John’s Horror Corner: The Wax Mask (1997; aka Maschera di cera), this period piece Italian horror is an 80s-esque gem to be mined from the 90s video era.
MY CALL: Great gore, really fun and ambitious effects, a horror period piece, and well made by several huge names in Italian horror. How had I never heard of this!?! I guess another solid movie without studio support just got lost in the craptastic 90s video-era horror ether. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Wax Mask: Let’s stay in theme with Waxwork (1988) and House of Wax (2005).
Director Sergio Stivaletti (The Profane Exhibit) normally handles special effects (Dracula 3D, Mother of Tears, Cemetery Man, The Church, Demons 1-2). But for a movie written by Daniele Stroppa (Witchery, The Crawlers), Dario Argento (Dracula 3D, Mother of Tears, Two Evil Eyes, The Church, Demons 1-2, Suspiria) and Lucio Fulci (Demonia, The House by the Cemetery, The Black Cat, The Beyond), this is sounding like a true Italian horror dream team! And the product herein will not disappoint!
The story takes a classic horror trope of a group of twentysomethings with a dare to spend a night in a haunted house and brings it to an early 1900s Parisian brothel, in which high class young men with lovely sex workers on their laps discuss such a dare to spend an evening in the new wax museum. So, the dared young businessman breaks in and finds that the exhibits seem solely to illustrate scenes of death, mutilation and the macabre. Of course, he is found dead the next morning, presumably scared to death.
Twelve years after witnessing the murder of her parents to a mechanical-handed killer (around the time of the young businessman’s death), Sonia (Romina Mondello) is hired to assist Boris Volkoff (Robert Hossein), the artist behind the wax creations. Boris has two highly eccentric assistants, and we just know they’re up to something sinister. All the while Sonia’s parents’ killer has never been apprehended after all this time.
In Giallo form, with his face obscured and his hands gloved, a killer hunts down victims with a really big syringe. We later find that the killer has a mechanical hand—and this leads to so much awesomeness. The gore is quite feisty and ambitious. We see a hand ripped from its bloody latex wrist, and when the killer’s mechanical hand plunges through a man’s chest (claymation effect) and removes his heart, my own dark heart warmed with pleasure. This mechanical arm is more of an alchemical cybernetic creation and I love it. In his Frankensteinian lab, this killer drains the blood of victims with electric baubles lit up in the background playing to the most delicious of mad scientist cliches.
In proper Italian form, captured women find themselves naked and bound to the experiment chair with leather straps and buckles before their blood is drained and their fluids are replaced with embalming-like liquids. Eventually someone sees a wax model that looks like a missing local prostitute (Valery Valmond) and, upon further inspection, like a body post-autopsy, we find her flesh stitched together up her spine! Sonia then sees a waxwork exhibit depicting the night her parents were killed and mutilated, with the details shockingly accurately depicted. Dun dun dunnnn!
In the finale, our killer’s wax face is melted away, leaving a disfigured monster. The ridiculous effects smacks of the T-800 endoskeleton from The Terminator (1984), and the melting wax models in the museum fire offer their own gross, drippy FX pleasures.
As a period piece, this Italian horror works quite well! I enjoy the horse-drawn carriages, oil lamps and wardrobing offered by the film’s crew. Frankly, I’m not sure how I never heard of this. It seems to have been lost in the mediocre maelstrom of the 90s video-era horror releases. But this one is truly a gem to be mined.
I really enjoyed this through and through. This felt like an awesome 80s horror with 90s quality special effects (even if not big budgeted). Most importantly, it felt like the filmmakers and crew all really cared about this. The acting and writing were better than expected (even if not ‘conventionally’ very good in that ‘filmy’ way), the story was more elaborate and interesting than most effects-driven or Italian horror, and the special effects and gore were spectacular.
Hidden gem status: UNLOCKED! Go and watch this movie!
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John’s Horror Corner: Infinity Pool (2023), Cronenberg, provocateur be thy name; challenger of morals be thy game.
MY CALL: Wow. This film is a gut punch of surreal-ish reality told with such twisted morality that it feels like it simply would happen just this way… for those few, privileged, wealthy and perverse few. Very hard to watch at times and incredibly morally appalling at every opportunity. Strong recommendation. MORE MOVIES LIKE Infinity Pool: For more cinema that truly challenges it viewers, consider Antichrist (2009), The Babadook (2014), Goodnight Mommy (2014), A Serbian Film (2010), The Lodge (2019), Climax (2018), The Neon Demon (2016), Hereditary (2018), Midsommar (2019), Irréversible (2002) and Martyrs (2008).
Well… this is one of those films that is difficult to discuss without completely spoiling it. When I saw the trailer, I thought I had an idea what this was about. But it was just that: an idea, but certainly not the idea driving the story. And while my estimate was not wrong per se, this was definitely not the type of film I was expecting at all. Maybe that’s a good thing, though. And maybe that very sense of the unexpected is exactly what is to be expected of writer and director Brandon Cronenberg (Antiviral, Possessor).
Meet James (Alexander Skarsgård; True Blood, The Northman) and Em Foster (Cleopatra Coleman; Cobweb), a high society couple vacationing at a snooty resort on the fictional island of La Tolqa. Seeking an escape from their own problems, they join a lively couple (Jalil Lespert and Mia Goth; X, Suspiria, A Cure for Wellness) on an ill-advised adventure outside of the resort property, during which they are part of a fatal car accident. The legal consequences of this accident reveal a twisted set of consequences for criminals of this country. This poor island nation is gorgeous, serene, even perfect. When they are taken by the authorities for their crime, it is dire, bleak, hopeless.
If it’s shocking, provocative or triggering, Cronenberg wants it on screen. Ejaculating onto beach sand, the concave crushed skull of a hit and run victim, the most graphic and vengeful and viscerally penetrating knife-stabbing execution such that you can practically feel the gut stabs…? Yes, to all that. How about graphic sexual content and orgies? Also, yes. And morals so twisted that even when I thought I’d seen it all, I questioned what the actual Hell? Again, yes.
This film takes turns you’re not expecting. Just… bizarre turns… diving deep into perverse depravity, sadistic hedonism, and particularly exploring the sick privilege of the rich in all new and highly illustrative ways.
This film has strong allegory on the ability of the rich to do whatever they want and buy their way out of consequences. And, more importantly, the expectation of the rich that they can do this no matter what, as they please. As twisted as things get, base elements here feel unnervingly close to home when I’m watching the greatest atrocities of the news on TV.
Outstanding film. Not sure what to call it, though. Highly engaging, but not really a fun watch. Highly disturbing, but you actually want to see what transpires. Highly intense, but twistedly amusing. One watch was enough for me. Still, I’d give a strong recommendation for at least that one watch to fans of intense, stressful cinema that challenges its viewers comfort to extremes.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 542 – Hellraiser, Clive Barker and Goo
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
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Mark and John (MFFHorrorCorner on X) discuss the 1987 horror film Hellraiser. Directed by Clive Barker, and starring Doug Bradley, Clare Higgins, Ashely Laurence, and several pain loving interdimensional Cenobites, the movie focuses on what happens when a mystical box is opened. In this episode, they also talk about movie monsters, basements, and Clive Barker’s filmography. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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Bad Movie Tuesday: Hellmaster (1992), a laughably bad ‘poor man’s Prince of Darkness’ about balding, murderous, cultist-like mutants.
MY CALL: The death scenes suck. The bad guys are lame. The villain has insanely questionable yet unexplained motives. So watching this with friends throwing vicious mockery at the screen is the recommended method of viewing. This is a deliciously bad movie. MORE MOVIES LIKE Hellmaster: Well, if you want something of the same ‘caliber’ as Hellmaster, perhaps Neon Maniacs (1986). But if you want something superficially similar but actually ‘good’, then I’d aim more for Prince of Darkness (1987).
This roughly made film struggles to find the feel of a real movie in its opening sequence. The scenes feel like scattered, incomplete thoughts as we meet students and faculty of the Kant Institute of Technology and we get glimpses of some undead-like drones lurking about.
Right away, we know that several professors are aware of what’s going on. No one seems to be contacting an sort of authorities or seeking help… but they know what’s going on. Robert (David Emge; Dawn of the Dead, Basket Case 2) seems to be our good guy, and professor Jones (John Saxon; Black Christmas, Blood Beach, A Nightmare on Elm Street 1 & 3) is the evil mastermind behind it all. Using a serum he developed, Jones has created ‘mildly mutated’ killers who serve him, call him father, and wander the college campus trying to kill whomever they encounter.
I’m not sure how an injection creates these instant followers with cult-like devotion and a sudden understanding of Jones’ grand vision and that they should all call him Father… but it does. The movie makes no effort to explain why or how—I question if director and writer Douglas Schulze (Dark Heaven, Dark Fields, Mimesis) even cared. Still, such a hokey premise could turn out to be a really fun bad movie, right? Well, you’d hope…
Watch out for some miserably terrible death scenes; like inept student film quality death scenes. The noose death scene actually added zero to the movie, which would have been truly better without the death at all. Oof! This movie is rough. The geometrically scarred killer (featured on many of the movie posters) whispers about desires for a “reward,” then goes on to kill someone with a 100% off-screen stab. That’s two big death scene strikes against this crap movie. And what’s this reward of which he spoke? Apparently, it’s a world populated by murderous, balding, Jonesian zealots. So Jones seeks world domination, and he decided to start on his college campus. I’m guessing at this, by the way. But he’s gonna’ need a worldwide vaccine distribution plan for this plan to work! Otherwise he’d die of old age before totally taking over New Jersey.
Many of these murderous mutants come off more like low budget zombies or generic brand Neon Maniacs (1986), slowly limping and lumbering about towards anyone who hasn’t yet received this injection. There’s a twisted ‘murder nun’ who gets stabbed in the face with a syringe, a child (or perhaps a very small man) with his hair burned off who dies of a goopy green and red ‘nosebleed to death’, an alopecia-stricken school girl giggles about… these Jonesians are not the most inspired creature creations of the genre. So, yeah. The “monsters” are weak and the death scenes are bad. Really bad. Yet the blood and gore is actually tolerable. Somehow our hero Robert figures out that a ‘little’ of the Hell serum creates the Jonesian fiends. But a bigger dose induces the gross, slimy, melty deaths we’ve seen a couple times.
So during this whole movie Jones struts around with a horrifyingly big ‘triple syringe’ he uses to inject his squad of hellions. It’s really hokey, and his lines about creating Hell on Earth are… well… stupid. But this whole movie is stupid. I’m not entirely sure what the premise even is! But I know it’s stupid. I mean, Jones wants pretty much everyone (on campus at the very least) dead. Not sure what his plans are after that… or why he’s doing this. But as I’m watching I’m realizing this strikes me as a poor man’s Prince of Darkness (1987) but without the physics or antigod. It all comes to a bloody finish as Jones burns to death and melts away. Meh. Just okay.
Not gonna’ lie. This is among the clunkier bad movies I’ve seen in a long while. But I guess this would make for a really fun, deliberately ‘bad movie night’ with friends.
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John’s Horror Corner: The Power (1984), an Aztec demon, a greedy academic and a Ouija board.
MY CALL: Just okay. Not regrettable, but nothing I’m recommending either. Effects and gore are just too infrequent for me. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Power: For a much better horror experience with a Mexican doll, I’d recommend Dolly Dearest (1991).
Seeking to control the power of an Aztec demon called Destacatyl through an ancient relic, a wealthy academic travels to Mexico and murders the caretakers of the possessed statuette. This small relic finds its way into the hands of a student who gathers with his friends to contact a spirit using a Ouija board. An indigenous doll relic and a Ouija board, people? Too bad Witchboard (1986) wasn’t released yet to warn you. But has Trilogy of Terror (1975) taught you nothing!?!?!
After their weird Ouija experience, the students approach reporter Sandy (Suzy Stokey; Deep Space, The Tomb). One student seems to have been influenced by ‘the power’ of the relic and, yeah, now he’s basically evil. There’s really not much to this plot.
The head-squash death scene was not gory, but I respected and enjoyed the set up. And the early professor flagpole impalement death wasn’t bad either. Other than that, and a bunch of ho-hum Poltergeist-y shenanigans, essentially nothing happens in the first fifty-five minutes. The writing and acting are good enough, and the story is engaging. But just not enough is happening. At least, not until the demon in the doll possesses someone, who then takes on some snarling demonic latex aspects and bloodily mutilates himself a bit.
The film is well made for an 80s horror movie. However, the horror that is offered is too infrequent and never feels like enough when it’s happening. By far, the most (or only) satisfying horror scene is when the bad guy is defeated, with bloody lacerations all over his mutilated body. Still, even that scene is not good enough to justify that this movie is worth recommending—I warning I issue since I, myself, will often watch a movie on the basis of one awesome screen grab. The final scenes are cheeky, cheesy and fun. But still not worth it overall. There’s just too much “nothing” happening for too much of this movie.
Co-directors Stephen Carpenter and Jeffrey Obrow (who both did The Kindred and The Dorm that Dripped Blood) have done better. Not sure how this movie ended up so phoned-in and hollow.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 541: The Hunt for Red October, Jack Ryan and Submarine Cinema
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Norbert discuss the 1990 action thriller The Hunt for Red October. Directed by John McTiernan and starring Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Sam Neill, James Earl Jones, and a few strategic pings, the movie focuses on what happens when an intelligence analyst meets a submarine captain. In this episode, they also talk about submarine cinema, Jack Ryan, and countermeasures. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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John’s Horror Corner: The Last Days on Mars (2013), an acceptable Sci-Horror about the perils of exploration to Mars.
MY CALL: Good enough, entertaining enough, but nothing great. However, truth be told, there are much better Sci-Horror space and Mars exploration movies. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Last Days on Mars: Red Planet (2000), Mission to Mars (2000), Apollo 18 (2011), Europa Report (2013) and Moonfall (2022) tell similar cautionary tales of space exploration.
As it turns out, another MFF’er (does that sound derogatory?) reviewed this film when it was released. See Mark’s review by CLICKING HERE.
Director Ruairi Robinson’s only feature film opens splendidly with gorgeous cinematography of arid Martian landscapes, happy go lucky 50s music, and routine space chores undertaken at the start of a massive dust storm on the very last day of their six-month mission.
The cast includes Liev Schreiber (The Omen, Sphere, Phantoms, Scream 2-3), Elias Koteas (Fallen, Let Me In, Dream House, The Prophecy, The Fourth Kind, Skinwalkers), Olivia Williams (The Sixth Sense, Below), Romola Garai, Johnny Harris (Monsters: Dark Continent, Black Death, The Cottage), Goran Kostic (Children of Men), Tom Cullen (Invasion, Black Mirror) and Yusra Warsama (Castle Rock) among others.
The team has not been as productive as they’d hoped, producing no useful samples to bring home. But on the last day, a member of the crew comes across evidence of bacterial life… on Mars! This discovery comes paired with tragedy as a crewman is lost, falling down a seismic fissure while collecting his final sample. Remember what happened when they found extraterrestrial bacteria in Species (1995)? Or the virus or whatever it was in The Thing (1982)? Or the first sign of Life (2017) on Mars? Yeah, these things never turn out well.
Suffice to say, a crewmember wanders back to base camp after being infected with something and becoming, for lack of a better word, a murderous bacterial zombie (not unlike the geologist in Prometheus). The infected hiss and growl like 28 Days Later (2002) rage zombies, and use tools and weapons to murderous ends just as readily… and they even solve complex problems. So, highly intelligent rage zombies despite having no pulse and, thus, evident brain death. The closest comparison might actually be the fungal zombies from The Last of Us (2023-ongoing). The uninfected crew fend off the infected as we circle towards a rather familiar ending scene in these infection-based thrillers.
We don’t wander anywhere near the Sci-Horror-ness of Life (2017), Event Horizon (1997), Prometheus (2012), Virus (1999) or Moontrap (1989). In that sense, this movie is more Sci-Horror-LITE. But it is still violent Sci-Horror, for sure.
This is all stuff we’ve seen before. But it’s very executed well. Is this to be some highly recommended Sci-Horror? Not really. Red Planet (2000) and Mission to Mars (2000) are both more entertaining, present more engaging problems, and the losses hit you with emotional gravity. But I definitely wouldn’t be steering anyone away from this either. Solid cast, nice shots, decent effects… this was a perfectly enjoyable, even if not so exciting, one-time watch.
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John’s Horror Corner: The Game (1984; aka The Cold), an incredibly boring movie about how sick 80s millionaires entertain themselves.
MY CALL: This ranks among the most boring horror I’ve endured. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Game: Much better movies to watch about deadly games instead include Red Room (1999), Would You Rather (2012), Cheap Thrills (2013) or Truth or Dare (2018).
Gathered together in a mansion by three bored eccentric millionaires, nine people compete in ‘The Game’ for one million dollars. To win this game, the players must not leave the mansion as they face their greatest fears. While the game transpires, the wealthy game-runners are watching remotely and communicating by intercom.
The presence of a creeping mist implies that weird things are about to happen. And most nefarious goings on seem to be accompanied by the presence of a weirdo who looks like a hunchbacked Gru. Both of these elements are resolved with dumb twist-revelations in the end.
The gags endured by the players of The Game include sudden cold temperatures, a shark in the swimming pool, displaying a hanged contestant on TV, a woman is attacked by a vomiting rubber demon puppet, and some forced Russian roulette. But despite the attempts at diversity, all of the effects are of the lowest possible phoned-in quality, and somehow even worse execution. The acting and writing are likewise excruciating. This is awful. Like, truly destitute. I’m ranking this waaaay at the bottom dregs with Boardinghouse (1982). And to quote that review: “I’ve written nearly 1000 reviews for this website. And this, truly and honestly, may very well be the most devastatingly boring thing I’ve watched and reviewed. Spare yourselves. Avoid this at all costs.” Well, now I’m beyond 1200 reviews and those sentiments now apply to The Game just the same. We could probably lump Fatal Exam (1988) in there for good measure.
The filmmaking is pretty clunky at every level. When someone is swimming laps in a pool, the sound editing/mixing produces the sounds of lightly splashing water in a sink or bathtub. The sound just doesn’t match what we’re watching and it’s uncomfortably noticeable. And when our wealthy masterminds wander the hotel, they play almost comedic Vaudeville-esque piano tunes. This music shouldn’t exist in this movie, which is not at all a horror comedy.
Everything about this movie is horrible. Director Bill Rebane (The Demons of Ludlow, The Alpha Incident, Invasion from Inner Earth, Rana) has put together a real stinker for us here. It may be fun to mock among friends. But there is nothing inherently fun about this movie, not even in a “bad movie” way, by its own merits. Just bad.
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John’s Horror Corner: Waxwork II: Lost in Time (1992), an even more wild and equally delightful sequel.
MY CALL: This sequel is much less horror and more of an anthology-esque mix of Sci-Fi, fantasy and horror with moderate to hokey doses of comedy and loads of great effects. It’s silly and light, but still a bloody movie that’s a lot of fun while continuing to embrace its predecessor’s 80s-ness in the best ways. MORE MOVIES LIKE Waxwork II: Well obviously you should have already seen the first Waxwork (1988) movie, and perhaps even The Wax Mask (1997).
Director and writer Anthony Hickox (Waxwork, Warlock 2, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth) picks up this sequel by extending the very scene which ended Waxwork (1988)—including some footage of the wacky violent finale. As the museum burns down, an animated severed hand scrambles across the lawn, following Mark (Zach Galligan; Waxwork, Warlock 2, Hatchet 3, Gremlins 1-2) and Sarah (Monika Schnarre; Warlock 2) home for some bloody Evil Dead 2-inspired evil crawling hand shenanigans.
Fearfully anticipating that the evil of the waxwork would not be vanquished (before the finale events of part 1), Sir Wilfred (Patrick Macnee; The Howling, Transformations) leaves Mark videotaped advice from the grave. Now having inherited Wilfred’s collection of supernatural antiquities, Mark selects a time-traveling amulet in his quest to find proof of the evils of the waxwork.
Many of the wax exhibits hinted in part 1 went unexplored. This sequel time portals us to Victor Frankenstein (Martin Kemp; Embrace of the Vampire) and his monster, alien lifeforms in the parasitic theme of Aliens (1986), and King Arthur to name a few. I must say, the Lampooned Alien-themed segment was an absolute delight with Sarah assuming the obviously hoked-up Ellen Ripley role. The big-headed rubber monster suit is awesome, some iconic scenes and deaths were homaged, and the larval tentacle monster attack scene was outstandingly slimy and gross. There are also distinct homages to Dawn of the Dead (1978), Nosferatu (1922, 1979) and many more, as this sequel clearly tasked itself with having an even more wild finale than part 1.
Unlike part 1, there are no wax exhibits of murderers and monsters to haplessly “enter”. But Mark’s amulet opens portals to times and places (that may have never existed in our dimension at all). But just like part 1, these separate portaled-in vignettes give the movie an anthology-ish feel as our time travelers assume pre-existing roles in these fantastic alternate dimensional spaces.
Among his time traveling adventures, Mark meets his supernatural investigator father (Bruce Campbell; Escape from LA, Moontrap, Black Friday, The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2), a woman turns into a werepanther of sorts (you read that correctly) and later splatters a victim’s head, we catch a glimpse of Drew Barrymore (Scream, Cat’s Eye) as a vampire victim, and the same finale big bad evil guy (Alexander Godunov) as Die Hard (1988)!
The blood, gore and effects honor the promises of part 1 with eye-popping, brain launching, neck-stretching, head-smooshing, space helmet-imploding, squirmy alien-regurgitating, and other bloody antics. And all is done in the same humorous-to-hokey fashion as part 1.
Overall, this sequel is much less horror and more a mix of Sci-Fi, fantasy and horror with moderate to hokey doses of comedy. This is a fun, light, but still bloody movie that’s a lot of fun and continues to embrace all that was good from 80s horror.
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The Movies Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 540: Dragonslayer, Cranky Dragons, and Hot Lakes
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Adam Hodgins (of the GoFigure show on YouTube) discuss the 1981 fantasy film Dragonslayer. Directed by Matthew Robbins, and starring Caitlin Clarke, Peter MacNicol, Ralph Richardson and a cranky dragon, the movie focuses on what happens when a young wizard thinks he can defeat a powerful dragon. In this episode, they also talk about practical effects, 1980’s fantasy movies, and being the last of something.
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
Movies, Films & Flix 