Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom - What a Treat!

Next to The Human Centipede, Salo has to be one of the most f***ed up movies I have ever seen in my life.

The Plot: Four fascist libertines round up 9 teenage boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of physical, mental and sexual torture.

This movie definitely is not for the squeamish, it has been banned in several countries for its graphic portrayals of rape, torture and murder. This fact alone is what sparked my interest in seeing Salo and after watching it, I half to ask myself why I even like watching these movies. It's not like I get any kind of thrill from watching people being sexually abused ( if you do, you have serious problems) but the moment I hear of a film that is considered controversial, I have to see it for myself and judge whether or not I think it should be. This Movie contains a lot of pedophilia, exhibitionism, frotteurism, sadism, transvestic fetishism, urophagia and coprophagia, some of it told in in stories as if it were a beautiful fairy-tail. Understandable why it caused quite a stir. If you like being grossed out this movie is for you, there is something about seeing a teenage boy with feces smeared across his face and bridal gown that makes your stomach turn. Blech!

Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom was made in 1975, was directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini and stars Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi and Umberto Paolo Quintavalle. Check out this fan based trailer:

Here is a link to a Salo blu-ray disk review:

SaloBlu-RayDiskReview

 

Alfred Hitchcock

Considered the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock is a classic director of the horror genre who directed about 60 films between 1922 and 1976. He also had his own show he directed called Alfred Hichcock Presents that ran from 1955 to 1961 for about 17 episodes, which I definitely plan to get on DVD soon. I absolutely love his best movie which of course is 1960's Psycho, starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh and Vera Miles.

The Plot: A young woman steals $40,000 from her employer's client, and subsequently encounters a young motel proprietor too long under the domination of his mother.

Anthony Perkins plays a real creepy murder names Norman Bates that is under the complete domination of his mother even though she is no longer living. This Idea was also taken from the storey of a real serial killer named Ed Gein, here is a link to his bio EdGeinBio. "We all go a little mad sometimes"

Here is a modern trailer someone made that is pretty cool.

Another movie that I love by him is The Birds, which is also a childhood favourite of mine. I remember this movie scaring me but exciting me at the same time when I was real young. Now that I'm older its all just silly good fun to watch again with the famous phone booth scent, people running the streets and the poor children getting knocked over and bitten by the evil swarm of birds. Yay!  The Birds was made in 1963 and stars Rod Taylor, Tippi Hendren, Suzanne Pleshette.

The Plot: A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people there in increasing numbers and with increasing viciousness

Another modern trailer.

Here are some interesting Blu-Ray Reviews on Both Movies: 

TheBirdsBluRay , PsychoBluRay 

 

 

My Obsession with George A. Romero

George A. Romero is the master of zombie movies, his best includes: Night Of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day Of The Dead and Land Of The Dead.

First comes Night Of The Living Dead which is a classic and by far one of my favourites. It was made in 1968, was directed by George A. Romero and stars Duane Jones, Judith O' Dea and Karl Hardman.

The plot: The radiation from a fallen satellite might have caused the recently deceased to rise from the grave and seek the living to use as food. This is the situation that a group of people penned up in an old farmhouse must deal with.

Next is Dawn Of The Dead which is probably the best out of all of them. It was made in 1978, also directed by Mr. Romero and stars David Emge, Ken Foree and Scott H. Reiniger.

The plot: Following an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter, and his television-executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.

Day Of The Dead is the third movie in the series and is definitely a worthy one. It was made in 1985, was again directed by Mr. Romero and stars Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander and Joseph Pilato.

The plot: Zombies rule the USA, except for a small group of scientists and military personnel who reside in an underground bunker in Florida. The scientists are using the undead in gruesome experiments; much to the chagrin of the military. Finally the military finds that their men have been used in the scientists' experiments, and banish the scientists to the caves that house the Living Dead. Unfortunately, the zombies from above ground have made their way into the bunker.

Land Of The Dead is the latest zombie movie by George A. Romero that is actually worth mentioning, seeing how both Diary and Survival Of The Dead were horrible and ruined by CGI technology. It was made in 2005, Directed again by you know who, and stars John Leguizamo, Aisa Argento and Simon Baker.

The plot: Now that zombies have taken over the world, the living have built a walled-in city to keep the dead out. But all is not well where it's most safe, as a revolution plans to overthrow the city leadership, and the zombies are turning into more advanced creatures.

George A. Romero is a mastermind at creating a believable world where the dead has risen and wants to eat our flesh. He Incorporates a lot of clever ideas throughout his movies, like the evolution of his zombies throughout the series and the politics he adds in which makes these movies all the more human. The Blood and guts definitely help make it enjoyable too.  Check out the trailers:

Here are some Blu-ray disk reviews about the Living Deads:

NightOfTheLivingDeadBlu-rayReview, DawnOfTheDeadBlu-rayReview,

DayOfTheDeadBlu-rayReview, LandOfTheDeadBlu-rayReview

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of my favourite horror movies ever made.

The plot: Five friends visiting their grandpa's old house are hunted down and terrorized by a chainsaw wielding killer and his family of grave-robbing cannibals.

After seeing this movie for the first time, it instantly became on of my favourites. I absolutely love Leatherface as a bad guy, chainsawing up young teenagers, making all kinds of weird and wonderful ornaments and trinkets out of their bones, and above all, wearing masks that he made out of people's faces, what a scary dude. His character was actually loosely based off of the American serial killer and grave robber named Ed Gein, here is an article about him. EdGeinBio

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was made in 1974, it was directed by Tobe Hooper, it stars Gunnar Hansen, Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal and Allen Danziger. There were a few sequels made but nothing worth mentioning. Check out the trailer:

Here is a link to The texas Chainsaw Massacre Blu-ray disk review: TexasChainsawMassacreBlu-rayReview

Next Came Freddy

A Nightmare On Elm Street will always remain my favourite childhood horror movie.

The plot: In the dreams of his victims, a spectral child murderer stalks the children of the members of the lynch mob that killed him.

My uncle had a huge collection of VHS horror movies that I used to love to go through and look at all the covers because I wasn't actually aloud to watch any of them. Then one day my father finally (after a lot of begging) let me watch Nightmare and I was officially obsessed. All the blood, gore and special effects (which were good back then) were so amazing to me and Freddy was the scariest ever. The atmosphere they created in this movie between real life and the world in their dreams was very cleverly portrayed and excited me on a surrealistic level. I just loved it, and the obsession of scary movies started for me.

A Nightmare On Elm Street was made in 1984, it was directed by Wes Craven and stars Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp and Johnny Depp. There were a bunch of sequels which were mostly crap although I did enjoy the 3rd one called Dream Warriors made in 1987. Check out the trailers:

Here is an interesting A Nightmare On Elm Street Blu-ray disk review:

 NightmareBlu-rayReview

This Is Where It All Started

When I was a young child I was at my grandparents place hanging out watching TV and I just happened to stumble upon a movie that changed me forever. It was called Tremors and I know a lot of you wouldn't consider this a horror movie, more of a science fiction, but it definitely led me in that direction.

The plot: Natives of a small isolated town defend themselves against strange underground creatures which are killing them one by one.
I was really young and the movie terrified me to where I kept running away from the TV saying "I'm not watching that anymore", but something kept drawing me back. I HAD to see who those giant worms were going to eat next.
Tremors was made in 1990, it was directed by Ron Underwood and stars Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward and Finn Carter. There were a bunch of sequels made but nothing worth mentioning. Check out the trailer:

Here is an interesting Tremors Blu-ray disk review:

 TremorsBlu-rayReview