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NETFLIX Horror Films Streaming in July 2017
It’s the middle of summer which means we’re lucky to get any genre film added to Netflix. Interestingly enough, July 7th marks the premiere of the Netflix animated series “Castlevania”, which is based on the popular NES video game. There’s also a few other interesting additions including Todd McFarlane’s Spawn movie and the ever-so-popular gorefest The Void.
July 1
Here Alone
Rod Blackhurst’s post-apocalyptic thriller Here Alone stars Lucy Walters, Gina Piersanti, Adam David Thompson, and Shane West. Pat Torfe reviewed the film for Bloody, explaining that it “doesn’t do enough to stand alone.”
In Here Alone, “A young woman struggles to survive on her own in the wake of a mysterious epidemic that has decimated society and forced her deep into the unforgiving wilderness, until she encounters two other survivors who make her confront her past while putting all of their lives at risk.“
Spawn: The Movie
“Covert government assassin Al Simmons (Michael Jai White) is killed after being double-crossed by his boss, Jason Wynn (Martin Sheen). Upon arriving in Hell, Simmons is offered an opportunity to return to Earth if he’s willing to lead an evil army. He accepts, and is reincarnated as a “Hellspawn” — a twisted, horribly disfigured version of his former self. However, Spawn serves as a force of good, much to the dismay of the Devil’s henchman, a wicked clown (John Leguizamo).”
Taking Lives
“An insidious serial killer is impersonating his victims’ identities as he travels across Canada. A recent spate of murders in Montreal has brought FBI Agent Illeana Scott (Angelina Jolie) north to investigate. Scott’s unusual methods quickly earn the suspicion of the local police but bring her close to art dealer James Costa (Ethan Hawke), who says he was an eyewitness to the latest murder. Sparks develop between the two as Costa’s role becomes crucial in their effort to apprehend the killer.”
July 5
“iZombie: Season 3”
“Season 3 begins with Liv discovering there are more zombies living in Seattle than she previously believed and that a private military contractor is employing a small zombie army that is preparing for the day humans learn of their existence. Meanwhile, even though Major was exonerated for the crimes of the Chaos Killer, he is still considered a pariah. He manages to land a job with the only place that will hire him; and Blaine is accused of lying.”
July 6
The Void
The Void, which I called “a dark, demented, and disgusting horror film that’s going to live among the greatest body horror films of all time,” made its world premiere at Fantastic Fest earlier last year, followed by additional festival screenings at the London Film Festival, Toronto After Dark Film Festival, Stockholm International Film Festival, and Abertoir Horror Festival. Here’s my review.
“In ‘The Void’, officer Daniel Carter (Aaron Poole) happens upon a blood-soaked figure limping down a deserted stretch of road while he’s in the middle of a routine patrol. He rushes the young man to a nearby rural hospital staffed by a skeleton crew, only to discover that patients and personnel are transforming into something inhuman. As the horror intensifies, Carter leads the other survivors on a hellish voyage into the subterranean depths of the hospital in a desperate bid to end the nightmare before it’s too late.”
July 7
“Castlevania: Season 1” (Netflix Original)
The four 30-minute episodes were inspired by the classic video game series and introduces the man that killed Dracula.
“Castlevania” is a dark medieval fantasy following the last surviving member of the disgraced Belmont clan, trying to save Eastern Europe from extinction at the hand of Vlad Dracula Tepe himself.
The animated series is written by best-selling author and comic book icon Warren Ellis and executive produced by Ellis, Kevin Kolde, Fred Seibert, and Adi Shankar. It stars Fred Tatasciore, Alejandra Reynoso, and James Callis.
EVERYTHING COMING TO NETFLIX IN JULY:
July 1
Titanic
The Originals: Season 4
Free Willy
Disney’s The Mighty Ducks
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Capo “El amo del tunel”: Season 1
El Barco: Season 1
The Truth Is in the Stars
Deep Water: Season 1
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Hostages (Israel): Season 2
Zip & Zap and the Marble Gang
The Invisible Guest (Contratiempo)
Albion: The Enchanted Stallion
Liar’s Dice
Offspring: Season 6
Boat Trip
Mixed Signals
Delicatessen
Caramel
Yours Fatefully: Season 1
The Ultimatum: Season 1
Unriddle II
Unriddle
Yes We Can!: Season 1
Spice Up: Season 1
World at Your Feet: Season 1
Emma
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Last Night
Out of Thin Air
Witnesses: Season 2
The Longest Yard
Jackass: Number Two
Punch-Drunk Love
Are We There Yet?
Are We Done Yet?
The Land Before Time
Dad
The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure
The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving
Here Alone
Spawn: The Movie
Code Name: The Cleaner
The Astronaut Farmer
Best in Show
Proof of Life
Matchstick Men
Taking Lives
Police Academy
July 2
El Chema: Season 1
July 3
Diamond Cartel
Extraordinary: The Stan Romanek Story
July 4
The Standups: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
July 5
iZombie: Season 3
July 6
Speech & Debate
The Void
Butter
July 7
Castlevania: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Dawn of the Croods: Season 4 (Netflix Original)
Degrassi: Next Class: Season 4 (Netflix Original)
Luna Petunia: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
1 Mile to You (Life At These Speeds)
July 8
Bad Santa 2
Horse Dancer
July 9
Lion
July 11
Gabriel Iglesias Presents The Gentleman Jerry Rocha
July 14
Friends From College: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
To the Bone (Netflix Original)
Chasing Coral (Netflix Original)
Buddy Thunderstruck: The Maybe Pile (Netflix Original)
July 15
Rake: Season 4
West Coast Customs: Season 4
July 17
Uncertain Glory
Fittest on Earth: A Decade of Fitness
A Cowgirl’s Story
July 18
Aditi Mittal: Things They Wouldn’t Let Me Say (Netflix Original)
Ari Shaffir: Double Negative: Collection (Netflix Original)
Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce: Season 3
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
July 20
Pretty Little Liars: Season 7B
July 21
Ozark: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Last Chance U: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
The Worst Witch: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
July 22
Railroad Tigers
July 24
Victor
July 25
Joe Mande’s Award-Winning Comedy Special (Netflix Original)
Munroe Island
July 28
The Incredible Jessica James (Netflix Original)
Daughters of Destiny: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
The Adventures of Puss in Boots: Season 5 (Netflix Original)
July 31
After The Reality
Checkpoint
Dark Night
Taking Earth
Being Mary Jane: The Series: Season 4 (Date TBD)
Home Video
‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]
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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