
Greetings, all. Ambush Bug here with another AICN HORROR: ZOMBIES & SHARKS column. Not the most powerful week in horror, but there are some goodies here to check out. This week, I bring you Ska stalkers, ghost hunters, stony twisters, a giant praying mantis, social network zombies, bad teachers, were-cats, reality TV killers, & Peter Cushing doing what he does best! On with the horror reviews!
(Click title to go directly to the feature)
Retro-review: THE TWILIGHT ZONE Season One Episodes 13-18 (1960)
Retro-review: FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN (1967)
Retro-review: CAT PEOPLE (1982)
PHANTOM OF THE GRINDHOUSE (2013)
DEAD OF THE NITE (2013)
STONADOS (2013)
DARIO ARGENTO’S DRACULA (2013)
ANTISOCIAL (2013)
Advance Review: TEACHER’S DAY (2014)
Advance Review: CAMP DREAD (2013)
And finally…Karl Holt’s NEGATIVE IMAGE!

THE TWILIGHT ZONE SEASON ONE (1960)
Episodes 13-18Retro-reviewed by Ambush Bug
Let’s go back to the beginning. I’ve had a chance to look at the last two seasons of THE TWILIGHT ZONE over the last few months. Now we’ll jaunt back to the first season to see where it all began. This was a season where Serling was honing his talent as a storyteller and the series was just beginning to show the signs of being one of the most influential horror/sci fi series of all time. Let’s proceed into THE TWILIGHT ZONE Season One…

Directed by John Brahm
Written by Rod Serling, based on the short story "All of Us Are Dying" by George Clayton Johnson
Starring Harry Townes, Ross Martin, Phillip Pine, Don Gordon, Beverly Garland, Bernard Fein, Peter Brocco
Steeped in noirish undertones of a cursed man walking the streets trying to make a name for himself by harnessing a power to become any person he wants to, “The Four of Us Are Dying” is a creepy little yarn. Though the changes are subtle from one character to the next, it’s the strength of the story that actually makes this episode work for me. While face-swapping isn’t something to ooo and ahhh at in this day and age, I’m sure it was much more unsettling to watch this human chameleon do his thing. I liked the way his changes came back to haunt him here and seeing a super young Don Gordon show up as a boxer persona was especially nice as the actor showed up later in the TZ series in a much more beefier role. I also liked John Brahm’s direction filling the background with neon lights making the whole thing seem like some gaudy dream.

Directed by Richard L. Bare
Written by Rod Serling, based on the short story "Third From the Sun" by Richard Matheson
Starring Fritz Weaver, Joe Maross, Edward Andrews, Denise Alexander, Lori March, Jeanne Evans
Utterly predictable and horribly preachy, “Third from the Sun” is rescued by some nice camera angles and bits of tension. While the acting is top notch, Serling is in full on preach mode against the military, war, and the business behind it all. While sci fi is often a good place for metaphor and allegory in terms of the state of present affairs, there are times when Serling goes paper thin with it all which makes for some of his weaker installments in the series. Having characters rant and rave surely will get your word across, but it’s the easy route and there are far better sci-fi yarns in this series that does a better job at it than this episode. Still Edward Andrews (Long Duk Dong’s adoptive father in SIXTEEN CANDLES and THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW) is great here as a sweaty and suspicious company man.

Directed by Stuart Rosenberg
Written by Rod Serling, based on an idea by Madelon Champion
Starring Dewey Martin, Edward Binns, Ted Otis
While “Third from the Sun” goes for the obvious stance against the ugliness of technology, war, and man’s dark side, “I Shot An Arrow Into the Air” is solid sci-fi goodness. While those privy to the TZ twist might be able to predict the ending, the fun is seeing the lost astronauts tear each other apart when they crash land in parts unknown. Some solid acting abounds from both Dewey Martin and Edward Binns who are immediately at two sides of the spectrum in terms of how they plan to survive in this barren desert the crew lands in and seeing them butt heads and come to blows and gunshots is what makes this all the more tragic a tale.

Directed by Alvin Ganzer
Written by Rod Serling, based on the radio play "The Hitch Hiker" by Lucille Fletcher
Starring Inger Stevens, Adam Williams, Lew Gallo, George Mitchell, Leonard Strong
Reversely-reminiscent of “The Hitchhiker” installment from CREEPSHOW 2, a woman repeatedly encounters a solemn hitch hiker over and over again as she travels across country by car. Inger Stevens’ PSYCHO-esque voice over adds to the tension, but it’s the pleasant yet insidious look on the hitch hiker’s face (played by Leonard Strong) that ratchets the scares over the top here every time he appears. This was one of the more intense episodes of the first season made so by clever pacing that doubles the tension and doubles it again as Stevens continues down this treacherous road trip. “The Hitch Hiker” is a fantastically nerve-rattling little episode that’ll creep under your skin.

Directed by Robert Florey
Written by Rod Serling
Starring Everett Sloane, Vivi Janiss
I loved this episode featuring a couple who wins a trip to Vegas getting caught up in the thrill of gambling. You can’t help but feel for Vivi Janiss’ character who just wants to have fun and make the best of the trip, but her fuddy-duddy husband played by Everett Sloane will have no part of it…that is, until he gets a taste of winning at the slot machine which triggers a betting fever few have seen this side of that FLINTSTONES episode. This is a really tragic tale, made so by Janiss’ optimistic, yet doting performance as she wriggles uncomfortably under the thumb of her overbearing husband. You’re going to hate Sloane’s character by the end of this, but I guarantee this is one of those episode that has an ending that resonates far more powerful than most TZ episodes you’re bound to see.

Directed by William Claxton
Written by Richard Matheson
Starring Kenneth Haigh, Simon Scott, Alexander Scourby, Robert Warwick
A fighter pilot takes off in 1912 and lands in 1951 leaving everyone, including the pilot perplexed and befuddled. Though most of the time an episode focusing on the military is a call for Serling to dust off his soapbox, this one focuses on the makings of a hero in wartime. This one takes a while to unfold, but is gripping the whole way through. While some episodes are more one note, this one has one surprise after another with a TZ twist that is much more deeper and complex than most. Great performances by the cast only strengthen one of Serling’s better war episodes of the series.
Season 1: Episodes 1.1-1.6, 1.7-1.12
Season 4: Episodes 4.1-4.5, 4.5-4.8, 4.9-4.13, & 4.14-4.18
Season 5: Episodes 5.1-5.7, 5.8-5.14, 5.15-5.21, 5.22-5.28, & 5.29-5.36

FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN (1967)
Directed by Terence FisherWritten by Anthony Hinds
Starring Peter Cushing, Susan Denberg, Robert Morris, & Thorley Walters
Retro-reviewed by Ambush Bug
I’m embarrassed to say that I had never seen FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN until recently. Although I try to get my Hammer on on a regular basis, this movie has eluded me through the years. I guess if it’s Hammer and Peter Cushing and it didn’t co-star Christopher Lee, it just wasn’t a priority. But with the film coming to BluRay, it was next on my cue, and I’m so glad I did check it out.




Though this isn’t my favorite Hammer Frankenstein film, it is one of the most original. I loved the kooky science Frankenstein performs (freezing himself in a cryo-crypt, making an indestructible wine glass, transferring minds and souls from one corpse to the next). The science may not be that realistic, but when his work is dubbed magic by his assistant Hurtz, Cushing wryly replies “magic is simply science unexplained.” FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN is an amazing film on many levels: as a commentary on women, on a metaphysical level, and most importantly, as pure entertainment.

CAT PEOPLE (1982)
Directed by Paul SchraderWritten by DeWitt Bodeen (story), Alan Ormsby & Paul Schrader (screenplay)
Starring Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell, John Heard, Annette O'Toole, Ruby Dee, Ed Begley Jr., Scott Paulin, Frankie Faison, Ron Diamond, Lynn Lowry, John Larroquette
Retro-reviewed by Ambush Bug
There are dog people and then there is CAT PEOPLE, a film that didn’t really do a whole lot of business when it first came out despite the impressive people who were in front of and behind the camera. Directed and written by TAXI DRIVER/RAGING BULL/ROLLING THUNDER writer Paul Schrader (who has a lot of directoral achievements under his belt as well like AMERICA GIGOLO, HARDCORE, AFFLICTION, & PATTY HEARST), Schrader made what is basically a werewolf film into a thriller that oozes eroticism and sexual tension from every frame.

The thing is, Irena is a part of a species of people who turn into large wild panthers that date back to primitive times. Once the species has sex, they immediately turn into a large cat and can only turn back to a human if they kill someone. Paul knows this, but Irena doesn’t since she is a virgin, yet she has always known she was different. Though creepy ass Paul persists with the incestual flirtations, stating that the only way the species can survive is for those within the species to mate with one another, Irena goes for Oliver, thus putting him in danger, once the deed is done.

Aside from all of this metaphor, there are some fantastic practical effects. Though AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON set the modern stage for werewolf transformation sequences, the fact that Irena and Paul turn into cats make for a somewhat different metamorphosis. The cat literally tears through their skins, as if it were incubating in there all along. Having the claws poke out of their knuckles and subtle applications to the face in the middle stages of transformation make for a memorable transformation scene.

For those of you who love 80’s nudity, this one is chock filled with multiple upon multiple shots of the svelte Kinski slinking around in the buff. And just in case you get tired of Kinski, O’Toole and a few prostitutes declothe as well. There’s an especially gratuitous/hilarious scene where a prostitute survives a fall down a stairs without falling out of her bra, but as she turns around the bra snaps off which had me rolling at how it seems a requirement for every woman in this film to let them all hang out.
Extras include interviews with Schrader, Heard, composer Giorgio Moroder, Totes McGoats, and especially weird interview with Kinski herself who squirms around in front of the camera as if she’d never been in front of one before. Though there are variations from time to time, most werewolf films are pretty similar. Adding the eroticism element, Schrader made this one stand out from the pack. Schrader made a visually stunning film with everything from beautiful people to breathtaking shots of red misted deserts with panthers in trees to look at. CAT PEOPLE is fantastic from beginning to end, proving that beast within stories are not only for dog lovers.

PHANTOM OF THE GRINDHOUSE (2013)
Directed by Chris SeaverWritten by Chris Seaver
Starring Desiree Saetia, Jason McCall, Andrew Baltes, Meredeth Host, Kate Lewis, Chip Rockcastle, Jamie Osborne, Chris Seaver
Find out more about this film here and on Facebook here
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
In the Rodriquez/Tarantino joint GRINDHOUSE: PLANET TERROR/DEATHPROOF, while I had fun with the main feature, I had much more fun with the mock trailers that played in between the films that I did the films themselves. The same kind of goes for PHANTOM OF THE GRINDHOUSE, which is frothing over with indie flavor, but the film itself can’t compare to the fun it seemed like the filmmakers had making mock trailers for the likes of the zombie glutton pic GLUTEN FOR PUNISHMENT, the confusing I WAS A TEENAGE WITCH-HUNTER FROM OUTER SPACE, the hilariously corny INVASION OF THE MUD SPIDERS, the schlocky amateur goodness of ON A DARK NIGHT, and the batshit craziness of SOMETHING! (which had better be this filmmaking team’s next film).

McCall’s performance as the Phantom is pretty fun in a Craig Robinson sort of way as he acts out a weird combination of moves and quotes from both Prince and Michael Jackson. The gyrations and seductive voice is hilarious set to the overweight actors physicality and while his motivation is not as deep as previous Phantom renditions of the past, he makes most scenes he’s in memorable with goofy one liners and spot on impressions of Prince and the Prince of Pop.

PHANTOM OF THE GRINDHOUSE feels like a film a bunch of friends who hung out in the same bar made for shits and giggles. It’s definitely an indie that is rough around the edges and will be unwatchable for those who love their films polished by the Hollywood machine. That said, there are a lot of crude sexual and lowbrow jokes that I must admit made me laugh a few times and the SKA soundtrack will keep your toe tapping long enough to entertain for a short while.

DEAD OF THE NITE (2013)
Directed by S.J. EvansWritten by S.J. Evans
Starring Tony Todd, Joseph Millson, Cicely Tennant, Gary Mavers, Claudio Pacifico, Paul Fox, Simon Bamford, Suzi Lorraine, Simone Kaye, Stuart Boother, Rachel Whittingham
Find out more about this film here and on Facebook here
Reviewed by Ambush Bug

While Tony Todd is prominently featured on the cover of this DVD, he only appears briefly in a few scenes most likely filmed long after or long before the rest of the film was made. Todd plays Ruber, the groundskeeper of the building who warns the group not to go in and is questioned by the cops after they end up killed by whatever went on in there. Interspersed throughout Ruber’s interrogation are scenes from the cameras found inside the haunted abode suggesting that the ghost of a serial killer is loose inside. The set up is one of the cooler ones, the follow through…

The killer wears one of those face masks that looks like the top of Charlie’s green man costume from IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY. Sure the faceless look is creepy, but with the look being so prominent at sporting events, it’s hard to get scared by it. While Todd gives his all as he usually does in these films, it’s tough to get into any of the other actors who felt like they were more worried about getting really hurt in the dark than focus on their lines. DEAD OF THE NITE tries things old school, and I really do appreciate that, but the lags in acting and pacing really make it hard to believe in.

STONADOS (2013)
Directed by Jason BourqueWritten by Rafael Jordan
Starring Paul Johansson, Thea Gill, Sebastian Spence, William B. Davis, Jessica McLeod, Miranda Frigon
Reviewed by Ambush Bug

And then the rocks explode!
Wait, what?
Now, this is another one of those films you’d most likely catch on a ScyFy Saturday night. There’s a bar one lowers or maybe one lowers down to when watching one of these weather gone wild films that some people just can’t find themselves enough energy to do. For me, it depends on what type of world-ending weather it focuses on or what two monsters are spliced together for the film. Get the right combination and I’ll watch. The wrong and I can’t turn the channel fast enough. But more often than not, the kookier the concept, the higher the likelihood that my interest will be piqued.

While the cast is far from A-list, the whole crew seems to be both having fun with it and are able to actually have some decent chemistry together as Johansson and Spence work off of each other well as long time friends and former storm chasers. The story itself is ludicrous. Attempts at tension and suspense are downright laughable. There’s a particular scene which goes on forever as the weather team tries to drive through an alley filled with exploding tornado boulders. Another scene has the leads shoot a bomb in a plastic bazooka at a tornado to stop it. But it is all brainless fun, for the most part. STONADOS is better than your average ScyFy fare. Worth a Sunday afternoon viewing as long as you leave your good taste and common sense at the door.

DARIO ARGENTO’S DRACULA 3-D (2013)
Directed by Dario ArgentoWritten by Dario Argento, Enrique Cerezo, Stefano Piani, Antonio Tentori
Starring Thomas Kretschmann, Marta Gastini, Asia Argento, Unax Ugalde, Miriam Giovanelli, Rutger Hauer
Find out more about this film on Facebook here
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
Wow, what a misstep of a film. I really am searching for something positive to say about Dario Argento’s take on the classic vampire tale, but aside from some beautiful women who are more than comfortable bearing all for the bloodsucker and Argento’s camera, I can’t find the words to do so.

The main problem here is that the entire cast doesn’t really seem to want to be there. Marta Gastini is Lucy and does a decent job in the role, but just didn’t stand out to me as a particularly strong character or someone who would be friends with Asia Argento’s Lucy, who lacks the feisty innocence required for the role. Because of Asia’s age and dark demeanor, she would have made a better Tania, Dracula’s first wife of sorts, who has a surprisingly larger role in this film. The role of Tania is played by the voluptuous and oft nekkid Miriam Giovanelli, and if there’s a character that is most interesting it is her. Poppa Argento seems most interested in her as well as she gets a few subplots here that amps her up as almost a Goddess Hera character as she is pissed that her horny husband is out gallivanting with other chicks. If the film offers anything new, it’s the beefing up of Tania’s importance to the plot. Hell, it’s basically her story as she’s in the very first scene and is a threat throughout the film.

Or maybe it’s just Argento’s surprisingly flat direction. The film really feels to be made by someone who is too tired or bored to get out of their chair and move the camera around. Static shots, uninspired placement, shoddy editing; I understand working with a 3D camera is said to be cumbersome, but this film feels as if the people behind the camera were asleep most of the time.

There are scenes that play as laughably bad as the film opens up with a lovemaking sequence that is on the level of Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM. It doesn’t get much better as computer generated owls and especially a bizarre sequence involving Dracula turning into a giant praying mantis that are horribly rendered and defy any real reason for being. The scene with the mantis is especially head-scratch worthy as the scene just kind of exists because there hadn’t been a computer effect in about fifteen minutes. This mantis scene shows off Argento’s off-base take on the film really is. Not one time did I sit through a DRACULA film and think, “You know what this scene needs? A praying motherfucking mantis.”

I’m sure Argento has some fantastically horrific films in him to come and maybe he had to shat out this one in order to get to them. But man, this was a shitsmear of a movie. This is a film that will have you flex those apology muscles to the max if you’re a fan of Argento’s work as I am. I’d recommend it to those who love bad cinema and relishing in those missteps filmmakers often take. In the end, Argento made a film that adds nothing to the fine line of adaptations of Stoker’s classic novel (aside from that mantis scene, of course), and being unnecessary and uninspired is the biggest sin of all (and there are many here) DARIO ARGENTO’S DRACULA 3D commits.

ANTISOCIAL (2013)
Directed by Cody CalahanWritten by Cody Calahan, Chad Archibald
Starring Michelle Mylette, Cody Thompson, Adam Christie, Ana Alic, Romaine Waite, Ryan Barrett
Find out more about this film here and on Facebook here
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
I’m old enough to remember when cell phones were a thing of the future, or at least something that was the size of a brick like Zack’s phone on SAVED BY THE BELL or connected to cars by a curly wire. So there’s a part of me that looks at the way people are so obsessed with their telephones and Facebook and internet today and it makes me want to stand in my yard in black socks and flip flops yelling at the world to “Get your nose out of the computer and live in the now!” Then again, when I forget my iPhone on my nightstand on my way into work, I’ll waste precious time and gas money to drive all the way back home to retrieve it because I can’t live without it. I have gone to work without a belt and lived with it. I’ve gone to work with two different colored socks, and said screw it. Even showed up with two different shoes on one groggy hangover-filled morning. But if I don’t have my phone, I can’t function. So I guess I’m guilty as the next guy for being addicted to the internet.

Turns out, though, that the RedRoom has some nasty side effects after its latest update and those on the site begin to act like amped-up zombies after a short while of usage. So while everyone is partying and updating their phones on one of the busiest cell phone times of the year (New Year’s Eve), a virus is spreading rapidly. ANTISOCIAL follows one group of kids getting ready for a New Year’s Eve bash, but finding themselves boarding up their home and doing the last thing they should be doing--that is, checking online for reasons why folks are going crazy.

While the premise is strong and so are the performances by the young cast, there are a few decisions along the way that will have you slapping your forehead raw. It’s hard to recommend a film for its strong premise when there is a scene where a girl has to use a power drill to operate on her own brain…

So while there is a misstep here and there, I can’t help but praise ANTISOCIAL for its innovative premise, insightful view on this particular time for our culture, and of course the real time eye thing. The film is fast-paced and begins with a bang and never really stops until the ending, which feels more RESIDENT EVIL than anything else, but I loved it nevertheless. Here’s hoping the filmmakers have enough success with this ultra-modern take on a well-tread genre to make a sequel as this film suggests. If only there was a way for the masses to see it.
Hey, I know. I’ll just blog about it online…right after I update my FB status.
All cuteness aside, this is a really fantastic film and should be spread to the masses.

TEACHERS DAY (2014)
aka BLOOD SCHOOLDirected by Jared Lee Masters
Written by Jared Lee Masters
Starring Lindsay Lamb, Steve Crest, Nikole Howell, Mindy Robinson, Dawna Lee Heising, Yasmine Soofi, Courtney Rood, Lonnie Alcide Gardner, Danika Galindo, Simone Wasserman, Andrew Phillips, Julia Faye West, Kelly De Vries, Art Roberts, Sunny Vachher
Find out more about this film here
Reviewed by Ambush Bug

And that’s a shame because aside from the rather hokey motivation for this teacher turned mass murderer, there are some great moments of gleefully gory and carnage laden scenes such as one scene where the killer, lacking anything else to kill his intended victim with, pulls up a mailbox and bashes his victim in the head with it, then of course skewers her with the pole. Moments like this had me out of my chair laughing at how outrageous it was.

There’s quite a bit of self poking fun going on in TEACHERS DAY in regards to the amount of education the students seem to lack and also some rather pointed stabs at the stupidity of pop culture with the ridiculous theme song, “Fruit on My Belly”. Writer/director Jared Lee Masters fills this one with hot babes in peril (something he also did with his previous film SLINK which I rather enjoyed when I reviewed it here). The film itself views like a modern homage to those old sleepover slashers like SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE and films of their ilk and serves as a worthy, yet rather rudimentary tribute. Still, there’s a really cool opening credits sequence and a lot of brutal gore to enjoy. TEACHERS DAY isn’t going to change the face of horror, but it does do slumber party horror with a wink, a nod, and a slash to fans who like low fi horror.

CAMP DREAD (2014)
aka DEAD TVDirected by Harrison Smith
Written by Harrison Smith
Starring Eric Roberts, Danielle Harris, Felissa Rose, Brian Gallagher, Ashley Sumner, Nicole Cinaglia, Montana Marks, Joe Raffa, Christopher Weite, Kyle Patrick Brennan, Angel Anthony Marrero, Davy Raphaely
Find out more about this film here
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
Being a lifelong fan of FRIDAY THE 13TH and films of its ilk like THE BURNING, SLEEPAWAY CAMP, and THE FINAL TERROR, a film like CAMP DREAD aka DEAD TV is right up my alley. There’s something about a killer in the woods film that strums both the strings of nostalgia and gets my heart pumping. Maybe it was all of those nights camping as a kid and really buying into those campfire tales. I don’t know for sure. All I know is, I dug CAMP DREAD a hell of a lot.

Though they’ve been stars in some pretty ripe stinkers of late, both Eric Roberts and Danielle Harris offer up some great scene-chewing here. Harris is always great. The short but strong trooper of an actress packs some powerful acting skills, but more often than not she stars in the worst of films. Here she offers up some nice attitude as a cop in a small town near the camp that all the action takes place in. The role Roberts plays is sleazy and unlikable and though I’m sure he’s a great guy in real life, Roberts is more than believable as the director who is in it for a comeback, no matter how the bodies fall. The aforementioned Felissa Rose is surprisingly good here as well as an actress turned counselor who really wants to reach out to these asshole kids.

CAMP DREAD is campfire horror done right. Like FRIDAY THE 13TH (and unlike most of its predecessors) it’s filled with likable assholes who meet their demise in an extremely gory fashion. MONSTERMAN’s Cleve Hall supplies the over the top and visceral gore which echoes back to Savini’s more tactile kills from the first F13 and THE BURNING. Though the twist is modern, there’s a lot of old school slasher goodness at play at CAMP DREAD!
And finally…here’s a short film called NEGATIVE IMAGE. It won best of Shriekfest in 2011 and I think it definitely deserved it. Cleverly directed and downright scary in parts, this one was directed and written by Karl Holt. Find out more about this and other shorts from Holt on his website Darkline Entertainment here!
See ya next week, folks!




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