Review: Exit Humanity

Review: Exit Humanity

By William Pattison, aka Eric Morse

For Horror Bob's Blog

For my review this time I have a historical zombie movie, John Geddes’ Exit Humanity.

This film tells the story of Edward Young, a man who survived the bloodshed of the Civil War and must now live in a world infected by a zombie plague. After his family is bitten and he has to put them down Edward goes on a quest to free his son’s ashes at a waterfall he and his son had planned to visit. While on the way to the falls he meets Isaac, another survivor. Isaac gets Edward involved in a plan to save his sister Emma from a cult anarchist named General Williams. Williams has captured Emma because was bit by a zombie and didn’t change. Williams thinks that if he can find the secret to curing the zombie plague he can use it to take control of the country. Now it is up to Edward and Isaac to stop General Williams’ plans.

Exit Humanity is different from other zombie films in that the zombie plague, though part of the story is secondary to the human story playing out. But, zombie lovers don’t have to fear because there are many excellent zombies scenes throughout the film Mark Gibson gives a stunning performance as Edward Young. You see throughout the film Edward’s journey from near madness to a return to his humanity. Bill Mosely gives a rarely soft spoken and low key performance as General Williams. Also, veteran actress Dee Wallace comes in and does a low key, but memorable performance as the healer, Eve.

The one thing I absolutely loved about this film is its style. In several scenes Geddes would switch from live action shots to classic animation shots, giving the film the feel of being a graphic novel. The film is also narrated by veteran actor Brian Cox, who plays the voice if Edward’s son in the future who is telling the story. All in all if you are a fan of zombie film or just a fan of a good, well written, horror film you will love Exit Humanity.

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Review: Documentary: I Survived BTK

Review: Documentary: I Survived BTK.

By William Pattison, aka Eric Morse

For Horror Bob’s Blog

I usually don’t review documentary films. It’s not that I don’t like documentaries; it’s that I’ve never felt the need to comment on them. To me a documentary is a learning experience; it’s not supposed to be entertainment. But there are always exceptions to the rule. One of those exceptions is Marc David Levitz’s Documentary, I Survived BTK.

This is a very important film in that unlike other films and documentaries about serial killers rather than making an icon out of the killer and treating the victims and their families as third class players, Levitz focuses on the surviving family members, mostly the oldest son, Charlie, of the first victims of the BTK Killer, the Oteros.

As the film begins we meet Charlie Otero, who we find is in jail for aggravated assault. Charlie is one of the surviving members of the Otero family along with his younger sister and his brother. Charlie’s father, mother, sister, and brother were viciously tortured and murdered in 1974 by the infamous BTK killer, Dennis Rader. We hear how two days before the murders Charlie had watched the film In Cold Blood, which was based on the book by Truman Capote about the murder of four members of a family in the area he lived. As the documentary progresses we see how this because an item of guilt with Charlie and how the murders affected his life. After he gets out of jail, we follow Charlie as he take  us  on a bit of a tour through his life after the murders and how he has become estranged from his family and other loved ones, including his own son.

Along the way we are introduced to Steven, who is also a survivor of another family that was destroyed by Dennis Rader. Levitz brilliantly compares these two survivors and shows us the similarities and difference. One thing that shows is how both men use tattoos to deal with their pain.

Then we get to the capture of Rader and his media trial. Levitz handles this in a matter of factly way and avoids making Rader a larger than life character like a lesser documentarian would do. Still, Levitz hits the viewer with the full non-candy coated fact of what Rader did to the Otero family by showing the crime photos as presented in court.

Then Marc Levitz hits you with an emotional punch as the trial ends . Levitz handles this incredibly by showing scenes of Charlie with Steve at a victory pool game. Charlie talks about how after the murders he had grown to hate Truman Capote and how on day of Capote’s death Charlie, who had lost his faith, had been begging the devil to kill Capote. What happens make you honestly consider if Faustian deals do happen…

So if you are a fan of true crime or if you are just curious of the other side of the story of a serial killer, this is the film for you. This film is an emotional ride and a character profile that can’t be missed…

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Review: House of the Wolfman

Review: House of the Wolfman
by William Pattison, aka Eric Morse
For Horror Bob's Blog


For my review this time I got a retro horror film by Eben Mcgarr, House of the Wolfman.
Five strangers; athlete Reed Chapel and his twin sister aspiring scientist Mary Chapel along with expert antique authenticator Conrad Sullivan, great white hunter Archibald Whitlock, and woman of mystery Elmira Cray; are invited to the creepy castle of Doctor Bela Reinhardt (played by Lon Chaney’s grandson Ron Chaney) under the pretense that one of them would be made Reinhardt’s heir and inherit the castle along with all his scientific research. The all find out the share a common link, their mothers had been attacked, ravaged, disfigured, and left pregnant. Also, none of them knew who their real fathers are. Things get creepy as Whitlock along with his servants discover odd animal tracks outside the castle. They find they are being observed by some who is looking through holes in the eyes of the portraits in their rooms. Also, Elmira discovers an old gypsy lady in the tower room who claims to be Reinhardt’s mother and says that Reinhardt has secrets including the fact that his real name is Frankenstein. Soon Reinhardt reveals the horrifying true reason for bringing them together.
I found this a very amusing attempt at creating the final installment of Universal studio’s unfinished trilogy. The storyline is very authentic. The dialogue is nearly spot on, but feels a bit off. The acting could have been better. Though the actors tried to duplicate the acting style of the time they ended up being a bit over the top and almost comical. Though filmed in black and white the film has no graininess to it, which helps spoil the feel that this could have been made in the 40s. Also, the sound is too clean as well, it sounds way too modern. The filmmaker would have done well to add sound crackles, grain, and scratches to artificially age the film. Finally, the makeup work, though trying to pay homage to the classic Universal films, looks too modern and overly detailed. Having the monsters wear contact lenses took away from the 30s and 40s feel of the makeup. The Frankenstein’s monster makeup looked practically like the one used in the modern Universal Monster film, Van Helsing. Also, the Wolfman makeup could have been a rejected version made for the remake of The Wolfman rather than being anywhere near the classic makeup worn by Lon Chaney Jr.  Also, Dracula’s three female vampire companions at the end of the film looked way too modern and detailed, which was actually annoying to me. The only monster that comes off spot on is Count Dracula, who is actually played masterfully by Michael R.Thomas, though painfully short in duration.
All in all House of the Wolfman is a good try. If Eden Mcgarr and crew had simply tried to create a Universal style gothic film without trying to put their own spin on it, this film could have been the masterpiece it should have been. Remember, people, less is more.  If you are a fan of the classics you won’t cringe, but after watching this film you will be tempted to pull out your DVD collection of the classic Universal monster films and see the good stuff.

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Review: Porn Shoot Massacre
By William Pattison, aka Eric Morse

For this month’s movie review I thought I’d enter the world of crossed genres with an amusing and tacky homage to both slasher and porno films, Corbin Timbrook’s Porn Shoot Massacre.
Misty, Sondra, Junie, Tina, S&M Queen Beretta, and Midget Tiny have all come together to do an epic porno film. The new hot director on the scene, Malfini, says that this film will have something for every porno fan’s taste. So the girls come to the set, which is in an old labyrinth like warehouse. When the girls get on set some of them are a bit suspicious of their director. His mustache and goatee look glued on and he wears dark glasses and a tacky hairpiece. Also, he seems oddly familiar. Still, Malfini is paying them three times what they’ve gotten for any porno film, so they play along. After all what could possibly happen? What Misty and the other actresses don’t know is their concerns are well founded. The truth is a masked killer is stalking the warehouse and what Malfini has forgotten to inform them is that he is not actually creating  a porno film, but a snuff film and Misty and her associates are the featured victims..
What I loved about this film is it combines the stereotypical, and amusingly tacky, aspects of both porno films and slasher films. The film is shot on low grade video with low grade lighting, and has the low grade music you get in most porno films. It also has the creative kills any gorehound will appreciate.
 The film starts out with a shower scene or opening actress Christy (Played by extremely busty Shelly Martinez), which is a stereotypical of both a porno and slasher films. Christy after having a tackily written scene chatting on her phone with her agent and bringing up the film shoot gets killed shortly after outside her home by the killer who is shown from either his chest down or his feet as he suffocates Christy by putting a plastic bag over her head and tightening it around her neck.
 The killer turns out to be a silent killing machine that looks like he made his mask out of a jock strap. He is very much a Jason-like killer that uses what he has at hand. He impales one girl with a knife through a wall into her back. He uses a very large hammer and beats the S&M girl, Beretta, in the stomach several times. Impressively, enough this film even has a final girl, which is one of the only two girls that don’t have sex scenes in the film.
 I have to applaud Timbrook’s casting of Robert Ambrose, who looks quite a bit like horror icon Robert Englund, as Malfini. While watching this film I could almost see Robert Englund in this part. Also, I laughed my ass off at Richard Little’s performance as Tiny. Richard also bares a striking resemblance to Jackass’ We Man.
All in all if you are a horror fan and are amused by tacky porno films, like myself  (Seriously, they can be funny as hell) you will love this film….Trust me…

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Review: Abraham Lincoln VS Zombies

Review: Abraham Lincoln VS Zombies
By William Pattison Aka Eric Morse
For The Horror Bob Blog

The production company The Asylum has gotten a bad reputation over the years with the horror community. After all they are the people who put out the horrid mockbusters that a person might grab by mistake or order by mistake via streaming. They are also are the people that pollute our horror movie viewing with tacky monster films like Sharktipus or Two Headed Shark Attack. But, every bad production company has the potential to create one truly good film among the masses of crap they produce. Such a film is the one I’m reviewing this time. That glowing jewel in The Asylum’s crap pile is Abraham Lincoln VS Zombies…
What? You say. But it’s just another of their damned mockbusters! Actually, no. This is not just one of their damned mockbusters. This is a well written and well acted film with incredible authentic locations.
This film tells the story of how while President Lincoln is laboring over the Gettysburg Address he finds out that a horror from his childhood has resurfaced and is threatening his war torn nation. A single survivor of a failed attempt to take a Confederate fort informs Lincoln, before succumbing to the zombie plague, that he and his men were attacked by hoards of enemy soldiers and civilians who proceeded to rip them apart and eat them. Fearing for the future of the nation President Lincoln along with a group of Federal agents, include his future assassin John Wilkes Booth, make their way deep into enemy territory in order to deal with the undead threat. Upon entering the fort and securing it Lincoln finds that there are only four Confederate soldiers alive, including, amusingly, General Stonewall Jackson and a soldier named Pat Garrett. Taking a few agents with him Lincoln heads to the nearby town to look for survivors. He finds after he and his men have to take shelter in the town’s bordello that only three prostitutes and a young boy named Teddy Roosevelt have survived. One of the prostitutes, Mary Owens (played by Baby Norman) is also the woman Abe Lincoln was once in love with. Now both Union agents and Confederate soldiers must work together to defeat the hoards of the undead before the zombie plague can spread.
This is an amazingly well done film for its modest budget of $150,000. It was shot on location in Savannah, Georgia, thus giving it a very authentic look.
The story by Karl T. Hirsch and J. Lauren Proctor, and screenplay by Richard Schenkman, wonderfully melds historical events with the fantasy situation.  They include Lincoln giving is legendary Gettysburg Address and even put in situations leading up to the President’s assassination at the hands of John Wilkes Booth.
The performances in this film are top notch.  Actor Don McGraw gives a wonderful performance as General Stonewall Jackson. Young actor Canon Kuipers proves his acting chops as Young Teddy Roosevelt. Jason Vail provides a quiet menace as Federal agent John Wilkinson aka John Wilkes Booth. But, it is Emmy Award winning actor Bill Oberst Jr’s stunning, and once in a lifetime, portrayal as President Abraham Lincoln that steals the show. Bill brings Lincoln to life and causes the viewer to feel honest emotion at the conclusion of this film.
Honestly, though I do await the big budget Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter film I doubt it will have the heart this film has. If you are a fan of films like Bubba Ho-Tep or Shadow of the Vampire, you need to add this film to your collection.

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Review: Womb, aka Clone

Review: Womb, aka Clone
By William Pattison, aka Eric Morse
For Horror Bob Blog

For my review this time I’ve got an art house Sci Fi film from filmmaker Benedek Fliegauf, Womb, also known as Clone.
This film tells the story of Rebecca (played by Eva Green, Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows) and her life long friend and love of her life Thomas (played by Matt Smith, the current Doctor Who). When Thomas is hit and killed by a car while parking along the side of the road so Rebecca could go take a pee, Rebecca out of guilt and the fact that she can’t live without Thomas decides to clone Thomas and uses her body to bring about Thomas’s rebirth. As the film progresses we see Thomas grow up thinking that Rebecca as his mother. We also see Rebecca’s torture as Thomas grows into a man and his interest turns to other woman. Things fall apart when the original Thomas’s mother shows up and sees the clone. She doesn’t say a work, but looks on to her dead son with pain and walks away. Now Rebecca has to face the fact that she has kept Thomas’s origins from him and now Thomas is asking some very uncomfortable questions.
This film mostly takes place in a muddy moor area with a single house on stilts in the middle of nowhere. The only high technology presented in this film is a couple of Apple laptops and a small creepy interactive robot dinosaur that Thomas and a friend ends up burying alive. Even Rebecca giving birth to Thomas isn’t even shown. Eva Green gives a very quiet and rather drab performance as Rebecca. Her performance is very subtle but is affective. The main problem I had with Matt Smith’s performance as Thomas was that it was pretty much his character from Doctor Who without the wardrobe and police box. There was only a couple of scenes where Smith actually showed a bit of anger but mostly he is just jabbery.
This film is definitely not for your common sci fi fan. Unless you are a fan of slow burning art house films that are bare bones seventy-five percent technology free and mostly character driven you will not enjoy this film at all.

Review: The Innkeepers

Review: The Innkeepers
By William Pattison, aka Eric Morse
For Horror Bob Blog

For this month’s review I got an atmospheric ghost story, Ti West’s film The Innkeepers.
The Yankee Peddler Inn is literally on its last legs. In a matter of days it will be getting the wrecking ball. For Claire and Luke, the last two members of the staff, this is the perfect time for them to pull out their ghost hunting kits and have one final crack at capturing the Inn’s infamous ghost, Madeline O'Malley. After all they only have two sets of guests in the Inn to deal with and the run of the place, since the owner is in the Bahamas. But what Claire and Luke don’t realize is that while they are hunting the ghost the ghost is hunting them.
The best way to describe The Innkeepers is that it is the poor man’s The Shining. This film is not for the horror fan that can’t handle a slow burn film. This film is full of atmosphere, character development, and clever dialogue. There are a number of jump scares and creepy incidents, but this is far from the rollercoaster ride most horror films now a days seem to be. When the final payoff happens some viewers will be scratching their heads, but for those who manage to catch the clues you’ll find the wait worth it.
Actress Sara Paxton gives a fantastic performance as the plain Jan staff member/armature ghost hunter Claire. Equally, Pat Healy gives a wonderful performance as Claire’s mentor and ghost hunter Luke. Also part of the cast and putting in another outstanding performance is Kelly McGillis as the actress turned psychic Leanne Rease-Jones.
The Innkeepers is not the film for the average horror fan, but if you like your horror with a good psychological punch and good characterization this is the film for you.