it in a year's time despite the zombies and the splatter. In fact, I had to struggle to recall what I watched while I was writing my review. I couldn't get invested in this movie. I didn't care about the characters. The story line was just another mad scientist sort of plot. Death Warmed Up just didn't warm up to me, even as a cult film. 

36) Il Boia Scarlatto - "Bloody Pit of Horror" (1965)

"The day of the Crimson Executioner has come."

Director
Domenico Massimo Pupillo (credited as Max Hunter)

Cast
Mickey Hargitay - Travis Anderson
Walter Brandt - Rick
Luisa Baratto - Edith
Ralph Zucker - Dermott

Like the movie House by the Cemetery which I previously reviewed, Bloody Pit of Horror comes to American audiences by way of Italy. But unlike House by the Cemetery, it's a lot more trashy and campy.
This is the second movie from my collection of 50 "cult classics" and B-horror/ thriller movies called Night Screams. I mentioned it in my Anatomy of a Pyscho review.
With scenes bordering on risque, and attempts at humor, alongside scenes of young women nearly allowing themselves to be taken captive and tortured, Bloody Pit of Horror certainly lives up to its namesake. It's bloody and pitiful.
A group of people made up of a writer named Rick, his publisher Daniel, and his secretary Edith, along with a photographer Dermott, and five young female models, stumble upon what they believe is an abandoned castle. The models - a group of young women credited as "the Cover Girls" in the credits - are stereotypically naïve, defenseless, scantly clad, and running deathly close to empty when it comes to the will to fight their assailant.
They decide the castle would be the most ideal location for a photo session for the horror photo novel Rick is working on. It doesn't seem to matter to anyone that they have no permission to be inside this castle, nor do they have any regard for safety.
Little do these people know that a former actor named Travis Anderson has taken up residency inside the castle. And the castle was once the scene of an execution.
The opening takes place in the 17th century where we see a man calling himself the "Crimson Executioner" being put to death by impalement for taking laws into his own hands and torturing otherwise innocent people. They place him in a device similar to an iron maiden - a box with spikes on the interior side of a door. His executioners close him in as he screams. Blood oozes from the bottom of the small coffin-like chamber in an attempt to set the horrific mood.
As the crew explores the castle, they find an assistant of Anderson's who takes them to him.
Anderson immediately tells them they have to leave. But rather than leave the castle they're all trespassing in, they pretty much beg to be allowed to stay.

As Anderson sticks to his demands, Edith walks into the room and once Anderson sees her, he reconsiders. It turns out Edith was once his fiancé. What are the chances, right?
However, he tells them the castle's dungeon is absolutely off limits. And as expected, they completely ignore his one rule and hold their photo session in the dungeon with these young, gorgeous models  lasciviously draped over torture devices dating back centuries.
Obviously, this makes Anderson mad. He dawns the mask and costume of the Crimson Executioner, claiming that he's the new embodiment, and he gets to work rather quickly.
Anderson picks them off one by one in the most harshest way he can, until only two remain.
The first to die, dies "accidentally" when a torture device "fails" during a photo shoot.
Rather than react the way anyone would when someone dies in such a gruesome manner, the crew is nonchalant about it. They merely shift their focus on finishing the photo session. Their reaction is more on par with the way a person would act if their car battery died. It sucks but there's still stuff to do.
"Don't tell the girls. They'll just panic," one of the group members says.
When it appears that the accident may actually have been intentional at the hands of an unknown assailant, their attitude doesn't change much. Needless to say, the acting is terrible. The lines were dubbed in English, but that's still no excuse.
Later, one of the girls gets stuck in a device that looks like a huge spider's web with trip wires extended between the web and a door. These wires are attached to several harpoons that'll fire at the slightest touch or vibration. On top of that, a mechanical spider with poison on its mandibles is slowly approaching the trapped model. It could easily be a scene straight from the early Batman series from the 60s. If the Joker had been standing next to her, dastardly explaining his plot to her rescuers, just as she did, he wouldn't be out of place.
How this girl wound up in the web is a mystery. But she explains the situation when two others find her and attempt to a rescue.
Mickey Hargitay as Anderson really gets wild with his character, who's obsessed with his body image, and hell bent on torturing these women for their "sins" as cruelly as he can. He's animated in his actions. His dubbing is rather monotone and lacking appropriate inflection. That's common in early film dubs.
The movie relies much more on it leaning very close to an autoerotic picture without crossing the line into something even partially x-rated, then it does on story.
But it doesn't hold back in the horror with impaling, burning, slashing, cutting, stretching, and screaming.
For 1965 standards, I'm guessing this is hardcore for a mainstream film - even one from Italy.
This isn't the only time director Domenico Pupillo used a scary castle as a backdrop for a horror movie. His 1965 film Terror-Creatures from the Grave about an attorney settling an estate belonging to a deceased client is also set inside a castle.
This movie utilizes the fear of pain, domination, captivity, and stage blood to scare the audience.
Otherwise, it has nothing else going for it. It's meant for screams, cringe worthy torture scenes, twitchy laughter, and helpless young women at the mercy of a muscular, overpowering, demented male executioner. It reminds me of the types of stories you'd read in a classic EC horror comic - Tales from the Crypt or Vault of Horror. It's just plain schlock.
For reasons unknown, the movie concludes with unnecessary exposition as it explains what the audience just saw moments ago. Fans of obscure B-horror might get something out of this movie. Otherwise, it's worth passing up.

34) Anatomy of a Psycho (1961)

A psychotic killer prowls the night. Will he be stopped before he strikes again?

Director
Boris Karloff (as Brooke L. Peters)

Cast
Ronnie Burns - Mickey
Pamela Lincoln - Pat
Darrell Howe - Chet
Michael Grainger - Lt. Mac

During my visit to Crypticon - the Horror Convention in St. Joseph, Missouri, near Kansas City -  this past summer, I found one of those horror collections with 50 B-horror movies in one box.
This collection is called "Night Screams"... because "day screams" just isn't scary, I guess.
If you're going to go to a horror movie convention, you're going to look for horror movies. And for a sticker price of $12, I grabbed it.
I'll watch all 50 movies for sure, starting with this one - Anatomy of a Psycho. And I'll take any readers out there with me as I get through all 50.
What makes Anatomy of a Psycho stand out is its director, Boris Karloff - Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 film, Frankenstein. 
However, he's credited as Brooke L. Peters. And notable B-movie director, Ed Wood, was evidently a contributor to the screenplay. With music borrowed from Wood's movie Plan 9 From Outer Space for this movie, that's definitely believable.
The premise centers around Chet (Darrell Howe), a teenager whose brother is sentenced to death.
Chet can't handle seeing his brother placed on death row. It drives his mind into severe states of psychosis.
No one, not even his loved ones, seems to be able to help him. Chet looses his mind and his grasp on reality. He swears revenge on all involved in the prosecution of his brother. This revenge starts with Chet assaulting the son of the prosecuting attorney involved in the trail.

But one police lieutenant named Mac suspects Chet of this assault.
Chet, meanwhile, has completely lost touch with reality.

Lt. Mac (Michael Grainger) and Pat (Pamela Lincoln) try to help

Chet (Darrell Howe) as insanity slowly takes hold of his mind.

This movie is really more of a crime thriller than a horror movie.
And even as a crime thriller, it's very underwhelming.
None of the acting comes across as convincing, or even half good.
At times, I felt a little confused around the story.
Chet didn't strike me as a character loosing touch with reality. Rather, he seemed like a man grieving pretty hard over the fate of his brother, and wanting retaliation.
At least the movie didn't resort to some special effect or transition scene showing Chet go from angry to loosing his sense of reality. You know, like a swirling spiral superimposed on a close up of Chet's face. Rather, the movie attempts to act it out. Kudos for the effort!
This movie bored me more than it entertained. I was interested, though, in what Chet was going to do in the end, when circumstances caught up to him. It tried. The movie really did try to tell a compelling story. I'm sure I'll watch it again to give it another chance.
The camera angles were so nostalgic, especially at the end when tension and intrigued runs its highest. The drastic high and low angles are very much techniques common in these period films.
All in all, this is very much a B-movie among B-movies. Take it for what it's worth. So, one down, 49 to go!

Coming Up Next...

A 1981 Italian horror movie that I swear took some inspiration from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.