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NETFLIX Horror Films Streaming in November 2017

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New and old classics are arriving on Netflix this coming November 2017. One of the more exciting title is Joe Dante’s original 1978 Piranha, while we’ll also finally get the Wayans’ hilarious Scary Movie, not to mention Mike Flanagan’s indie Oculus. The big guns, though, is Marvel’s hotly anticipated “The Punisher”. Here’s the full breakdown of horror films hitting the streaming service in just a week.

NOVEMBER 1st

Casper (1995)

Seeing is believing when everyone’s favorite friendly ghost stars in this charming, live-action adventure from Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. “Ghost therapist” Dr. James Harvey (Bill Pullman) and his daughter, Kat (Christina Ricci), have been hired by Carrigan Crittenden (Cathy Moriarty) and her partner-in-slime, Dibs (Eric Idle), to get rid of the spirits at drafty, old Whipstaff Manor. Sure enough, the place is haunted by The Ghostly Trio — Stretch, Stinkie and Fatso — who don’t believe “fleshies” should come anywhere near their haunted domain. But Kat soon meets another, very different kind of spirit: Casper, a good-natured ghost who’s just looking for a friend. Can they all learn to live with each other?


Chappie (2015)

In the near future, crime is patrolled by an oppressive mechanized police force. But now, the people are fighting back. When one police droid, Chappie, is stolen and given new programming, he becomes the first robot with the ability to think and feel for himself. As powerful, destructive forces start to see Chappie as a danger to mankind and order, they will stop at nothing to maintain the status quo and ensure that Chappie is the last of his kind.


Men in Black (1997)

Men in Black follows the exploits of agents Kay (Jones) and Jay (Smith), members of a top-secret organization established to monitor alien activity on Earth. The two MiB find themselves in the middle of the deadly plot by an intergalactic terrorist (Vincent D’Onofrio) who has arrived on Earth to assassinate two ambassadors from opposing galaxies.


Oculus (2013)

Ten years ago, a horrifying incident left two young children orphans. The brother was charged with murder, but his sister believed that the true culprit was a haunted antique mirror and is determined to prove that it was what destroyed their family.


Scary Movie

A year after disposing the body of a man they accidentally killed, a group of dumb teenagers are stalked by a bumbling serial killer.


Silent Hill

Based on the best-selling horror action game, Silent Hill stars Radha Mitchell (Man on Fire) as Rose, a desperate mother who takes her adopted daughter, Sharon, to the town of Silent Hill in an attempt to cure her of her ailment. After a violent car crash, Sharon disappears and Rose begins her desperate search to get her back. She descends into a fog of smoldering ash and into the center of the twisted reality of a town’s terrible secret. Pursued by grotesquely deformed creatures and a townspeople stuck in permanent purgatory, Rose begins to uncover the truth behind the apocalyptic disaster that burned the town 30 years back. Dare to step inside the horrific town of Silent Hill, where darkness preys on every soul and Hell’s creations await around every corner. But know that once you enter…there is no turning back.


NOVEMBER 5th

The Veil

From the Producer of Paranormal Activity and The Purge, comes a gritty docu-horror starring Jessica Alba (Entourage, Sin City), Thomas Jane (Hung), and Lily Rabe (American Horror Story). Follow the lone survivor of a religious cult mass-suicide as she returns to the scene of the tragedy for the first time, after 30 years, with a documentary crew in tow. What they unveil is more disturbing than they could have ever imagined.


Killing Ground

In Australian director Damien Power’s Killing Ground, which we already reviewed out of the Sundance Film Festival, Ian and Samantha arrive at an isolated campsite to find an SUV and a tent—with no sign of the occupants. The discovery of a distressed child wandering in the woods unleashes a terrifying chain of events that will test the young couple’s breaking point.


NOVEMBER 17th

Marvel’s The Punisher — NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Jon Berthal stars as Frank Castle in the series created for Netflix by Steve Lightfoot, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

After exacting revenge on those responsible for the death of his wife and children, Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) uncovers a conspiracy that runs far deeper than New York’s criminal underworld. Now known throughout the city as The Punisher, he must discover the truth about injustices that affect more than his family alone.

Ben Barnes, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Amber Rose Revah, Deborah Ann Woll, Daniel Webber, Jason R. Moore, Paul Schulze, Jaime Ray Newman, and Michael Nathanson also star.


NOVEMBER 20th

Piranha (1978)

Two people (Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies) unwittingly free a mad military scientist’s (Kevin McCarthy) mutant fish near a summer camp and resort lake.


NOVEMBER 27th

Darkness Rising

In the film, “A house’s horrifying secrets are resurrected in this blood-drenched supernatural nightmare. For years, Madison (Tara Holt) has been tormented by the memories of a traumatic childhood incident: when she was a girl, her mother murdered her younger sister, and nearly killed Madison, too. Joined by her fiancé (Bryce Johnson) and cousin (Katrina Law), the now-adult Madison returns to the home where it happened just before it’s slated to be demolished. Seeking closure, the trio instead finds themselves ensnared by the same evil presence that drove Madison’s mother to unthinkable violence. It soon looks like history may repeat itself…

Cult horror icon Ted Raimi co-stars in this new haunter.

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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