Category Archives: Horror

Non-Fiction Book Review: Killer Cops by Michael Newton

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The late Michael Newton was quite a prolific author, publishing a total 357 books, which included 258 novels and 99 nonfiction books.  His novels were largely pulp paperbacks, the types with the covers that my sister often features here on the Shattered Lens.  His non-fiction was largely made up of encyclopedias concerning unsolved crimes, serial killers, conspiracies, and that sort of thing.  I own quite a few of this encyclopedias.  He was a good writer with a good knowledge of the macabre.

Killer Cops takes a look at men and women who took an oath to uphold the law but who then turned around and committed the worst crime of all.  Some of the people profiled in this book were serial killers who hid their crimes behind the badge.  Some were cops were just snapped one day.  Some were obviously crooked while others had spotless records.  Some of them were punished for their crimes.  Some of them are still revered for being justice to the frontier.  It makes for interesting and disturbing reading.  For the aspiring horror, thriller or crime fiction writer, Killer Cops is full of potential inspiration.   If there’s an overriding theme to the book, it’s that those in authority should be held to a higher standard and that certainly includes the police.  The killer cops portrayed in this book thought they could hide behind the badge and the uniform and, sadly, a few of them were right.  Newton warns against idealizing or blindly trusting anyone in authority, saying that it’s the individual’s action that matter more than the uniform they wear or the badge that they carry.

International Horror Film: House On The Edge of the Park (dir by Ruggero Deodato)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Or is it House Of The Park On Edge?

When this Italian thriller was first released in the United States in 1980, the film’s title was mistranslated by whoever put together the film’s American trailer.  In Italy, it was known as La casa sperduta nel parco.  When it was released in the United States, it was meant to be known as The House On The Edge of the Park but the trailer famously referred to it as being….

That the trailer was sent out with the title incorrectly translated tells you a lot about the American grindhouse film scene.  If a similar mistake had been made a with a big studio production, someone would have lost their job and a lot of money would be spent to put together a new trailer.  In the world of the grindhouse, it was probably understood that people would come to the film regardless of whether they even knew what the title was.  According to the book Sleazoid Express, House on The Edge of the Park was very popular in the grindhouse theaters of New York’s 42nd Street, where audiences loved the violence, the nudity, and the misogynistic dialogue.

Today, House on the Edge of the Park is remembered for being the film that brought together Ruggero Deodato, David Hess, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Christian Borromeo, Annie Belle, and Lorraine De Selle.  (The Anchor Bay DVD release featured interviews with Deodato, Hess, and Radice.  Radice and Deodato seemed a bit surprised and, at times, horrified that the film still had fans.  Hess seemed considerably less shocked.)  House on the Edge of the Park was the film that Deodato made after the subversive and satirical Cannibal Holocaust.  Though House on the Edge of the Park retains a subversive edge, it’s a much more straight forward movie than Cannibal Holocaust.  No one has ever mistaken House on the Edge of the Park for a documentary.

David Hess, who may have written songs for Elvis and Pat Boone but who is destined to always be remembered for his performance as Krug in Last House On The Left, plays Alex.  Alex owns a New York City garage.  Alex owns a canary yellow suit.  Alex likes to dance.  Alex is also a serial killer who, when we first see him, is forcing a woman (played by Hess’s wife, who is credited as Karoline Mardek), off the road so that he can assault and murder her.  As the film begins, Alex and his sidekick, Ricky (Giovanni Lombardo Radice, appearing in one of his first films and stealing the show with his demented energy) are getting ready to go “boogie.”  Two rich kids, Tom (Christian Borromeo, my blonde Italian horror crush) and Lisa (Annie Belle), pull into the garage.  Ricky fixes their car.  Tom and Lisa, whose white dress is to die for, are insistent that Alex accompany them to a party at a house …. a house on the edge of the park!

Already at the house are Gloria (Lorraine De Selle), whose red dress is to die for, and Howard (Gabriele Di Giulio), who is apparently Gloria’s boyfriend.  Also waiting at the house is Glenda (Maria Claude Joseph), who appears to just be hanging out because she has nothing better to do.  (There’s a lot of talk about boredom and ennui, amongst the rich young people of House on the Edge of the Park.)  When Tom and Lisa show up with Alex and Ricky, a very familiar class dynamic plays out.  Alex and Ricky are very blue collar.  Alex is earthy and says whatever pops into his head.  Ricky is dependent on Alex to tell him what to do and is also too slow to realize that the rich people are talking down to him.  Ricky is taunted into dancing and then into playing poker.  Ricky loses his money.  Alex discovers that the game is fixed.  Violence follows, with Alex holding the house hostage with the help of the increasingly conflicted Ricky.

Of course, it turns out that there’s a twist and that it wasn’t just coincidence that led to Tom and Lisa pulling into Alex’s garage.  Of course, the twist itself never really makes sense.  The entire film centers around Tom finding time to retrieve something from his office.  It takes him forever to do it because Alex keeps watching him and beating him up.  But there’s actually several moments in the film in which Alex is distracted and he even leaves Tom alone at one point.  You have to wonder just what exactly Tom was doing during all that time.

It’s a deeply misogynistic film, one that features an inexcusable scene in which Gloria and Ricky have consensual sex just a few minutes after Ricky tries to rape her.  (Even if you can see beyond the idea of the sophisticated Gloria falling for a rapist, who stops to have sex while there’s a madman threatening to murder all of your friends?)  Before the party turns violent, Lisa flirts with Alex and, at one point, even showers in front of him.  Her actions make even less sense once it is revealed that Tom and Lisa always knew who Alex was and what he was capable of.  Indeed, the film is sometimes so offensive that it feels almost like a parody of an offensive film.

And yet, there are things to appreciate about the film.  Deodato plays up the class warfare aspect of the story, with Tom and his friends initially condescending to Alex and Ricky, just to discover how little power they actually had once Alex got the upper hand.  Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Lorraine De Selle, Annie Belle, and Christian Borromeo all give good performances, even when their characters are required to do things that don’t make any sense.  David Hess is a force of malevolent nature as Alex.  The house is lovely and I especially liked the pool, though I would suggest changing out the water before taking a swim.  The location shots of late 70s New York are interesting to look at, especially if you’re a history nerd like me.  Riz Ortolani’s soundtrack will get stuck in your head.  I defy you to watch this film and not end up singing that “Do It To Me Once More” song.

In the end, House on the Edge of the Park is not a film that I can really recommend, unless you’re a fan or a student of Italian horror.  In that case, you have to watch the film, if just because of the familiar faces in the cast and the fact that it was directed by Deodato.  Still, if anyone ever told me that this was their favorite film, I would probably immediately start eyeing the exit.  Towards the end of the movie, Gloria says that there has been enough violence and I agreed with her.  That said, violence against Alex is totally acceptable.

The film itself is destined to live forever as an internet meme, as a GIF of David Hess screaming in slow motion has recently become quite popular on Twitter.  There’s just no escaping the House of the Park on the Edge!

6 Shots From 6 Horror Films: 2000 — 2001

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

This October, I’m going to be doing something a little bit different with my contribution to 4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films.  I’m going to be taking a little chronological tour of the history of horror cinema, moving from decade to decade.

Today, we take a look at 2000 and 2001!

6 Shots From 6 Horror Films — 2000 — 2001

Shadow of the Vampire (2000, dir by E. Elias Merhige, DP: Lou Bogue)

Ginger Snaps (2000, dir by John Fawcett, DP: Thom Best)

American Psycho (2000, dir by Mary Harron, DP: Andrzej Sekuła)

The Devil’s Backbone (2001, dir by Guillermo del Toro, DP: Guillermo Navarro)

The Others (2001, directed by Alejandro Amenabar, DP: Javier Aguirresarobe)

Mulholland Drive (2001, dir by David Lynch, DP: Peter Deming)

Horror Film Review: Dashcam (dir by Rob Savage)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Calm down, people.

Seriously, the amount of online hate that I’ve seen directed at the found footage horror film, Dashcam, is not only insanely over the top but it also proves (as if there was any proof necessary) that there are a lot of people out there who are incapable of understanding social satire.

Annie Hardy stars as Annie Hardy, a musician who hosts Band Car, the internet’s #1 Live Improvised Music Show Broadcast From A Moving Vehicle.  Yes, Annie Hardy is playing a fictionalized version of herself, which is something that many of this film’s critics don’t seem to understand.  (Or, more likely, they do understand that but they’re pretending to be obtuse for the clicks.)  In the film, which was shot at the height of COVID lockdowns, Annie grows tired of Los Angeles and hops a plane for London.  In London, she reunites with her former bandmate, Stretch (Amer Chadha-Patel) and proceeds to clash with just everyone that she meets.

The film’s version of Annie is outspoken about her politics, which is one reason why so many critics have gone after this film.  Annie is anti-lockdown.  She’s anti-government.  She has little use for virtue signaling activists.  She spends a lot of time going out of her way to annoy people who wear masks.  These are all things most of today’s movie heroes are not allowed to do but Annie’s attitude is, for better or worse, a fair reflection of how a lot of people were feeling at the height of the COVID era.  Despite what was often presented in the movies and on television, most people were not lighting their Fauci prayer candles and dutifully waiting for word from the CDC.  Most people were not the girl from that Walgreen’s commercial, smiling behind their mask as they rode their kick scooter to the neighborhood market so that they could pick up the latest organic fruit.  Most people were frustrated and pissed off and sick of having to pretend otherwise.

Annie’s trip to the UK is predictably a disaster and, because she live streams the entire experience, Stetch’s always-masked wife discovers just how much she and Annie disagree on politics.  This leads to a physical confrontation which leads to Annie stealing Stretch’s car.  You do have to feel a little bit bad for Stretch at this point.  Stretch works as a food delivery driver so, as annoying as Stetch can be, he does kind of need his car.  Annie decides to take on one of his deliveries herself, just to discover that the owner of a restaurant wants Annie to drive a sick and incontinent old woman named Angela to another location.  Despite her initial misgivings, Annie agrees.  Because Annie has been live streaming the entire time, Stretch is able to track them down.

Of course, it turns out that Angela is not quite what she seems and soon, Annie and Stretch find themselves having to deal with cults, demons, and a lot other things.  Quite a few people die along the way.  Except for a few times when the signal is lost, the entire event is live streamed and the film is worth watching twice just so you can read all of the comments from the people watching Annie and Stretch try to survive a night.  They provide a commentary not only on what’s happening to Annie and Stretch but also on the horror genre in general and the whole found footage idea in specific.  At the same time that I was getting annoyed with Stretch for being whiny, so were Annie’s fans.  While Annie and Stretch were running from Angela, a fight was breaking out in the comments over Annie’s politics.  A few people were concerned that Annie was going to get killed.  A few were claiming that it was all fake.  The majority were eager to see more blood.  Quite a few complained that any moment that Annie spent hiding from Angela was “BORING.”  One thing they all had in common was a need to try to turn everything that they were watching into either a commentary on politics or an ironic joke.  It was a perfect portrayal of online culture.

Both Annie and Angela are forces of chaos in Dashcam, perfect representations of how many people were feeling at the height of the COVID era.  (Angela wears a mask throughout the film.  At one point, the mask fills up with blood, which is perhaps as powerful a symbol of COVID horror as I’ve seen thus far.)  Annie’s a survivor because she refuses to rationalize everything that’s happening around her.  She embraces her anger and her annoyance with the world.  As a result, Dashcam is not just an effective found footage horror film.  It’s also a document of how many people viewed the world in 2021.  With so many now trying to rewrite the history of what actually happened during the COVID era, it’s important to have a film, like Dashcam, that reveals just how angry and paranoid people really were.  In its way, Dashcam is a valuable time capsule.

Annie Hardy is currently taking a lot of online abuse from trolls who can’t tell the difference between the film’s Annie Hardy and the real-life Annie Hardy.  That’s a shame because Annie Hardy is a natural when she’s onscreen and she gives a good performance.  Dashcam is currently on Hulu and it’s tempting to compare this film sharp combination of horror and commentary to the rather bland and painfully inoffensive Hellraiser reboot.  Hellraiser could have used Annie Hardy.

Horror on the Lens: The Lodger (dir by Alfred Hitchcock)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

A serial killer known as “The Avenger” is murdering blonde women in London (which, once again, proves that its better to be a redhead).  And while nobody knows the identity of the Avenger, they do know that the enigmatic stranger  (Ivor Novello), who has just recently rented a room at boarding house, happens to fit his description.  They also know that the lodger’s landlord’s daughter happens to be a blonde…

Released in 1927, the silent The Lodger was Alfred Hitchcock’s third film but, according to the director, this was the first true “Hitchcock film.”  Certainly it shows that even at the start of his career, Hitchcock’s famous obsessions were already present — the stranger accused of a crime, the blonde victims, and the link between sex and violence.

Also of note, the credited assistant director — Alma Reville — would become Alma Hitchcock shortly before The Lodger was released.

Music Video Of The Day: CantSpeak by Danzig (1994, directed by Fred Stuhr)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

This song is from Danzig 4.  

The guitar tracks in CantSpeak are actually the guitar tracks for another song, Let It Be Captured, played backwards.  This was inspired by the frequent accusations that Danzig hid Satanic messages in their songs that could only be heard if you played the song backwards.  I don’t hear any secret messages in CantSpeak but the guitar tracks sound good.

In this video, Glenn and the band appear to be trapped in a cast-iron stomach.  It’s just another day for Danzig.  Real-life monsters, like Charles Manson and Saddam Hussein, also makes cameo appearances as Danzig performs.

Enjoy!

Horror on TV: Circle of Fear 1.20 “Spare Parts” (dir by Charles S. Dubin)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of Circle of Fear, Susan Oliver plays the widow of a doctor who allows his hands, eyes, and vocal chords to be used in transplants.  Unfortunately for her, the spirit of her dead husband is still inside of his donated body parts.  Because he’s convinced that she murdered him, the dead doctor seeks an elaborate revenge on his wife.

This episode originally aired on February 23rd, 1973.  It was written by Jimmy Sangster, who is best known for his work with Hammer Films.

Enjoy!

The TSL’s Horror Grindhouse: Bigfoot (dir by Bruce Davison)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this 2012 Asylum production, the legendary Bigfoot is revealed to just be a big gorilla who wants to sleep for the winter.  In fact, Bigfoot seems to have more in common with King Kong than the hairy, humanoid that people have been reporting seeing for over a hundred years.  Unfortunately, all of the hunters and the tourists and the noise from a local music festival keep interrupting Bigfoot’s slumber.  It turns out that Bigfoot is not a morning monster and tends to wake up grumpy.  When Bigfoot is in a bad mood, he turns over RVs, steps on hunters, and tries to destroy Mt. Rushmore.

Concert promoter Harley Henderson (Donny Bonaduce) wants to kill Bigfoot and turn his body into a tourist attraction.  Environmental activist Simon Quinn (Barry Williams) wants to not only protect Bigfoot but to also perform protest-themed folk music.  Harley and Simon were once musical partners, until Simon decided that he would rather protect endangered species and Harley decided to become a businessman.  Now, they hate each other and are constantly on the verge of coming to blows.  Meanwhile, Sheriff Alvarez (Sherilyn Fenn) just wants to keep her town safe from the creature’s rampage.  You read that right.  This film is The Partridge Family vs. The Brady Bunch with Twin Peaks trying to keep the peace.  If you’re wondering how The Asylum convinced Bonaduce, Williams, and Sherilyn Fenn to all appear in a low-budget film about a giant gorilla menacing South Dakota, consider that they also convinced Bruce Davison to appear in it as well.  In fact, Bruce not only stars but he directed the film as well!  I mean, Bonaduce and Williams were probably just happy that someone was calling them and this film was made before Twin Peak: The Return reignited Fenn’s career.  Bruce Davison, however, has an Oscar nomination to his name.  Of course, before one gets too snarky, it’s important to remember that actors have bill to pay, just like the rest of us.  Sometimes, those bills are played by appearing in Shakespeare.  Sometimes, they’re paid by appearing in Bigfoot.

Actually, no one should be ashamed about appearing in Bigfoot.  Like most of the films produced by the Asylum, Bigfoot is actually a lot of fun.  It’s not a film that’s meant to be taken seriously.  Instead, it’s basically a parody of the big-budget giant monster movies that come out of Hollywood, complete with a tacked-on environmental subplot and an endangered national monument.  Bigfoot is in on the joke.  The minute that Barry Williams picks up his guitar and starts to sing an insufferable folk song, it’s obvious that this film is laughing along with us.  Bigfoot was designed to be a silly film and it succeeds.  When taken on its own terms, it’s hard not to enjoy it.

Finally, Alice Cooper appears in this film as himself, performing at Bonaduce’s concert.  After Alice complains about the crowd size and bemoans the indignity of going from being one of the world’s biggest stars to performing at a festival in South Dakota, Bigfoot literally kicks him off the stage.  Much like the film, Alice deserves some credit for be willing to poke fun at himself.

Who Is The Black Dahlia? (1975, directed by Joseph Pevney)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

In 1947 Los Angeles, the body of 22 year-old Elizabeth Short is discovered in an empty lot.  Short, who was nicknamed The Black Dahlia because she always wore black, was an aspiring actress who was violently tortured before being chopped in half.  Her murder remains one of Hollywood’s most infamous unsolved crimes.

In this made-for-television movie, Ronny Cox and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. play the two detectives who are assigned to investigate Short’s murder.  Though they struggle to find any clues identifying who could have killed Short, they do learn about her life and how she went from being a naïve innocent who came to Hollywood with stars in her eyes to being a hardened and cynical woman who may have been supporting herself through sex work when she was murdered.  The film makes use of frequent flashbacks, in which Elizabeth Short is played by Lucie Arnaz.  Her friends and acquaintances are played by familiar television faces like Henry Jones, Mercedes McCambridge, June Lockhart, Brooke Adams, Donna Mills, and Tom Bosley.  Also be sure to keep an eye out for Sid Haig, playing a tattoo artist.

What Elizabeth Short went through over the course of her short time in Hollywood was probably too graphic to be put on television in the 70s but this movie still does a good job of recounting the basic facts of her life and murder.  Because the film is based on fact, no one is ever arrested for Short’s murder.  The only suspect is a doctor who turns out to have an alibi.  The movie instead focuses on Short trying make it in Hollywood and discovering that it’s a cruel town.  Lucie Arnaz was far better than I was expecting in the role of Elizabeth and brought a lot of vulnerability to the role.  The film ended with a title card, asking anyone who had information about the murder of Elizabeth Short to call the LAPD.  The case remains open to this day.