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NETFLIX: Horror Films Streaming April 2017!

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Funny Netflix Plot Summaries

Short but sweet new additions to Netflix this coming April.

No joke, here’s what will be added:

April 1

A Nightmare on Elm Street

In Wes Craven’s classic slasher film, several Midwestern teenagers fall prey to Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), a disfigured midnight mangler who preys on the teenagers in their dreams — which, in turn, kills them in reality. After investigating the phenomenon, Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) begins to suspect that a dark secret kept by her and her friends’ parents may be the key to unraveling the mystery, but can Nancy and her boyfriend Glen (Johnny Depp) solve the puzzle before it’s too late?


Gremlins

Horror and humor combine seamlessly in this monstrous box-office hit from Academy Award, Emmy and Golden Globe-winner Steven Spielberg (“Munich,” “War of the Worlds”) and director Joe Dante (“Innerspace,” “Twilight Zone: The Movie”). A small town is besieged by some furry and not-so-cute little creatures after a young man ignores the warnings of a wise elder regarding their care and feeding


Scooby-Doo

Zoinks! Two years after a clash of egos forced Mystery Inc. to close it’s doors, Scooby-Doo and his clever crime-solving cohorts Fred (FREDDIE PRINZE JR.), Daphne (SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR), Shaggy (MATTHEW LILLARD) and Velma (LINDA CARDELLINI) are individually summoned to Spooky Island to investigate a series of paranormal incidents at the ultra-hip Spring Break hot spot. Concerned that his frightfully popular resort might truly be haunted, Spooky Island owner Emile Mondavarious (ROWAN ATKINSON) tries to reunite those notoriously meddling detectives to solve the mystery before his supernatural secret scares away the college crowds. Scooby and the gang will have to overcome their personal differences and forget everything they think they know about fake ghouls and phony creatures to crack the case, save themselves and possibly…the world! Ruh-roh!


April 28

Small Crimes (Netflix original film)

We told you exclusively that E.L. (Evan) Katz‘s dramatic thriller Small Crimes, which stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Jacki Weaver, Robert Forster, Gary Cole, Molly Parker, Macon Blair, and even Pat Healy, was acquired by Netflix ahead of the SXSW world premiere. Now, Netflix has supplied us with a trailer and news that it will stream worldwide on April 28, 2017.

Katz may be a fresh name at the upcoming SXSW Film Festival, but he’s actually a genre veteran. Now a director, he made his name by penning Autopsy, as well as two of Adam Wingard’s earlier films, Pop Skull and Home Sick, while also producing Tobe Hooper’s Mortuary. He also directed the best ABCs of Death 2 short, “A is for Amateur”, which was anything but.

[SXSW 2017] Keep up with all of the news and reviews here!

After serving time for the attempted murder of a District Attorney, disgraced former cop Joe Denton (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) returns home looking for redemption. An embarrassment to his parents and abandoned by his ex-wife, it seems as if things can’t get much worse. But then Joe finds himself trapped in the mess he left behind-in the cross fire between a crooked sheriff, the vengeful DA, and a mafia kingpin who knows too much.


Arriving On Netflix In April:

April 1

  • A Weekend with the Family
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street
  • Across the Universe
  • An American Tail
  • An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
  • An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster
  • Boy Bye
  • Born To Be Free
  • Cool Runnings
  • Good Witch: Season 2
  • Gremlins
  • Only for One Night
  • Richard Pryor: Live & Smokin’
  • Scooby-Doo
  • Schindler’s List
  • Something’s Gotta Give
  • Thunderstruck
  • Wynonna Earp: Season 1
  • Trouble with the Curve
  • Tropic Thunder
  • The Tenth Man

April 2

  • The D Train

April 4

  • Chewing Gum: Season 2 (Netflix original)
  • Louis C.K. 2017 (Netflix original)

April 6

  • Disney’s The BFG

April 7

  • El Faro De Las Orcas (Netflix original film)
  • Dawn of the Croods: Season 3 (Netflix original)
  • The Get Down: Part 2 (Netflix original)
  • Win It All (Netflix original film)

April 8

  • Kubo and the Two Strings

April 10

  • Documentary Now!: Season 2

April 11

  • Kevin Hart: What Now

April 12

  • DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: Season 2

April 14

  • Chelsea: Season 2 (Netflix original)
  • El Elegido
  • Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return (Netflix original)
  • Sandy Wexler (Netflix original film)

April 15

  • Disney’s Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
  • Slam (Netflix original)

April 18

  • Lucas Brothers: On Drugs (Netflix original)

April 19

  • A Plastic Ocean

April 21

  • Bill Nye Saves the World: Season 1 (Netflix original)
  • Girlboss: Season 1 (Netflix original)
  • Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On: Season 1 (Netflix original)
  • Sand Castle (Netflix original film)
  • Tales by Light: Season 2 (Netflix original)
  • The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show: Season 4 (Netflix original)
  • The Prestige
  • Tramps (Netflix original film)

April 22

  • The Great British Baking Show: Masterclass: Seasons 1-3
  • The Secret Life of Pets

April 23

  • Liv and Maddie: Season 4
  • Phantom

April 24

  • Long Nights Short Mornings

April 25

  • Disney’s Queen of Katwe
  • The 101-Year-Old Man Who Skipped Out on the Bill and Disappeared (Netflix original film)
  • Vir Das: Abroad Understanding (Netflix original)

April 26

  • Real Rescues: Season 6-7
  • Trust

April 27

  • Las Chicas del Cable: Season 1 (Netflix original)

April 28

  • A Murder in the Park
  • Casting JonBenet (Netflix original)
  • Dear White People: Season 1 (Netflix original)
  • Rodney King (Netflix original film)
  • Small Crimes (Netflix original film)

April 30

  • Sofia the First: Season 3

Leaving Netflix In April 2017:

April 1

  • Ally McBeal: Seasons 1 – 5
  • Angel: Seasons 1 – 5
  • Better Off Ted: Season 1
  • Barbershop 2: Back in Business
  • Bones: Seasons 1 – 4
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Seasons 1 – 7
  • Chaplin
  • Dollhouse: Season 1
  • Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
  • Firefly
  • House, M.D.: Seasons 1 – 8
  • Lie to Me: Season 1
  • Menace II Society
  • Resident Evil: Extinction
  • Rosewell: Seasons 1 – 3
  • Snow Day
  • Stomp the Yard
  • Superman II
  • Superman III
  • Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
  • Image via Warner Bros.
  • Superman Returns
  • Superman: The Movie
  • The Agony and the Ecstasy
  • The Boys from Brazil
  • The Escapist
  • The Princess Bride
  • The Riches: Seasons 1 – 2
  • The Usual Suspects
  • The X-Files: Seasons 1 – 9
  • Vanilla Sky

April 3

  • Collateral Damage
  • The Circle

April 7

  • Legit: Season 2
  • Wilfred: Season 4

April 9

  • Hero

April 10

  • Legit: Season 1
  • Flower Girl

April 14

  • The Lazarus Effect

April 15

  • A Fantastic Fear of Everything

April 17

  • American Dad! Season 6

April 26

  • The Nutty Professor 2: Facing the Fear

April 30

  • Under the Tuscan Sun
  • The Mirror
  • Born to Defense
  • The Defender

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.

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‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]

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Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.

Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.

Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.

While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.

Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.

Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!

Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.

Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.

Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!

More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.

So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.

If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.

Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.

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