
Greetings, all. Ambush Bug here with another AICN HORROR: ZOMBIES & SHARKS column. We’ve got a cadre of films new to DVD and BluRay this week, plus a long overdue look at THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2. So let’s get on with it…
(Click title to go directly to the feature)
MURDER OBSESSION (1981)
ATTACK OF THE VEGAN ZOMBIES (2010)
AMERICAN SCREAM KING (2010)
DON’T LET HIM IN (2011)
APOLLO 18 (2011)
THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 (FULL SEQUENCE) (2011)
And finally…JohnMark Triplett’s RED HANDED Short Film

MURDER OBSESSION (1981)
AKA MURDER SYNDROME, FOLLIA OMICIDA and L’OSSESSIONE CHE UCCIDEDirected by Riccardo Freda
Written by Riccardo Freda, Antonio Cesare Corti, Simon Mizrahi, Fabio Piccioni
Starring Stefano Patrizi, Anita Strindberg, John Richardson, Silvia Dionisio, Martine Brochard, Laura Gemser
Reviewed by Ambush Bug



Themes of sex and death abound in this film. A couple is stalked and killed while making love on a riverbank. Stanford’s relationship with his mother exudes incest from the get-go, with the implication of it ever-increasing throughout the film (reminiscent of PSYCHO). Though it seems like a mish-mash of a lot of the themes in some pretty popular horror films, again, in 1981 when this film was made, it was all ripe territory to be mined. MURDER OBSESSION may have some goofy effects, but it does do the slasher aspect of the film right and is worth checking out for that fact.
NSFW! Beware! There are boobies in this trailer! Beware! NSFW!

ATTACK OF THE VEGAN ZOMBIES (2010)
Directed by Jim TownsendWritten by Jim Townsend
Starring Christine Egan, H. Lynn Smith, Jim Townsend, Kerry Kearns, Natalia Jablokov, Walter Smith, John Kelly
Find out more about this film here!
Reviewed by Ambush Bug


Had the filmmakers stuck with a consistent tone, this could have been nice throwback to ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES, but instead they went the possessed zombie route which is infinitely less interesting. I understand the allure of shoe-horning zombies into the film. It’s easy to throw green makeup on an actor and have him or her moan and stumble. But this film frustrated me in that they had a somewhat fun idea of a killer vine movie and muddied it up by tossing in the undead. ATTACK OF THE VEGAN ZOMBIES has one or two clever lines of dialog and the potential for a schlocky treat with the goofy vine effects, but gave in to the tempting siren song of the zombie, which turned out to be its downfall.

AMERICAN SCREAM KING (2010)
Directed by Joel Paul ReisigWritten by Joel Paul Reisig
Starring Joel Paul Reisig, Jordon Hodges, Kaitlyn Wightman, Erica Blair, Stephanie Grote, Laura Henderson, Megan Marie Wilson, Aranzazu Diez, Darla Linnley
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
Though I can’t find any images or websites to direct you to about AMERICAN SCREAM KING, I do want to recognize it for the gem it is. I sift through a lot of muck watching films here for AICN HORROR, but little surprises like this film make the whole ordeal worthwhile. AMERICAN SCREAM KING is as low budget as they come, but with some clever dialog and smart writing, it makes it easy to look past all of that.
Two jerk-offs decide to make a horror movie, but the catch is that they really want to kill their cast. Though the acting leaves a lot to be desired, the words falling from their faces are clever and often downright hilarious. Writer/director/star Joel Paul Reisig does a fantastic job of mixing elements of SCREAM’s self-referentialism with a CLERKS bare bones production mentality and self awareness. As Reisig and his partner in crime Jordon Hodges conduct casting calls for beautiful stars for their film, they call it like it is, citing BOOBS, BEAST, BLOOD = MONEY. Gratuitous boobage ensues throughout the entire film as the cast are blatantly asked and ordered to take off their tops, but it’s done in such a ludicrous manner that the subtle mix of masochism/chauvinism/ignorance turns out to be charming.
My favorite part of the movie is about an hour in when the two main characters note that they’ve only recorded about an hour of footage and need more to be a complete film. It’s that kind of wink and nod and full on donkey-punch to the audience that makes this film shine.
Equal parts IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILIDELPHIA (with its crass humor and unlikable yet likable characters), JERSEY SHORE (with the obvious douchebaggery permeating the two main characters), with heaping dollops of SAW as the killer filmmakers often barter for the survival by playing games with the victims, AMERICAN SCREAM KING is an indie surprise worth seeing.
Don’t expect stellar acting. Don’t expect epic storytelling. Don’t expect high profile gore. But AMERICAN SCREAM KING is filled with enough witty dialog and clever takes on the horror industry (and moviemaking in general) to make you laugh at the situations these two idiots have created for themselves in search of an easy buck and instant stardom.

DON’T LET HIM IN (2011)
Directed by Kelly SmithWritten by Kelly Smith & Chris Andrews
Starring Sophie Linfield, Sam Hazeldine, Gordon Alexander, Gemma Harvey, Rhys Meredith, Jason Carter
Find out more about this film here!
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
DON’T LET HIM IN is a somewhat effective thriller as a group of English twenty-somethings travel to a cabin in the woods that just happens to be the home of a serial killer dubbed the Tree Surgeon because he hangs body parts from trees after he kills his victims. Cool concept, I guess, especially around the holiday season. But just because DON’T LET HIM IN is capably shot and decently acted, it doesn’t mean that it is without its faults.


But as I said above, the acting is pretty good for this type of stalk and slash film. There are some fun twists throughout and red herrings are in abundance as to who the killer actually is until so many characters are killed off that it’s obvious who it is. DON’T LET HIM IN has taken note from all of the stalker movies we’ve all seen before, but when it tries to do something original, most of the time it makes no sense at all.
Don't Let Him In HD Trailer from Kelly Smith on Vimeo.

APOLLO 18 (2011)
Directed by Gonzalo López-GallegoWritten by Brian Miller
Starring Warren Christie, Ryan Robbins, Lloyd Owen, Ali Liebert
Find out more about this film here!
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
Ohh, man, I really wanted this film to be good.
I remember seeing the trailers for APOLLO 18 and chomping at the bit to check it out. It seemed like such a cool concept and as the release date loomed closer, I found my interest in the film growing. Then the film was released and I heard absolutely nothing about it. I think I was busy the weekend of the release, so I missed it in theaters. Turns out APOLLO 18’s stay in theaters was pretty short lived and it’s most likely you missed it too. Since the release, I didn’t hear anything positive about the film and as time passed, my interest subsided until I recently had a chance to check it out.

Three astronauts are assigned to go an a secret mission to the moon. Though the public only knows of 17 missions to the moon, Apollo 18 is supposedly the reason why we never went back. Having seen my fair share of horror films, I know that the opposite would most likely be true and had monsters ever been discovered on the moon, it is most likely that more missions would be sent rather than less. It would have to be something pretty horrific in order to deter scientists from wanting to know more about possible life on the moon…
Well, according to APOLLO 18, not so much.

Though the three main actors are giving their all, the frights just aren’t there in this film. I was rooting for it but as the runtime ran out, my hopes of pants-wettingly good scares began to dissipate.
With THE DEVIL INSIDE, it seems POV style films are not going away. Again, these films often suck me in. But with APOLLO 18, I was just too bored to care.

HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 (FULL SEQUENCE) (2011)
Directed by Tom SixWritten by Tom Six
Starring Laurence R. Harvey, Vivien Bridson, Bill Hutchens, & Ashlynn Yennie
Reviewed by Ambush Bug

In preparation for seeing the film and writing this review, I read a lot of online reviews. I usually don’t do that in fear that they would influence my own take on Tom Six’s sequel, but in this case, I really wanted to understand why people revile this film so much. Then I saw THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 itself. And having done so, I think a lot of that revulsion is pretty accurate, but in many instances, folks deemed the film shit and moved on, not really going into the reasoning behind it.

Here’s the thing. Danny DeVito said it best on one of my favorite “It’s Sunny In Philadelphia” episodes: “Poop is funny.” Well, it is. As adolescent as it may seem, saying the word poop is hilarious to me. Farting too. And I think that’s the same for a lot of people. Sure, it’s an easy funny, but in the end (no pun intended) poop is funny.
Now, as funny as the word poop is, poop itself is not very funny. Actually it’s pretty damn disgusting. Anyone who ever had to change a diaper or clean up after their dog or cat knows that the touch, the sight, and the smell of poop is anything but funny.
So the sound of poop = funny.
But any other sensory interaction with poop = not so much.
To this we all agree, I hope.

I think horror works for the masses when it is followed by a laugh or the revelation that the reason one jumps is a false scare or something not so scary at all. We laugh because of our own reaction to the thing on the screen, not so much the thing on the screen itself.
Films like HUMAN CENTIPEDE, MARTYRS, A SERBIAN FILM, THE BUTCHER—they don’t allow us to laugh. The stuff that goes on in these films doesn’t have a witty response or a false jump scare to cause giggles and because of that, films like these are less likely to appeal to a mass audience.

I understand that most people watch films to be entertained. I do too, but having the dubious distinction of being an online reviewer (that’s sarcasm for those who don’t get it), sometimes you have to watch films because that’s the lot you’ve made for yourself. To compensate, I find it much more interesting to look at whether or not the film causes unease. As I said above, to me, that’s what horror is all about. It’s my interest in what is horrifying, I guess, that makes these films which might be lesser in quality (and I’ve seen a lot of them doing these AICN HORROR columns) still interesting to experience.



Six filmed in black and white and many ripped him a new one for pretentiousness for doing so. But with the mention of Tarantino in the film, I think Six might be showing his cards here as, in order to combat the MPAA’s rating standards on blood and gore, Tarantino filmed the bloodiest sequences of KILL BILL Vol. 1 in black and white (or at least that’s what I’ve heard). Because this film is so permeated with gore of the highest order, Six may have chosen to film in monochrome for the same reason. I’m not sure if it was a successful decision, but it does make for a distinction from the first film—while that film showed a “real world” scenario, this one is seen through the simplistic black and white world viewpoint of its star.
Is HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 a good film? In believability, not a lick. “100% Medically Inaccurate” is a pretty good tagline for this film as its grip on reality is wholly inept. Martin somehow has the ability to know the exact place to hit with the exact force while doing so to knock out a victim each and every time with his crowbar. Things really get farcical when Martin starts attempting his amateur doctoring and somehow it works. *** SPOILER ALERT *** Seeing the world through the eyes of its star may be Six’s excuse for these inaccuracies, but the “it was all a dream” excuse is always a surefire way to piss off an audience. This may also explain the ire a lot have for this film and makes for this entry to be easily forgettable, in hopes that a third film takes a more interesting approach. Then again, Six isn’t Scorsese; while he knows how to make the crowd revile his imagery, he still has a lot of difficulty with narrative and POV. *** END SPOILER ***

Was I entertained by HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2? Not really. But it did make me feel horrified. In that, I think it is a successful horror film, just not one I really want to see again. I look forward to checking out Six’s next sequence in this Centipede series. If anything, it’s an interesting way to gauge reviewers’ and audiences’ gag reflex. Though THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 (FULL SEQUENCE) wasn’t necessarily an entertaining film, I feel it did do its job in causing a reaction. It’s just that when poop is concerned, it is best left heard and not seen.
And finally…here’s a cool little heist gone wrong yarn by filmmaker JohnMark Triplett called RED HANDED! Enjoy!
RED-HANDED from HYDRA PRODUCTIONS on Vimeo.
See ya, next week, folks!
Ambush Bug is Mark L. Miller, original @$$Hole / wordslinger / reviewer / co-editor of AICN Comics for over nine years. Mark is also a regular writer for FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND and has just released FAMOUS MONSTERS first ever comic book miniseries LUNA (co-written by Martin Fisher with art by Tim Rees) You can pre-order it here! Support a Bug by checking out his comics (click on the covers to purchase)!
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