grindhouse – Horror Ghouls

Father’s Day (2011)

Posted on March 20, 2026March 20, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Father’s Day started as a fake grindhouse trailer (like Hobo with a Shotgun, Machete and Thanksgiving), produced by the once small independent film company Astron-6, based in Canada. In their early days, they made a bunch of silly short films through the lens of 80s and 90s nostalgia, and began experimenting with feature-length films with Manborg. Producers Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz from Troma got an eye for this creative ensemble from Mapleland and spat out a generous budget of $10,000 for them to make Father’s Day into a full movie. The main team behind Astron 6, Adam Brooks, Jeremy Gillespie, Matthew Kennedy, Steven Kostanski and Conor Sweeney wrote and directed it. And the result is, well, it’s a movie.

Father’s Day starts right off the bat with a deranged chubby homosexual rapist/cannibal/serial killer with the classic Jeffrey Dahmer glasses who is sawing bodyparts, ripping out guts and organs of fresh corpses, plays with sawed-off heads, French-style. This particular serial killer’s name is Chris Fuchman, and his way to, well, Fuckkmanize his prey is to hunt down and kill as many dads as possible on every Father’s Days after cumming into their crusty cornholes. Ugh. A vengeful vigilante named Ahab, wearing an eye-patch, a big nod to Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973), hunts down Fuchman’s ass in some dark alley and declares Happy Father’s Day before he blows his head straight to Hell with a shotgun. The bad news is that he just shot and killed an innocent man he mistook for being Fuchman…or did he? Hmmm… Later we learn that Fuchman is assumed for being dead for thirty years. Huh…

Then we jump to the gay teen-prostitute boy, Twink, who’s in a police interrogation after he got caught with a fresh corpse in a motel room and being suspected of… being Chris Fuchman, aka The Father’s Day Killer. Something like that. After being released, his dad drives him home, who is soon to be assplayed, and burned alive by said killer in front of Twink. Twink gets approached by Father Sullivan, for whatever reason, where the amateur-acting kicks in. And a Catholic Priest played by a teen-looking altar boy is always believable. I guess Eric Roberts was unavailable. Anyway, Twink spits in Father Sullivan’s face and tells him to stay away. Who wouldn’t. Father Flynt, a blind old sentinel on his deathbed, tells about Ahab whom he raised after his dad was killed by Fuchman. The mother? Who knows. Ahab is the one and only man who can kill Fuchman, because…because. Father Sullivan travels far away to the middle of nowhere to drag Ahab out of exile and bring him back to Tromaville to hunt down Fuchman and end him once and for all.

Before going on the mission, he hooks up with his sister, Chelsea, whom he hasn’t seen in ages. She’s, of course, a go-go dancer and The Foxiest Bitch in the City. Sounds groovy. The plot and the direction here is a muddled mess, but it all boils down to Ahab, Chelsea and Twink joining forces. And I almost forgot to mention that Chelsea gets kidnapped by Fuchman. Maybe The Foxiest Bitch in the City cured his homosexuality. Brainfart. Father Sullivan, the boy priest, chimes in as we maybe also have a demon to deal with. Of course.

The film has, as mentioned, four writers and directors going crazy, and it shows. The gritty grindhouse filter/style switches on-and-off when it feels like it. The forced humor and jokes, mixed with amateur acting, falls mostly on its face. The film is a tonal mess as it jumps from Jörg Buttgereit territory with close-ups of tasteless penis mutilations to crazy talk about maple syrup. Welcome to Canada. The third act falls completely off the rails and looks more like a YouTube skit by Nostalgia Critic. It’s overall a fun watch though, with lots of entertaining moments, like a wild car chase where the actors do their own stunts. We have a soft-porn sex scene, colorful special effects (mostly old-school), gruesome kills, dick-eating, mutilation, necrophilia, cannibalism, exploding guts, head-smashing, lots of gore, demon possession and more unpredictable madness and surprises. Woof! We’re in Tromaville, that’s for sure, where Lloyd Kaufman makes a quick appearance as someone I won’t spoil. A crazy movie for a crazy Friday night to enjoy with sausage and knight cheese.

Writers and directors: Adam Brooks, Jeremy Gillespie, Matthew Kennedy, Steven Kostanski, Conor Sweeney
Country & year: Canada/USA, 2011
Actors: Adam Brooks, Matthew Kennedy, Conor Sweeney, Amy Groening, Garrett Hnatiuk, Brent Neal, Kevin Anderson, Meredith Sweeney, Zsuzsi, Lloyd Kaufman, Mackenzie Murdock, Billy Sadoo
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1727261/

I Drink Your Blood (1971)

Posted on July 15, 2025 by HorrorGhouls

This grimy, low-budget Grindhouse classic wastes no time as we are thrown straight into an obscure Satanic cult ritual in the woods in the middle of the night, led by the charismatic sociopath Horace Born. He is a self-proclaimed Capricorn who was born in Hell and reborn on Mother Earth to do Satan’s work with his group of hippie Satanists called “The Sons and Daughters of Satan“. Sounds wholesome. They drink blood spiced with LSD as they’re buck naked before sacrificing a poor chicken (for real). A trigger warning for animal cruelty. The whole act is spied on by Sylvia, who is the girlfriend of one of Horace’s cult members. And Horace won’t have any of that. After a quick chasing scene with some funk music, she is caught, where we can only assume that she is gang-raped off-screen, before she barely makes it home alive. Next day Horace and company’s hippie truck won’t start and have to walk to the nearest town, which is Valley Hills, a small hillbilly town in the bumfuck of nowhere.

They buy a box of meat pies at the local bakery before they seek shelter in an abandoned hotel – where they completely trash the place and wreck havoc while they chase a bunch of scared rats to barbecue and eat for dinner. Yum, Burp and Hail Satan. These were trained rats, by the way, which were also used in Willard, another horror film from the same year. The dead rats we see in the barbecue scene were already dead prior to the film, if we’re gonna trust the trivia section on IMDb. Anyway, when Sylvia’s grandfather learns that this Satanic cult is in town, he decides to pay them a visit to confront them with a shotgun. But because he’s a slow, old fool, he fails miserably and gets beaten before they pour some LSD into his mouth. Even though they’re kind enough to spare his life, his grandson and Sylvia’s younger brother, Pete, who’s also been spying on them, is the next to spit on their grave. He takes the shotgun to finish his granddads’ revenge, but on his way he shoots and kills a rabid dog. And one can say that things gets really interesting from here on.

Because listen to this: Pete, the smartass, takes a sample of the dog’s rabies-infected blood, mixes it with the meat pies that Horace and co eventually eat and… well, it doesn’t go exactly as imagined. Instead of dying instantly, they slowly turn into deranged zombie-like foaming flesh-eaters, who end up attacking the townsfolk and turn Valley Hills into an apocalyptic rabies warzone which can be described as Night of the Living Dead meets The Crazies. Only, this one is far more out there than these two combined, sprinkled with more LSD, schlock and unhinged, unapologetic B-movie madness. We can say the intention of Pete was good, but man, talk about shitting the bed. Heads are rolling, limbs chopped apart, and one dude has his teeth falling out as he gets piggybacked stronghold, and some other bizarre WTF moments. It’s a full-on riot with lots of sadistic, goofy fun. Plain and simple, and not much deeper than that. I Drink Your Blood was also the first film to have the historic achievement to be stamped with an X-rating. Hats off.

I Drink Your Blood is available on Blu-ray from Grindhouse Releasing, and was once upon a time on Tubi. Don’t bother looking for it on YouTube as it’s filled with pixelization censoring.

Writer and director: David E. Durston
Country & year: USA, 1971
Actors: Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury, Jadin Wong, Rhonda Fultz, George Patterson, Riley Mills, John Damon, Elizabeth Marner-Brooks, Richard Bowler, Tyde Kierney, Iris Brooks
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067229/

Hobo with a Shotgun (2011)

Posted on December 31, 2024December 31, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Hobo with a Shotgun was originally one of the delightful and awesome fake trailers made for the promotion of the double-feature release of Planet Terror and Death Proof back in 2007. And just like the same trailer for Machete, and much later Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving, it was made into a full-length feature. But unlike the two/three mentioned, this one was more independent, made far away from the mainstream Hollywood system, and didn’t get any wide theatrical release. A damn fucking shame because this is meant to be seen on a big screen with a solid sound system and not on a laptop. Anyway, in the fake trailer, we saw David Brunt having the days of his life as an unhinged hobo. He was also supposed to play the role in the film, but a severe panic attack with the stress of carrying a whole feature-length on his shoulders made him disappear for weeks. He was reduced to a quick cameo as a “no dirty cop“ while Rutger Hauer took over the title role. The film got funded with 3 million dollars and shot in the back alleys over 24 days in Dartmouth. And no, that’s not a region somewhere in Mordor, but a city in Canada.

We’re in the 1980s where it all starts with some fresh optimism as Hobo is on a cargo train to explore some uncharted territories. Unfortunately, he couldn’t have dropped off in a worse city where they could use a RoboCop, a dozen of Paul Kerseys and maybe a Batman. But we’re soon to learn that you should never underestimate a hobo with a shotgun who’s about to meet the final breaking point. The city is ironically called Hope Town (tagged over as Scum Town) with the slogan “where the railway ends and life begins!“ Too bad that the city is already in its final stage of full psychotic collapse where the trash floats as much as the cocaine, graffiti on every wall, stink of piss and shit everywhere I can imagine, insane rampant crime, corrupt police, punks smashing people’s heads like melons with bump-cars while hookers do their thing to survive — and just everything imaginable to make this the worst urban dystopian nightmare on Earth. Nothing much new that Hobo hasn’t seen his whole life already though. So what is it that’s making Hobo finally raising his eyebrows? Good question.

The answer: As Hobo is shuffling around with a loot-shopping cart in some neighborhood, minding his own business, he gets to witness a random handcuffed guy running with a manhole around his neck (of course). “He’s gonna kill me“, he screams. He gets confronted by a guy in the most spotless white suit with his two sons, Slick (Gregory Smith) and Ivan (Nick Bateman). We learn that the dude in the white dress is called Drake (Brian Downey). He’s a batshit crazy gangster Joker-style sociopath who’s taken over the city, and if you don’t obey him, well, get ready to be decapitated by a barbed-wire noose in broad daylight in full public. We’re still in Canada, by the way, and not in the Middle East. Yeah, well whatever, now Hobo’s seen that. This poor guy was the third son of Drake, by the way, who got gamed over with no continues because he wouldn’t be any part of this deranged family.

The next thing for Hobo is to beg for enough cash to buy a… yes, you guessed it — a lawnmower. Because the grass is always greener on the other side, I guess. And just sitting on the sidewalk with an “I’m hungry“ sign doesn’t do shit, so over to plan B: to get paid by eating glass for the camera. No pain, no gain, as we say. The road to scrambling up enough money has been brutal as he’s also been a victim of police brutality with getting carved “scum“ on his chest before they threw him in a dumpster. Welcome to Fuck Town. But the day is finally here; to buy that shiny lawnmower. The optimism is back in full blossom as Hobo stands in front of it in the pawn store like an eager kid on Christmas morning. And, oops… the store gets robbed by a gang of thugs, of course. A baby gets a gun pointed at its face. As Hobo is trapped in a corner, he picks up a shotgun and blasts away. Hobo has had enough, and a vigilante is born as he goes on a rage-filled rampage around the city, blowing the brains out of all lowlife scumbags he stumbles upon, from sleazy pimps to a pedophile Santa. Hobo for president!

Hobo becomes the one big news headline after another that soon gets the attention of Drake, the crazy guy in the white dress we saw earlier, and he wants Hobo’s head on a platter. In the midst of this, Hobo does all he can to make sure that the young street hooker Abby (Molly Dunsworth) is safe, a golden-hearted hooker, who gave him shelter.

While the film has a far more polished look than the fake trailer, Hobo with a Shotgun still has the heart, spirit and the rebellious energy like a true Grindhouse exploitation ride. Almost everyone is over-the-top in a cartoonish Troma fashion, which can be tiresome in the long run. The two guys who play Ivan and Slick really sticks out, as they do their best to top eachother as they both seemed to approach their roles by mimicking a manic Tom Cruise. Jason Eisener has been clever enough to not give them too much screentime. Rutger Hauer does a more low-key performance in all of the madness where he can make the most cheesy lines sound dead serious and believable. He plays the role with a heavy heart and vulnerability where his eyes show layers of emotions, from fear, despair to pure rage. Top tier acting. Then we have his somber words of wisdom-speech in front of the infants at the hospital which is just sad and bleak, but also true, and even more true in 2025. He and Molly Dunsworth also have some great chemistry going on and is a charming duo to root for. And no, don’t worry, there’s no awkward and cringe sex scene here. Thank God.

The cinematography by Karim Hussain really spices up the film with vibrant use of colors. Yes, we’re used to seeing this in numerous throwback films, but Mr. Hussain adds its own look and personality to it that also fits the tone perfectly. The soundtrack is a solid plus, where we have all from synth/darkwave to some appropriate use of Disco Inferno during a morbid scene that includes a school bus filled with kids. The hospital-invasion scene is especially a standout, where you’ll recognize the tunes if you’ve played Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, or vice versa. Jason Eisener was a consultant on that game, by the way. He also likes to “borrow“ classic theme music, as he also did in his short film Treevenge, and used the theme from Mark of the Devil (1970) in the opening credits of Hobo. Kids of the 80 and early 90s who grew up with The Raccoons will also have a pleasant surprise to have the nostalgia meter up to eleven.

Hobo with a Shotgun is pretty much a flawless film, and after fifteen years it’s still a unique gem in the modern Grindhouse genre. It’s fast-paced and entertaining as hell. The distinct tone keeps its track steady all through without falling off like a drunken walk-and-turn test, and blends the satire, the overall blood-filled insanity with the more gritty, serious and nihilistic undertones better than it should. That’s perhaps much because the whole cast and crew seemed to be right on the same page as director Jason Eisener and writer John Davies, who undoubtedly had a clear vision from the start. Or maybe the whole thing was just a lightning in a bottle. And Rutger Hauer was a phenomenal actor who couldn’t be a more perfect fit for the title role. RIP.

And I was, of course, curious to see what Jason Eisener would do next. Probably the sequel Hooker with a Shotgun? Oh, well. The years went by, and we finally got Kids vs Aliens, which I also did a trailer reaction of. And the film was a big letdown, to put it in a nice way, where there was no badge to give. Bummer. That said, I read somewhere, sometime long ago, maybe in a fever dream, that Jason Eisener was rumored to direct the remake of The Toxic Avenger. Well, there’s already one made where no distributors have the balls to touch it because it is “not safe enough to market“, so it’s not too late.

The time is also way long overdue for Rob Zombie to finally make his Werewolf Women of the SS with Nicolas Cage as Fu Manchu!!!

Director: Jason Eisener
Writer: John Davies
Country & year: Canada, 2011
Actors: Rutger Hauer, Pasha Ebrahimi, Robb Wells, Brian Downey, Gregory Smith, Nick Bateman, Drew O’Hara, Molly Dunsworth, Jeremy Akerman, Andre Haines, Agnes M. Laan, Duane Patterson
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1640459/

Pieces (1982)

Posted on September 4, 2020March 20, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Boston, 1942. The movie doesn’t waste any time and gets straight to the first body count, where a young boy is in his room minding his own business while pinning a pornographic jigsaw puzzle. In comes his strict and unhinged mother, who gives him a few slaps before she throws away that filthy thing. He then picks up an axe, which he happens to be allowed to have in his room for some reason, and chops his mother to death, before he saws off her head while he smiles, and then hides in a closet. When the cops come in, they just assume that the boy was lucky and managed to hide from the unknown killer. Little did they know..

Then we jump 40 years later, still in Boston, where the kid we just saw in the opening have grown up to be a serial killer (No, really? Who would’ve guessed). He hunts down young female students at a college, dressed as a classic giallo-style killer with a black coat, gloves and a big hat that hides his face behind its shadows. And speaking of shadows, the look of the killer is actually inspired by the comic book character The Shadow. He has also developed an obsession with pornographic jigsaw puzzles and is fixating to make his own, personal masterpiece(s) with real body parts. The first victim gets her head chopped off under the blue sky as she lies on the lawn outside the campus, studying. The chunky gardener, played by Paul “Bluto” Smith, is the first to be suspected, of course. The killings are being further investigated by Lt. Bracken (Christopher George) who also has a suspicious eye on the socially stunned anatomy teacher Arthur Brown (Jack Taylor), who looks like a reduced Vincent Price with a bad flu.

The tagline for Pieces says “You don’t have to go to Texas for a Chainsaw Massacre“. It’s probably the best and fitting tagline I’ve ever read for a film like this, and it isn’t an exaggeration either. Pieces is easily one of the goriest slashers from the 1980’s with all the mandatory recipes of Blood, Tits and Gore. The effects really stand out, especially the girl who gets sawed to pieces in the toilet, and some visual highlights like the woman who gets butchered on the water bed. And as bad, wooden and stiff the acting is, which is also the funniest part of the movie, they sure were dedicated enough to deal with gallons of animal blood, fresh from the local slaughterhouse, while organs from dead animals were used as the more gorier effects. Must have smelled just like pure movie magic. There is some really bizarre dialogues here, such as one of the female students saying right of the blue and makes it pretty clear that it’s the middle of the mating season: “the most beautiful thing in the world is to smoke pot and fuck in a waterbed at the same time”. I want a T-shirt with that quote. There’s also a complete random cameo of a Bruce Lee imitator that doesn’t make any sense. But nevertheless, Pieces is a lot of bloody, brainless fun with solid entertainment value that definitely belongs in every gore-hound’s film collection.

Director: Juan Piquer Simón
Original title: Mil gritos tiene la noche
Country & year: Spain | USA | Puerto Rico, 1982
Actors: Christopher George, Lynda Day George, Frank Braña, Edmund Purdom, Ian Sera, Paul L. Smith, Jack Taylor, Gérard Tichy, May Heatherly, Hilda Fuchs, Roxana Nieto, Cristina Cottrelli, Leticia Marfil, Silvia Gambino, Carmen Aguado
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt0082748/