Return of the Blind Dead Review

Return of the Blind Dead, 1973

Reviewed by: Dan s.

Director: Amando de Ossorio

Written by: Amando de Ossorio

Starring: Tony Kendall

Language: Spanish

Unlike its slow moody predecessor, Return of the Blind Dead aka Return of the Evil Dead is all about non-stop action and mounting suspense. Despite once again working with a very limited budget, writer/director Ossorio gets some good milage out of the cool Spanish locations and stages some impressive mayhem as his iconic Templers crash a fiesta with swords swinging. Utilizing more B-level gore, the zombie knights freely slice and dice their innocent victims with blood and severed limbs flying. There’s even a cool car vs. horse chase sequence through narrow atmospheric streets and a couple cheesy fist fights for the hell of it.

After the wild first act, the script settles into a Night of the Living Dead scenario with a small group of survivors held up in a besieged old church. Despite being cliche caricatures, the colorful characters are surprisingly effective, especially the sleazy overweight mayor who manipulates and uses others without remorse; a far cry from the boring non-characters of the original film. The unique “blind dead” gimmick is also much better exploited this time out as villagers frequently attempt to sneak past these cloaked menaces in sequences of almost unbearable suspense. Surprisingly, Ossorio even smoothly weaves some rather amusing dark humor into the script. And just in case this sounds to classy for you, plenty of busty women have their shirts ripped open for no other reason than to expose their breasts before their gory death.

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Tombs of the Blind Dead Review

Tombs of the Blind Dead, 1971
Reviewed By: Daniel S.
Directed By: Amando de Ossorio
Written by: Amando de Ossorio
Staring: Cesar Burner, Lone Fleming
Language: Spanish

Tombs of the Blind Dead" aka Night of the Blind Terror is a lengthy uneven mix of European exploitation and well executed gothic horror. Despite riffing on Hitchock's amatuer detective formula, the script boils down to attractive women and sleezy men doing stupid things and getting killed. The film's modest attempts at character development look and feel like a campy 70s Soap Opera. And while director Amando de Ossorio may let the slow parts drag and drag, the film's three major horror sequences are long and masterfully staged.

Anton Garcia Abril's unsettling score of monk chants sets the mood effectively while the authentic runied castle the movie revolves around is a geniuenly creepy location. Draped in heavy cloaks and always silent, the skeletal Templar Knights are truly frightening as they relentlessly stalk their victims through claustophobic ruins or chase them through the countryside on horseback in slow motion. Ossorio keeps the gore limited to modest blood letting but curiously doesn't shun away from erotic violence and rape. With such a strange combination of atmosphere and exploitation there is definetly something for everyone, however it may also leave viewers conflicted.

Rating:

Female Convict 701:Scorpion Review

Female Convict 701: Scorpion, 1972

Reviewed By; Dan S.

Directed by: Shunya Ito

Written by: Fumio Konami, Hirō Matsuda

Starring: Meiko Kaji

First time director and future Japanese Academy Award winner, Shunya Ito, and iconic leading lady, Meiko Kaji, are much more ambitious and talented than your average W.I.P. creative team. Disguising the modest budget, Ito pulls out every wild camera trick in the book and probably invents some new ones as well, keeping each scene tense, fresh, and exciting. The lighting and colors are bright and psychedelic, often abruptly shifting with the mood of the scene. The whole design of the film is exaggerated and surreal, occassionally venturing into nightmarish Avant Garde visuals. While this is definetly a product of the 70s and Shunsuke Kikuchi's cool but time capusle jazz/funk soundtrack only confirms this, there is also something timelessly unique about this incredibly bizarre looking film.

Present in nearly every scene, the hypnotic and silent Ice Queen, Meiko Kaji, doesn’t display the same depth she did in her now more famous role as Lady Snowblood but Matsu the Scorpion is far more menacing and convincingly tough. Where as most actresses would be begging for the audiences’ sympathy she just coldly stares into the camera, the worst intentions seething beneath her stoic gaze. Surprisingly, the movie shows some restraint in terms of content. While the viewer is forced to endure the harsher moments as they happen, it is never too graphic as the more explict violence and rape somehow manage to escape the camera's view. Despite a consistent amount of nudity and blood, the violence is more comic book than disturbing and the soft erotica is only stiumlating when appropriate. Don't be mistaken this is still a nasty cruel movie but there is always progessively harsher payback in store for the villians, climaxing with a satisfying coda that sees Kaji at her coolest and creepiest as a black draped avenging angel.

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Street Trash Review

STREET TRASH, 1987

Directed by: J. Micheal Muro

Written by: Roy Frumkes

Starring: Mike Lackey, Vic Noto, Bill Chepil, Marc Sferrazza, Jane Arakawa, Nicole Potter, Pat Ryan Jr., Clarenze Jarmon, Bernard Perlman, Miriam Zucker, M. D'Jango Krunch, James Lorinz, Julian Davis

"Things in New York are about to go down the toilet..."

A liquor store owner decides to sell a case of cheap wine, ("Tenafly Viper") that he finds in a hole in the wall of his building. The stuff is decades old and way past its sell date. Of course, he does what any responsible businessman would and sells it cheap to the local vagrant population. The few  unlucky enough to drink the stuff disolve into a mess of primary-colored goo.  All the while, a crazy Vietnam vet and self-styled king of the hobos reigns over the local junkyard, murdering his subjects at will with his sharpened femur-bone knife.

Throw in a few subplots about a psychotic cop, a local mob boss's doorman, and the kind-hearted junkyard secretary and you've got a giant mess that is still somehow endlessly watchable. For every bad actor, cheap looking set, and horribly delivered piece of dialogue, you've got a ton of amazingly fascinating crazy going on here.

And if the gut-churning scenes of melting hobos and genuinely funny (if oftentimes awkward) social commentary weren't enough, you get the most horrific game of keep away in movie history.  I won't ruin it for you here as it's truly something you need to experience. If you like your trash   cinema with huge doses of humor and plenty of gore, you really can't go wrong with this one. 

It's a cruel movie full of cruel characters, and there are several scenes that seem over the top and unnecessarily violent, but that's kind of the point.  If you go in ready to take STREET TRASH seriously, you'll be in for a huge disappointment.  Just remember, you're supposed to feel like you need a shower after watching this thing.

REASONS TO WATCH: Melting hobos, gratuitous violence, genital mutilation played for laughs. 

BEWARE: This movie contains plenty of melting hobos, gratuitous violence, and genital mutilation.

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