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10 Favorite Horror Films of Electric Wizard’s Jus Oborn!

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Out now from Witchfinder and Spinefarm Records is Electric Wizard‘s hotly anticipated LP Wizard Bloody Wizard, a new album boasting a sound that harkens back to the dreaded days when ‘heavy’ meant Grand Funk and Black Sabbath, and ‘rock’ meant drugs, groupies, and mountains of amplification.

Bloody Disgusting caught up with Electric Wizard’s Jus Oborn to talk about his horror inspirations, which include these ten films. Here are his favorites:


The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue

“Probably one of my favourite films ever and a huge influence on the band. Even though it’s an Italian/Spanish co-production it captures the bleak loneliness of the English countryside perfectly. Even anti-hero Georges dodgy Cockney accent…haha.

Also, it’s a very different take on the usual gut-munching zombie flicks, it’s a lot creepier and slow building. I think it makes them a lot scarier…especially the first appearance of the drowned zombie that staggers and lurches onto the screen just when you’ve settled into the slow pace of the opening scenes.

The Devil Rides Out

This is a great ‘heavy metal’ horror film and probably a huge influence on a lot of ‘bedroom’ Satanists. When it was released in 1967 it must have been a great movie to drop acid too…haha. There are so many momentous scenes…the demon forming out of the pentagram with the ‘eyes’, the arrival of the Angel Of Death and the huge black mass scene which culminates in the most convincing depiction of the Baphomet onscreen ever….”The Goat Of Mendes, the Devil himself!”….it’s still amazingly well done and it’s awesome when he flinches in the headlights too. Definitely my favourite Hammer film along with Captain Kronos: vampire hunter.

Erotic Rites Of Frankenstein

You could easily ask me to do my top 10 Jess Franco movies. He’s my favourite film director. It’s pretty impossible to name my favourite film by him but this one is the most demented straight horror film he did. I love this period of his films when he was produced by Robert de Nesle, it seems they were trying to recreate the ‘adults only’ Italian horror comics like “Oltretomba” or “Lo Scheletro”. It’s really an out there film with a chrome Frankenstein and the wizard Cagliostro with his squawking, bloodsucking bird woman creation. The standout scene has Frankenstein’s silver monster whipping Vera Frankenstein and Morpho in a weird spike floored dungeon as the “Bird Woman” squawks and cackles ecstatically.

The Dunwich Horror

I’ve always thought this was a great adaptation and update of the H.P.Lovecraft story. I think the use of psychedelic camera techniques and the 1960’s milieu really work in its favour. The surrealistic tentacled ‘half-brother’ in the attic really works because it is only half seen and then it’s just a flash of psychedelic colours. It adds a real otherworldly feel that seems to really conjure up the cosmic horror vibe Lovecraft was trying to convey. Dean Stockwell as the almost ‘counter-culture’ wizard Whateley is played really well and the drugged out erotic cult scenes are really enhanced by his intensity. I always wished that do-gooders Dr Armitage and Dr Cory were zapped by Yog Sothoth at the end though.

Mark Of the Devil

I kinda dig any witch finding movies, which probably started with a childhood obsession with Michael Reeve’s Witchfinder General. But I think this cash-in version of the story is the best one. It totally presents a long catalog of torture devices which is what you expect and want from these films. Herbert Lom is excellent as the head witchfinder but it’s the evil, disfigured Albino that will have you cheering along to this trashy and nasty classic. I also love how these films really present the whole episode in history as basically an abuse of power and exploitation of the superstitious peasants. I don’t think the world has really changed that much.

Requiem For a Vampire

This is my top Jean Rollin film, though I am a big fan of all his work. I love how baroque and macabre all his films are, they are like horror comics come to life. They are all so visually appealing that the storyline becomes irrelevant as everything induces a very dreamlike state. That said, this one has the most linear narrative of all his films and is probably a good recommendation for the uninitiated, but still contains many fantastically macabre scenes that could easily have been the painted cover of a 1970’s horror comic. The scene with the two girls seeking refuge in the graveyard, discovering the vampire’s tomb and then almost being buried alive is particularly vivid in the memory.

Daughters Of Darkness

I had this movie on an old VHS for many, many years as it used to turn up late on TV every now and again during my childhood. It is such a gloomy and claustrophobic tale that you are always sucked in (and sucked dry) by the best film about the notorious true lifeblood bather Countess Bathory. Delphine Seyrig is absolutely amazing in the lead role and can never be underestimated in the power of this film, she carries the whole macabre atmosphere with her seductive, Transylvanian(?) accent. The creepy deserted hotel and epic camerawork also help instill an otherworldly atmosphere where time no longer exists. And a special mention for the fantastic, modern take on her final inevitable impaling and exposure to the morning sun. Brilliant!

Black Candles

Another old VHS favourite , though an uncut version only turned up on DVD recently. I’m not quite sure why this is my favourite Jose Larraz film because he has done so many better movies: Vampyres, Symptoms etc…but I am always drawn back to this one. I guess its the very vivid and explicit recreation of the black mass that is still the most shocking and compelling part of the film (along with the amazing atonal choral soundtrack from the anonymous library archive of CAM) and the committed performance of exploitation queen , Helga Line (best remembered for her role in Paul Naschy’s Horror Rises From The Tomb).

Blood On Satan’s Claw

The ultimate English ‘rural’ horror film. The whole atmosphere of the movie totally recreates medieval England, the accents are perfect and the houses connected by small wooded pathways seems really authentic, you almost smell it. The story is also memorably grim and uncomfortable, with the evil satan worshipping kids farming Satan’s Skin on their own bodies. But most memorably terrifying of all is the “claw” under the floorboards in the attic…this scene is disturbingly weird and horrific that I still have nightmares about it to this day.

Also, I recently saw this at the cinema which is still the best way to see all these movies but I’m pretty sure Linda Hayden is wearing a fuzzy felt merkin in that other ‘memorable’ scene.

Torture Chamber Of Dr.Sadism

This film is known under a lot of different titles but this one was always the one that caught my attention. It was a title that captured my imagination for years before I actually saw the film but luckily it lives up to it. It has a genuinely surreal and macabre atmosphere again that is enhanced by the visual set piece scenes…the thirteen blood-drained virgins, the labyrinthine Castle Andomai with its Hieronymus Bosch murals, the snakepit and the pendulum, the forest of human limbs etc. How can you not want to watch it immediately? Ok, it’s a little bit corny especially ‘our hero’ Lex Barker but the set design and Harald Reinl’s direction take this to another level. I have probably watched it over a 100 times and I never get bored of it.”


Even though the LP promises ‘hymns to death, drugs, sex and violence’, the overall vibe is a band that is revitalized and ready to kill. The sound is aggressive, stripped back and savage, as if the new line-up has main-lined a fresh level of attitude and ability…

“Y’know, a lot of bad shit has happened to us, but through it all there was the music. We still dig loud heavy music, and the album is not really depressed or angry, it’s arrogant and rebellious. I still believe in rock and roll, and I still believe in killing it onstage and mentally destroying an audience.”

And the band sounds together, really together. The last three years of touring, writing and rehearsing have honed and molded a new sound that truly distills the Electric Wizard brew.

“We’ve been worn out by the modern scene, it’s all about styles and genre. We just wanna make solid heavy music… no rules. We didn’t set out to record a style or a product, we set out to record what we wanted to hear. I want people to know it’s Electric Wizard from the first second, but also to know we’re gonna take them on a trip. Heavy doesn’t just mean tone and bottom end… I think people have become too obsessed with FX and boutique amps. It’s more about playing style, attitude, and song-writing… ya’ know, a lot of our songs have been interpreted as acoustic numbers by various people and they are still heavy and ominous sounding… you can’t dilute true darkness.”

Wizard Bloody Wizard – the ninth Electric Wizard studio album – is out now 2017 via Witchfinder Records and Spinefarm Records.

Horror movie fanatic who co-founded Bloody Disgusting in 2001. Producer on Southbound, V/H/S/2/3/94, SiREN, Under the Bed, and A Horrible Way to Die. Chicago-based. Horror, pizza and basketball connoisseur. Taco Bell daily. Franchise favs: Hellraiser, Child's Play, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Scream and Friday the 13th. Horror 365 days a year.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

LEPRECHAUN RETURNS sequel

Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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