The Hammer Mummy films never get as much respect as the old Hammer Dracula and Frankenstein films. This is mostly because the Mummy films tend to drag and the Mummy never quite had the charisma of a Christopher Lee or a Peter Cushing. Still, mummies are pretty freaky. I’d probably be more scared of them if I lived in an area with a larger concentration of archeological digs.
This is one of those trailers that I just happened to wander across on YouTube and the main reason it’s here is because I just like the kitschy, pop art feel to it. How scary can anyone named Harlequin really be?
“In Horrorvision!” Judging from this trailer, Horrorvision apparently is another way of saying, “Shot on video tape.” I actually own this film on DVD. I bought it solely because it was a Code Red DVD and I needed to complete my collection. I managed to watch about 10 minutes of it before the extreme tackiness of the whole thing overwhelmed me and I just had to turn it off and watch some Degrassi instead. Still the trailer has a certain deam-like quality to it.
This trailer gets to me because mannequins get to me. Seriously, they creep me out and once when I was like nine, I saw one move by itself in the mall. True story! Plus, the last time I went to Victoria’s Secret, there were headless, lingerie-clad mannequins in the display window. Seriously! Where were the heads? It was so creepy and serial killer-like. Don’t even get me started on Dexter this season. Seriously, mannequins suck.
Below is the trailer for the new zombie comedy Deadheads, which played to sell-out crowds at the Austin Film Festival. I’m usually a little bit hesitant whenever I see horror and comedy being mixed together because for those two genres to mix, a perfect balance must be struck. Otherwise, you end up with a horror film that’s too funny or a comedy that’s too scary. Still, I’ve heard good things about Deadheads from my friends in Austin and the trailer would seem to suggest that, at the very least, the film has a good heart and I hope it picks up a national distributor in the near future.
(Special thanks to frequent Shattered Lens commenter Jake Moore for alerting me to this trailer!)
Apparently, the Rapture was scheduled for yesterday and I missed it. Now, I suppose there are a lot of reasons as to why I might have been left behind but quite frankly, I blame my first boyfriend. Seriously, thanks for condemning me to three and a half years of tribulation, jerk! Anyway, as long as we’re all stuck together, why not enjoy six more of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation trailers? Since it’s still October, I’m continuing my horror theme with this entry. Plus, considering what the future holds for us, we should probably start getting used to a little horror…
Agck! I just recently saw this movie and that little raft scene totally freaked me out! I would never get on a raft to begin with because it worries me that I might end up with some raftmate who keeps going, “Row! Row! Row!” On another note, what’s up with those people who are always like, “Go! Go! Go!” in action scenes? I’m just like, “Okay, fascist much?” I mean, if you want to be all Mad Men-like, go watch AMC.
Three quick notes: 1) Watch carefully and you’ll see George Clooney pop up for about five seconds in this trailer, 2) if you don’t want people like getting killed at your school, don’t name it Horror, and 3) I made my sister watch this trailer and she assures me that a literal skeleton would never be allowed to become a cheerleader.
I assume this is where you go if you survive Horror High. Usually I try to be kinda coy and funny about these things but this time I’m just going to flat-out say it: Based on this, this film appears to truly suck. But I can’t resist a trailer that features melodramatic narration….
Okay, this movie also looks terrible but check out the so-bad-its-going-t0-make-you-kill-someone musical score. Again, I’d just like to point out that if this high school had simply been named after a dead president, a lot of needless death could have been avoided. But no, they had to go with Slaughter High.
As if I needed further proof to make my case, check out this trailer for Hell High. I own this movie on DVD and I have to admit that I bought it solely because of the name.
After those last few trailers, you may be ready for a trailer of a film that’s actually kinda sorta good. So, here’s one for David Cronenberg’s Videodrome, which is one of the weirdest films I’ve ever seen, what with all that “new flesh” talk and James Woods’ body doing weird things…agck!
It’s time for the latest installment of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation trailers and, continuing with October’s theme, they are once again all horror trailers. This week, I set out to prove that Argento’s a master and everything’s scarier in German. Let’s begin:
There’s no way I could possibly get through October without including at least one Friday the 13th trailer. I went with this one in order to specifically prove that everything’s scarier in German.
2) Paganini Horror (1989)
The trailer for this Italian horror film is in German as well and I have to be honest that, despite being a fourth German, I speak the language like not at all. Then again, considering that this is one of Luigi Cozzi’s films, it’s probably for the best that I can’t understand the trailer. All I know is that the killer’s mask is creepy and who doesn’t love Venice? Seriously, I went there the summer after I graduated high school and there’s no other place I’d more want to be stalked by Klaus Kinski. One more piece of trivia (and don’t quote me on this), I think that Cozzi may have attempted to sell this film as a part of Dario Argento’s Three Mothers trilogy.
Speaking of Dario Argento’s Three Mothers trilogy, here’s the U.S. trailer for the film that started it all, Suspiria. While you can probably guess that Suspiria is one of my favorite horror films, it’s also one of my favorite ballet movies as well. In fact, the ballet aspect of Suspiria is largely responsible for me discovering my love of Italian horror because, if not for the fact that it took place at a cursed dance academy, I doubt I would have paid as much attention to the movie the first time I saw it.
While Suspiria is definitely more fun, I still think that the second part of the trilogy — Inferno — is a better horror film. Seriously, the underwater sequence at the start of this film still freaks me out.
Twenty-seven years after Inferno, Argento finally concluded the trilogy with Mother of Tears. A lot of horror fans practically foam at the mouth going on and on about how much they hated this film. I happened to have enjoyed it. So there.
Continuing on the Argento theme, here’s a classic trailer for a classic film. George Romero may have directed the American version of Dawn of the Dead but the European version (known as Zombi) was put together by Argento and guess which one is superior? Anyway, this trailer is for the Romero version:
As if October wasn’t already scary enough, my laptop is slowly dying and, with my luck, it probably won’t even return as a zombie. Fortunately, it still has enough life in it for me to do at least one more edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers.
1) The Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968)
This is apparently an old Hammer film. I haven’t seen it but the image of a blue Barbara Steele seems to show up in just about every other horror movie guide.
I actually have this on DVD but I haven’t watched it yet and this trailer doesn’t exactly inspire a whole lot of hope. That said, I love how the narrator makes such an effort to sound enthusiastic. Our next trailer will feature “Oscar nominee” Linda Blair as well…
This is a good example of an accidental grindhouse film. The producers and the director may have been going for something different but the end results are pretty much evident from the trailer. The best thing about this trailer is Ennio Morricone’s score. (By the way, I would also suggest that all of you people going all cuckoo over the teaser trailer for David Fincher’s Girl With The Dragon Tattoo compare this relatively entertaining trailer with the actual film it was advertising.)
Well, here it is October 1st and you know what that means. It’s time for horror, horror, and more horror. This edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers is dedicated to just that. So, without further ado, let’s jump into the world of ghosts, zombies, maniacs, and Paul Naschy…
Though this appears to be a fairly standard old school Jamie Lee Curtis slasher film, I like this trailer a lot. The opening shots of the train are nicely ominous, the shots of winter are perfectly matched with the trailer’s grim atmosphere, and it’s interesting to see Ben Johnson in one of these films.
“No one does it like the teenager do it…” This kinda looks like Dazed and Confused as directed by a Crazies-era George Romero. I actually like this trailer a lot. It has this vaguely threatening subtext to it.
I am happy to say that it’s a beautiful day today. After dealing with a record number of 100 degree days that slowly plodded along without so much as a breeze or a cloud in the sky, I am happy to say that, as I type this, the temperature outside is 84 degrees, the sky is gray with storm clouds, and, here at Le manoir d’Bowman, we’ve got the windows open and we’re loving the breeze. To me, it seems like a perfect time for 6 more of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers.
From acclaimed director John Boorman comes … whatever this is. For the longest time, I assumed that this film starred Sean Connery as someone named Zardoz but having watched the trailer, I now see that Connery played Zed. That makes sense. With that pony tail and red diaper, Connery looks more like a Zed than a Zardoz here. I like the flying head, just because I keep imagining that after the head dropped off all those guns, Connery shouted, “Give me more, Head!”
Now, this is a trailer that could have used a big floating head. The Norseman appears to be yet another oddly ambitious, very low-budget film from the John Boorman of Texarkana, Charles B. Pierce.
Pierce was also responsible for The Evictors. “It’s happening again…” Much as the trailer for the Norseman featured the co-star of Eaten Alive, Mel Ferrer, the trailer features the star of Suspiria, Jessica Harper.
Grindhouse and exploitation films loved to exploit Yankee paranoia, which helps to explain films like Tick…Tick…Tick. (It also helps to explain — but throughly fails to justify — the latest remake of Straw Dogs.)
This film co-stars the legendary Sonny Chiba. I can’t watch this trailer too many times because I know it’ll inspire me to show off my karate moves. Last time I did that, I ended up with a sprained ankle.
This is one of those public domain films that seems to show up in every other Mill Creek Box Set. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine and the trailer is all tacky goodness. Plus, Erika Blanc’s in it. (And the title has allowed me to have a lot of fun at my friend Evelyn’s expense.)
Before he was hired to direct Zombi 2, Lucio Fulci directed this spaghetti western. Not surprisingly, it’s one of the darkest, most cynical westerns ever made.
Nine years before Four of the Apocalypse, Fulci directed another western, this one with Franco Nero. Have I mentioned the things I would let Franco Nero do to me if I could get my hands on a time machine? Mmmmm….Franco Nero.
