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Subspecies V: Bloodrise (2023)

Posted on October 5, 2024October 5, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Has it gone over two decades already since the last film? Oh, my. As we all know by now, the fifth entry in the Subspecies series was going to be a prequel, which was announced many years before prequels became the new trend we’ve seen in the last few years. Writer and director Ted Nicolaou began to work on the script shortly after the release of Subspecies IV, but then Covid happened…ehr, no, my bad, this was the beginning of the 2000s, so… yeah, what happened and why did it take so long? Budget and resources, they say. OK then. Because we also know that the average Full Moon production, especially after the millennium, seems to have a budget of a salary from a part-time job at Mc Donalds. I’m not trying to be mean here, but if you take a look at some of the twenty releases only from the 2020s alone, how many of them have you seen, except for the modern classic, which is Femalien: Cosmic Crush, of course (s a r c a s m). Obscure means far from bad, but most of them looks like pure junk to porn, where the old Full Moon we loved in the early and mid 90s seems to have lost all of its identity and vanished into a black hole.

So, what I interpret as “budget and resources“ in a Full Moon standard must be something like “make it look like a 90s Full Moon film“. If that’s the case, fair enough. It wasn’t before the first teaser and some still images were uploaded when I began to have some hope. Another concern here was if we got something like we did with the wet fart that was Phantasm V: Ravager (2016) the last film from another beloved horror franchise of five films that took ages to be completed. I can say with a good conscience that Subspecies V: Bloodrise is a masterpiece compared to that film.

In the fifth and final entry of the Subspecies saga, we travel way back in the old, ancient Romania with swords, cloth and some horses, where we get the backstory of Radu Vladislas, and how he became the awesome EVIL Radu. The film is viewed from Radu’s perspective with narration from the man himself as we follow his transformation from human to the vampire we know him for.

The film starts appropriately enough with a witch giving a quick birth to a son in a cave. You can guess who. Some holy crusaders invade and take the newborn to a church where they dewclaw (ouch) the baby and make sure he grows up to be a fellow holy crusader – which he does. Then we see Radu Vladislas (Anders Hove) for the very first time without makeup, as the holy crusader he’s grown up to be, for now that is. He’s now on the quest for his life; to enter Castle Vladislas, kill his evil vampire king father with the Sword of Laertes, and claim the Bloodstone. The king uses his vampire magic to flee before Radu is able to kill him. Oh well. If this is the same king we saw in the first film, played by Angus Scrimm, I don’t know. I’m a little confused. Anyway – In the castle dungeon, he releases Leena (Denise Duff) a woman in distress, and a young boy, named Stefan. Yes, Radus’s lost brother, who he learns about many full moons later. But, UH-OH, Leena happens to be the vampire queen, shoves her fangs into Radu’s neck, takes the Bloodstone and leaves him like a newborn heroin addict. From here on, Radu’s hazy journey into vampirism begins, as he loses his mind and slowly morphs into the evil, drooling neck-chewer he’s best known for. Ceaușescu, eat your heart out, ’cause Romania will never be safe.

And waiting 25 years in order for Full Moon to get their “budget and resources“ in place for the fifth and final chapter of the Subspecies saga was certainly worth the wait. Who would’ve thought. Because this is the best film from Full Moon since … Subspecies IV. What struck me the most, also by only watching the teaser and trailer, was the tasty visuals, which I did not expect in a today’s Full Moon film. Ted Nicolaou, the oldest veteran who’s still working for Charles Band, who also directed all in the series, has been able to keep the style, tone and the vibe with — once again — great use of sets and locations. This one is not shot in Romania, like the others, but in the countryside of Serbia. That could be a concern of its own, but thanks to access to old castles and other historical places to shoot, Nicolaou knows how to take advantage of very little. There’s also a lot of use of natural light here, such as candles and torches where scenes get soaked with atmosphere. From a pure visual standpoint, it reminded me more of Subspecies II and III, where the creative use of light and shadow was a big factor to the distinct gothic look. So yeah, I’m both impressed and surprised by how great the film looks.

Then we, of course, have the man, the myth and the legend himself, Anders Hove, once again as Radu. Even though this is a prequel, I can’t deny that the guy has aged perfectly for a role like this, as in his older age he looks like he could’ve been a lost brother of Klaus Kinski. The makeup is top tier, maybe the best in the series, which makes him the creepiest and most demented Radu to witness, as we see stages of his transformation as his looks progress into the monstrous vampire he eventually becomes, inside and out. Anders Hove gives it all, and it’s clear as a full moon that he loves playing the character more than anything which he slips right into as if it was yesterday. Because in his home country of Denmark, he gets reduced to playing tiny roles, such as a tired, old babysitter who just sleeps on a couch, or a grumpy alcoholic sitting in a corner at a bar. The rest of the cast is hit-and-miss with acting that goes from OK to a wooden leg. Kevin Spirtas, who played Mel in II and III, is playing King Vladislas here, and you won’t recognize him. The strongest supporting actor here is Stasa Nikolic, a troubadour who, with her brother, ends up as one of the first victims of Radu. It was sweet to see Denise Duff again, even though it was somewhat odd to see her as a villain. Nostalgia, yes I know, and I don’t mind that.

So overall, Subspecies V: Bloodrise adds a nice little backstory to our favorite vampire where you’ll get your dosage of Radu. A satisfying and entertaining conclusion for the core fans of the series, and much better than expected considering where Full Moon has been as a company during the last ten years and so. Because they still can if they really want to.

Writer and director: Ted Nicolaou
Country & year: USA/Serbia, 2023
Actors: Anders Hove, Denice Duff, Kevin Spirtas, Stasa Nikolic, Yulia Graut, Petar Arsic, Olivera Perunicic, Marko Filipovic, Jakov Marjanovic
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11075540/

Prequels:
– Subspecies (1991)
– Bloodstone: Subspecies II (1993)
– Bloodlust: Subspecies III (1994)
– Subspecies IV: Bloodstorm (1998)

Subspecies IV: Bloodstorm (1998)

Posted on October 4, 2024October 5, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Once again, this fourth installment in the Subspecies film series starts where the last one left off. Despite being exposed to the mother sun and getting brutally impaled by falling down the castle walls, Radu (Anders Hove) isn’t dead yet. Of course not. He wakes up while looking like a fried chicken, grabs his Bloodstone before he crawls back into his castle like a hobo. After Mel and Rebecca die in a car crash (RIP), Michelle’s (Denise Duff) body bag gets brought to a clinic somewhere in Bucharest. And the story gets pretty muddy from here on.

This clinic is run by Dr. Niculescu (Mihai Dinvale) and he’s as shady as he looks. He has some borderline big, bulgy crazy eyes that would poke straight through your soul, and looks like a pimp version of Frankenstein’s monster with a Duckula haircut. Can’t look more Romanian than that. He can quickly inform his assistant, Ana (Ioana Abur), that this is a vampire when he spots her neck-bite marks. She doesn’t believe him, of course, until she does.

In the meantime, we get to see what lieutenant Marin is up to. Yes, he’s still alive as well, despite the fact that he got stabbed to death by Radu in the previous film. Well, whatever. Here he’s confused and lost, pretty much like the script for this movie, and probably asks himself what the hell he’s doing here. He’s also a freshly-bitten vampire who hides and sleeps in the cabinets at work like a relapsed alcoholic. His boss, “the big boss“, is not happy with him, and makes it clear that he will fire his ass if he doesn’t get his shit together. Poor Marin. He never gets a break, does he. As Marin’s bloodlust starts to rise, he chews on rats and runs to the nearest cemetery to take shelter in one of the tombs. And from here on, we never see or hear from him again. What ever happened to Marin? I want the spin-off.

And speaking of spin-offs: here we also meet two new vampires: Ash (Jonathon Morris) and Serena (Floriela Grappini), who you’d maybe recognize from Vampire Journals (1997). Radu does not appear in that film, other than a quick mention. Anyway: They live in a cozy crypt and they both fear Radu. Ash and Serena doesn’t add much to the already messy plot other than some stiff melodrama with Radu. In the meantime, Dr. Niculescu is very keen to track down Radu so he can possess the Bloodstone. Because who would possibly guess in a million moons away that he’s actually a vampire? I’m shocked.

Subspecies IV: Bloodstorm is overall a pointless entry in the series, even though I must admit to being a little blinded by the sweet nostalgia. The first three worked well as a trilogy, whereas this one feels very forced and aimless. The dip in quality is apparent, and the moon isn’t as full as it was. The acting is stiff and goofy, even for a Full Moon standard, and as the title suggests, there isn’t much of a bloodstorm here. The film has its moments and tasty leftovers though, and this is far from the worst Full Moon film. It’s still shot in Romania among its gothic, beautiful surroundings, the music is still great, and Anders Hove still rocks your socks off as a menacing Radu. So it has that.

Writer and director: Ted Nicolaou
Also known as: Subspecies: The Awakening
Country & year: USA/Romania, 1998
Actors: Anders Hove, Denice Duff, Jonathon Morris, Ioana Abur, Mihai Dinvale, Floriela Grappini, Dan Astileanu, Ion Haiduc, Eugenia Bosânceanu, Cristi Rasuceanu
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181315/

Prequels:
– Subspecies (1991)
– Bloodstone: Subspecies II (1993)
– Bloodlust: Subspecies III (1994)

Sequel:
– Subspecies V: Bloodrise (2023)

Bloodlust: Subspecies III (1994)

Posted on October 3, 2024October 5, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Bloodlust: Subspecies III starts right off where the previous one ended. And now it gets real serious when Radu has taken all control over his dear bride, Michelle. The Stockholm Syndrome (or the Transylvanian Syndrome, if you will) has started to slightly hit while she does her best to maintain the last few fibers she has left of humanity. Michelle’s sister, Becky, is still in Romania trying to save her with the help of Mel.

The options start to run out as Radu has joined forces with his mother, still simply called Mummy, and they are actually such a badass duo who can cast their shadow way up to the moon. And no, don’t worry, he won’t do a Bowser and force-marry her up there. With Michelle, they have now isolated themselves behind the tall brick walls of their castle, here with the ext. and int. of the beautiful Corvin Castle. And good luck trying to get in without Simon’s whip.

So, what now? Yeah, great question. Now that the police can’t do shit and the options are down to zero, let’s … uhm … call The Expendables.

And that’s actually not a joke.

And since Sly Stallone wasn’t available, we have Michael Della Femina as none other than the CIA solder Bob. I’m not sure if Bob is meant to be a sort of a comic relief here, but (—MILD SPOILERS AHEAD—) there’s something hilarious about a buff military dude getting whacked down by an old, dusty granny mummy, just like that. Too bad he protected himself with silver bullets instead of garlic bullets. RIP Bob.

As Michelle’s lust and need for human blood starts to kick in, Radu has to take her down to the dark alleys of Bucharest to teach her how to hunt for victims. It’s either that or to suffer like a withdrawing heroin addict and die. And Lieutenant Marin is still here, trying to do his job with chasing vampires while trying not to disappoint his “big boss“. We also have some drama and a tension that boils between Radu and his mum, which also makes this a perfect film to watch on Mother’s Day. The big payoff here is maybe the most epic vampire death captured on celluloid.

There isn’t a lot more to say about this one, other than it feels more like an extended version of a missing third act of the previous film. These two were, after all, made back-to-back with much of the same production values, where we have great use of ancient Romanian locations, and overall soaked in thick, delicious gothic atmosphere. Yum! An overall solid entry that wraps it up as a nice little trilogy … until we got a fourth film five years later.

Writer and director: Ted Nicolaou
Country & year: Romania/USA, 1994
Actors: Anders Hove, Denice Duff, Kevin Spirtas, Melanie Shatner, Michael Denish, Pamela Gordon, Ion Haiduc, Michael Della Femina
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109302/

Prequels:
– Subspecies (1991)
– Bloodstone: Subspecies II (1993)

Sequels:
– Subspecies IV: Bloodstorm (1998)
– Subspecies V: Bloodrise (2023)

Bloodstone: Subspecies II (1993)

Posted on October 2, 2024October 5, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Bloodstone: Subspecies II starts right where the first one left off. We’re in Castle Vladislas where Michelle (portrayed by Denise Duff from here on) is a freshly-bitten vampire, lying in a coffin while her friends are killed by Radu. And speaking of Radu, who’s gotten his head chopped off… according to the vampire encyclopedia, it isn’t enough to just cut off their head, you know. Because you also have to burn the head on a stake to completely finish them. If not, the head will somehow magically attach itself back, like what happens here.

After Radu’s epic little awakening, he finishes his brother Stefan by shoving a stake through his chest, drinking his blood that jets like a fountain. Shows you just how wicked Radu really is. First his father, now his brother. Oh, my. Radu opens the coffin of a scared Michelle, and is about to finish her off as well. A little too late as the sun rises just in time to make Radu rush himself down to his crypt in the basement. There’s a lot to process in these first ten minutes, but after the sun has gone down again, Radu is too late —again— as Michelle has escaped the castle.

To make matters worse for Radu, she has taken the ancient relic, the Bloodstone, with her that was in the coffin with Stefan. Radu gets furious as he trashes the corpse of his brother like an unhinged drug-addict (like he metaphorically is) before he gets on Michelle’s tail, who’s jumped on a train to Bucharest. Michelle checks into a hotel and phones her sister Becky (Melanie Shatner) in the USA. Before Becky is able to get on the first plane to Romania, Michelle dies in the bathtub in her room, and… that’s it, I guess?

Lieutenant Marin (Ion Haiduc) spots two bitemarks on her neck, and like most level-headed Romanian people, the last thing on his mind is vampirism. He gets hold of the Bloodstone, which he assumes is a stolen antique. Well, not far from the truth. Anyway, on the way to the morgue, Michelle suddenly wakes up in the bodybag, scares the daylight out of the coroners, before she runs to seek shelter from the sun. In other words, her sister, Becky, will have a hard time tracking down Michelle in Bucharest. What a mess.

Meanwhile, Radu pays his mother a visit, simply called Mummy (Pamela Gordon). She’s a ghoulish witch skeleton who lives in a cemetery tomb, of course. And she’s not related to the Crypt Keeper, just to clarify. She’s also as evil as she looks and does what she can with her magic to help her beloved son to claim back the Bloodstone and catch Michelle, who he now has some other plans for. Becky gets help from the US Embassy Agent Mel (Kevin Spirtas) to find her sister.

While the first film was mostly filmed in the Romanian countryside, here we expand the horizon in the big city of Bucharest. And I wouldn’t be too surprised if this was also the first American film to be shot in the capital. However, this is peak Full Moon. The first three Subspecies films as a whole are the best thing they’ve ever created (alongside with the first three Puppet Masters), where the second is the grand jewel of the series.

There are some more interesting characters here as well. Denise Duff, who took over the role as Michelle, does an outstanding job here as she slowly loses her identity and has to adjust to the dark, addicted life as a bloodsucking vampire. Melanie Shatner (yes, the daughter of William Shatner) does a solid job as the concerned sister as well. Kevin Spirtas as Mel comes off as more flat and dry, while we have some subtle comic relief moments with Lieutenant Marin, who doesn’t buy any of this vampire-fairy tale boolshit. We also have the old historian Nicolai Popescu (Michael Denish), a charming little oddball. Radu’s Mummy, adds some more of the cheese factor as she looks like something from a 80s fantasy horror movie.

Everything here is of high quality, all from the cinematography, the story, pacing, the effects/make-up, the music to the acting. Everything just clicks. The advantage of the old city of Bucharest really enhances the mood and the stylish gothic atmosphere all up to eleven while Radu casts his dark shadow over the city buildings. The use of light and shadows and the contrast-filled visuals are alone a delight to watch. It looks menacing and beautiful at the same time, and if you weren’t tempted to visit Romania after the first film, this one surely will.

Writer and director: Ted Nicolaou
Country & year: Romania/USA, 1993
Actors: Anders Hove, Denice Duff, Kevin Spirtas, Melanie Shatner, Michael Denish, Pamela Gordon, Ion Haiduc, Norman Cabrera, Wayne Toth
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106436/

Prequel:
– Subspecies (1991)

Sequels:
– Bloodstone: Subspecies II (1993)
– Bloodlust: Subspecies III (1994)
– Subspecies IV: Bloodstorm (1998)
– Subspecies V: Bloodrise (2023)

Subspecies (1991)

Posted on October 1, 2024October 5, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Hey, now that the evil dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu has finally been shot and executed on national TV, and Romania has been freed from the communist party, maybe we should pay the country a visit? Charles Band with his brand-new film company, Full Moon Features, certainly didn’t hesitate. Because after disbanding his decade-long Empire Pictures, he needed something quite special to add to his new company. Full Moon had already produced the first three Puppet Master films with great success, but here comes the coolest piece of trivia in the history of cinema: Subspecies was not only the first American film to be shot in Romania, it was also the first vampire flick to be filmed in that country after the fall of communism. Talk about a double win!

Charles Band quickly scrapped together the title and the classic poster we see on the right before thinking about the script. Director Ted Nicolaou (who also directed the four sequels, plus the spin-off Vampire Journals) asked what the hell the small creatures that carry the woman on the poster was supposed to be. How could he know, it was something that was cool to have on the poster, so the writers just had to come up with something. They ended up being the ones we actually call the Subspecies, and Radu’s (the film’s antagonist) minions, which are just a tiny minor element to the films. They only appear briefly as a quick afterthought in the first two and in the second and the third one.

This epic saga starts with a silhouette shot of the famous Bran Castle where the king Vladislas (Angus Scrimm) in a big fluffy wig, probably borrowed from this guy, is having a drop from an ancient relic called the Bloodstone, the films precious MacGuffin. This stone produces saints’ blood as quickly as a porn stars’ ballsack, so the vampires can live in their own darkness without hunting down humans. And in comes Radu, one of the sons of Vladislas. He’s pure evil, inside and out, with long fingers that would make Count Orlok jealous. He wants the Bloodstone for some reason, even though he hunts down humans just for the hell of it. He wants the whole pie for sure, and the Bloodstone is just the cherry on top. He kills the king with a dagger, claims the castle, and Romania is no longer safe. So much for the execution of Ceaușescu. La dracu!

Then we meet a group of three young female students who travel to Transylvania to study Romanian culture and folklore. Our main girl is Michelle from the US (Laura Tate) who’ll be the main protagonist in the first four films. After meeting at the train station, they drive to a village in the countryside where we get a unique glimpse of an obscure, broken and piss-poor country where the dust after decades of dictatorship hasn’t even begun to settle. It’s grim and moody with all real sets and locations, which gives the film a more raw, organic vibe. The special effects are a whole other aspect, though, which I’ll come back to.

After settling in at an old hotel in the town of Prejmer, they meet the young man, Stefan. He and Michelle fall quickly in love. But there’s only one problem: Stefan is actually a vampire, you see, and the brother of Radu. And Stefan is the polar opposite of Radu, as he’s a good-hearted handsome chad who tries his best to live a normal, civilized life with mortals, thanks to the Bloodstone. Those days seem to be over, though, especially when Radu gets those precious young female students on his radar and starts to hunt them down. Rasnov Fortess was used as Radu’s hiding place, just to mention.

Full Moon made a malicious villain here with Radu, who’s best described as a more monstrous-looking Eric Draven. He’s played by the more unknown Danish actor Anders Hove, who also repriced his role in the four sequels. He brings back much of the primitive and animistic mannerism we saw with Nosferatu while he adds his own distinctiveness to it. The new aspect of Radu is that he talks with a raspy voice like someone with stage 4 throat cancer. And he never seems able to wipe his mouth after biting someone’s neck as he drools like a baby where even the hardcore goth girls would cringe and say “ew“.

The music/soundtrack here is really remarkable, constructed by four composers and performed by the Aman Folk Orchestra. It’s dark and moody, filled with classical tunes that go hand in hand with the obscure and eerie Romanian surroundings. The theme for the opening credits, enhanced in the next two sequels, became such a classic that the black metal band Marduk made a cover version dedicated to Radu, called Nightwing.

While we have a compelling vampire villain, the biggest credit goes to the use of locations, as already mentioned. We have forest landscapes, castle ruins, villages, old ancient buildings in general, and considering the harsh circumstances, the film looks way better than it probably should. Because there are some clearly rough edges here on the technical levels, especially the scenes with Radu’s minion creatures. They originally used actors in costumes with large sets which ended up as deleted scenes. The problem was, according to the director himself (from a journal he wrote during the production), was that they were played by drunk Romanians who I’d guess were still in celebratory mode after the death of Ceaușescu. And then there were the language barriers. So instead, we have some charming creatures made of claymation in stop-motion made by David Allen, who also worked on the Puppet Master films. The only thing missing is their shadow where the moldy B movie cheese really reeks, and it’s a positive thing that they have very little screen time. They look much better in the next two films though.

So, despite its bumps in the road, Subspecies is a solid and a very ambitious start to a nice, little trilogy that expands on its own twist on Eastern European vampire lore. I’m not sure how much impact this will have on today’s generation as this is a product from its time – but Radu, the locations, the overall atmosphere and the music alone make it worth a watch. The two sequels are great as well, especially the second. You can watch them all on fullmoonfeatures.com.

Director: Ted Nicolaou
Writers: Charles Band, Jack Canson, David Pabian
Country & year: Romania/USA, 1991
Actors: Anders Hove, Irina Movila, Laura Mae Tate, Michelle McBride, Ivan J. Rado, Mara Grigore, Adrian Vâlcu, Michael Watson, Angus Scrimm
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103002/

Sequels:
– Bloodstone: Subspecies II (1993)
– Bloodlust: Subspecies III (1994)
– Subspecies IV: Bloodstorm (1998)
– Subspecies V: Bloodrise (2023)

WHILE MORTALS SLEEP – Horror Short

Posted on September 29, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Follows a cold case novelist who seeks refuge at her friend’s vacation home after her career collapses.

Horror Short Sunday is here again, and this time we’re going into some cosmic horror territory with While Mortals Sleep. A novelist who has been following a cold case and now needs to seek refuge in an isolated vacation home that belongs to her friends, meets an odd couple with the cutest baby…

Director: Alex Fofonoff
Writer: Alex Fofonoff
Country & year: USA, 2022
Actors: Ronald Binion, Will Brill, Carie Kawa, Grace Morrison
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt16390818/

The Substance (2024)

Posted on September 27, 2024September 27, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Elisabeth Sparkle is an award-winning actress who hosts a popular aerobics show for TV. It’s been going great for a long time, she’s even gotten her own Hollywood Walk of Fame star! There is one problem, though…she isn’t getting younger. No one ever gets younger, of course, but for someone like Elisabeth Sparkle, who’s got her whole life tied around her looks and beauty, this natural process hits much harder. After shooting her aerobics show like always, on the day that is her fiftieth birthday, she needs to go to the restroom. She finds that the women’s restroom is closed off, so she decides to go into the men’s room instead. While inside one of the stalls, the producer enters talking loudly on the phone. The conversation is about her, of course, and in no kind terms he describes how they need to get rid of her and replace her with someone young and hot. Ouch. After he leaves, Elisabeth comes slowly out of the stall, looking at herself in the mirror and realizing that everything in her life has been turned upside down.

After being fired, she notices that her billboard is taken down which causes her to get involved in a car accident. She leaves the incident with only minor injuries, but in the hospital one of the young male nurses gives her a flash drive together with a note saying “it changed my life“. At home she plays the flash drive, which promotes a serum called “The Substance“, which will create another version of yourself: one that is younger and more “perfect“. This new version will still be connected to you and you will be as as one. Elisabeth, after some hesitation, decides to make her order. And thus, her new young and perfect version is born through a slit in her back, and she adopts the name Sue. In order to make this all work perfectly as per the instructions, they must switch after 7 days: one week with Sue, one week with Elisabeth. Everything seems to go perfect: Sue gets hired as the new host for the aerobics TV show, and is steadily rising towards more and more fame. But things soon turn out to not work so great after all…

The Substance is a satirical science fiction horror movie from 2024, with many body horror elements and a lot of dark comedy. The film is co-produced, written and directed by Coralie Fargeat, and stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid. The film was shot in France, in a studio in the Paris region and on location on the Côte d’Azur. Demi Moore was originally very nervous about filming full nudity scenes at the age of 61, and felt vulnerable (which, I guess, just goes to show the effect age has on us and our self esteem, just like portrayed in the film). Her 29 year old co-star Margaret Qualley, who plays the role as her younger version, also performed totally naked and Demi Moore credits her for making her feel more comfortable on the set, stating that she “was a great partner who I felt very safe with“.

Upon viewing this film we didn’t really know what to expect. And oh boy, were we in for a ride! Taking the concept of how society and the entertainment business treats aging, especially towards women, Fargeat has spun an intricate and twisted tale filled with a feminist satire and social commentary, mixed with some of the wildest body horror elements I’ve witnessed in a theater. Prosthetics and makeup effects designer Pierre-Olivier Persin really did a great job here, and the movie relying primarily on practical effects gives it the gross-out factor that CGI simply wouldn’t have been able to.

The actors are all doing great, Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley are nailing their roles and Quaid is doing an excellent portrayal of a Hollywood sleazeball. With several creative scenes showing just how much of a creep that guy is, and how ultimately unattractive he appears with his foul behavior, yet no one around him is disqualifying him from anything due to his age. Most of the male characters here (with some exceptions) are excessively gross, displayed as powerhungry horny pigs that are male-gazing every woman they see, and treating them with complete disrespect and even contempt if they do not “fit“ their standards. It’s a bit overtly stereotypical, but also straight to the point in a setting like this.

Now, regarding the protagonist: while Elisabeth’s situation is without a doubt something that can make you feel sorry for her, I actually had problems feeling that much sympathy for her. Her actions and behavior throughout the whole process went pretty far in showing that she was, after all, just as shallow as the people who rejected her. The younger version of herself, Sue, also goes a long way with portraying a very narcissistic persona with little respect towards Elisabeth. But as the company behind the substance clearly reminds her: they’re one and the same. They may be two, but they are both from the same material, and have the same traits, and they both idolize society’s beauty standards and strive to live up to it by all means possible. One could argue that Elisabeth had no choice in the matter since her whole life “fell apart“ after getting sacked, but…eh, no. It didn’t have to. In fact, there’s a scene where she meets an old acquaintance, Fred, who tells her she’s “just as beautiful as ever“ and really likes her for who she is. She later calls this guy up, setting up a date, but it’s obvious that the only reason she’s doing so is because she’s in need of an ego-boost, which doesn’t lead to anything of course because her frail ego botches the date and she sets him up. I’m going to be honest: the only character I felt genuine sympathy for here, was Fred…

Now, with a movie like this it’s hard not to also delve into the major themes here. We often point fingers at Hollywood for setting absurd beauty standards for the female body, but honestly, fingers could as easily be pointed backwards to ourselves. In movies, on social media, and pretty much everywhere, there’s a very obvious worship of youth and beauty. Fillers, botox, facelifts, implants, liposuction…all kinds of procedures to make people look “better“ are presented towards a younger and younger audience, where people as young as being in their 20s start taking botox injections. People’s self-esteem is worse than ever, and that’s not just Hollywood’s fault. Living in a society that almost deems aging as something unnatural that must be avoided at all costs, there’s bound to be unreasonable expectations. There was a weird little case here in Norway some years back, amongst the financial elite: two middle aged men started a fight, after one of them had said “sleeping with a woman over 40 is like sleeping with a corpse“. The other guy found this to be a preposterous claim and said (this being under the 2016 election in the US): “not even Trump would have said something like that“. It was later also talked about how looking down upon women is a jargon in certain parts of the financial elite society (as with so many other places). One may laugh about it, make jokes about it, but…it’s deeply rooted in so many parts of our society. Not everyone’s got the balls to stand up to it though.

The Substance is a brilliantly gross, wild and thought-provoking movie. Behind layers of glitz and glam, nudity and body horror, there’s also themes of loneliness and fear, about being rejected for who you are by the people around you for doing something none of us can avoid as long as we continue to live: growing older. And perhaps a little reminder that we should not measure our self worth from society’s standards, otherwise we just end up being another part of the problem. And that ending…wow! Without spoiling anything, I just want to say it really goes wild and doesn’t hold back. I guess that for some people who wanted a movie more grounded, they might be put off by it, but goddamn I loved every second!

The Substance is considered to be an unofficial remake of a movie called The Rejuvenator, from 1988.

Writer and director: Coralie Fargeat
Country & year: France/USA, 2024
Actors: Margaret Qualley, Demi Moore, Dennis Quaid, Hugo Diego Garcia, Alexandra Papoulias Barton, Oscar Lesage, Joseph Balderrama, Robin Greer, Tiffany Hofstetter, Gore Abrams
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17526714/

The Deliverance (2024)

Posted on September 24, 2024September 24, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Ebony Jackson is a mother who’s struggling with an alcohol problem, and when drinking she’s often abusive towards her three children Nate, Shante and Dre. They have just moved into a new home, which is their third one within a short time. This time, Ebony’s mother Alberta has also moved in with them, a new-born Christian who’s suffering from cancer. As Ebony also has a criminal past, she’s under constant supervision from the Child Protective Services, and her caseworker Cynthia notices that things aren’t all that well in the house. And then the youngest in the home, Dre, starts talking to an imaginary friend called Tre. Yeah, that’s always good news. Flies start appearing inside the home, and Dre starts behaving strangely and is one day found in a catatonic state after having gone into the basement. Ebony now has to struggle with her constant cravings for alcohol, a problem that too easily lead her to being abusive towards the people in her life which she should have treated best of all, plus the Child Protective Services which are (and rightly so) keeping a close eye on her, and on top of all that there’s also something that seems to be possessing her own children and she’s at the risk of losing everything.

The Deliverance is a supernatural horror film directed by Lee Daniels, which was released on Netflix this year. It’s written by David Coggeshall and Elijah Bynum. The movie is inspired by the Ammons haunting case, which features the infamous Demon House which is no longer standing. The “true“ story goes like this: in November 2011, Latoya Ammons and her family of three children and her mother, moved into a house on Carolina Street in Gary, Indiana. Soon after moving in, they claimed black flies started swarming the porch, and things like footsteps in the basement, shadowy figures and other regular supernatural shenanigans started to happen. The family reached out to their physician for help, and he considered their behavior to be delusional which caused someone from his office calling the police, and the children were taken to the hospital where the youngest boy screamed and thrashed. When the Department of Child Services got involved in 2012, they believed the children were “performing“ for their mother, and sensational stories about the youngest by walking up the wall backwards started to get published in outlets such as New York Daily News. And then, like things often go with cases like this, a priest got involved and performed an exorcism. The family later moved to Indianapolis, and it’s said the events stopped after that. Then, in 2014, Zak Bagans from Ghost Adventures bought the house for $35.000, filmed a documentary in it which is titled Demon House. The house was demolished in January 2016.

Now, The Deliverance doesn’t stand out very much when it comes to demonic possession horror movies, and I have to honest and admit that I didn’t have very high expectations. We were intrigued due to the movie being based on this case, though, and we have also seen Demon House. What this movie does best, is not actually the supernatural parts, but the tension played out during the family drama, with the abusive alcoholic mother, her frightened children, and her cancer-suffering mother (who does the best possession scenes). And of course, the way it portrays poverty and the socioeconomics aspects. The start of the movie is without a doubt the most intriguing part, building up a tense atmosphere and establishes a sense of dread and mystery. The latter part of the movie goes into hackneyed demon possession fare, and drags along a bit too much. At least it uses demonic possession clichés rather sparingly, and lays off from overuse of CGI, which makes it easier to slog through. Overall, though, the movie is far from as bad as we initially thought it would be. In fact, the movie is on the whole pretty decent, it just doesn’t have the oomph to stand out very much.

So, all in all, The Deliverance doesn’t bring anything new that we haven’t already seen a plethora of times before, but it’s done with a solid hand.

Director: Lee Daniels
Writers: David Coggeshall, Elijah Bynum
Country & year: USA, 2024
Actors: Andra Day, Glenn Close, Anthony B. Jenkins, Caleb McLaughlin, Demi Singleton, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Mo’Nique, Omar Epps, Miss Lawrence, Javion Allen, Todd Anthony, Bryant Bentley
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4196566/

EAST HELL – Horror Short Film

Posted on September 22, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

A horror-comedy about two teenage goths that try to summon a demon using a satanic ritual they found on Reddit.

It’s another Horror Short Sunday, and this time we summon a demon in East Hell. It’s a fun horror comedy about two goth girls trying to summon a demon by using instructions from Reddit. Poor goat, though…

Director: Callum Smith
Writer: Callum Smith
Country & year: USA, 2017
Actors: Lauren Nicole Cipoletti, Cole Krell, Alexandra Noland, Allison Winn
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt7950466/

The Door (2009)

Posted on September 20, 2024September 20, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

David Andernach (Mads Mikkelsen) is a painter who’s cheating on his wife with the neighbor lady. One day, while busy with his affair when his wife is at work, he leaves his daughter unsupervised and she ends up drowning in the garden pool. His entire life falls apart: his wife understandably leaves him, he ends up with an alcohol problem, and five years later he’s still desperate for forgiveness. When he realizes none can be given, especially not from himself, he leaves his ex-wife a final message on the answering machine telling her he won’t bother her anymore. Then he tries to commit suicide by drowning himself in the same pool his daughter died in, but of course his ex-wife called for his best friend to go check on him after the not exactly subtle message. Later, when walking home, he suddenly sees a blue butterfly. Nothing really strange about that, except it’s wintertime. He decides to follow it (because, who wouldn’t follow after a blue butterfly in the middle of winter, right?), and is taken through a mystical corridor hidden behind some shrubs. He gets to a door, and on the other side exists in a world very much like his own, a parallel universe of sorts. Except for one thing: it’s five years earlier, and here his daughter is still alive. Knowing what’s about to happen, he manages to save his daughter from drowning in the pool while his other self is busy banging the neighbor. This means that in this world everything is the way he wants, but there’s only one problem: there’s now two of himself there. In order to live the life he desperately wants, being able to erase the hell he’s been living through for the last five years, he ends up killing his other self and buries him in the garden. Who could possibly suspect a murder when no one is missing, right? Except…things will not be that easy, of course.

The Door (original title: Die Tür) is a German science fiction thriller from 2009, directed by Anno Saul, based on a book by Akif Pirinçci (writer of the animated cat thriller Felidae). The story told here have the clear structure of an old-fashioned moralistic fairytale, told in a way where you will inevitably question what your own decision would have been in a similar situation. We all have things we regret, we all have our moments of “oh, if I could just turn back time…“ and believing everything would have been so much better. And maybe it would have been… or maybe not. Maybe everything would be even worse. There is no doubt in Hell, however, that someone would not have wanted to go back in time to save their own child’s life, despite the risks of things taking a different turn than hoped for or expected. Thus, The Door takes a common “what if I could have done it over again“ setting and turns it into something horrific, a dark fable playing on the darkness of the human psyche.

There are a few issues with the plot where some of it doesn’t make all too much sense. I haven’t read the book, so cannot make comparisons, and I can easily see how some of it may not have translated as well into film. Still, The Door is a nice sci-fi thriller that keeps you guessing with its many twists and turns.

Director: Anno Saul
Writer: Jan Berger
Originaltitle: Die Tür
Country & year: Germany, 2009
Actors: Mads Mikkelsen, Jessica Schwarz, Valeria Eisenbart, Thomas Thieme, Tim Seyfi, Stefan Gebelhoff, Suzan Anbeh, Heike Makatsch, Nele Trebs, Thomas Arnold, Karsten Dahlem, René Lay
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1223934/