Greetings, all. Ambush Bug here with another AICN HORROR: ZOMBIES & SHARKS column. Due to an unexpected overdose of turkey legs and mashed taters, there wasn’t an AICN HORROR column last Friday. Extremely sorry for those who have come to expect your weekly dose of horror and came up lacking last week. But I’m making up for that this week with two whole columns full of horror stuffs old, new, and in between. This column is filled with some especially unique horrors and ends with a song I can’t stop singing. Let’s get right to it!
(Click title to go directly to the feature)
Retro-Review: THE PETER WALKER COLLECTION: SCHIZO (1976)
ZOMBIE HORROR FRIGHT FEST: THE DEFILED (2010)
MISS DECEMBER (2011)
BEYOND THE GRAVE (2011)
SLAUGHTER CREEK (2011)
BACKSLASHER (2012)
Advance Review: DEMON (2012)
Advance Review: MY AMITYVILLE HORROR (2012)
And finally…Stuckey & Murray (featuring Lil’ Duvall) A SONG FOR THE WALKING DEAD!

THE PETER WALKER COLLECTION
SCHIZO (1976)
aka AMOK, BLOOD OF THE UNDEAD, TRAUMASDirected by Peter Walker
Written by David McGillivray & Murray Smith
Starring Lynne Frederick, John Leyton, Stephanie Beacham, John Fraser, Jack Watson
Retro-reviewed by Ambush Bug
I must admit, my only experience with director Peter Walker was with his excellent schlocker FRIGHTMARE. I’d known he’d made more films, but just haven’t gotten around to seeing them yet. So I was really excited when I heard Redemption was rereleasing four of Peter Walker’s films on BluRay. I’m going to cover all four of these films in the next few weeks, starting this week with probably Walker’s most notable of works SCHIZO.

The focus here is on Samantha, a celebrity figure skater (played by the wide eyed Lynne Frederick) who is marrying Alan (pop singer John Leyton) a well to do English chap. Everything seems to be pristine but for a weirdo named William Haskin (the grave faced Jack Waston) who is lurking around. We see at the beginning that William has recently been released from prison and plans on showing up to the wedding unannounced when he sees the wedding announcement in the paper. Packing up his favorite creepy trench coat and a rusty machete, it appears William intention is not to catch the garter at the reception. But everything is not as it seems here. And that’s what I love about Walker’s films, or at least the two I have now seen.

Walker plays things pretty straight forward here, spicing things up with some Giallo style killings and some fancy flashbacks. I especially liked the tension built in a car scene as a killer hides out in the backseat of an unsuspecting driver. Walker keeps the camera tight here, amping the tension all the more.

Those with some knowledge of rudimentary psychology will probably be able to piece together the mystery before the end, but Walker does a great job of making it all entertaining until then. SCHIZO is a strong dose of schlock and mystery with a sometimes laughable/sometimes creepy Jack Waston and some twists that may be foretold with today’s twist savvy audience, but back then, most likely surprised its audience quite a bit.
ZOMBIE HORROR FRIGHT FEST
THE DEFILED (2010)
Directed by Julian GrantWritten by Julian Grant
Starring Brian Shaw, Kathleen Lawlor, Angela Zagone, Alden Moore, & Graham Jenkins
Available through Chemical Burn Entertainment
Reviewer: Ambush Bug
This week I’m cracking open Chemical Burn’s four disk set called ZOMBIE HORROR FRIGHT FEST which features THE DEFILED, MELVIN, FAST ZOMBIES WITH GUNS, and WOODS OF TERROR; all zombie films which approach the subgenre in a fresh and unique way. The first film to be dissected is THE DEFILED.
THE DEFILED is a wordless epic journey of one zombie who may not be like any zombie you’ve ever seen before on screen. Well, maybe he’s a bit like Bub from DAY OF THE DEAD or the gas station attendant from LAND OF THE DEAD, but instead of looking at the broad scope of the zombie apocalypse, director/writer Julian Grant follows this one soulful zombie as he wanders the earth in search of food, a place to call his own, and love.
If you lack patience or the open-mindedness that zombies can come in all shapes, sizes, and temperaments, you’re you might want to look elsewhere. But THE DEFILED is an artsy and ballsy little zeek that definitely offers something the genre hasn’t seen before.

MISS DECEMBER (2011)
aka CALENDAR GIRLDirected by Derek Lindeman
Written by Derek Lindeman & Faith Brody
Starring Jensen Bucher, Jake Matthews, Derek Lindeman, Nick Troy, Gabriela Herbas, Brian Gallagher, Al Snow, Corbin Bernsen, Gilbert Gottfried and Brian O'Halloran
Find out more about this film here and here!
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
Though there are a lot of low budget crapfests out there giving indie cinema, specifically indie horror cinema, a bad name, sometimes, as in the case of MISS DECEMBER, low budget doesn’t necessarily mean low quality. Though more comedy than horror, MISS DECEMBER has a nice black soul and is definitely worth checking out for those in the mood for a little humor in the shade of pitch.

The story itself is basically TWO BROKE GIRLS meet a serial killer except there’s just one broke girl in this case. Ari has to put up with annoying customers who don’t buy anything but coffee and tip in pocket change and an overprotective boss who tries a bit too hard to mother the rebellious star. It’s a typical scenario and when you throw a serial killer into the mix, it makes for a nice premise for a horror film. Someone is going around killing girls once a month. The media has dubbed him the Calendar Girl Killer and Ari thinks she’s next on the list. The fun part is that this is the most exciting thing to happen to her in ages and she’s twisted enough to love that she is the next target.

The various cameos are fun to watch. Corbin Bernsen is always good and Gilbert Gotfried’s cameo is pretty funny. Even wrestler Al Snow appears against type as a psychologist analyzing the serial killer. But it’s the lead actress, Jensen Bucher who carries this film. She makes this relatively bloodless and scare-less, light horror comedy something to seek out. At its core it’s a romantic comedy, but there’s some decently structured kills and a nice black sense of humor in MISS DECEMBER, mostly coming from the lead actress.

PORTO DOS MORTOS (BEYOND THE GRAVE) (2011)
Directed by Davi de Oliveira PinheiroWritten by Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro
Starring Rafael Tombini, Álvaro Rosa Costa, Ricardo Seffner, Amanda Lerias, Luciana Verch, Leandro Lefa, Tatiana Paganella, Marcos Guarani, Felipe Longhi, Isidoro B. Guggiana
Find out more about this film here and here!
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
This Western horror art house mash-up from Brazil may be guilty of swiping bits and pieces from other films such as GATES OF HELL, EL TOPO, SIX-STRING SAMURAI, and even Stephen King’s THE DARK TOWER series, but it does so in such a way that feels pretty darn entertaining. While King’s DARK TOWER remains in production limbo, this is a nice alternative, at least for the time being.

Despite the tone of the film feeling as if it were from Stephen King’s DARK TOWER series, BEYOND THE GRAVE is an extremely inventive film. Like Jodorowsky, writer/director Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro fills his story will all sorts of colorful characters; each with an interesting story behind them, some elaborated on in the narrative, others left for us to wonder what made them so weird. I especially liked the demonic Yanni who plays a single harmonica note which induces ear bleeding convulsions in whoever the tune is directed to. There is no real grounding for what this power is or how it came to be, it’s just another colorful character in this post-apocalyptic bizarro world.

At times poetic. At times stoic. At times completely energized. BEYOND THE GRAVE is a unique experience in the theater of the weird. Fans of Fulci, King, Jodorowsky, and film/books/comics like that will most likely have a ball with this one as it pays homage to some classically cool films while blazing new trails with interesting stories as well.

SLAUGHTER CREEK (2011)
aka SNUFFDirected by: Liam Owen, Brian Skiba
Written by Michael Z. Gordon
Starring: Justin Henry, Aja Pollock, Ray Rosales, Marissa Joy Davis, Jose Rosete
Find out more about these films here!
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
Though it qualifies as a found footage style film, the use of multiple cameras and different styles of storytelling breaks some of the rules that limited the subgenre. While some of the footage looped together makes sense since the faux filmmakers doing the filming are intending on making a documentary out of the footage, still the invisible powers that be that thread this multiple angle, multiple media film together is one of those blaring holes that some may find easy to ignore, while others will have trouble buying it from the onset.

The aforementioned holes in the premise in terms of the found footage genre aside, SLAUGHTER CREEK is an impressive little film. For the most part, the film is decently acted with the dialog rumored to be unscripted throughout, making the film all the more impressive. The director, at times, is overdramatic, but that’s part of his character, as is the snippy attitude of his ex-girlfriend who doesn’t like him getting close to the porn actresses he interviews, especially Alyssa.

What doesn’t work is the present day interview scenes, which have low quality sound as well as acting as the survivor of the ordeal is interviewed by two cops. These scenes are pretty bad. But the rest of the film, the faux documentary footage and the impromptu dialog make SLAUGHTER CREEK one of the more interesting low budget found footagers I’ve seen in a while.

BACKSLASHER (2012)
Directed by Tim CowlesWritten by Tim Cowles
Starring Eleanor James, Emily Eaves, Jason Impey, Michael Gamarano, Ina Maria Brekke, Lucie Howard, Mike Prince, Ree Sinclair, Chloe Farnworth
Find out more about these films here!
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
Maybe it’s because there is a scene where a woman is being stalked while jogging or maybe it’s because it’s simply that this is a stalker film, but for some reason, I couldn’t help but think of the 80’s Canadian slasher HE KNOWS YOUR ALONE while watching BACKSLASHER. I haven’t seen that film in ages, I do think that BACKSLASHER pales in comparison though, and that film wasn’t really that good in the film place..

You know, life’s important things…
When this is the person we’re supposed to relate to, it makes it very, very hard to do so.

So if you like the stalk and slash, that’s all here in BACKSLASHER, but if you’re looking for a character to invest in and in kind find some way to give a shit about this story…well, then you’re looking in the wrong place.

DEMON (2012)
Directed by Mark DuffieldWritten by Mark Duffield
Starring Clare Langford, Andrew Mullan, Gabrielle Curtis, Tom Hall, Christopher Ettridge, Jackie Haliday, Ryan Wichert
Find out more about these films here!
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
One of the things about the old Hammer films that was so appealing was the fact that it seemed to always have a theme that even the highest level of aristocracy was not immune to the horrors of the world. The films did a fantastic job of showing how the upper crust lived in gothic castles with candlelit hallways and elegantly decorated furnishings and how all of that could come crashing down when a werewolf or a vampire or some form of witchery bears tooth. Was it a comment of how fragile life is at the top of the food chain? Or a cautionary tale of how treacherous anything under everything but the highest of high class is? Depends on how you look at it, I guess.

One of the problems I had with DEMON was that it explains too much in the beginning. Sure it’s interesting to know the demonic rules listed in the last paragraph beforehand, but to have it explained right off the bat, it basically takes away any mystery the film may have. Without the preface at the beginning, there would be that mystery that would help creating some kind of investment in terms of trying to figure out what is wrong with Lorcan. As is, we know exactly what he is afflicted with before he bares fangs and wings and therefore the lead up to that carries less of an impact.

There’s enough going for DEMON for me to forgive it for being blatant about the explanation in the beginning rather than letting us find out about the monster ourselves as the story goes on. I enjoyed the old timey Hammer aristocratic feel DEMON was able to convey and admire the director’s ability to show much while spending little.

MY AMITYVILLE HORROR (2012)
Directed by Eric WalterWritten by Eric Walter
Starring Daniel Lutz, Laura DiDio, Neme Alperstein, Susan Bartell, Ronald DeFeo, Ben Foti, George Lutz, Kathy Lutz
Find out more about these films here!
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
We all know the story of THE AMITYVILLE HORROR and we all know that it is based on a true experience with bizarre phenomena in the very house featured in the film. I wasn’t impressed with the recent big budget remake with Ryan Reynolds and was even less moved by the cheapy found footager THE AMITYVILLE HAUNTING (reviewed here). But when I heard that an actual documentary was touring the festival circuit about one of the surviving members of the family from the real events that inspired the films, I was more than a little interested.

Now, I am not saying I don’t believe strange occurrences happened in that house all those years ago, but this documentary isn’t going to convince you one way or another because the focus is dead set on Daniel at all times. And the only thing Daniel makes abundantly clear in this film is that he loves the spotlight. The rest is a little fuzzy.
Having worked with deeply troubled individuals throughout my day job as a therapist (for a span of four years, I worked at a lockdown psychiatric hospital with damaged souls more than eager to reach out and tell their story at any given time), though I imagine Daniel would swear up and down that his story is unique, I have interacted with people like Daniel before. Daniel makes for a compelling storyteller; engaging in eye contact, pausing dramatically to puff a cigarette, then occasionally moving to a well practiced look off into the distance. But when his stories are challenged or questioned, he threatens violence toward anyone who wishes to poke this defensive bubble he has erected around him. Which made for, I imagine, a pretty frightening shoot for writer/director/documentarian Eric Walter. Numerous times, Daniel is filmed threatening Walter for daring questioning his claims of abuse, black magic, psychic powers, and other deviant behavior from his adoptive father George Lutz, citing that it was George, not the house that was the root of the haunting. Again, this is compelling stuff, but when one asks, “can you prove this?” and the only response is “I don’t need to prove this, I know this” or “You and I are going to have words when the camera stops rolling”, it doesn’t go far to give his story validity and only makes it easier to believe this is bullshit.

MY AMITYVILLE HORROR was an utterly fascinating documentary. There are numerous scenes that made me uncomfortable, a few that made me suspicious, a few that wrenched my heart during the few times we do get to see beyond Daniel’s gruff, bully-like exterior, and even a few that scared me, but none of those feelings were more powerful than the fear I felt that the subject of this documentary could explode at any moment on his documentarians.
P.S. Please don’t punch me in the nostrils, Daniel.
And finally…here’s something truly special, Stuckey & Murray featuring Lil’ Duvall with A SONG FOR THE WALKING DEAD! Watch it with a loved one…




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