American Horror Story, Season 3, Episode 5

This episode begins with Madame LaLaurie and her daughters. She threw them into her torture chamber along with the others and tells them that she might let them out in a year if they are lucky. Cut to modern day and the house is surrounded by zombies sent by Marie Laveau. LaLaurie sees that her daughters are among them. The neighbour, Luke, is attacked by one of them and he gets an axe in the back. The witches battle the zombies and it looks like they are losing when Zoe uses her powers to stop them in their tracks. Marie is amazed that they could stop her zombie attack.

Fiona is with Cordelia as she is taken to the hospital. She finds out that her daughter was attacked with acid and that she has gone blind from it. Hank comes to see her and Fiona tells him that he has a few minutes with her and then he has to get out. He tells Cordelia that he will never leave her etc. He is holding her hand when she wakes she has a vision of him having sex with another woman. The witches council comes to the house and they want Fiona to give up as supreme but she has no intention of doing this. Instead, she turns the tables on them and accuses Myrtle Snow of attacking her daughter.
She has some proof because Myrtle's hands are scarred from the acid. Myrtle is accused of the attack and burned at the stake. We find out later that Fiona set Myrtle up and that she was innocent of the attack. Fiona used Queenie to set her up and she flatters her to keep her quiet about it. Misty Day finds the charred corpse of Myrtle and she decides to bring her back to life...

A good episode, with plenty of action!

Island of Death Movie Review 312

Warning:If you are easily offended, then don't watch the trailer....

Island of Death is a 1976 horror/thriller directed by Nico Mastorakis and starring Robert Behling and Jane Lyle. It has been on the list of video nasties.

The movie begins on a Greek island called Mykonos. A couple called Christopher(Behling) and Celia(Lyle) are on vacation. They seem happy and carefree and they look like normal tourists. But, they aren't. They talk to a man who is there on a vacation too. He is there to paint and he thinks that they are very friendly. Celia goes over to see him and they have sex with Christopher watching and taking photos. Afterwards, Christopher and Celia kill the man for no reason. Then, they set their sights on two gay guys who are having sex. Christopher says that they are ridding the island of perversion. Celia and Christopher kill the two guys and take pictures once again. They make it look like a murder suicide.
There is a cop on their trail. His name is Foster and he has followed them to the island. They know that he is on their trail. That doesn't put them off. They have a showdown with Foster and he ends up falling in the sea, never to be seen again.

Christopher and Celia continue their spree. He has sex with a slut and Celia takes pictures, but he kills her in a fit of rage, which angers Celia. The local barmaid is a lesbian and she has eyes for Celia. Christopher wants to kill her because she is gay and Celia goes back to her place with her and they have sex. Christopher has his camera and he kills her. The local cops are onto them so Christopher and Celia, who turn out to be brother and sister, have to go on the run. They meet a man who Celia saw in a dream and he helps them out. He wants Celia so he rapes her. Then he rapes Christopher and throws his body into a pit of dry lime. He begs Celia to get him out before it rains and he dissolves, but she won't. She stays with the man and lets Christopher melt when it rains on top of the lime...

Strange movie with some disturbing elements to it. It wasn't one of the best films I've seen. It was worth a watch, but that's all. I don't think that I would watch it again. It has a cult following because it was a video nasty etc, but it isn't too graphic. If you enjoy exploitation movies, then this will be for you. I wasn't enthralled by it but give it a chance if you want to see what the fuss was about. It was released a while back in an uncut version..I am giving it 5/10.

American Horror Story, Season 3, Episode 4

This episode begins with Marie Laveau casting a spell on some dead bodies after a black guy is killed in the 1960's. She uses voodoo to send the dead after those responsible. Cut to the 70's and Marie meets the then leader of the witches, Anna-Leigh and they call a truce on their war. When Anna-Leigh disappears, Fiona is made the next supreme. Myrtle Snow is the only one who suspects her of murdering Anna-Leigh to get the position. She can't prove it so she goes after Spalding who cuts out his own tongue to stop him from telling her anything. He will not betray Fiona.

Cut to modern day, and Spalding sees Fiona murdering Madison. As usual, he covers up the crime for her. Queenie is half dead after her battle with the minotaur. Cordelia's husband Hank is cheating on her with another woman, but then he shoots the woman dead revealing a dark side to him. Marie Laveau gets the minotaurs head in a box from Fiona and this makes her angry. The truce is broken and Marie declares war on the witches. The witches council comes to the house to discuss Madison and her disappearance. The head of the council is Myrtle Snow(Frances Conroy) who knows that Fiona killed her but has no proof yet again! They have to leave. Fiona and her daughter are at a bar and when Cordelia goes to the bathroom, a hooded figure throws acid in her face. Spalding has Madison's body in his room and he dresses in women's clothes and dances around. At the house, the witches look outside and see loads of dead bodies surrounding the house....

A good episode. There is always plenty happening in this show and the plot twists are interesting...

Shivers Movie Review 311

 

Shivers is a 1975 horror/sci-fi movie written and directed by David Cronenberg. It was his first proper movie and it stars Paul Hampton and Lynn Lowry.

Dr. Emil Hobbes(Fred Doederlin) is performing strange experiments with parasites. He has designed one which is an aphrodisiac and when it is implanted in a person, it causes sexual desires which are totally uncontrollable. He thinks that if people are having sex, then they will be more peaceful etc but it all goes wrong. He implants it into his mistress and she cannot control her lust. Emil kills her and himself, thinking that this will stop the parasite, but she has already infected plenty of people in the apartment building where she lived. People begin to get infected by sexual contact and they turn into sex crazed zombies. Roger St Luc(Hampton) is a doctor in the apartment complex and he sees that people are exhibiting very odd behaviour. He looks into it with his nurse/lover, Miss Forsythe(Lowry).

They go through the building and they are chased by the sex crazed inhabitants. They try to escape, but the zombies are after them. Roger gets to his car, but they are after him and they trap him. Miss Forsythe gets infected and Roger has to go without her. As much as he tries to, he cannot escape and he gets trapped and infected by the zombies. The end of the movie shows the sex crazed people getting into their cars and heading for the city where they will infect everyone...

 

I liked this film. It is low budget, but good entertainment. It has everything that a good horror movie should have. It is far from perfect, but I enjoyed it and it showed that Cronenberg had great promise as a filmmaker at that time. If you enjoy cheap horror with an edge, then this is for you. I will give it a 6/10.

The Walking Dead, Season 4, Episode 8

 This episode is the mid-season finale, so we will have to wait for another while to see more. Last time, The Governor had taken over as leader of the camp and he was looking at the prison. This episode begins with  The Governor telling people that Rick and his group have a prison and that they are criminals and bad people. The camp agrees to go to the prison and get it for themselves. Hershel and Michonne are in his trailer and he talks to them about what will happen. Hershel tries to get him to see reason and tells him they they could co-exist in the prison, but The Governor says that he could never live with Rick or Michonne. Daryl is not too happy about what happened with Carol and tells Rick that. They decide that they have to tell Tyreese about it.

The Governor shows up with a tank and his people, armed. He calls out Rick and tells him to get out of the prison and nobody will get hurt. Rick refuses and Hershel and Michonne are brought out. Rick is surprised. Rick tries to reason with him, but he won't budge. He wants them out or else he will kill the two hostages. Rick stands firm and tells him that he is not going to leave. The Governor becomes angry and he threatens to kill Hershel. Rick tries to reason again, but it is no good. The Governor kills Hershel. All hell breaks loose. Lilly arrives, carrying the body of Meghan who has been killed by a walker. He shoots her in the head so she won't turn into a walker. The Governor seems to lose what was left of his senses and he attacks the prison with his forces. A gun battle ensues and people get shot. The Governor gets Rick and he tries to choke him. He almost succeeds, but Michonne kills him. Rick and Carl get away and some of the others.

It was a good episode, but I am disappointed that The Governor is dead. I guess the baddie always has to die, but I liked the character. Some of the others are a little bland for me. Hershel has gone now too so the group is shrinking by the minute. It will be February before we find out what will happen now..

Insidious: Chapter 2 Movie Review 310

Insidious: Chapter 2 is a horror movie and a sequel to Insidious(2011). It is directed by James Wan(Saw) and it stars Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson.

If you have seen the first movie, then this will just follow on from that. Young Josh Lambert is with his mother, Elise(Lin Shaye) and her medium friend Carl. He has been haunted by an old woman and Elise has been called in to help by Carl. There is something horrible in the house and Elise and his mother decide to hypnotise him and make him forget all about it. Cut to adult Josh(Wilson) and his wife Renai(Byrne). They are being questioned by the cops about the death of Elise in their house. The family decide to move in with Josh's mother, Lorraine(Barbara Hershey). Renai is wary of Josh after the events of the first movie. She starts to see things in the house and becomes sure that something is after them again. Lorraine visits two co workers of Elise's to see what can be done. They are Specs(Leigh Whannell) and Tucker(Angus Sampson). Carl is there and he tries to contact Elise with his special dice. They are given a clue by the dice which leads them a hospital where Lorraine used to work.

She tells them about a guy called Parker Crane who killed himself in the hospital. They might have contacted him instead of Elise. They go to the guys house and find stuff about old killings made by The Bride in Black. They think that he was the killer. They see that Elise was not speaking to them at all. It was this guy Parker's mother. Meanwhile, Josh is still acting strangely. Lorraine wants the family to get out of the house. Carl, Specs and Tucker are with her and they are going to get Josh and drug him as they think that he is possessed by Parker Crane. Josh is too clever for them and he gets away. He tries to kill Renai but is stopped by his son. Elise shows up to help. The real Josh has been caught in a place called The Further and his son Dalton has to go and rescue him....Can they make it???You will have to watch the movie to find out...

I liked this film. It was a good follow on from the first one which I also liked. It was entertaining and good fun.  Watch out for the writer of the movie Leigh Whannell as Specs. Sequels can be dodgy sometimes, but this one is well worth a watch. It is on a par with the first movie so if you liked that, you will enjoy this.  I don't understand why it got such negative reviews. Good solid horror here and some decent scares. I will give it an 8/10.

The Walking Dead, Season 4, Episode 7

Last episode, The Governor was caught in a pit with Meghan and he saw one of his men, Martinez with a gun.  This week starts with Martinez getting Meghan and The Governor out of the pit. They join the camp. Martinez is surprised at the apparent change in The Governor. He goes out with the men looking for supplies. They find a corpse with the word liar printed on it. Then they find a cabin and there is another corpse there. The Governor kills a walker. Martinez talks to him about how he has changed. The Governor hits him and throws him into the walker pit. The other guys think that he fell. There is a new leader of the camp.

The Governor and others are out looking for supplies when they see another camp. They need their supplies but the leader says no. They move on, but later come back to the camp and find everyone dead and the supplies gone. That night, The Governor tells his new family that they need to get out of the camp because the leader is weak. They try to go, but their path is blocked by loads of walkers and they have to return. The Governor kills the new leader and tells the second in command Mitch that he has killed the top guy and he is taking over. Mitch agrees to join him and he takes over as the leader. He goes to the prison and looks at Michonne who makes him angry and he sees Hershel too. Another good episode which is setting things up nicely..