Exploitation Nation Quick Shots - Embodiment of Evil and Revenge

Take a look back a year ago at the first night we held a screening for INDEPENDENT SHADOW CINEMA and the free screening of EMBODIMENT OF EVIL!

A look at the SCORPION RELEASING DVD REVENGE

© Andrew Copp

EXPLOITATION NATION THE SERIES EP 3

CritCon Figurehead has Passed on. R.I.P. Fred Adelman.

I logged onto Facebook today to startling news that unfortunately I had felt in my gut for a while now. Long time presence in the horror fandom community FRED ADELMAN had passed away from his long term fight with Leukemia. Fred had told me a few years ago in confidence he was suffering from the horrible disease.

I met Fred on the message boards of DVD Maniacs (Now AV Maniacs, which I unfortunately very seldom frequent like I used to)and his breadth of knowledge was apparent in any conversation. Perhaps every couple of days between that place and Facebook I have probably talked to him since capacity or another. He was an opinionated, surely son of a bitch. Make no mistake. If you crossed Adelman, he let you know right off the bat, and made sport in cutting down those who pissed him off. As he got progressively more sick, it became apparent that he was more and more angry as his time online became much more agitated. To put it mildly, he made a lot of enemies in the cyberworld in the last year or two through picking fights and never being afraid to stir the proverbial pot. But I never believed he was one out there doing it in malice, like so many people in fandom I have seen come and go. I think he was bored, sick and and always was highly opinionated about everything, especially things he cared about passionately. 

But lets not let Fred be remembered for the crazy spats he had in the last years of his life, though many will. Let's look long and hard at the legacy in the genre he left. And it is a hefty one. Fred Adelman was one of the first feet on the ground ZINE publishers, though all too often he is not mentioned along side the early and important names like Jack Stevenson or Bill Landis. His zine CRITICAL CONDITION (CritCon for short) was started in 1982 and ran till 1985 was one of the first to really talk about movies we hold dear now. He was going to the New Jersey and New york theaters and seeing the sleaze and trash first run and writing about it immediately. Then he was there for the VHS boom right as it hit reviewing these movies as they came out. Which is when he started collecting his now insane and famous library of VHS (at one time listing at over 7500 titles alone). He went back into zine publishing again in the late 80s and into the 90's but stopped once it became apparent that the magazine publishing world was awash in rip off artists and hucksters that never paid. But this eventually let to Fred being once again among the first to open a website devoted to exploitation film and Critical Condition online was born. The website is so much more than just Fred's reviews, it is library and resource of the VHS era in one handily place online. There are thousands of reviews of movies that are talked about no where else. Scans of artwork and admats no one else have, and most importantly his long time pet project the history of VHS distribution companies told through there box cover scans. 

Video Company VHS History 

Which is probably one of the most in depth web articles online anywhere about the history of home video in any form. The horror fandom owes a great debt of gratitude to Fred Adelman for his knowledge and his website. The VHS collecting community that has sprung up in the last few years definitely own him because he practically built that community himself through his website and what it has spread through the years. He is one of those "behind the scenes" dudes who deserved some recognition for his place in the machine. Fred kept the site up to date weekly right up until the end of 2011 with new scans and reviews. 

All the while continuing to auction off his rare collection on WENSY.COM to raise money for his medical bills. From what I gather he went into the hospital in very early January 2012 and passed away soon after (I do not have an exact date I am afraid). 

The internet is a weird place. I never met Fred Adelman face to face. But I talked to him almost daily in one form or another. I considered him a friend. We traded movies often, and when he decided to sell his rare ad mat collection I scrambled to find the money to buy it, but couldn't do it (it went to a good home I was assured). I feel like I knew him, but at the same time feel like I never knew him enough. My facebook has been too quiet for the last month, and I will miss the conversations I am not going to have with him gone.

Fred Adelman's groundbreaking Website
http://www.critcononline.com/

© Andy Copp 2012

EXPLOITATION NATION THE SERIES Ep #2

All new Material © Andrew Copp 2012

INTRUDER splatters Blu Ray

INTRUDER (1989)

D. Scott Speilgel
SYNAPSE FILMS.
BLU RAY / DVD

Like most every other horror fan my age I discovered INTRUDER by reading FANGORIA's much missed sister publication GOREZONE. They did a controversial cover story on the yet to be released slasher film that sported a really messy and disgusting still of the guy getting his face bisected by the band saw. I have fond memories of going to downtown Dayton on the bus to a book store called WIlkies, buying GOREZONE and reading on the way home. Much to the consternation of the other riders who I am sure did not enjoy such unpleasant cover stories such as that one. I wasn't driving yet, so this had to be around 1987 or so, a couple of years before the movie found distribution. But myself and lots of horror fans were excited by that article, stoked even. The article painted the picture of a slasher film that brought a European sensibility to the proceedings and turned the gore up past the breaking point. But when the movie finally surfaced, that is not what we got.


Instead we got a stylish, but intensely watered down movie that was missing all the gore footage. An R rated slasher film that really satisfied no one involved. The fans were appalled and the filmmakers themselves felt like they were boned. For years the movie was impossible to see unless you went to the bootleg market. There were copies from Japanese imports that were the most complete but looked terrible. Eventually Charles Band put out a lackluster, full frame DVD that at least put a uncut DVD on the market, even if it looked terrible.


So it is like a gift to all horror fanatics who have waited since the late 80's that Synapse have taken the time to properly care for this movie and put out a definative edition that not only restores it to the full uncut edition but have gone back to the original elements to present it in the best possible quality. This is the best this movie will ever look, and it looks gorgeous. Granted it was never a "pretty" movie to begin with, but it finally looks like it was intented, in the proper ratio, with all the colors accurately toned and graded.


For those few not in the know the movie revolves around a crew of young folks working the late shift at a grocery store. One of the young ladies has a psychotic ex-boyfriend who is causing her problems which sets the stage for a tense showdown early on in the movie, so when people start being stalked and killed all fingers point to him. And people aren't just getting slashed, they are getting whacked in the most gory and brutal ways, using the tools of the store, such as the meat cutting machines, hooks and other impliments. The story is amazingly slight, but director Scott Speigel who cut his teeth working with Sam Raimi milks it for the most by ramming his camera into places that no one else would ever think to put it, like inside grocery cars, or inside phones. He cribs lots of his style from the Italian horror masters but makes it work for him, twisting mood where other movies of this ilk generally wouldn't bother. He also has a rather likable cast, especially with his leading ladies Renee Estevez and Elizabeth Cox (who we learn on the disc was dating first time producer Lawrence Bender!) The Detroit crew of Sam Raimi, Ted Raimi and Bruce Campbell all make apparences too.


But the real stars of the movie are the effects by the newly formed KNB effects team. This was their first film out the gate and even though they had next to no money to spend their really shine. Which made the editing of their work all these years a real crying shame. Which is yet another reason this disc is such a welcome addition to any horror fan's collection as you can finally see these guys innaugral work in all its blood splashing glory. That band saw bisection STILL is one of the most savage, hard to watch kill scenes in any slasher movie, ever.


The extras on the disc are very enlighting to the plight the film went through to not only get made, but that long, hard road to finally be seen uncut. There is a spunky and fun commentary. Speigel has particiapted in lots of commentaries of other films and he is always a delight to listen to, so it is extra fun to get to hear him finally talk about this project that is so close to his heart. He is paired with producer Lawrence Bender who has gone on to produce some of the most profitbale indie films of all time with Quintin Tarantino so his perspective on doing this ultra low budget indie horror is unique and very insightful. The Behind the scenes featurette covers some of the same territory, but has a whole bunch of the other key players involved. So everyone has their say, making for a well rounded and very interesting look at how it all went down. Most interesting to me is how Charles Band ended up with the film and was forced to hand it over to Paramount leaving it to be cut to the R rated. That is the information I think a lot of horror fans will want to know as well. There is a short with bits from the workprint that believe it or not has MORE gore, and also bits and pieces from what has survived from the initial super 8 film that was shown to investors to raise money for the project. One of my favorites a very short bit that has the director of the movie A BETTER PLACE remembering how his angry letter to FANGORA detailing how the movie was cut was printed ended up netting him an uncut tape of the film sent from Scott Speilgel himself! A nice extra for those of us who remember reading that angry letter all those years ago!


So if you even consider yourself a marginal slasher movie fan, or 80's splatter fan you need this set. No excuses, this is the movie that is missing from your shelf. Get it now.

Review © Andrew Copp

Why horror fans gotta be such haters?

THE DEVIL INSIDE

PEOPLE BE HATIN'...

I'm gonna hold off on reading all this stuff if no other reason than so I can form my own opinion on the movie when I see it. This same thing happened to THE LAST EXORCISM when it came out, and I ended up really liking it (except for the ending which everyone agrees is incongruous and from another less intelligent movie).

What is kind of bothering me though is the consistent bashing of horror films that come out theatrically by horror fans on line as the films are released specifically for what ever success they may have. THE DEVIL INSIDE had a big opening weekend, so horror fans explode at everyone who went claiming they are somehow idiots (I've read that a bunch today), if a sequel or remake is successful then all remakes or sequels must suck. The monster movie CREATURE makes it into theater in a wide release with thousands of prints without the help of a major studio (you know like used to happen to indie movies years ago) and there is a backlash that used to only be for child molesters...

I'm not necessarily defending all these movies. I haven't seen THE DEVIL INSIDE or CREATURE. I want to see both of them. I meant to see CREATURE but didn't even know it was playing my town until the week after it was gone. My fault, not the distributor's. The complaints I hear about THE DEVIL INSIDE sound somewhat legit, a bad use of a tired cinematic trope with the found footage thing and an ending that should of been the beginning of the third act. Fair enough. But that doesn't explain why horror fans want to hate so much. It seems to me that no other fandom inspires so much direct and outright rage, directly at the filmmakers and films themselves. So many fans go into the film's or even the reading up and discovery about the films looking to RAGE about something. 

If you were super excited to see the particular movie, and it turned out to be really bad, I can understand being upset. Or if the movie starts out really great, but becomes a total mess and lets you down, I can even understand that. I get the remake thing, though I have calmed down about it considerably over the years, as many of the films have gotten better, and most of the originals have been gorgeously remastered for Blu ray and look BETTER now than they EVER did. But none of that seems to be the real problem. There is just an overriding sense of anger and disenfranchisement that hangs over the fandom that explodes in the cybersphere at the drop of a hat. 

You don't see these fans discussing what WORKS in a movie. Almost never. But you always see discussions of the things that were messed up, and should have been done better. About how this particular director has gone way past their useful date. 

It is a curious phenomenon, one that sometimes makes being a fan a little unpleasant. I sometimes can do it too,and am aware it it. But more often than not I want to be moved by a movie and look for that to happen. I go in to even the biggest piece of shit rooting for the movie to do its job, which is entertain me. Not make me walk away an angrier person.

© Andy Copp

GUROZUKA: Ghosts and gore for teens?

GUROZUKA (2010)
D. Yoichi Nishiyama

Synapse Films
1.85

Another offering in the Asian Cult Cinema line for Synapse Films; this new film from Japan is atmospheric and has some startling images sprinkled throughout. But unfortunately it is not the strongest release they have put out from the Far East. Borrowing heavily from THE RING and other ghost films popular in Japan then welding them to the the teen slasher cycle that had burned itself out in the late 90's, GUROZUKA never really comes to life on its own terms.

The film begins with two twenty-something young women who find a startling 8mm video tape that shows a Goh performance that ends with the performers murdering each other. Then these girls and a whole other gang of young ladies go on a road trip together. They are part of a movie club going to a remote house to make a short film together based on the rumors of the former club members disappearance. Naturally the killing on the tape and those missing girls are linked. Soon the ghostly Goh masked killer from the tape is spooking his (or her) way around the woods and cabin picking off the girls as they try to figure out how it all fits together.

The movie is as much,if not more, a teen mystery, as a horror movie and is surprisingly tame, even once the blood splattered climax approaches. There is no nudity, and though there is some violence, it is not particularly outlandish as one would come to expect from Asian cinema. The set up of the film reminded me a lot of the movie EVIL DEAD TRAP but never reaches those heights of fear or delirium. In fact I kind of wonder if this wasn't aimed at a youth audience in Japan, with the cast of pretty young girls, but extreme lack of exploitation. If that is the case, the movie works ok, though is a bit on the slow side. If it is intended to be a film aimed at adults, then it is too little to really satisfy.

The film is certainly well made enough, but as far as Asian horror goes this is kind of middle of the road.

The disc comes with a fun behind the scenes and a trailer.

Review © Andrew Copp