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Horror In Your House: August 15th, 2011

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This week gives us Priest and The Ward; two bigger name films that had a ton of publicity, but didn’t go over well with audiences. Priest barely managed $30 million in box office receipts on a $60 million budget and The Ward, well, it never got the chance to fail at the box office.

In other news a Criterion edition of a Kubrick classic and season five of “Dexter” (the Julia Stiles one) are now available. Check out the rest of the releases below. Anything whet your appetite this week?
Horror In Your House
August 15th, 2011

DEATH STOP HOLOCAUST – Shriek Show

Two young women escape to their father s summer home on a remote island for a vacation getaway. As they travel deeper onto the island, a nightmare unfolds when a group of masked assailants begin to trap, torment, and torture their prey.

DEXTER: THE FIFTH SEASON (DVD / Blu-Ray) – Showtime Entertainment

Dexter is back and more killer than ever. The Showtime Original Series returns for an all new season – and this time Dexter’s got a new take on taking life. This season, Dexter goes from happily married husband to guilt-ridden single dad. How will it affect his ability to maintain an average-guy façade while satisfying his need to kill?

MICAH SAYS: A new Dexter promo poster last week. The release of season five this week. It can mean only one thing: Dexter’s return on October 2nd is just around the corner.

EDISION DEATH MACHINE – S’More Entertainment

In the final years before his death, it was rumored that legendary inventor and avowed agnostic Thomas Alva Edison experimented with a device, known as The Spirit Phone that would allow the living to communicate with the dead. Did the machine actually exist? Some swore they saw it but when Edison died, everything was destroyed. Or was it? What if one machine survived? What if it fell into the wrong hands? Join a group of world-class thieves as they stumble upon the infamous machine, only to discover it has powers that Edison never contemplated. Rather than contacting the dead, it resurrects them! The thieves travel the globe, resurrecting historical figures and along with them, priceless artifacts from their era but before long, they attract the attention of a powerful and ruthless mob boss. And then things really go wrong.

JOHN CARPENTER’S THE WARD (DVD / Blu-Ray) – Arc Entertainment

Acclaimed director John Carpenter makes his long awaited return to the screen with a thriller about a young woman in a 1960s mental institution who becomes terrorized by malevolent unseen forces. Kristen, a beautiful but troubled young woman, finds herself bruised, cut, drugged with laughing gas. The other patients in the ward four equally disturbed young women offer no answers, and Kristen quickly realizes things are not as they seem. The air is heavy with secrets, and at night, when the hospital is dark and foreboding, she hears strange and frightening sounds. It appears they are not alone. One-by-one, the other girls begin to disappear and Kristen must find a way out of this hellish place before she, too, becomes a victim. As she struggles to escape, she will uncover a truth far more dangerous and horrifying than anyone could have imagined.

MICAH SAYS: Extraordinarily generic film from my one-time favorite horror director.

THE KILLING: CRITERION COLLECTION (DVD/ Blu-Ray) – Criterion

Stanley Kubrick’s account of an ambitious racetrack robbery is one of Hollywood’s tautest, twistiest noirs. Aided by a radically time-shuffling narrative, razor-sharp dialogue from pulp novelist Jim Thompson, and a phenomenal cast of character actors, including Sterling Hayden (Dr. Strangelove), Coleen Gray (Red River), Timothy Carey (Paths of Glory), and Elisha Cook Jr. (The Maltese Falcon), The Killing is both a jaunty thriller and a cold-blooded punch to the gut. And with its precise tracking shots and gratifying sense of irony, it’s Kubrick to the core.

MICAH SAYS: This flick is credited with teaching Tarantino the non-linear story telling format he’s so fond of from. And it’s a Criterion. And it’s Kubrick. Good stuff all around.

MEDIUM RAW – Anchor Bay

He is called ‘The Wolf’, a spike-jawed serial killer responsible for the ‘Red Riding Hood’ murders of 15 young girls. Arrested by Detectives Elliott Carbon (John Rhys-Davies of The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and Johnny Morgan (writer/director Andrew Cymek), he has been declared criminally insane and sentenced to the sanitarium of Dr. Parker (William B. Davis of ”The X-Files”). But now a massive power failure at the maximum-security facility has unlocked the cell doors and trapped Parker, Johnny and the hospital staff inside. Tonight, the inmates — psychopaths, cannibals and The Wolf himself — are running the asylum…and they are all hungry for vengeance. Mercedes McNab (”Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, Hatchet), Brigitte Kingsley (Dark Rising), and WWE superstars Jason ‘Christian’ Reso and Andrew ‘Test’ Martin co-star in this grisly shocker that serves up horror MEDIUM RAW.

PRIEST (DVD / Blu-Ray / 3D Blu-Ray) – Sony

PRIEST, a post-apocalyptic action thriller, is set in an alternate world — one ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampires. The story revolves around a legendary Warrior Priest (Paul Bettany) from the last Vampire War who now lives in obscurity among the other downtrodden human inhabitants in walled-in dystopian cities ruled by the Church. When his niece (Lily Collins) is abducted by a murderous pack of vampires, Priest breaks his sacred vows to venture out on an obsessive quest to find her before they turn her into one of them. He is joined on his crusade by his niece’s boyfriend (Cam Gigandet), a trigger-fingered young wasteland sheriff, and a former Warrior Priestess (Maggie Q) who possesses otherworldly fighting skills.

MICAH SAYS: Honestly, I avoided this one because I knew the guy that was responsible for LEGION directed it and I didn’t want anything to do with it based on that stinker. Anyone out there see this AND enjoy it?

SMILE – Image Entertainment

A carefree summer vacation turns into an inescapable terror trap for a group of young students who buy a vintage instant camera from a mysterious local shop owner (Armand Assante, Soul’s Midnight), only to discover that every photo taken with the camera leads to the subject’s death–in grisly ways linked to the picture itself. Unless they can unravel the bloody mystery before their dwindling group is wiped out completely by this supernatural, unstoppable force, the kids will be posing for their final snap-shot!

MICAH SAYS: A sorta FINAL DESTINATION-esque film from the guys who made the I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE remake. Actually looks intriguing, has a unique take on a familiar story, and has pretty solid reviews from around the web. I’ll be checking this one out soon. As I haven’t seen it I won’t officially make it my pick of the week, but as a stand-alone horror film it’s the one I’m most interested to see.

TENANT (Blu-Ray) – Indican

An obsessed doctor tries to cure human deformities through DNA splicing, an obsession drawing him into a dark world where he experiments on the patients at Edgewood Asylum. Ignoring his pregnant wife Olivia, she comes to see him one night, but everything goes horribly wrong as Dr. Newman watches in horror as Olivia deliver their twins – One twin is a beautiful baby girl, the other a deformed creature that defies nature. 25 years later, on a dark road, a van breaks down. Young, beautiful Liz Holliman of the Roslyn Center For The Deaf is traveling with a group of young teens and her driver, ex-con, Jeff Thomas. With a flat tire, a storm and freezing temperatures, they must seek shelter. The group makes their way to an old abandoned building — the Edgewood Asylum. Little do they know – evil awaits them…

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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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