Tor's blog

Happy 70th Birthday H.R. Giger!

"You gotta shoot 'em in the Head!"

In 1980 the simple and insulting joys of Bruno Mattei ("Rat"s) and Claudio Fragasso ("Zombie 4: After Death", "Troll 2") fused into a flawless union of zombie pork. Also known as "Virus" and "Zombies of the Savanna", this new-standard-of-bad film is set in Papua New Guinea but filmed solely in and around Barcelona and Rome. Music from "Dawn of the Dead" and stock footage from a French film "La Vallee" (which was actually shot in New Guinea) were included in an attempt to squeeze in some credibility. The efforts do not pay off in increased production value or overall quality. What they do is help to create a bonanza of Frommagio/Queso that elevates "Hell of the Living Dead" into a rare sweet spot of sour; one that is reserved for films like Tommy Wiseau's "The Room" and Marino Girolami's "Zombie Holocaust". Enter at your own risk.

French filmmaker Jean Rollin is a familiar name to all who enjoy Eurotrash cinema of the 60's, 70's and 80's. His movies often show the hallmarks of lost funding battles and abbreviated shooting schedules; but Rollin also delivers a lot of incredible imagery in the process. It is not uncommon to find deeply impressive visual moments like that shown above side by side with poor acting and incomplete story lines.

Rollin had this to say about the actress pictured above:

Don Seigel is a seldom referenced genre-film giant. His resume is punctuated by two landmarks, 1956's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and 1971's "Dirty Harry". Equally worthy are "Charley Varrick" (1973) and the film shown here, 1971's "The Beguiled". The film follows Clint Eastwood as Corporal John McBurney, a wounded Union soldier taking refuge in a Confederate girl's boarding school during the American Civil War. McBurney is an unscrupulous Lothario who manipulates the pubescent girls and their spinster headmistress both for survival and sexual fancy. The games eventually catch up with McBurney and the maidens of the house swing from sweet to sinister, a snapshot of which you can see above.

Marina de Van's 2002 French body-horror masterpiece "In My Skin" deals with a woman who tries to claim dominion over her own body after a freak accident leaves her scarred. de Van wrote, directed and starred in the story of a woman who strives for control by habitually biting, tearing and cutting away her own flesh. Despite appearances, the director insists that she was not making a film about self-mutilation as a practice nor was the gender of her protagonist chosen to convey any social commentary.

Nunsploitation is not where you would think to go when looking for reflection on the plight of women through history. 1974's "Flavia the Heretic", directed by Gianfranco Mingozzi, is full-up with exploitative imagery including one truly offensive horse castration. What you might not expect is that it is also laden with ideas about the institutional control and ritualized savagery directed at women in medieval societies; much of it spawned and promoted by organized religion. The above image is part of a sequence where sister Flavia's convent is opened to the members of the Tarantula cult, whose influence transforms the nunnery into a sodomite circus.

Steve Romanko is a talented guy. A longtime sound wizard for Lucas and an ardent horror fan, Steve and partner Turner Van Ryn have a trailer for their new short "The Hell Patrol". This should be tense, gory and fun with great locations and a plethora of barbiturate dead (because true zombies are not fast).

Eric's top 10 deaths from Friday the 13th got me thinking about my most memorable scenes from 80's slashers. It was harder to pin down than I thought. As much as I loved the genre, much of it has proven to be forgettable.

So, here is the one that has stuck most firmly in my mind for years.

Okay, not to totally pimp another site but I have posted this stuff here before and it is well worth checking out.... Find your way to http://englishrussia.com every once and awhile; you never know what kind of nihilistic, post-soviet creepshow you might find documented there... Here are a few of the latest.

A few quick hits here. I have been working with a friend and graphic artist to design a poster and lobby cards for my short film. So, I have all these images that I love stuck in my head. I figured why not share them here, maybe they'll inspire you guys too.

Alison Brady is my flavor of the moment where photography is concerned. Her stuff gives me a surreal Richard Kern type of feeling. Not unlike Aaron Hawks work. Check her out:
http://alisonbrady.com