Connect with us

Home Video

Horror In Your House: January 30th, 2012

Published

on

This week brings the releases of the much ballyhooed The Thing prequel along with the Daniel Craig vehicle Dream House. Also out and finally getting a proper DVD release is the indie DIY flick with an undeniably great name, Dead Hooker In A Trunk. If you’re not down for anything this week, get off your couch and go watch Liam Neeson punch wolves in The Grey. It’s amazing and worth every penny. Horror In Your House
January 30th, 2012

2-HEADED SHARK ATTACK (DVD/Blu-ray) – Asylum Home Entertainment
Survivors escape to a deserted atoll after a Semester at Sea ship is sunk by a mutated two-headed shark. But when the atoll starts flooding, no one is safe from the double jaws of the monster. Starring Carmen Electra.

DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK – IFC Independent Film

Four friends race to get rid of the dead hooker discovered decomposing in their trunk, and learn that disposing of a dead body isn’t nearly as easy as it looks on TV. A tough-talking babe, her nerdy sister, their God-fearing friend, and a junkie rocker are preparing for another typical day when they make a grim discovery. Someone has murdered a hooker and stuffed her in their trunk. But who did it, and why? As the quarreling foursome search for a place to dump the deceased streetwalker, the police close in and the freaks come out of the word work. Meanwhile, a serial killer is on the loose, and an eccentric cowboy pimp has some pretty big plans for the troublesome cadaver.
MICAH SAYS: PICK OF THE WEEK. It’s not a perfect 10 nor is it a 1 or a 2. But it is a fun grindhouse exploitation style flick from the Soska Sisters (their first effort). I like to think of this flick as the trashier, lower budget Canadian cousin of Hobo With a Shotgun.

DR. JEKYLL VS. THE WEREWOLF – Apprehensive Films
Paul Naschy returns once again to his famed role as El Hombre Lobo. This time out he’s searching for a cure to his full moon bloodlust and seeks the help of none other than Dr. Jekyll’s grandson. Aided by the beautiful Justine (Shirley Corrigan) Naschy and Jekyll attempt to cure his werewolf problem by turning him into Mr. Hyde!! This plan doesn’t exactly turn out as they had hoped. With loads of creepy atmosphere!

MICAH SAYS: Limited edition release of 500 copies, each DVD is hand numbered. One can never have enough Paul Naschy in their life and home.

DREAM HOUSE (DVD/Blu-ray) – Universal Studios

The Sheridan-helmed psychological thriller follows a family that relocates into what appears to be the ideal residence in small town Connecticut. However, the husband (Craig) and wife (Watts) are disturbed to discover that their beautiful new home was the site of another family’s slaughter, believed to be at the hands of the husband who survived.

MICAH SAYS: Run of the mill generic film that completely wastes the talent of a fantastic cast.

SPIDERHOLE – IFC Independent Film

They say squatting is dead – a term that takes on a sinister double meaning when four homeless art students decide to take up residence in an abandoned London House where a hidden terror lurks.

TEXAS KILLING FIELDS (DVD/Blu-ray) – Anchor Bay

The story focuses on the true story of a pair of police officers who undertook to solve two decades of disappearances and homicides — totaling as many as 60 victims — in the industrial wastelands surrounding Gulf Coast refineries.

THE THING (2011) (DVD/Blu-ray) – Universal Studios

It’s not human. Yet.   From the producers of Dawn of the Dead comes the chilling prelude to John Carpenter’s cult classic film.  When paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) travels to an isolated outpost in Antarctica for the expedition of a lifetime, she joins an international team that unearths a remarkable discovery.  Their elation quickly turns to fear as they realize that their experiment has freed a mysterious being from its frozen prison.  Paranoia spreads like an epidemic as a creature that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish in this spine-tingling thriller. Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ulrich Thomsen, Eric Christian Olsen, Trond Espen Seim Directed by: Matthijs van Heijningen

MICAH SAYS: If this flick wasn’t imposed with living up to the insane demands of Carpenter’s or Nyby’s classics then it might get a pass. But it doesn’t. By now everyone has probably seen or heard that the filmmakers ditched a ton AMAZING practical effects for shit CGI – which pissed off nearly everyone ever. And rightfully so. But the biggest failing for me is where the ’82 version focuses on the characters and the claustrophobia, the prequel focuses almost entirely on the monster – turning it into something we’ve all seen a million times before. Simply put, they sucked the special out of the The Thing in favor of safe and normal.

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