Demon Women

Suspiria is about a young American dancer named Suzy Banyon (Jessica Harper) who goes to Germany to study ballet at a special dance academy. As soon as she arrives things don’t seem right. Suzy later finds that the instructors of the academy are a coven of witches. The highest witch is Helena Markos, a Greek immigrant who started the school long ago as a institute for studying the occult and the arts. Helena supposedly died in a fire and a favorite pupil took over, changing the institute into a dance academy. Her coven is responsible for the strangeness and death surrounding the academy. Other “Demon Women” in Suspiria include the head mistress of the academy Miss Tanner played by Alida Valli and the bizarre, overbearing instructor Madame Blanc (Joan Binnett).

The movie was based on a book entitled Suspiria de Profundis by Thomas De Quincey. The script was written by Dario Argento and Daria Nicolodi. After the movie came out Argento said he had Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs in mind the entire time he was making the film. There are some mistakes in the script which you may notice. Many critics blasted the movie when it came out in 1977 and their arguments were pretty much valid.

Don’t get me wrong, I really liked this movie. It is one of the most visually stimulating films I have ever seen. Dario Argento artfully directed Suspiria and succeeded in creating a hypnotic, dreamlike film. The decor of the academy and of the other interiors in the movie are strikingly artistic and gothic. The lighting used in the Suspiria was brilliantly used to create a surrealistic landscape and dark, spooky moods. The music is perfect for the movie. The original score was written by Dario Argento and an Italian progressive rock band known as The Goblins. Their music creates much tension, adding to the suspense of Suspiria.

The death scenes are elaborate and memorable, making up for the 1970’s special effects. The tension leading to the killings is built up over time, like a walk to a cliff edge. Then suddenly comes a surprise attack which pushes you over the edge. You fall down in a nightmarish fantasy spiral of horror. Suspiria is Dario Argento’s masterpiece work.

I learned something this weekend. I learned that you should never adopt a girl with out knowing everything about her past. Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John (Peter Sarsgaard) are so charmed by young orphan Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) when looking for a child to adopt that they take her right in, no questions asked. Kate and John Coleman have recently suffered a tragic miscarriage. As a result their relationship has been rocky and their lives are falling apart. Esther seems sweet and very smart, almost prodigetic. Perhaps adopting her would fill a void in their lives. What harm could adopting a little girl do?

That’s what I was thinking when I first saw commercials for this film. Why would anyone be scared of a little girl?  How much harm can she really do? Well, it turns out that Esther is quite twisted, vicious and sadistic. Bringing her into their home put not only John and Kate in danger, but the entire family.

Esther is quite a con artist as well. In the beginning she is quite good at winning the love and trust of both Kate and John. Later Esther works at dividing the couple so that one won’t believe the other. As Kate gets slowly unravels the truth the young psychopath  goes to incredible lengths to make her new mom look mentally unstable. Deep down Esther doesn’t want to play games with people though. She wants to kill and destroy.

The Orphan is a highly suspenseful shocker. As a parent I was really taken in by the fear that the Coleman children faced as Esther cruelly manipulated and tormented them. I also felt for the Coleman parents, particularly Kate as she found out more and more about Esther. She finds that the orphan has a past far different than what she had previously imagined.

All parts in the Orphan were acted out masterfully. Isabelle Fuhrman proved to be not only convincing but terrifying in her role as deeply twisted Esther.  She has a bright future ahead. I highly recommend The Orphan if you like a deeply chilling thriller.

In the not so distant future George Bush is still president. The United States is at was with many countries. It is also at war with Alaska. American troops are being slaughtered by the thousands. The government has come up with a virus that re-animates the cells of dead soldiers. The goal is to build an army of zombies.

With a plan like that something is bound to go wrong and sure enough the virus gets loose in Sartre, Nebraska.  An elite squad of soldiers called the Z Squad is sent to kill the accidental zombies. One of the squad is bitten by a zombie and in an effort to escape death finds himself in (you guessed it) a strip club. As the soldiers condition worsens he bites star stripper Kat. Kat becomes a zombie, spreads the virus to her fellow strippers and they all start eating the strip club patrons.

Sounds like fun? It is. The movie offers lots of political and social satire, funny lines and even funnier gore scenes. The plot is fast moving and there is lots of action, blood and guts. It’s always fun to see people acting so serious while they say such off the wall, ridiculous things.

This is porn star Jenna Jameson’s first step into the world of mainstream films although she is still in her element playing Kat the stripper. The movie also stars Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) as Ian the club owner. There is a full cast of strippers, soldiers and people who get eaten.

Will any one survive?  Will Zombies take over the world? Will germ fearing Ian be able to profit off the situation? These questions and more will be answered when you see Zombie Strippers!

Here is a sample of the Z-Squad in action.

Here is a really cool gore scene I couldn’t resist showing you. It’s not for the squeamish or week at heart. Make sure the kids are locked up in the celler so they don’t see it.

Are you into piercings and body modification? Are you a hedonist who would do anything for sensuous rewards? I have just the girl for you. She is known simply as The Female and she is a cenobite.

If you have never seen Clive Barker’s The Hellraiser you will probably be wondering what a cenobite is. The word is defined as a member of a religious order. The Female is a member of “The Order of the Gash”.  The cenobites live in hell and can only come to our world through a crack in time and space that can be caused by opening certain artifacts. In Hellraiser one such artifact called the Lament Configuration, also known as the Lemarchand Box, is opened.

The cenobites exist to greet people who open the gates of hell. They then are responsible for taking the person to hell and giving them a torture of pleasure and pain. The tortures often involve bodily mutilation, piercings and wounds held open with hooks, chains and other devices.

The Female was once a nun named Sister Nikoletta. Lust grew in her until she no longer was interested in the church. A man seeking shelter at her convent sensed that she had such desires and gave her the box. Sister Nikoletta was able to unlock the box and thus became a cenobite. She is introduced as a cenobite in the first Hellraiser movie and her story is explained in the second. In the first movie Grace Kirby acts as The Female. Barbie Wilde plays the role in the sequel.

There are eight Hellraiser movies. The story line builds an intricate mythology reminiscent of Dante’s Inferno. The first two movies are especially scary. Those with a dark sense of humor will see the humor in all the creepiness. Clive Barker’s book The Hellbound Heart was the basis for the original Hellraiser movie and is very dark, spooky and disturbingly erotic. I highly recommend it.

Hellraiser

Hellbound:Hellraiser II

The Bride

Uma Thurman plays The Bride. Once a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (DiVAS) she has been grossly wronged. In a coma for four years she has overcome the odds in order to get her revenge.  The Bride, her real name is beeped out of the movie, wants to destroy the ones who murdered her groom and unborn baby - the DiVAS. The assassination squad turned on the young bride in a massacre on the day of her wedding. The Bride writes a death list, she calls the people listed the death list five.

The DiVAS are led by Bill (David Carradine). There is one other male in the deadly squad, he is Budd (Sidewinder) played by Michael Madsen. The majority of the killers are women. They are extremely well trained, dangerous and violent. They are beautiful. They are:

Vernita Green (Copperhead)

Trained in hand to hand combat, Vernita is a highly skilled fighter. Four years after the wedding day massacre the assasin has a new name and a new life. Now she is second on The Brides death list.

Elle Driver (California Mountain Snake)

Elle is a highly skilled swordswoman trained by Pai Mei, the same person who trained Bill and The Bride. She showed disrespect to Pai Mei which resulted in the loss of her right eye. Elle then poisoned the great master causing his death. The one eyed blond is ruthless, greedy and extremely sadistic. She has no mercy, no regrets and enjoys hurting people any way she can.

O-Ren Ishii (Cottonmouth)

O-Ren is Chinese, Japanese and American. She witnessed her parents murder at the age of nine, became a great swordswoman and an assassin. Since her DiVAS days O-Ren became the head of a Tokyo crime syndicate. She has her own personal army called the Crazy 88s. As violent as she is it seems that there was once a great friendship between O-Ren and The Bride.

Not only is O-Ren the leader of a gang and a small army, but she also has a vicious young body guard. The bodyguard looks innocent in her school girl clothes but she is every bit as violent and deadly as the DiVAS. She is Gogo Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama).

Gogo is a severely disturbed seventeen year old who loves to kill for fun.

David Carradine will always be remembered. Always an interesting character in so many great films and it was so exciting to see him use his martial arts skills. I think he really knew what it means to flow. He was really a great talent. I always enjoyed his sense of humor. I’m sure it was a pleasure to know him. Rest in peace David.

Do you like a little industrial music every now and then? Do you want to see some crazy art? Have some time to kill and want to see some odd visuals? Care to see something you don’t see every day? Turn on Mdoll t.v. Great old ones, a spit cult, cyber Gypsy “Madams”, slitherers and a serpent pussy void. Presented below are a few episodes.

This one is my favorite.

Can’t get enough?

Here is the beginning:

Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) is mad as hell. She (like many people) has been kicked out of her home due to a banks policies and a young loan officers struggle to succeed. She has asked for a third extension on her mortgage because of economic problems due to illness.Mrs. Ganush drops to her knees and begs but the loan officer, Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) for another chance. Christine panics. She thrusts Mrs. Gunush away, thus humiliating her in front of everyone in the bank. Security guards escort Mrs. Ganush out of the bank. Later Christine is attacked by Mrs. Ganush, a tough gypsy woman who proves to be relentless. Before the violent confrontation is over Mrs. Ganush has placed a curse upon Christine. The elderly gypsy woman then dissapears.

It turns out the curse placed upon Christine is one that makes demons come to drag her to hell! Wouldn’t that suck? This movie is really cool. I liked and felt sorry for the characters. Drag Me To Hell has an old school feel in the way the title is presented and the way the beginning credits are done. It is reminescant of other classic horror movies, reminding me at times of an old favorite-The Evil Dead. This is really no surprise as the movie was directed by Sam Raimi, the same guy that directed The Evil Dead and also SpiderMan. The movie has tons of suspence and horror yet makes me laugh out loud several times. Yes, there is some dark humor here. Have a look at the trailer and be terified!

In the 2008 movie entitled Doomsday there are two demon women. One is Viper (Lee Ann Liebenburg) who is a traditional villain. Unfortunately Viper is not present through the entire movie. The other is the heroine of the movie and she is named Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra). Sinclair fights with such a bloodthirsty, vengeful fury that she earned a place here in my blog.

A virus called the Reaper virus that is threatening to destroy the human race. It has broken out in Scotland and within days things are so bad that the country is declared a “hot zone” and is quarantined. Scotland is left to die and becomes a “no man’s land”. Twenty five years later the virus rears it’s ugly head in London. It is found that there are Reaper survivors in Scotland and the government thinks that if the survivors are found they may hold the key to curing the virus. An elite team is put together to find a counter agent to the virus. Leading the team is Major Eden Sinclair.

Inside the quarantine walls are complete horror and chaos. The team must fight for their lives or die at the hands of the Reaper survivors. Major Sinclair is tough and focused on one thing - getting the job done. When the quarantine first took place she was wounded and placed in the care of the military by her desperate mother. Now she is hardened and jaded having had her childhood and her mother ripped away from her. A military life gave her the skills she needs to stand a chance in the ruins of Scotland.

Written and directed by Neil Marshal, Doomsday is fast paced and action packed. Lots of brutal gore and bloodshed. It reminded me of the classic movie The Road Warrior. The Reaper virus is horrible and a very scary thing to contemplate on its own. The forgotten survivors live in a different world, some turning to old ways and some to a sort of anarchy. Both groups are very much intent on killing Sinclair and her team. Doomsday is a very rough ride.Will Major Sinclair come through when the end is nigh?

An earthquake has wrecked the entire California coastline. Gangs of surfers rule the waves and the Surf Nazis rule the gangs. In this Troma Team movie the Surf Nazis wreak havoc. Led by a psychopath named Adolf (naturally) they are greedy, cruel and bloodthirsty. Someone must stop the Surf Nazi’s but no one seems able to. Several attempts are made by the separate gangs of surfers. No one can stop the terror of the Surf Nazi’s reign.

No one, that is except Leroy’s mama - A tough black woman who has just moved into a local convalescent home. The nursing home staff is troubled by her cursing and tendency to not take any crap from anyone. At one point she is seen up in a tree cutting down branches with a chainsaw to improve the view from the window in her room. The Surf Nazis murder her son and push her over the edge. Led by a love for her God and country she sets out on a path of vengeance.

See the passions and violence of the worlds greatest villains. See bad writing and acting made in to a gory and hilarious movie. See Surf Nazis Must Die!

Jennifer Hills, played by Camille Keaton, rents a riverside house in upstate New York to get away from her life in the city. She needs the solitude to finish a novel. Peace and solitude were a far cry from what she got. Having attracted the attention of of several rowdy losers she is tormented and toyed with. One day the men rip her clothes off and hold her down, trying to make the town idiot rape her. The leader of the pack of good for nothings ends up raping her himself. She is then let go, only to be followed, toyed with, repeatedly raped and humiliated. Her novel is destroyed by the cruel men and she is left for dead.

This part of the movie is serious. The writer and the director (Meir Zarchi) creates a sense of claustrophobia in the wide open, breathtakingly beautiful upstate New York wilderness. There is a high degree of tension as Jennifer is stalked and raped. The second half of the movie is quite different.

Jennifer recovers. Although psychologically damaged, she regains her physical health and starts back to work on her novel.  She also devises plans for revenge. The vengeful woman carries out her plans using her own body and sexuality as bait. Her vengeance is very gory and often comical. You will be shocked at the way she lures the men to their deaths but you will cheer her on as she mutilates her assailants.

I Spit On Your Grave will toy with your emotions, it will tear at your heart and shock your soul. The cruelty, the horror and the suspense is not for the timid.  Critics originally blasted the movie for it’s lengthy depictions of rape. Roger Ebert said I Spit on Your Grave was, “a vile bag of garbage”. Despite this Camille Keaton won a best actress award for her depiction of Jennifer at the 1978 Catalonian International Film Festival in Spain.

The movie was originally released as  Day of the Woman but was also shown under the titles I Hate Your Guts and The Rape and Revenge of Jennifer Hill. In it’s 1980 re-release it was entitled I Spit on Your Grave.