Connect with us

Home Video

Horror In Your House DVD Release List for July 14, 2009

Published

on

While this week’s DVD release list isn’t jammed-packed with horror goodies, there are quite a few films that stand out, including one MUST-SEE. Arriving in stores today from Sony Home Entertainment is the Spanish horror film REC, which was the inspiration behind Quarantine. Haven’t seen it yet? Get on it! Read on to see what else arrives at a retailer near you.
Horror In Your House
July 14, 2009

ASALTO VIOLENCE: Distrimax

Robert Smith is an outstanding doctor, devoted to teaching at a local university in Mexico City. During a trip to Vietnam he suffers a violent assault at the hands of a group of terrorists while he was being intimated with a local girl. After his arrival he discovers that he has contracted an incurable disease; traumatized by the attack and his illness, he will begin a downward spiral into madness; becoming a cold blooded serial killer convinced that each new victim represents another chance for redemption.

THE BLACK TORMENT: Redemption

This genuinely disturbing ’60s horror-mystery movie from director Robert Hartford-Davis is hailed as a British gothic masterpiece. The film follows Sir John Fordyce, a nobleman who returns after a long absence to his country estate with a new bride. However, his honeymoon is quickly cut short when he finds himself under suspicion from angry locals for the rape and brutal murder of a young village girl. Despite Sir John’s professed innocence, a growing hysteria unfolds as more strange events occur around him.

DOOR INTO SILENCE: Severin

He was called ‘The Godfather Of Gore’, ‘Italy’s Splatter King’ and ‘Il Maestro’. His still-controversial career included such horror classics as ZOMBIE, THE GATES OF HELL and THE PSYCHIC. And for his final film, writer/director Lucio Fulci returned to Louisiana – the location of his masterpiece THE BEYOND – for an eerie psychological tale of the supernatural. John Savage stars as a businessman who encounters a mysterious beauty, a relentless hearse and his own ultimate nightmare while driving the back roads of the desolate bayou

TEX SAYS: Round out your Fulci collection the Maestro’s final film! I know I will.

THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT: Lionsgate

When the Campbell family moves to upstate Connecticut, they soon learn that their charming Victorian home has a disturbing history: not only was the house a transformed funeral parlor where inconceivable acts occurred, but the owner’s clairvoyant son Jonah served as a demonic messenger, providing a gateway for spiritual entities to cross over. Now, unspeakable terror awaits when Jonah, the boy who communicated with the dead, returns to unleash a new kind of horror on the innocent and unsuspecting family.

TEX SAYS: A surprisingly enjoyable, if mildly derivative film with a bizarrely over the top climax. Still, probably on the better ghost stories of the past few years.

HORSEMEN: Lionsgate

At home, hardened police detective Aidan Breslin has grown increasingly distant from his two young sons, Alex and Sean, since the death of his wife. At work, he finds himself thrust into an investigation of perverse serial killings rooted in the Biblical prophecy of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The White Horseman, a master of deception and the unexpected leader hell-bent on conquest; The Red Horseman, a sharp-witted warrior intent on turning man against man, with an innocence that hides a burning rage within; The Black Horseman, a manipulative and dark tyrant, unbalanced but always one step ahead; and The Pale Horseman, an executioner with disarming strength, determined to spread death through surgical precision.

THE OBJECTIVE: IFC (Blockbuster Exclusive)

The next nightmare from Daniel Myrick, creator of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT: CIA Agent Benjamin Keynes, three days after 9/11 reconnaissance satellites picked up a radioactive heat signature in a remote, travels to a tribal region of Afghanistan. The Agency fears that Al-Qaida has finally gotten their hands on a nuclear weapon. However, it seems that this threat may be coming from something much more powerful, and definitely not human.

O.C. BABES AND THE SLASHER OF ZOMBIETOWN: Midnight Releasing

Different groups of OC stereotypes are trapped in a bar due to a recent zombie outbreak. Little do they know that the Orange County Slasher who has been killing people all week is trapped inside with them. OC Babes and the Slasher of Zombietown is a horror/comedy that starts off when Sean and Ed (if you caught that one this is right up your alley) go out to a bar for the first time for Sean’s 21st birthday. There, they meet Madison (the bitch), Savannah (the slut), Megan (the hot nerd), Lindsey (the hot edgy nerd), Ashley and Michelle (the porn stars) Mike and Bret (the bro jock guys) and a couple of old barfly skanks and some surfer chick. The night seems like any other for Sean and Ed; filled with rejection. That is until a half eaten woman runs into the bar and warns them about zombies outside. Once they lock the bar up they start dropping like flies.

PREY: Redemption

he lives of two lesbians, Jessica and Josephine , living in a deserted English farmhouse is thrown into turmoil upon the arrival of strange man called Anderson, who, unknown to them, is an alien scout on a mission to find food on Earth. Able to transform his appearance to that of a perfectly coifed human man, the alien brings tension to the the girls’ relationship as Jessica starts to find him attractive. Much morbid excitement follows as Anderson’s animalistic behavior leads to their downfall.

[REC]: Sony (TEX’S PICK OF THE WEEK)

A beautiful TV reporter and her cameraman are doing a routine interview at a local fire station when an emergency call comes in. Accompanying the firefighters to a nearby apartment, the news team begins recording the bloodcurdling screams coming from inside an elderly woman’s unit. After authorities seal off the building to contain the threat, the news crew, firefighters and residents are trapped to face a lethal terror inside. With the camera running, nothing may survive but the film itself.

TEX SAYS: All right Quarantine haters you can finally legitimately by a copy of [REC] here in the states. Of course if you’re like the rest of us, you already imported a copy from Europe or Canada! Way to go Sony!!! Wonder how much that’ll hurt your sales?

Advertisement
Click to comment

Home Video

‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]

Published

on

Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.

Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.

Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.

While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.

Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.

Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!

Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.

Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.

Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!

More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.

So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.

If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.

Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.

Continue Reading