Howdy folks!

Some days it's good to be the Doc...

Wow, we’re actually caught up again. Amazing what a few quick rounds of Fool’s Views Haikus will do, combined with the fact that I haven’t been turning and burning the flicks the way I have during summer months of yore. Thanks to the good folks at Shout! Factory for providing most of the thrills and chills during the three week period covered herein, although Kitley’s Krypt provided a couple highlights as well. (Razorback, Yor)

Let’s see what kind of mischief we can get up to. As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!


HORROR:

Cockneys vs. Zombies (2012) d. Hoene, Matthias (UK)

‘nother damn zom com
So badly wants to be Shaun
Catchy credits tune

**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**

Dark Angel (aka I Come in Peace) (1990) (1st viewing) d. Baxley, Craig R. (USA)

Drug runners from space
Dolph talks tough, busts chops, spins kicks
Fun nostalgia piece

**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**

Human Centipede II: Full Sequence, The (2011) (2nd viewing) d. Six, Tom (Netherlands)

Meta gore galore
Even better than the first
Earns its nasty rep

**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**

Razorback (1984) (2nd viewing) d. Mulcahy, Russell (Australia)

Titan tusked terror
Mayhem follows in its wake
There goes my TV!

**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**

Schizoid (1980) (2nd viewing) d. Paulsen, David (USA)

Psycho targets group
Killer cast but stodgy pace
Kinski in fine form

**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**

Tale of Two Sisters, A (2003) (2nd viewing) d. Ji-woon, Kim (Japan)

Evil new stepmom
Has it in for the siblings
Creepy clever class

Truth or Dare (2013) (1st viewing) d. Cameron, Jessica (USA)

Lamebrains seeking fame
YouTube scheme has tables turned
Juvenile hijinks

**FULL REVIEW COMING SOON**

X-Ray (aka Hospital Massacre) (1982) (1st viewing) d. Davidson, Boaz (USA)

Not your routine exam
Zany Babs slasher scores high
What the Doc ordered

**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**

Yor: The Hunter from the Future (1983) (1st viewing) d. Margheriti, Antonio (Italy)

Young lad’s fever dream
Babes, dinos, spaceships, mutants
Schlocktastic triumph

**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW (NOT MINE, BUT SO MUCH FUN)**


2013 Totals to date: 197 films, 176 1st time views, 112 horror, 58 cinema

Razorback (1984) d. Mulcahy, Russell (Australia)

During the Ozploitation heyday born of the success of George Miller’s The Road Warrior, music video veteran Mulcahy took the wheel for this surprisingly effective yarn about a giant killer boar menacing Outback locals. In the decade after Jaws scared everyone out of the water, the silver screen played host to all varieties of vicious oversized beasties, with the results ranging from tongue-in-cheek thrills (Alligator, Grizzly) to ludicrous camp classics (The Sea Serpent, Deadly Eyes). No one could have guessed that an carnivorous slab of bacon sporting giant tusks and a bad attitude would turn out to be one of the more successful imitators; Mulcahy’s approach of presenting the cloven-hoofed menace completely straight-faced, while simultaneously introducing the foreignness of the desolate sand-swept environs and its bizarre inhabitants, works like gangbusters.

On the levelheaded side, we are given Yank reporter Judy Morris, soft sensitive husband Gregory Harrison and sweet local lass Arkie Whitely, with casually homicidal Aussie junkyard rats Chris Haywood and David Argue holding down the loopier quarter.

Screenwriter Everett De Roche (Long Weekend, Roadgames) keeps us on our toes by unexpectedly offing characters without a second glance, but it is grief-stricken Great White Hunter Bill Kerr’s arc – for whom the inevitable confrontation with the boar is personal – that provides the film’s soul; the sturdy character actor anchors the material, allowing the director to roll out some impressively hallucinogenic visuals.

Mulcahy also takes a page out of Spielberg’s playbook by keeping his monster on the edge of the frame, empowering the beast with a near-mythic quality, and it doesn’t hurt that when we are given a good look at the titular terror, the results are impressively authentic (courtesy of designer Bob McCarron). The slaughterhouse finale, with its crackling sparks and grime-covered machinery, delivers the final reel shocks and splatter we deserve without compromising any of the well-grounded work that has gone before.

Well worth your time, and available through the Warner Archive site.